Should Digital Marketing be Taught in Colleges?

With the advent of the internet era, a lot of things changed. The education sector is one of the fastest-growing sectors globally and this is why it is important that it stays updated and incorporates the latest practices. 

While digital marketing is a rapidly growing industry and many professionals are switching professions to pursue it, it has still not been included in the curriculum of any university. There are several institutes, online as well as offline that provide digital marketing courses but it has not been taken up as a subject by colleges yet.

What Does a Digital Marketing Course Include?

Simply put, digital marketing refers to the process of marketing goods and/or services using digital forms of media. While this is a very simple definition, digital marketing is made up of various channels that function together in different combinations or all together to help companies or businesses to up their marketing game. 

A properly planned digital marketing course would have the following segments:

1. Intro to Digital Marketing
2. Website Planning and Creation
3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
4. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
5. Social Media Marketing (SMM)
6. Content Strategy
7. Web Analytics
8. Email Marketing
9. Mobile Marketing
10. Design Basics 

These are just the essential segments. Each of these includes many concepts that need to be understood clearly to practice digital marketing effectively. Since there are so many easy online certifications available these days, people are underestimating the complexity of this course.

Should Digital Marketing Be Included in College Curriculums?

While it is easier than an MBA or other Master’s degrees, it does include several concepts that can be taught in a better manner by professionals in a learning environment, rather than an online, pre-recorded session. Classroom teaching will always trump online teaching.

Since digital marketing is expanding at a brisk rate, the number of digital marketing institutes is also increasing at a similar rate. A classic example of demand and supply. At this rate, to monetize on the urgency of the people to learn the skills that make a digital marketer, quality is being compromised. 

Even the institutes that are genuinely concerned about imparting quality knowledge, are being looked at with skepticism. Therefore doing proper research, before choosing where you’ll be learning digital marketing from, is vital.

If colleges were to start incorporating digital marketing in their curriculum, this problem would be solved to a certain degree. This is because the students will be taught the concepts at a pace which will help them in getting a deeper understanding of the subject. This will only help them in the long run, if they choose to be a digital marketer. 

Further, by not including digital marketing in their curriculum, colleges are doing themselves a disservice as the demand for people with that particular skill set is only rising each day. If they start including it in their curriculum, it will lead to a surge in enrollments for sure. 

Reasons Why It Should Be Included:

The primary reasons why providing a digital marketing education in college is a good idea are:

Students Will Stay Updated with the Latest Trends in Marketing

We all have come to understand that traditional marketing is fast being replaced by the new methods of marketing, or digital marketing. There is a shift that’s taking place but this does not mean that marketing is going anywhere. 

While billboards and TV ads can’t just be done away with completely, they are not as effective as they once were. This is because the audience is changing their preferred choice of media. And this is where digital marketing comes in. Studying it, therefore, will ensure that the students are learning about the latest techniques in marketing. 

Targeted Marketing Is a Highly Effective Form of Marketing

Social media has taken over the lives of the younger generation globally, and this has led to the drastic decline in the TV viewership ratings for that particular demographic. This is because they are now watching videos online, especially on YouTube.

With the help of digital marketing, they can learn to use this information to their benefit by doing target marketing that has proven to be highly effective. Target marketing is an integral part of online marketing, and by studying it, they will be able to practice it better and thus, be privy to advanced techniques of marketing. 

They Will be Developing Many Skills Simultaneously

Since digital marketing consists of multiple channels, students who choose to pursue this subject get to develop a lot of skills. From enhancing their creativity, analytical skills as well as interpersonal skills, digital marketing has a lot to teach.

Essentially what we mean to say that studying digital marketing would not just be good for their careers, but it will also help them in developing strong and confident personalities. Digital marketers are highly skilled and multi-faceted professionals and becoming one will, therefore, add a lot of quality to the students’ personal lives as well.

Why Is Digital Marketing a Great Career Choice?

Digital marketing is open for all. People from all walks of life and at any stage of their career can pursue it. It is an excellent career option since people can go in with a clean slate, just a school education, and come out with an arsenal of skills that are highly in demand.

Just imagine, over $50 billion was spent on digital advertising last year and this figure is only growing. Digital marketing is now impacting every industry out there and is currently among the most profitable professions out there. 

Conclusion

The online form of marketing can be developed into so much more than just a certificate course, which it is currently. By studying the various strategies, trends, tools, and everything else under the digital marketing umbrella in-depth, future marketers will be much better equipped to deal with the upcoming challenges. Therefore, it is high time that college evolves and works on developing this highly in-demand subject. 

For more such content, don’t forget to check out Simpliskills Blog section. Further, also go over the various courses that we offer and take your first step towards becoming a digital marketer.

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