Usually someone graduating from college, would have the basic knowledge needed to do a job in their field. Say a marketing graduate back in 2001, had learned the basics of marketing. The important ideas about the Four Ps and decent information about marketing planning and research. Ideally in a marketing major, a student would learn about planning, communication, product marketing, research and consumer insights, and distribution. Back then that was enough to get a job in marketing. Particularly if the student has good communication skills. The marketing industry was all about print, TV, and point of sale (retail). That was decades ago, and it wouldn’t fit now, at least for 90% of businesses and soon wouldn’t fit at all, as everything is going digital.
So, what does a marketing student need to know to be fit for today’s opportunities in the market?
Talking about the best courses and programs for graduates brings me to two main principles. First, the big picture, the market shift and consumer behavior changes. It is not weird nor abnormal to order your food online 5 days a week. Also, it is so normal to get your nails done sitting on your sofa watching your favorite show on your iPad. These small negligible realities are the resulting effects of the digital transformation in services. Hence a future professional marketer needs to be ready with the tools and skills to fit in. Then you need to know what tools and skills you require to be relevant in the job market. This brings me to the second point, the required skills. This is a bit tricky because it is not enough to learn, but you also adapt to and endorse fully. I would start with a positive mindset and openness to change. Without these you can’t change, so you will not be suitable enough to be hired. If we look at a tool used for marketing, like Google analytics (Google Analytics is a reporting tool to show the behavior of your website visitors). This tool keeps evolving and changing so often, that if you don’t keep up with the updates then it would be tough for you to use it and make sense of the data shown there. The matter of fact is, this is an ever changing and evolving domain. For this reason, I said, “keep a positive and open mindset to change” Nothing will stay the same “aren’t we all!”. That is true as well.
Digital marketing, digital selling, digital PR, digital customer service (the fancy name is digital experience), and other services are becoming digital. Digital means (numbers based). Let’s look at this, Sarah is a talent acquisition at Nestle, and her report has the following data (total applied 1000 applicants, total screened 900, total had first interviews 20, total hired 4). She works in Talent acquisition (recruitment) she is not in sales nor marketing, yet her work is based on numbers. To understand numbers and manage them and be relevant in marketing, you need to have the following skills:
1- Good understanding of Excel and data reporting.
2- Planning, setting goals and forecasts.
3- Analyst digital consumer behavior.
4- Research.
5- Experienced with common tools like web analytics, social media analytics, CRM analytics.
Don’t be scared, these are just to start, there are more. You can learn them all, and that makes more sense when they are based on comprehensive business requirements. Yet, first you need to learn the main concepts and terminologies in digital marketing. Then you will be able to understand the whole cycle and how marketing in the digital world helps the business strive. Digital marketing generic framework functions as the core engine for other business components. Think of it as the main Lego block and other things can be plugged into it.
I would say (the CDMP program is a good fit to make you fit) in the market. It has the generic digital marketing framework to teach you the main components and the areas that you need to focus on to grow. It is a comprehensive program that helps you understand digital marketing and how do you navigate through it. Consider enrolling in the next batch.