How digital marketing captures the ever-changing world of work

From Gaston TaratutaFounder and CEO of Aleph Group, Inc

The world of work has always changed and evolved in line with technological advances and major consumer shifts.

For example, did you know that in Victorian Britain people were paid to wake factory workers by knocking on their windows? Called Thumper Tops, they were a common sight until alarm clocks made them obsolete.

Over the past few months, you may have seen articles predicting that prompt engineering will become an important and necessary job skill in the near future thanks to the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT.

In fact, some experts suggest that the area of ​​giving AI tools the best possible inputs is so important that it could even become a career path in its own right.

But that’s just one example of where the world of work is headed. If you really want to be future-proof, it’s worth taking a much broader view. And in that regard, you could be doing a lot worse than keeping a close eye on the digital marketing space.

An industry that is not afraid of change

Digital marketing has a long history of adapting and accommodating major technological and societal changes. From the early days of website banner ads to innovative products on social media and streaming platforms, each advancement has required people in the industry to build new skills to ensure they are providing the best possible service to their customers.

Nothing is likely to change in this regard in the near future either. According to LinkedIn, the position of “Digital Marketing Specialist” is one of the ten most in-demand jobs with 860,000 open positions.

The fact that the most requested digital marketing experiences include social media, content strategy, SEO and analytics also shows how broad the field has become.

These specific areas of experience are also constantly changing. Take online communities for example: before 2016, when Facebook and Twitter were well established, nobody had any experience marketing on TikTok.

Today, the platform has more than a billion users and is an increasingly important part of every company’s digital marketing strategy. As a result, people in digital marketing had to build the necessary skills to market on the platform.

The same goes for any new product that a social media platform launches. Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and Spotify are all unique in their own way.

Also remember that a user’s experience on TikTok has nothing to do with their experience on Twitter.

You rarely meet someone who understands all platforms very well. In addition, there are constant changes. To be successful in digital marketing, one must be able to learn new things and be flexible at all times.

These are also the qualities you need to thrive in the rapidly changing world of work.

Get the right skills

So how should you go about acquiring the skills needed to thrive in the world of digital marketing and beyond?

There’s no doubt that formal certification can be incredibly helpful, especially early on in your journey. This is one of the reasons why we introduced our free program Digital Advertising Expert community.

The 12-week course covers the basics of strategy and analysis, as well as platform-specific advertising methods for all major social media platforms.

However, once you have these basics in place, self-inquiry becomes crucial. You have to be curious. You have to want to learn.

You have to commit. By getting certified on all possible platforms (this is usually possible for free). Learn things like Google Adwords, Marketing on Instagram and as many other products as possible.

It won’t take long to reach that point, for some people it may be as little as six months. Practice from there and keep practicing.

If you don’t have a client to practice on, market yourself. You’ll soon find that in a world changing so rapidly, years of experience count less than your ability to deliver.

Driven by the present, ready for the future

This has been true of digital marketing for some time. This also increasingly applies to the world of work in general.

So if you want to be prepared for the future, bet on an industry that already has a strong track record of adapting to disruptive changes.

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