The 12 disciplines of digital marketing

Digital marketing as an overall industry has evolved to a place where when you take a step back, it no longer even looks like marketing. Even though the field has become very complex, the understanding of what a marketer is or does has not evolved in TT and is causing major problems in the field.

You don’t need to go far to learn that digital marketing is one of the most misunderstood fields, just go to any job posting site and look at the duties, qualifications and what companies want to pay you to execute these roles. Absolutely nothing is aligned.

I’ve reviewed job postings that essentially tried combining the roles of digital marketing with photography, videography, customer service and want you to be available 24/7 and the compensation was between $5,000-$7,000.

So, let’s break down the 12 disciplines of a digital marketer, and look at some of the salary ranges you should be getting paid. If you are a business owner looking to hire a digital marketer but cannot afford the salaries, I am going to give you some freelancer marketplaces to find people that fit your budget.

Here are the 12 disciplines that a digital marketer is expected to know and have a good understanding of, but they need to specialise in two to four of these areas to help anybody.

1. Digital marketing strategy

2. Paid traffic aka customer acquisition

3. Email marketing

4. Optimisation and testing

5. E-commerce marketing

6. Data and analytics

7. Funnel conversions

8. Search marketing

9. Copywriting

10. Community management

11. Social media

12. Content management

As a digital marketing strategist, you need to know all of these areas to properly help grow a brand in today’s market.

How we sell, where we sell, how we research our market, how we communicate, everything has evolved but in TT, we are still looking to create a static image then run to FB/IG to click the infamous “Boost Post” and then complain when we don’t get the results we want.

We must evolve if we want to grow our businesses!

To learn these skillsets, you can visit online schools like DigitalMarketer.com, Emarketer.com, HubSpot Academy, SEM Rush Academy, and Yoast Academy to name a few resources.

The average salary for a digital marketer per year in the US is US$60,000, in the UK it is £56,000.

Even though there are 12 disciplines that marketers are expected to know, this doesn’t mean that a singular person is performing all these tasks.

You may have an overall digital strategist who is responsible for creating your digital strategy, handling your research, planning your campaigns, and monitoring/measuring your performance but then you have someone who specialises in executing your paid marketing and creating your graphics/videos, SEO optimisations and so forth.

Having one person execute all areas of marketing is not only a recipe for burnout but they will not execute all areas at a high level and your business just won’t grow…Isn’t that point of doing marketing in the first place?

Now, if you cannot afford to hire multiple people to execute the various roles, fear not.

This is why the freelancer market has grown exponentially over the years. You can get professionals at every budget level but most importantly, it gives you access to worldwide talent.

You can visit world-renown platforms like Fiverr, Freelancer.com, Toptal, Upwork and more to find amazing marketers who can help grow your brands.

If you are looking to support locals and want to access top Caribbean freelancers then check out Workii, Wourkly or CheckWi.

Also, if you are a digital marketer and you are getting depressed by the local market salaries and misunderstandings of the industry, I want to remind you that you have one of the most sought-after jobs in the remote working industry.

Feel free to join all of the freelancer platforms, companies around the world will pay you via PayPal or Payoneer, so you won’t run into issues when it comes to receiving payments.

Do not limit yourself to just working within TT, after all, the cost of living is going up but that doesn’t mean you have to wait for the local market to catch up in order to start getting paid your worth today.

Start building your brand, leverage platforms like LinkedIn and start connecting with people who need your services. There is no shortage of opportunities or money when you ply your trade on the internet.

I hope this gives both the business owners and marketers some clarity about the field of digital marketing and I look forward to seeing the field grow in TT.

For more info on building your digital presence, visit KeronRose.com or follow him on IG/LinkedIn/TikTok. Check out the Digipreneur FM podcast on Apple Podcast/Spotify/Google Podcast.

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