Digital marketing involves promoting products and services via the Internet using digital channels and in it career roadmap of digital marketing so high. As a digital marketer, you enter into a space that requires you to create effective and powerful marketing campaigns. These campaigns can be for any digital platforms, including emails, websites, social media, etc.
Pursuing a digital marketing career paves the way for ample opportunities. You can work as a freelancer, join an agency, or work for a company as a marketing expert. No wonder that the field is gaining immense popularity among aspirants and professionals. Another reason that digital marketing is considered a promising career is that it is multifaceted and rewarding. It combines human psychology, strategy, analysis, creativity, and deep knowledge of market trends and technologies.
Those who are wondering, ‘how do I become a digital marketer?’ must possess the right balance of skills and dedication. Moreover, they must have proficiency in engaging online audiences, creating eye-catching campaigns, and converting leads into loyal customers.
In this blog, we will discuss digital marketers roadmap, sharing a step-by-step guide to making a secure career in the industry.
Who is a Digital Marketer?
Digital marketers directly or indirectly promote and advertise brands and products online. They create effective digital marketing strategies with a primary focus on a distinct Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for each digital channel. This allows companies to measure their performance across different platforms and take appropriate measures for better results.
Why Get Into Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is a fun and exciting yet challenging and competitive field. There is always much to learn and experiment with since trends shift and new technologies emerge at breakneck speeds. The digital marketing industry has become increasingly competitive over the years, which is good news as this means plenty of opportunities exist. However, one has to be equipped with the right skill sets and be willing to work very hard to progress far in this field.
Experienced digital marketers are highly sought after and can easily apply for positions across different industry sectors. However, there seems to still be difficulties in hiring skilled digital marketers attributable to the rapid evolution in digital technology according to The Drum.
As Roy Wee, Digital Director at Raffles Medical Group highlighted:
“One should aim to cross over to different industries throughout his/her career while still seeking roles in digital marketing. A digital marketing professional working in the health sector for more than a decade may find it harder to secure a digital marketing role in a different industry compared to another who had transitioned across three different industries over the same period.”
A career in the digital marketing can be a lucrative one with high flying executives earning over S$180,000 to S$216,000 per annum. digital marketing salaries start from S$2,700 – $4,000 as a digital marketing executive and can rise to $5,000 – $9,000 for managerial roles.
What are the best digital marketing career paths in 2025?
If you’re looking for a career in digital marketing, the good news is that there are plenty of rewarding roles and paths to consider.
1. Social media manager
Social Media Manager jobs are expected to grow by 10% between now and 2028 anager is responsible for creating a targeted content strategy for a brand’s various social media channels. This role also commands analytical skills as you have to measure and monitor campaign performance across channels while identifying potential growth opportunities.
So if you like interacting with people on social media and you’re both creative and analytical, this may be the role for you.
Key duties:
- Create relevant and meaningful content for specific audiences for a variety of social media channels including Instagram, X, Facebook, Threads, and TikTok.
- Regularly monitor social media analytics to measure performance, identify patterns or trends, and evolve your strategy to meet your audiences’ needs.
- Develop socila with other digital marketing stakeholders to promote specific campaigns, services or products.
- Schedule social posts and manage a content creation calendar to ensure a consistent presence across social media channels.
- Regularly engage and interact with your audience to increase engagement, cultivate a community, and build trust.
2. Email marketing specialist
Email marketing is one of the longest-standing forms of digital marketing and it’s still one of the most effective. Why? It’s because email marketing can be easily personalized and deliver value-driven content directly to your prospects’ or customers’ inbox.
An email marketing specialist is responsible for everything ‘email’, including campaign development, email content creation, sourcing visuals, tracking performance data, and creating automated workflows for nurturing customers (and earning sales!).
If you’re a good communicator (and quick writer!), fascinated by automated technology, believe in the value of data-driven marketing, and are persuasive, this may be the digital marketing career path for you.
Key duties:
- Create and develop a brand or business’s email marketing strategy.
- Put together campaign concepts and implement them.
- Manage email marketing lists and segment subscribers into relevant audience groups based on demographics, interests, buying behavoirs or engagement levels.
- Track analytics to monitor performance and identify ways to improve content or strategy.
- Use A/B testing to optimize your content creation efforts for the best possible results.
- Manage platform integrations, automations, and workflows to improve efficiency and earn the best return on investment (ROI) from your email marketing efforts.
3. SEO specialist
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a vital branch of digital marketing as it involves activities and strategies that will make a brand more visible for relevant search terms on Google and other search engines.
The world of SEO is ever-evolving – especially with the rise of AI Search – so as an SEO specialist, you have to keep your finger well and truly on the pulse.
While SEO strategies are constantly changing, the value of search engine optimization in helping to rank content and boost brand visibility remains. As such, it’s an in-demand digital marketing career path.
If you’re someone who loves to keep on top of the latest digital marketing trends, have a keen eye for detail, like data, and are adaptable, being a SEO specialist could be the right move.
Key duties:
- Conduct on-site and off-site analysis to gain intelligence on your competitors.
- Use data platforms like Google Analytics (GA4) to collect valuable insights and build performance reports.
- Help create, curate, and develop informative, authoritative, and engaging SEO-optimized content.
- Create on-site and off-site SEO strategies for brands and businesses.
- Contribute to the company blog, and play a pivotal role in the development and delivery of the company’s key marketing campaigns.
- Conduct in-depth keyword research in line with the latest keyword strategies.
- Keep up to date with the most recent trends and developments in search marketing.
- Understand and respond to consistent Google algorithm changes.
- Build relationships with relevant industry influencers and maintain a company’s link portfolio.
- Integrate your SEO strategy with paid marketing and paid search campaigns to create maximum impact.
4. Content marketing manager
Content marketing is more valuable than ever. To cut through the noise online, brands are investing in specialists who can push creative boundaries, develop content that offers value, and brings a brand to life.
As a content marketing manager, you’ll play a vital role in shaping a brand’s online presence. You’ll be responsible for developing targeted ideas and creating a variety of content types (blog posts, whitepapers, infographics, thought-leadership articles, etc.) while overseeing the entire content strategy.
So if you’re incredibly creative, brimming with ideas, have solid writing skills, can use prompts on AI tools like ChatGPT, and the will to learn the intricacies of data-driven marketing and SEO writing, you can become a successful content marketing manager.
Key duties:
- Develop content strategies aligned with the brand’s short- and long-term marketing targets.
- Create and publish engaging content for specific audiences on a consistent basis.
- Take responsibility for updating a brand’s content style and tone of voice (TOV) guidelines.
- Edit, proofread, and improve content (internal and freelancers) and help to develop their content skills.
- Collaborate with other content producers within the business to ensure brand consistency across channels and touchpoints.
- Help optimize and update content according to SEO best practices.
- Use digital tools to analyze website traffic, improve content production processes, and increase user engagement.
- Create and update an editorial calendar to ensure your team consistently produces and publishes high-quality content.
- Lead content campaigns and collaborate with other departments to ensure the successful delivery of various assets and initiatives.
- Ensure content is compliant in areas such as copyright law and data protection.
- Research industry news and trends and share insights with your team on a regular basis to stay ahead of the curve.
5. Digital marketing manager
The role of a digital marketing manager is extensive as it covers all of a brand’s promotional activities online.
As a digital marketing manager, you’ll be responsible for overseeing performance for every single digital marketing activity and ensuring all channels work together to drive consistent ROI across the board.
The role of a digital marketing manager is varied and rewarding – but it’s a big responsibility. You’ll need to have a firm grasp of all digital marketing skills and competencies (including the ones featured in this guide) to be a successful digital marketing manager.
Key duties:
- Create strategies and plans that involve driving growth, engagement, and visibility across every digital marketing channel.
- Develop omnichannel marketing campaigns that drive revenue, improve brand awareness, and deliver a consistently healthy ROI.
- Liaise with senior decision-makers as well as sales and marketing professionals to demonstrate the value of efforts and delegate work to the right people at the right time.
- Analyze performance metrics across channels to discover fresh opportunities for growth and drive the business forward.
- Keep up to date with industry trends and share them with the rest of your team to ensure you stay responsive, relevant, and successful in an increasingly competitive landscape.
6. Paid ads specialist
Paid advertising is a vital part of any solid digital marketing campaign as with the right approach, it offers an excellent ROI. If you master the art of pay-per-click (PPC) and paid social advertising, you can enjoy a rewarding career.
A paid ads specialist is responsible for using a mix of creative and analytics strategies to target specific audiences and drive awareness, engagement or sales. There are lots of platforms to master as a paid ads specialist, including Meta, Google Ads, TikTok, and Amazon Ads along with learning how to master programmatic advertising.
If you’re a keen learner, you have excellent planning skills, you can manage budgets effectively, and you have creative flair, being a paid ads specialist could be for you.
Key duties:
- Develop paid ad strategies across platforms that align with key business goals and campaigns.
- Create eye-catching ad visuals and copy that commands attention, inspires action, and converts.
- Set up and manage search, display, shopping, video, and remarketing campaigns.
- Optimize ad targeting efforts, bidding strategies, and audience segmentation.
- Carry out A/B testing to optimize ads for the results in terms of engagement conversions, and return on ad spend (ROAS).
- Track and analyze ad performance across platforms including Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, conversion tracking pixels, and social media metrics.
- Formulate retargeting and remarketing campaigns to re-engage specific audience segments and inspire them to invest in your brand or business.
7. AI marketing specialist
The adoption of Artificial intelligence (AI) is on the rise. In fact, 92% of businesses across sectors plan to invest in generative AI tools over the next three years, according to research by McKinsey.
In addition to generative AI tools, businesses are also using AI marketing tools and platforms to streamline processes and automate certain marketing tasks including audience segmentation and email marketing workflows. AI agents are also starting to make their capabilities known.
As a digital marketer, it’s important to embrace AI and use it to complement your efforts. If you’re interested in AI, it could make a solid career path for digital marketing. As AI adoption continues to spread, companies are keen to hire AI marketing specialists to improve productivity and increase innovation across channels.
As this role is constantly evolving, it can be hard to say exactly what’s involved as it could change tomorrow. . But, the core duties of an AI marketing specialist include leveraging AI tools to improve all digital marketing processes while providing in-house support and training.
You’ll also be responsible for using (and even training) generative AI engines like ChatGPT to produce high-quality briefs and guides for marketers within an organization.
These are the core duties of an AI marketing specialist, but as it promises to be such an important role in the near future – the scope of it is enormous.
FAQs about How to Become a Digital Marketer
Do I need a degree to become a digital marketer?
You don’t need any specific degree to be a digital marketer. However, enroll in a trusted digital marketing course to get an industry-recognized certificate and validate your capability as a digital marketer.
What skills are required to become a successful digital marketer?
Key technical skills of a digital marketer are content marketing, social media marketing, SEO, PPC ads, email marketing, analytics, and the basics of graphic design. Soft skills include communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and creativity.
Can I learn digital marketing on my own?
You can use various online resources to learn marketing on your own. Read SEO blogs (WsCube Tech, Search Engine Journal, Moz), watch YouTube tutorials, practice through real-world projects, use digital marketing tools (SEMRush, Ahrefs, Google Analytics), and run small campaigns.
What qualifications do I need to become a digital marketer?
You don’t need any specific qualification or degree to be a digital marketer. However, we recommend getting certifications in digital marketing, Google Ads, and other specializations to validate your skills.
How long does it take to become a digital marketer?
The duration required to become a digital marketer depends on your learning pace and practice. If you are regular with your practice and learning, it would take 3-6 months, and if you want to master advanced digital marketing skills and tools, you would need 6-12 months of hands-on experience.