Youtube is a great platform not only for entertainment but also for gaining knowledge. Almost 5 million videos are watched on Youtube every single day. There are various categories in Youtube. It provides a great range of videos for free of cost learning.

Digital marketing courses are quite a bit expensive not everybody can afford to learn digital marketing from high-end institutes. For people like this, Youtube can really be a boon and a great resource to learn digital marketing for free.

There are several YouTube channels that teach users everything about digital marketing, from SEO, high quality leads, social media strategy, networking advice, marketing, business growth, and every detail of digital marketing.

Amidst these number of channels, some individuals still have the concern as to whether the Youtube platform can provide A to Z in digital marketing and is worth to subscribe. Let’s find out together.

• Which YouTube Channel is Best for Learning Digital Marketing?
• Is YouTube Part of Digital Marketing?
• What is the Best Way to Learn Digital Marketing?
• How is YouTube Used in Digital Marketing?
• Can we Learn Digital Marketing at Home?
• Who is Eligible for Digital Marketing Course?
• How can I Earn Through YouTube?
• Why Should you Use YouTube for Digital Marketing?
• Is Digital Marketing Hard to Learn?

Which YouTube Channel is Best for Learning Digital Marketing?

The following are some of the most popular and insightful YouTube channels that will enable you to learn the concepts of digital marketing for free:

1. GARY VAYNERCHUK

GARY VAYNERCHUK has a youtube channel named GARYVEE of about 1.3M subscribers. He is a serial entrepreneur and CEO, founder of VAYNERMEDIA which is a digital agency servicing Fortune 500 clients across companies for locations.

Read Also: How to Get a Google Ads Certification

Gary is also a prolific public speaker venture capitalist, 4-time New York’s best selling author and has been named to both Crain’s and fortune’s 40 under 40 lists. His youtube channel not only consists of teaching videos of marketing but also about life, his fun rants about marketing. He also asks for people’s poll on what to make videos about.

2. JAY BAER

Jay bear is an internet pioneer, an entrepreneur and New York’s Times best selling author. He has advised with more than 700 companies since 1994 including Caterpillar, Nike, Allstate and 35 FORTUNE 500. He is the founder of Convince and Convert, a strategy consulting firm that helps prominent companies gain and keep more customers through technology, social media.

His blog about content marketing has taken 1st place. He has started the youtube channel named “JAY BEAR” on 18th nov 2008. He presently has 6587 subscribers and has posted more than 100 videos.

3. KIMBERLY ANN  JIMENEZ

She is a social media marketing consultant. She has a youtube channel in which she teaches the users to learn social media marketing strategies. Her channel is named by her own name”KIMBERLY ANN JIMENEZ” and has 26124 subscribers. She started posting the videos from March 2012. Her first video was on 30 March 2012.

4. DIGITAL MARKETING INSTITUTE

It is a global certification standard in digital marketing education. They have many branches all over the world. They also have branches in Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai etc. it works with global inputs and provides their students with the higher qualification and skills required for present digital marketers.

They have also started teaching students online. Their youtube channel contains the videos with great digital marketers and their talks about present marketing. They have about 7000 subscribers and joined youtube in 6th June 2009.

5. Moz Youtube Channel

It is a marketing analytics software. The Moz youtube channel has about 43K subscribers. It has many videos about SEO related. It provides many tips that help you improve your knowledge about search engine optimization. It is stated as the best online marketing community. The youtube channel has started posting since 2012. It helps the users to level up their optimization and search engine skills. It is a great platform for the beginners to learn all about SEO.

6. Neil Patel

He has posted  237 videos and has about 107,355 subscribers. He is a social marketing consultant. He is also a New York’s best selling author and a top influencer on the web. He is also one of the top 10 marketers, according to the Forbes. He shares his knowledge about the marketing skills, SEO, increasing of traffic for your blogs etc in such a simple way. He is a co-founder of crazy egg, hello bar and KISSmetrics. He helps companies like Amazon, NBC, GM, HP to grow their revenue.

7. HUBSPOT

It is a youtube channel that explains the viewers with marketing and sales. The channel has around 49k subscribers and posted 1144 videos. HubSpot provides tips and tricks for success and growth in the marketing field. It not only gives information about marketing but also about artificial intelligence, the internet of things, and every other field. HubSpot shares customer success stories even to inspire viewers.

8. WSCUBE TECH

There are also Indian youtube channels that help us learn about digital marketing in our very own language. It is an institute situated in Jodhpur that also provides online videos. WSCUBE has 117 videos and 19k subscribers. It has videos like SEO, social media optimization(SMO), ad campaigns, marketing with social sites like Facebook, Google webmaster, email marketing, off page optimization, search engine working, content marketing etc.

9. SEMRush

It is a powerful and versatile competitive intelligence suite for online marketing tool. It also runs a youtube channel which has posted 990 videos with the background of 19,436 subscribers. They provide the information about video tutorials, webinars, tips and more about the digital marketing. It is an all-in-one digital marketing platform. It mainly focuses on the topics like SEO, content strategy, social marketing, PPC. It also conducts live site audit with famous marketers.

10. JON LOOMER

JON LOOMER DIGITAL” is a channel that mainly focuses on Facebook marketing that helps advanced marketers. It all started in 2007, he used a lot of Facebook for business purposes while with the NBA. he then went on his own at the end of 2011 and started his own blog on social media marketing. He teaches all about Facebook marketing that includes how to create custom conversions, how to add targeted locations in bulk, how to use clicks to conversion Facebook ad optimization.

Is YouTube Part of Digital Marketing?

Online videos have been grabbing attention for quite some time now, and they have a significant influence on the digital audience. YouTube is the world’s 2^nd largest popular website, right after Google, surely has a huge and diverse audience offering great opportunities for marketers. With billions of active users, YouTube certainly serves as a valuable and robust tool for digital marketing.

YouTube has also surpassed the popularity of any cable TV network, with a vast majority of today’s generation spending time on the platform. Even online video ads are getting more attention than TV ads. With so much viewership, isn’t YouTube a perfect place to strengthen your business with customer communication, brand building, and business promotion?

Many marketers have understood the power of video and have embraced YouTube marketing as an effective tool for their digital marketing mix.

YouTube marketing is a strategy that involves a powerful mix of tactics for promoting products/services or brands. This includes the creation and uploading of promotional videos on the company’s YouTube channel, working with influencers and using YouTube’s advertisements, etc.

YouTube fascinates users of all ages. Videos have more influencing power as they gain more attention spans. Also, videos can be an effective means to simplify and explain complex ideas. Thus promoting your brand and business and creating awareness about products and services through useful content is more beneficial through YouTube. Creating detailed tutorials, guides, lessons, HowTo videos, review videos, live streaming, and advertisements can help achieve greater exposure and thus more customers and thus rank high in rankings as well.

To start your journey in YouTube marketing you will have to first create an account and promote your channel.

What is the Best Way to Learn Digital Marketing?

You can either opt for a paid way to learn digital marketing or you can also learn digital marketing free. If you are a newbie in digital marketing, then go for the paid way; if you already know the basics of digital marketing, you can also learn digital marketing with google. 

Start your own blog

One of the best ways to get in-depth knowledge about digital marketing is by starting your own blog and learning from your own experience. When you start your blog, you’ll learn things like SEO, social media marketing, WordPress, and many other digital marketing aspects.

When you start your own blog, you’ll get hands-on experience in various aspects of digital marketing. Initially, things will be difficult, but as you put in your efforts and hard work, you’ll enjoy the process.

Apart from this, a blog can also help you earn money online, live a boss-free life, work from anywhere, and travel the world while making money. 

Enroll in paid digital marketing courses

Next to blogging, you can also learn digital marketing by enrolling in a paid digital marketing course. Today, if you search on the internet, then you’ll find a plethora of offline digital marketing courses and you can also learn digital marketing online.

You need to select any one of the courses and start your digital marketing journey.

The paid digital marketing course will give you practical knowledge and help you with placement assistance. At the end of the course, you’ll also be eligible to get various digital marketing certificates that can add value to your resume.

Read digital marketing books

If you don’t want to spend too much money on a paid digital marketing course, then you also buy digital marketing books at a much cheaper rate and start reading them.

Books won’t give you much practical knowledge, but they are a great tool to start your digital marketing journey

To start with, you can either buy a full-stack digital marketing book that covers the A-Z of digital marketing. You can also purchase various books on digital marketing topics like SEO, social media marketing, WordPress, and much more.

Read digital marketing blogs

Hands down, one of the best ways to learn digital marketing free is to read blogs on the internet. Reading blogs will not only help you in learning digital marketing, but it would also keep updated on the latest happenings in the world of online marketing.

Several digital marketing blogs are floating on the internet. However, you don’t need to read all of them.

It would be best to bookmark a few digital marketing blogs and read them twice or thrice a week. This would surely help you in learning digital marketing.

Apart from this, reading blogs would also enhance your vocabulary, especially if you are from a non-native English speaking country.

Watch videos on YouTube

If you are truly serious about learning digital marketing, then YouTube is the place to be. On YouTube, you’ll find so many channels that are solely into digital marketing. Trust me; if you follow those channels and watch their videos for a month or two, then no can stop you from becoming a digital marketing expert.

In my opinion, digital marketing videos on YouTube are far better than reading blogs and enrolling in paid courses.

So, go to YouTube and just type “digital marketing” in the search box. Within seconds, you’ll come across thousands of high-quality lectures and videos.

Do an internship

If you are serious about making your career in digital marketing, you must do a digital marketing internship. There are many reputed and award-winning digital marketing companies across the world. You need to select a few companies and apply for the internship.

I would say, even if it is a non-paid internship, you should go for it.

A digital marketing internship would help you in understanding how the online marketing ecosystem works. It would also help you in getting hands-on experience.

Moreover, you’ll also be working under the supervision of a digital marketing expert. Hence, it will be a complete win-win situation for you. After completing your internship, you may also get a high paying job offer.

You can also look for internship opportunities on:

• LinkedIn.
• Indeed.com
• Monster.com and many other job portals.

How is YouTube Used in Digital Marketing?

Since YouTube’s 22.8 billion visits a month make it the second most visited site in the world after Google, it’s able to bring many benefits to businesses nowadays. The platform isn’t just a famous entertaining channel but a powerful marketing tool, and companies can develop YouTube channels for advertising. YouTube channels help get more views from new geographics, promote a product or a company, build a large customer base, and increase a brand’s sales volume.

YouTube is also a famous educational platform. Companies can achieve greater exposure, which expands their customer base. By making detailed tutorials, live streams, guides, and lessons, brands can rank higher on Google. Running ads is another reason companies use the online video-sharing platform since it helps brands reach a wider audience and obtain new customers. Moreover, it’s much cheaper than paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram.

YouTube provides businesses with countless opportunities. With its massive base of users, companies can effectively promote their products.

Let’s find out how to create a YouTube marketing strategy and implement it for your brand.

1. Create a channel on YouTube. To create a channel, you can make use of your regular Google account. However, you’ll be the only person who can log in. If you need an account that allows several users to access it simultaneously, you should start a brand account. With its help, you can start several channels on YouTube.
2. Research your target audience. Before creating videos, you need to analyze your YouTube demographics. Explore your target audience’s location, age, and viewing preferences to meet users’ needs. Based on your target audience’s wants and needs, you’ll be able to create helpful content. Gather all the essential information about the videos people like to watch the most. In case you already have a business account on YouTube, explore its analytics. It will give you more insights into your audience’s preferences. Analyze the comments, ask questions, or create a poll to discover more about your subscribers’ interests and wishes.
3. Conduct competitive analysis. YouTube is a large platform with many business accounts worldwide, and the competition is high. By analyzing your business rivals, you have a chance to determine the opportunities your channel has. First, identify your 3-5 most successful competitors. To do it, you can leverage keyword tools to see which brands have the highest ranking based on keywords related to your industry. Pay attention to their metrics, titles, descriptions, and comments under videos to find helpful information and inspiration. Second, you should determine your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, and a SWOT analysis will help you do it.
4. Create videos based on the YouTube algorithm. YouTube has its own ranking algorithm. If you want to rank high, you should create recognizable thumbnails (your videos’ snapshots), optimize your titles and descriptions, and use keywords. It will help you have priority over other channels and videos as well as obtain more views. To write a strong title, include the appropriate keywords. Open YouTube Analytics to find these words and phrases, and add them to your titles. Make sure to use the keywords at the beginning. Apart from that, write a title that includes 60 or fewer characters. You should use the most critical keywords in your description to write a summary of your video. To motivate users to take the desired action, add CTAs in the form of a card, end screen, watermark, or bumper ad. Finally, encourage people to like, comment, subscribe, and share.
5. Start uploading content to your channel. Create a schedule to upload your videos on time. This way, viewers will know when the new video is coming up. Ensure to choose the day and time with the highest level of engagement and views. If you’ve already uploaded some videos, you can check the analytics to define the most appropriate date for uploading new videos.
6. Provide all the necessary information on your channel. To simplify the search, you need to optimize your channel. There are several steps you should consider to enable users to find you faster. Firstly, complete your profile. Make sure to fill in the channel description, upload your logo, and make use of channel art. Besides, you can also add your other channels or resources subscribers might find helpful. Secondly, make sure that your channel contains links to your website and social media profiles. Thirdly, create a trailer for your YouTube channel to introduce your company to viewers and educate them about your product. Communicate your brand statement and explain to users why they should subscribe to your channel.
7. Promote your videos. Your videos can gain exposure if their titles include relevant keywords. Consider creating accounts on different social media with quality and interesting videos. It will drive more attention and encourage word-of-mouth promotion. There are many different effective ways to inform your subscribers about new content on your channel. With SendPulse, you can create a list of subscribers and schedule an email send-out notifying users about new company videos.
8. Consider influencer marketing. Opinion leaders have a vast number of followers who might be interested in your product. It’s always a good idea to contact influencers who work in the same niche and are ready to promote your company and products. You can offer them to cooperate since 49% of customers trust the recommendations of influencers.
9. Measure your success. Once you upload your first video, it’s necessary to track your progress. This way, you’ll be aware of your accolades and failures. YouTube Analytics will simplify this process. Open it to see the changes in the number of subscribers, audience demographics, traffic sources, and device reports. The information you receive will help your channel move forward. By knowing more about your viewers, you’ll be able to improve your content and meet their needs.

Now that you are familiar with the process of developing a YouTube strategy, it’s time to explore the most effective tools to implement it.

Can we Learn Digital Marketing at Home?

It requires a lot of reading and hours of practice to learn how each of the techniques works individually and how you can combine them together for maximum results.

The good news is that you can use the resources above to learn digital marketing at home and for Free. All you need is a willingness to learn and a lot of patience.

To make the process easier for you, follow the tips below:

• Start with SEO. Many of the concepts used by PPC, content marketing, and social media marketing are based on SEO principles. Building your SEO skills first will make it easier to learn the rest.
• Practice, Practice, Practice. Internet marketing is not a theoretical concept but it’s mostly practical. Once you understand the theory behind a strategy, try to execute it in practice. Monitor the results, optimize them, and learn from your mistakes.
• Get Certified. As you progress through your learning, try to get certified. It’s a great way to showcase your expertise. In the above resources, you will find links to online courses that offer a certificate upon completion.
• Work with experienced Digital Marketers. Aim to work under the supervision of experienced digital marketers. They can make the transition from theory to practice easier and you can learn a few tips and tricks not written in any books or courses.
• Start your own digital marketing blog. Having your own marketing blog will help you practice what you have learned and prove your expertise. Also, when you start writing about digital marketing, you can assess how well you know a topic or not.
• Never stop learning. Digital marketing is an industry that changes all the time and learning never stops. It’s your job as a digital marketing professional to stay in sync with the latest developments and keep your clients informed.

Who is Eligible for Digital Marketing Course?

With the types of digital marketing courses you choose, the eligibility criteria would vary. Generally, for taking up a digital marketing course from a reputable institute you must have completed your graduation at least.

Essentially, for undertaking the online courses offered by Indian institutions and universities, the Indian applicants must have graduated (10+2+3) from a recognized educational institution/university in any discipline. Similarly, international applicants must have completed their graduation or an equivalent degree from a recognized institution or university in their respective country.

As far as digital marketing courses are concerned, there are no restrictions on the stream/discipline of study. Therefore, it is not essential for you to be a marketing and commerce graduate to pursue a digital marketing course. Whether you are an IT graduate or an entrepreneur or an engineer or anyone who is interested in developing a career in digital marketing, you are eligible to enrol for a digital marketing course.

Some of the courses are only for working professionals or interns from any field or industry and not for graduates or freshers. Such courses require a couple of years of work experience which is usually waived for MBA graduates. However, most of the digital marketing courses do not have work experience as their eligibility criterion.

How can I Earn Through YouTube?

1. Reach 1K subscribers and apply for the YouTube Partner Program

Let’s get this one out of the way first. The biggest hurdle to joining the YouTube Partner Program is surpassing the 1,000-subscriber threshold. Once you do, it opens the door to earning advertising revenue.

A few additional requirements apply before you can become a partner:

• Your videos must abide by the site’s advertising guidelines and have more than 4,000 valid public watch hours within the last 12 months.
• You must live in an eligible area.
• You need to link a Google AdSense account.

Once you meet the requirements, you can apply by clicking into your profile and navigating to the “monetization” section.

As a partner, you can earn money through ads, membership perks and features like Super Chat, which lets viewers pay to have their messages highlighted during a live stream.

2. Become an affiliate marketer

Affiliate marketing might be the most practical way to monetize your YouTube traffic, especially if you plan to make product review videos. It works like this:

• You find a company or seller with an affiliate program, such as Amazon Associates, and apply to join.
• Once accepted, you’ll use their process to create custom links to products you plan to feature in your videos.
• Demo, review or make reference to the products in your YouTube videos, and paste your custom affiliate marketing link(s) in the description field when you upload.

As an affiliate of a brand, you’ll earn a commission when a viewer clicks your custom link and purchases the product.

While Amazon Associates is a great way to make money on Amazon, endless other opportunities exist. Search on affiliate marketing sites such as ShareASale and ClickBank for possible corporate partners and products to feature. You can also search your favorite brands’ websites for information on how to become an affiliate straight from the source.

Don’t forget to properly notify your viewers about your affiliation with the brand or brands featured, and be sure to point them to the “link in the description” when you shoot your video.

3. Create sponsored content through brand deals

Landing a brand deal, also a form of affiliate marketing, is another way to get paid on YouTube: Companies interested in your channel’s audience might sponsor your videos or offer you product placement deals in exchange for a shoutout.

The operative word here is “audience,” which means these types of deals are more likely to present themselves when you develop a following. As your channel grows, you can contact the brands you’d like to work with directly, or use resources like the aforementioned affiliate marketing sites to find corporate partners that complement your style of content.

With brand deals, you can receive lump sum payments, earn commission on a per-sale basis or get the product or service for free.

Keep in mind: If you do have an endorsement or use product placement in a video, you must notify YouTube by ticking a box in the advanced settings tab of your video manager to indicate your video contains paid promotion.

4. Create and sell your own product or merchandise

If you have merchandise or offer a service that’s relevant to your audience, let them know about it and provide links in your videos. For example, creator Marques Brownlee, of popular tech review channel MKBHD, leaves a link to his own line of T-shirts and accessories in every video he posts.

Selling a physical product might require you to buy materials or find a manufacturer, but you can also sell downloadables such as e-books, art prints or virtual classes. Have a secure payment system in place before you advertise your goods.

Incentive to sell: While creating your own products can be a lot harder than pitching those of other companies, you could stand to make more money this way, since you’ll keep the bulk of your proceeds as the product owner.

5. Turn to crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is another monetization method you can use to keep your channel going. There are two primary types of crowdfunding: recurring and project-based. In the former, which is better suited for content creators, fans of the channel pay a small subscription fee for perks and/or an exclusive tier of access.

More subscribers means more revenue. Incentives such as one-on-one video chats, private classes or merchandise can entice viewers to sign up. Patreon is a popular crowdfunding platform, and serves as an additional income stream for many video creators, musicians and other artists with more than a modest following.

If you have an idea for a project that requires financial support, a project-based crowdfunding campaign is a way to go. Get started with sites such as Indiegogo, Kickstarter or GoFundMe.

Why Should you Use YouTube for Digital Marketing?

Using YouTube for your business can be a cost-effective way to grow it, if used regularly as part of your marketing strategy. Online retailer ModCloth drove 4000 subscribers and 1 million YouTube views, resulting in more sales, for just a ninth of the cost of their average search campaigns.

Not sure if YouTube can help grow your business? Here are some benefits that YouTube can provide to your business.

1. Heavy Traffic

YouTube is growing exponentially, with more than 5 billion videos consumed every single day! This is much more traffic than any other platform out there. Even if you don’t create many videos for your business, you can still easily reach an audience by advertising your content on other people’s videos.

There is so much traffic on YouTube that you’re guaranteed to find potential customers as long as you cater to their needs. Here are some YouTube statistics that you should know:

• YouTube gets 30 million visitors per day
• 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute
• 68 percent of YouTube users say that videos help them in their purchasing decisions
• The number of small and medium business advertising on YouTube has doubled over the last two years
• YouTube is available in a total of 76 different languages (this covers about 95 percent of the Internet population)
• YouTube has its own local versions in more than 88 countries

2. Higher Visibility on Google

You might have noticed that videos are appearing more often than other forms of content on Google’s search results. You can take advantage of this by writing high-quality content on your website and creating videos from this content on YouTube.

Doing so will create backlinks to your website, which means that your business will be found more often on Google search. By utilizing YouTube marketing, you are also increasing the online authority of your business. The more authoritative you are on Google, the higher your page will rank on the Google search engine result page. 

Here are some tips you can use to increase the authority of your website using YouTube:

• Get other websites to embed your videos on their websites
• Associate your website with your YouTube channel
• Share your videos on other social media platforms
• Use different video styles to engage more with your consumers

3. Build Your Email List on YouTube

One big advantage of YouTube marketing is that you can build your email list through YouTube. There are a number of software available that allow you to embed your sign-up form directly into YouTube videos. A video can be paused temporarily for the viewer to enter their information and subscribe to your list. This approach makes it easier to build your email list while providing quality content to your audience at the same time. 

Here are some of the most common ways to build an email list on YouTube:

• Use lead magnets
• Add annotations
• Add cards
• Run YouTube ads

4. Higher Conversion Rates

If a picture speaks a thousand words, a video makes up for a million words. Moreover, videos can evoke emotion more than any other form of content. They take your messages from static text to dynamic and engaging, and bring your business to life. They also help to build trust and authority among people in a unique way. This entertaining and engaging form of content has the power to increase your conversion rate by 80 percent.

5. Multiple Video Types

Another crucial advantage of YouTube marketing is the different types of videos you can create to showcase your brand online. The most common types of videos on YouTube are explainer videos, sales videos, social media videos, presentation videos, and video ads. You can more easily reproduce one content to many different types. If you’re wondering what type of videos to create, here are a few tips:

• Make engaging and funny videos
• Answer common questions (think of the most common questions you can get from potential customers about your business, your products, and services)
• Show how your brand works in behind-the-scenes videos
• Create testimonials from customers 
• Go live

6. Massive Media Library

YouTube doesn’t just have a large user base – it also has a massive media library. This is because 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. With that amount of information, you can literally find anything you need under the sun – and beyond. To navigate a platform this big, YouTube has a powerful search engine to find the exact content that you are looking for.

With over 3 billion searches a month (much more than Ask.com, AOL, Bing, and Yahoo combined), it is the second-largest search engine on the internet. If you’re wondering whether your content would get lost in this vast sea of information, all you have to do is optimize your YouTube videos.

Is Digital Marketing Hard to Learn?

You can learn the basics of digital marketing on your own, but because the digital marketing landscape never stops evolving, self-guided learning may not be the best route. In fact, digital marketing courses and digital marketing bootcamps have become increasingly popular over the last few years, helping aspiring marketers keep pace with the industry and understand how the latest fads and technologies can lead to organizational success.

After all, getting a handle on a particular piece of software may take just days, but getting a feel for what resonates with your followers on Twitter versus Instagram, for example, will take much longer.

Here are some pointers to guide your learning.

Getting a Feel for Effective Content Creation

While content marketing isn’t one of the newest trends, it continues to be one of the most popular. According to data from BrainStation’s Digital Skills Survey, content marketing is Digital Marketers’ most widely used channel, with 79 percent of marketing professionals incorporating content into their strategy. Survey respondents also listed content strategy as one of their primary focuses.

When it’s done correctly, content marketing’s impact is hard to ignore. Research shows that 70 percent of consumers would rather learn about a company through content than from an advertisement. Content should engage customers in a way that adds value, which in turn creates relationships that are built on more than just one-way sales communication.

But while content marketing can be effective, developing a content strategy can be more labor-intensive than other marketing efforts. And, not only does it take time to generate original content, it can also take anywhere from six to nine months before you start to see results. For these reasons, companies looking to create a robust strategy that delivers consistently often look to outsource content creation—62 percent of the time, according to one source.

So although it can be a tricky skill to master, a feel for what makes content marketing work—whether you’re generating it yourself or overseeing its commission—will make you invaluable to virtually any company.

Knowing How to Leverage User Data

The reams of user data that analytics tools produce are a priceless source of actionable insights, but it can be time-consuming to sort through, and difficult to know what you’re looking for. So it should come as no surprise that, according to BrainStation’s Digital Skills Survey, Digital Marketers are eyeing artificial intelligence as the trend that will have the greatest impact on their field in the coming years.

There seems to be nonstop talk about AI no matter what industry you’re in, but now, research is beginning to illustrate just how AI will make a difference in the marketing world.

A recent report from IBM states that 94 percent of companies believe personalization is the key to future success; another study, this one from Accenture, found that 73 percent of customers prefer to buy from retailers that offer a personalized experience, and 86 percent of customers report that personalization plays a part in their purchasing decisions. This certainly bolsters the idea that, when done correctly, AI-driven personalization can improve marketing spend ROI.

Much of AI’s value to Digital Marketers lies in the vast amounts of data available to companies, which allow Marketers to go beyond basic segmentation and create highly personalized campaigns. This degree of targeting makes for more efficient, effective campaigns, but it also requires a more specific skill set—and a lot of time.

Tailoring Native Content for Social Media

We’ve already hinted at the fact that every social media platform has its quirks. How formal a tone you should use, whether to foreground text or image and even how much customer interaction is appropriate will vary from platform to platform. To fully acclimate to different social media platforms and “find your voice” takes careful listening and a lot of time.

The stakes are perhaps highest when it comes to video—which can be the most impactful but is also the most labor-intensive type of content to create. And while video is often considered a subset of content marketing, it is in many ways its own animal.

Read Also: Top 20 Ways to Earn Revenue on Your Website

YouTube is now the most widely used social media platform in the United States. According to Pew Research, 73 percent of American adults are using Youtube, and 94 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24. That’s a segment of the population you can’t afford to ignore.

And video is a powerful force on other social media as well—in fact, across social media (including TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram Stories), video gets shared roughly 1,200 percent more often than text and images. All to say that creating social media content is far from simple. It may require a bit of investment, and always requires a deep knowledge of how to pair medium and message.

These are just three of the most challenging areas within digital marketing today—tomorrow, they will no doubt be different.

As with many creative industries, therefore, there’s no simple answer to how difficult digital marketing is to learn. For most people, it’s possible to learn the fundamentals in as little as a few months; dedicated online bootcamps like BrainStation’s are able to impart the core technical skills needed to begin working in digital marketing in 12 weeks. But it’s also a field that allows you to continue to learn over time—gaining new soft skills and a deeper understanding of your audience, and evolving with the digital landscape.

For this reason, even established Digital Marketers continue to update their skills periodically, to feel confident that the ways they invest their time and their company’s money are making the biggest possible impact.