What Is Marketing? Everything You Need to Know

Digital marketing is vital for businesses as it provides the means to connect with their intended audience online. It fuels business expansion by promoting brand recognition, tapping into fresh audiences, augmenting profits, and creating a strong online reputation.

People with a master’s in digital marketing can work as marketing managers, digital consultants, or events marketing managers. Like many other marketing managers who handle online content, these professionals must possess knowledge of social media, e-commerce, SEO, and internet rules and regulations. Payscale reports that digital marketers earned an average of $74,380 each year as of May 2024.

Content marketing is a tactical approach that entails creating and distributing content, such as blogs or videos, to existing and potential customers. Its importance lies in its ability to foster trust among your audience, position your brand as a leading expert, and offer a competitive edge.

Content marketing operates by drawing in leads, cultivating relationships, and finalizing sales through beneficial content shared at every phase of the sales journey.

Content marketing is vital for search engine optimization, assisting brands to secure higher ranks in search engine results, thereby attracting more organic traffic to their websites. According to Payscale, content marketers made an average of $57,940 annually as of May 2024.

Social media has evolved into a critical marketing tool for businesses, large and small, to influence consumer choices at every step, from initial discovery to active promotion. It’s an effective medium for boosting brand recognition and loyalty — in fact, 94% of industry leaders recognize the beneficial effects of social media marketing, according to the 2023 State of Social Media Report by Sprout Social.

Social media marketing also allows for the analysis of real-time data, allowing businesses to create more robust market positioning. It also plays a vital role in crisis management by enabling businesses to manage risks proactively and resolve issues before they worsen. According to Payscale, these professionals earned an average of $61,470 yearly as of May 2024.

Search engine marketing, often known as SEM, is used to boost the visibility of websites on search engine results pages (SERPs), principally via paid ads. This marketing approach can include elements of SEO, which involves modifying or rewriting the content and structure of a website to gain a superior position on SERPs and improve pay-per-click (PPC) listings.

According to Payscale, search engine marketers and SEO specialists made an average annual salary of $52,510 as of May 2024. The top 10% of these professionals earned more than $68,000 on average. These marketing specialists must stay on top of new developments in social media and keep an eye on market trends.

Product marketing involves developing a strategy to sell a product to its target audience. This includes understanding the competitive landscape, identifying the product’s unique selling proposition, and creating marketing campaigns that highlight the product’s features and benefits.

Product marketing also involves working closely with other teams in the company, such as sales and product development, to ensure that the product is positioned correctly in the market. Product marketing managers earned an average yearly salary of $98,040 as of May 2024, according to Payscale.

Market research is the process of collecting, evaluating, and understanding data about a specific market, a product or service that will be introduced to this market, and the historical, current, and potential buyers of this product or service.

This kind of research assists businesses in identifying what kind of products are in demand, who the potential buyers are, and the prices they are willing to pay. According to the BLS, market research analysts made a median wage of $74,680 as of May 2023.

A degree in marketing can be highly beneficial for those interested in working in business and communication. Marketing degrees provide students with a solid understanding of business activities under the marketing umbrella — from identifying and selecting a target market to developing, pricing, and promoting goods and services.

Graduates with a marketing degree can seek out job opportunities in public relations, market research, sales, advertising, and promotions, making it a versatile choice for those interested in business.

Market research can help businesses understand what types of products people want, who will buy them, and at what price. Market research analysts also look at the past, present, and potential customers for the product or service and research the characteristics, spending habits, location, and needs of the business’s target market.

Search engine optimization, also called SEO, is a technique used in digital marketing to increase a website’s visibility for relevant searches. The better visibility your pages have in search results, the more likely you are to garner attention and attract prospective and existing customers to your business. SEO involves making changes to your website design and content that make your site more attractive to a search engine. Organizations use SEO to help search engines understand the content on their site so that it can be indexed and returned in the results of relevant searches.