What are the fundamentals of Digital Marketing and from where to start?

I am presuming you have already figured out a ‘why’ you want to learn digital marketing & is looking for the ‘what’ are the fundamentals of digital marketing & ‘where’ to start from.

So starting with ‘what’ are the fundamentals of Digital marketing?

To learn anything we have been conditioned in a process to go to school, read textbooks, pass exams, and finally land a job. Therefore it is but natural for you to see the digital marketing course in a much similar fashion.

Breaking your 1st myth, this is not the way you should be thinking because digital marketing cannot be understood in a textbook learning format. You cannot learn swimming by reading a book; you need to act to learn. In a similar way, Digital marketing has to be practically implemented to learn. Immaterial you have a degree or not, if you are experienced and have tested waters, it’s very much likely you will land with a decent job.

Now you must be thinking, “Ok, I get it that digital marketing needs to be practical but from where do I start.”

Answering that thought, career in digital marketing is not complex at all. It is based on a pick and chose process. What I mean is that, as you climb up the academic ladder you keep narrowing down to niche expertise. For example, I narrowed from commerce to B.Com to marketing to digital. So my niche is Marketing but has a base knowledge in the rest of the domains.

In a similar fashion, the fundamentals of digital marketing are also standing on some pillars. You have to know all but specialize in a maximum of 1-2 pillars to create a strategy.

Now that I have simplified your understanding, let me dig deeper, what are the pillars/basics of digital marketing?

Digital marketing stands on only these four pillars, whatever strategy you make has to be a permutation, combination of these pillars. Even you get specialized in any 2 and have an overall understanding of others. You are good to go.

Now coming to the next important question, from where should you study digital marketing course, let’s see who is teaching quality digital marketing course in the market currently:

1. Premium institutes like IIM, XLRI, and so on.
2. Online courses on YouTube
3. Offline agencies started a parallel vertical in teaching digital marketing and then giving placement in their own agency.
4. Dedicated institutions like NIIT Imperia, Great Lakes and so on

Let talk about all one by one for digital marketing courses,

For Premium institutes like ISB, IIM, XLRI and so on –

• Digital marketing courses in these institutes start from 70,000/- and can go up to 5 lakhs. I recommend it to those who have gained 1-2 years of experience and have tested waters in the industry should opt. for these institutes because
• It only provides a certificate that can be an additional feather on your resume.
• It does not provide placements hence not good for fresher’s
• It’s costly, so if you are a beginner you are still to make a judgment which pillars you want to specialize, investing so much in the course and later realizing that you’re actually interested in just one of the pillars will be a huge waste of money for you.
• It’s good for experienced professionals as they would be able to connect to a lot of case studies in their professional scenarios.

Online course on YouTube/website

Digital marketing courses in these institutes start from Rs.2000/- onwards and there are also a lot of free courses too. To start with, not all online course imparts knowledge most of the channels are uploading videos to increase their clicks and impressions to earn money. Their course is not having quality content, it’s just a copy-paste from some other channels. I will recommend these 3 top people from the industry you can’t opt for are,

a. Digital Deepak (Do enroll for a free course and then you can buy some premium courses for specialization. (https://digitaldeepak.com/digitaldeepak-course-certificate/)

b. Sourav Jain (Provide course in Hindi & English) (https://www.soravjain.com/)

c. Neil Patel (https://neilpatel.com/hi/)

It’s apt for

1. Freshers & part-time learners as it’s less costly and also helps you judge which element you want to specialize in.
2. small and medium enterprises who want to promote their products or services
3. Marketing managers and professionals who want to add it in their kitty as it can play a role play in the creation of an overall strategy.

Offline agencies started a parallel vertical in teaching digital marketing and then giving placement in their own agency –

• Digital marketing courses in these institutes start from 70,000/- and can go up to 100,000/-. Those who have decided to make a career in digital marketing right from the beginning and require a classroom environment, one – to – one query solving, and hand-holding. This can be the right stop for you. But in my personal experience, if you are focused, an online course can do justice too. It’s good for people who are freshers as it provides placement at a sty pin but very good for exposure in a real environment. 

• Dedicated institutions like NIIT Imperia, Great Lakes, and so on – It is similar to no. 3, its target audience is generally experienced professionals who have 1-2 years of experience, and the classes are generally conducted virtually on weekends ending it with a physical workshop at the premises. 

So for 1,3 and 4 points – Some institutes provide a certificate with their own brand name which might/might not be valid and only recognized in India. Some provide Google certificates that are valid across the world. I strongly recommend opting for Google certification because it will test your ability in a righteous manner and is difficult to score. Personal certification is comparatively easy, generally, institutes pass everyone and bid farewell as soon as the course is over. But nevertheless, it’s just a recognition, do opt. for live projects parallel to your course and show it as a project on your resume can be more impactful than the certification.

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