Why I Chose to Become an Advanced-Level Digital Marketer – 

And why I Picked UpGrad as the best Partner on This Journey?

In the ever-changing world of marketing today, everything is fast-paced, dynamic, digitally-driven and fiercely competitive. It is quite evident that the businesses without a digital presence stand almost negligible chances of surviving. Let alone growing. Marketing professionals are at the forefront at this crossroads. Especially digital marketers. The convenience and results oriented approach that is made possible via digital marketing cannot be understated. Simply put, Digital Marketing is the need of the hour.

So here’s a little bit about why I decided to pursue an advanced level course on digital marketing and I hope this can help anyone who comes across this post and is confused about taking the step into the world of Digital Marketing. I’m currently working as a Digital Marketing Manager at a FinTech based out of Mumbai, India and will complete 3 years working in this role very soon. Hired into the organization as a fresher, I had extremely basic understanding of just a few concepts that Digital Marketing encapsulated, such as SEO, Paid marketing and Social media advertising. I had a proper eye-opening moment as I realised the amount of activities that are to be undertaken to actually be successful at it. The amount of work that goes into strategizing, implementing and integrating all the various activities is quite simply put, an art in itself. Over these 3 years, I have picked up a good amount of understanding of the various branches under digital marketing. Out of which, my role here has me working seamlessly between SEO, ASO, Performance marketing, Social Media marketing and content marketing. These are the pillars that need to be very strong for me to deliver highly in my job. But apart from this, thanks to the various teams and agencies I have connected with in the past 3 years, I have also gathered a few other useful insights into the magic of digital marketing and how it can benefit businesses and also to what scale.

Some of the key benefits and aspects of it, as per my understanding are endless opportunities, no fixed medium or channels, extreme flexibility, the opportunity to experiment, tweak and run campaigns, creative freedom, measurability of your KPIs, competitor strategy evaluation and the most important one, Future proofing your skills as a Marketer. As technology keeps evolving, the only constant is the ‘art of marketing’. It’s the way of delivering that keeps changing. And that is what I needed to become an expert at. Thus, began the hunt for a suitable avenue through which this could be achieved.

Putting this across in marketing jargon, I went through, as any intelligent consumer would, all the stages of a ‘Consumer buying decision process’. Right from ‘Problem recognition’ to where I’m currently at, the final stage, ‘Post-purchase evaluation’. After months of thorough research and evaluation of the many reputed institutes across the country and all of the courses that they offered, I came across upGrad. One of the last ones on my list of alternatives. It’s obvious, due to the nature of my work from office schedule, I had to opt for a course that was digitally delivered and was completely online. Also, the tutorials or learning sessions, had to be conducted only on the weekends. Thus, upGrad ticked a very essential box for me right away.

A few other key USPs of the course offered by upGrad were as follows:

    1. Associated with MICA, for anyone that knows the reputation of the institute and the kind of history that it has, this was a big plus. Right from the get-go.
    2. upGrad itself has garnered quite the reputation and has always been on my social feeds for a long time. Started observing this slightly more in the post pandemic times.
    3. The digital foundation and counselling sessions that were conducted by the upGrad team were quite extraordinary. They literally go out of the way to explain things to you and help you out in ways that you need.
    4. As a marketing institution, the courses offered by upGrad and MICA are all over the various search engines, which are proof enough to know their understanding of this field and the intricacies of it all.
    5. The availability of a career portal, with in-depth training in searching for jobs and applying for them with the guidance of a dedicated career coach, is another highlight that is very much to be appreciated.
    6. The final and crucial point that really held it’s place for me was the option to specialise in the fields such as AI Generative Search Marketing, Social Media marketing and the various other options they offer. This was absolutely the last bit of persuading that I needed.

 

My experience, now 1 month into the course, has been quite good. This course is articulated, well-paced and is delivered in a way that is suited for the working professional. The core modules give you a very detailed and deep understanding into the various concepts and they also provide a large repository of learning material and resources to the learners. It will compel you to not only think like a marketer, but also act as one. The exposure to the many real-world examples and case studies is really insightful and shapes the way one can apply those learnings to the industry of their own. And finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the professors who are bestowed upon with the responsibility of delivering these lectures to us. They are fabulous. The kind of knowledge and understanding each one of them have of the world of marketing across industries visibly shows in the way that they deliver these classes to us, the learners. 

To any working professionals, regardless of their background in marketing, or the lack thereof, this course could prove to be highly beneficial. With the manner of proceeding of the course to the support from the upGrad team, they have it all integrated seamlessly. Highly recommend!