Digital Marketing Career in India: Ultimate Guide + Free Session

Have you ever considered a career in digital marketing? It’s an exciting, growing field that offers many opportunities. In this blog post, we’ll explore what a digital marketing career entails and discuss some of the skills you need to succeed. We hope this information will help you decide if a career in digital marketing is right for you. So let’s get started!

There are many great opportunities available in this growing digital marketing field. In this blog post, we’ll discuss the different types of digital marketing jobs available in India and what skills you need to succeed in this career. We’ll also provide some tips for finding a job in digital marketing. So if you’re ready to start your career in digital marketing, keep reading!

According to recent studies, businesses are expected to spend more than $228 billion on digital marketing in 2025, up from $171 billion in 2017. So, what is digital marketing, and why is it such a hot topic?

In short, digital marketing is the process of promoting products or services online. This can include everything from creating a website to advertising on social media to email campaigns. Thanks to our ever-growing technological world, there are countless opportunities for those interested in pursuing a career in digital marketing.

Ready to learn more? Keep reading!

Digital Marketing is The Future and We Cannot Deny This Fact.

Look at These Mind-Blowing Stats on Digital Marketing Career

India has about 500 million Internet users (as per IAMAI), which are almost 40% of the total Indian population. At least 700 Million will start using the internet by 2022 as it is becoming very easy for rural India to now access affordable Internet.

Look at how JIO is penetrating the market while Airtel is bringing down costs. Observe how high-speed broadband like Act Fibre, and Cherrinet are slowly taking over market shares. Do you remember the last time you focused on those newspaper advertisements or those TV advertisements without switching channels? 

Well, there is a radical shift in how people consume information. Today, people consume more content on mobile phones and laptops.

Don’t you hear your parents, and grandparents talking about what has been shared on WhatsApp?

Today’s content is people driven. People trust your words more than what has been shared on news channels or television.

India has about 250 million+ Facebook users as of  December 2018 and this number is an indication that almost 50% of the Internet-using population in India wants to network. Look at some interesting digital marketing statistics from India, in the video below:

Today, about 103.5 crore people use mobile phones in India. Gone are the days when people used their landline phones. Smartphones are omnipresent in today’s world!

There is a popular saying that goes– “Be there, where your customers are”

You must know that your customers today are on the Internet all the time, networking on social media 24×7 and leading a digital life.

The question is, Is your business a part of their digital life? Most importantly, Have you made yourself digital savvy?

We cannot compare traditional advertising’s reach to digital advertising at this point of time. Nevertheless, Digital Marketing is clean, and clear and there is a lot you can achieve with a minimum budget.

The Growing Digital Marketing Career Opportunities in India

I believe in the demand-and-supply model. If there is a surplus demand, there needs to be enough supply to create quality substance. However, the demand for Digital Marketers is huge, and supply is less at this point in time. I am not stating this based on assumptions but by observing these numbers shown by popular channels like LinkedIn and Naukri.

Now, this is just the result of the word ‘Digital Marketing’.  I haven’t even checked the result for keywords like SEO Manager, Google Adwords Specialist, Content Writer, Social Media Executive etc.

I am sure these numbers put together would be huge and this is indicative of a huge demand for a digital marketer.

But is There Enough Supply? 

Digital Marketing isn’t a part of India’s education system yet. It is usually offered by business schools in the form of a crash course, an optional subject, or a semester course. However, there is no concrete specialisation that Indian universities have adopted.  In 2022, I have personally seen the massive interest of candidates in taking up Digital Marketing Courses in India.

I have instinctively felt that very few Indians have decided to focus on Digital Marketing as a career, and Google’s search behaviour confirms my assumptions. Having been in the industry for 10 years and leading a Digital Marketing agency in Chennai, I frequently experience a shortage of skilled candidates.

Digital Marketers in India are mostly accidental—they are either SEO executives with an engineering background or social media marketers who are making their social media addiction productive.

Most of the agencies in India have created Digital Marketers. They take people with required skills and they shape them up in a particular domain of Digital Marketing which could be inbound marketing, Search Engine Optimization (On-Page or Off-Page), Search Engine Marketing (Google, Bing Adwords specialist), Content Writing, Amplifier or Marketer, Overall Digital Advertiser (Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Bing Ads), Affiliate Marketer, Inbound Marketer, Social Media Specialist (Designing of campaigns on Social Media) or Client Servicing and Strategy.

There are quite a few Digital Marketing Training Institutes in India that offer such courses in India. Chennai alone has about 20+ Digital Marketing Training institutes that offer such courses in the offline space. Bangalore has about 22+ Digital Marketing Training institutes in Bangalore.

While training candidates in PR agencies and advertising agencies, I do see them taking a lot of effort to add Digital Marketing in their skill sets as they believe in climbing up the Digital Marketing ladder is imperative to succeed.

Yes, you cannot deny that fact now! 

How Did I Start My Career in Digital Marketing in India? 

I share what I learn and teaching has helped me become a digital marketer.  I learn new skills, teach people and love seeing them grow in this domain. At the age of 17, when I was a student at Loyola College doing Biotechnology, I realised that microscopes and lab rats are not my things. I didn’t want to discover what people had already discovered in their labs.

I am more of a creative person and I started working as a part-time content writer in a digital marketing agency way back in 2005.  They, of course, didn’t have Indian clients as the country lacked digital awareness at that point in time. A few months in the job space, I decided I wanted to become a Digital Marketer.

I first worked part-time as a student content writer and then turned that into a full-time job by learning the nuances of Digital Marketing. Later, I headed to Leeds University Business School to do my post-graduation in International Marketing Management. There, I met my professor of digital marketing Caterina Pressi who reassured my belief that Digital Marketing is the future.

I came back to India as I really didn’t want to do a storekeeper’s job at Marks and Spencers in England. This was the time when the recession struck the global economy with its ominous force. I got into a marketing agency at a very low pay scale where I worked for some time.

Later, I launched SoravJain.com  where I practised all sorts of digital marketing techniques on my own. I went on to offer digital marketing training and services under the banner of echoVME – Digital marketing agency based out of Chennai where I worked with some really renowned brands in this journey of a self-made digital marketer.

Under the echoVME banner, I have worked with companies like Bosch India, Infinitheism, Cashkaro.com, ChuChu TV Nursery Rhymes, Urban Tree Infrastructures, Ramco Systems, Amrutanjan, Oliva Clinic, Apollo White Dental Care, Lokaa Developer, Vijay Shanthi Builders, South Indian Shelters, Origin Learning and much more.

I have worked in different verticals and have focused on the creative, organic, and paid success of brands.

In the last 7 years of my training journey, I have trained the teams of Times Internet, MSL India, Murugappa Group, Genpact, Communicate India, DDB Mudra, TE Connectivity, TiE Chennai, CII, Nasscom, Vikatan Group and more.

I am on a mission to teach Digital Marketing Course for free through video lessons and regular updates. If you would like to receive free lessons and the latest updates on digital marketing do subscribe to the course below.

What does this course have in store for you?

This course will help you explore Digital Marketing.

• If you are a student trying to explore career options – this course will help you to get your digital marketing basics stronger.
• If you are a marketer struggling with the old traditional marketing practices, then this course will help you climb the ladder by enhancing your skill set.
• If you are a businessman who wants to generate leads for business, this course will help you build your brand better.

In addition to sharing the secrets on how to generate leads on Facebook effectively, you will also get a free copy of my book ‘Social Media For Business.’

Top 10 Career Opportunities in Digital Marketing in India

Frequently Asked Questions with Regard to Digital Marketing Career and Jobs in India: 

I am dedicating the rest of the blog to answering some frequently asked questions.  Do read them as they are sure will clarify a lot of your doubts:

1. What is the pay package a digital marketer usually gets? 

Digital Marketing as a career option is growing at an exponential rate and this is the pay package for Digital Marketers in India.

Digital Marketing Salaries in India

Disclaimer: This salary is on the basis of the overall skill set and not in specific to a particular domain of Digital Marketing.

• Digital Marketing Executive / Strategist (0 to 2 years experience): 1.5 to 2.5 Lakhs Per Annum*
• Digital Marketing TL / Senior Strategist (3 to 5 years of Experience): 2 to 5 Lakhs Per Annum*
• Digital Marketing Manager (5 to 10 years of Experience): 5 to 12 Lakhs Per Annum*
• Digital Marketing Director (10+ years of experience): Around 20 to 30 Lakhs per Annum*

These salaries are largely dependent on the following parameters:

1. The results you bring.
2. The creativity you showcase.
3. The award-winning campaigns you design.
4. The industry you work for.
5. The volume of revenues for the company you work for.
6. The volume of revenues you bring for the company through Digital Marketing.

Startup agencies, bootstrapped Digital Marketing agencies are more likely to offer you 20 – 50% lesser than the Industry trends.

Bonus Read: Digital Marketing Salaries India in 2023

Digital and Social Media Marketing has revolutionised the world. It is your turn to be a part of this revolution through my Free course on Digital Marketing.

2. What are some of the most important certifications that one needs to hold in Digital Marketing? 

First of all, Digital Marketing is not a certificate-based subject. You need to prove your skills by experience. So you go to any university you want or get any certifications you want to. However, you must know that obtaining practical experience is the most important criterion that a recruiter has in their mind. There are many free Digital Marketing certifications available which are considered valid by the industry peers:

1. Inbound Marketing, Content Marketing and Email Marketing Certification by HubSpot.
2. Google Adwords Certification.
3. Google Analytics Certification.
4. Bings Ads Certification. 

3. Which is the Best Digital Marketing Training Institute in India? Should I Join Digital Vidya or DSIM or Simplilearn or Anything else? 

I am a big fan of the above-listed institutes. Why? Because of 3 reasons: Market share, their ability to reach out to the people of India and their digital ad spending capabilities.  Many get attracted to the above institutes because of the promises they make: 100% placement, Government Certified and they spend about 50,000 to 1 lakh rupees to complete their 3 or 6 months courses from the above institutes.

I would always say its a great start for people who are lost and don’t know how to get started in Digital Marketing. You basically, get to learn everything theoretically and then practically if you put the effort.

I have a different theory! Here are a few things that you can do:

1. Take a Digital Course curriculum from some of the best Digital Marketing Institutes in India.
2. Google every single syllabus. There are experts who teach subjects, you can follow their blogs and free courses.
3. There are enough free digital marketing courses to get started.
4. Start your own blog, implement Google Analytics. The budget you are going to spend on a course you can rather use that money for advertising and driving people to your own blog.
5. If you are not a good writer, you should practise writing. Not that writing is a mandate in Digital Marketing, but content is. If you can’t write, get the content developed by freelancers.
6. Polish your Social Media profiles. Grow your network. Write Microblogs first and then move to macro blogs. Define your style.
7. If you really wish to get started, you can join my Free Digital Marketing Course and strictly follow what I ask you to. You need to put your effort and  I have done my bit to educate you by recording video lessons for you.

4. Is content writing really important? I am not good at writing content. 

Okay! I don’t understand the point of this question. I have a question for you. Don’t you have to learn Accounts to become a Chartered Accountant? Don’t you have to learn coding to become a software engineer? Don’t you have to do your MBBS to become a Doctor? Content is the heart of Digital Marketing and you either have to excel in making content or sourcing the right content. There are jobs in Digital Marketing which doesn’t require too much of content skills. Example: Google Advertisements, Link Building, Google Analytics or Data Modelling, But, content is the core.

5. I am not strong at technology, I don’t know coding, how can I become a Digital Marketer? 

First of all, I am not an engineer either. I am not very strong in Mathematics but I am a Digital Marketer and I have learnt the basics of maintaining a WordPress blog, integration of right codes, plugins etc. Practice makes everyone perfect. You need to practice over and again to become a pro at this subject. I experiment, I take risks. When I work with some of the top brands, I implement those calculative risks. That is the million dollar experience I gain.

Start learning Digital Marketing and as you learn, start implementing. Implement this for your business, take up projects for your neighbour’s business, your dad’s or even a freelance project.

Digital Marketing is not about reading books and remembering the history of incidents. It’s about today and about tomorrow.

6. I am a PR Specialist, do you think Digital Marketing is important for me? 

Digital PR is growing and Digital Marketing knowledge is quintessential to your growth. I know of PR specialists who easily get lured by bloggers and their fake popularity. You need to learn digital marketing to know the value and worthiness of a Digital PR campaign in addition to evaluating a blogger before hiring them. You should also understand how SEO can be connected to PR strategy and how content dissemination works on Social Media. There is a lot that traditional PR is not doing today, you can do all the justice to a brand by helping them create stories that can go viral.

7. I have the Certification, but I haven’t got the Job. So what should I do? 

Well, I am sorry that you haven’t got a job even after getting certifications in Digital Marketing. There could be three reasons:

• a. You haven’t got great content skills.
• b. You aren’t a practitioner.
• c. You aren’t able to prove your knowledge in the interview.

I  suggest you apply for an internship. Work in a startup Digital Marketing agency in your city for 3 months. Let them pay you a stipend alone. That’s your learning ground.

8. What should I add to my resume to make it look attractive? 

First of all, a resume has to be unique. So I cannot say what is good for your profile. But, I can say what usually impresses marketers.

• Your personal blog on Digital Marketing or any subject of your interest.
• Your active, polished Social Media channels.
• Recommendations on your LinkedIn profile.
• The campaigns you have done so far.
• Budgets you have spent so far as an advertiser.
• Your creativity in your resume.

9. What are the skills required to become a Digital Marketer? 

I usually come across people asking us to send candidates who have got trained in our digital marketing training programs. I for sure know, if you are smart enough and have got 7 important skills to become a Digital Marketer, you have a bright future in this industry. Watch this video where I talk about skills required to become a Digital Marketer.

10. How should I start my career in Digital Marketing?

There are various ways to become a Digital Marketer and one of the best ways is to practise Digital Marketing. Yes, you got it right. I always come across various profiles during recruitment. I am also involved in finding the right candidates or interviewing the right profiles of Digital Marketing for companies like Urban Tree, Oliva Clinic, AdityaRam Group and some qualities that I observe in most of the candidates are:

• How many budgets has the person spent in the past?
• What kind of campaigns he or she has executed so far?
• How many companies (clients) he or she was able to handle?
• How does the person calculate the ROI?
• How skilled the person is when it comes to innovation or latest techniques of Digital Marketing?

Many starts with a blog, do the right SEO for the blog and invest in ads to grow an audience for the blog, engage their audience on Social Media and build communities on Digital Marketing. This is one way.
The other way would be:

• Interning at a Digital Marketing Agency:

There are two types of Digital Marketing Agencies today

• Ones that have more than 200+ employees; companies like Dentsu Network, Ogilvy, WatConsult, Mirum India. These companies have their processes defined. They have leadership teams and have various teams handling different things. You can start your career here. You might get opportunities to work with leading brands that spend millions of dollars. But, you might end up working on only one particular task under one particular domain. It’s going to be very difficult for you to shift your profiles internally.
• Then there are boutique Digital Marketing agencies like echoVME, SocialBeat, Digitally Inspired Media, WindChimes etc. They are currently small and work with some amazing brands. You might want to work with them to understand how a Digital Marketing agency works end to end. You will have more workload; you would probably be dealing with clients directly, strategizing presence for them, talking about innovations, implement new techniques, working with different teams, and designers and moulding yourself to become an amazing Digital Marketer.

I have a list of Digital Marketing Agencies in India, you can probably have a look and categorize this for yourself.

11. What are the expectations on the Digital Marketing job roles? 

– It Differs in An Agency: 

I run an agency called echoVME which is one of the oldest Digital Marketing agencies of India. At an agency, these roles work with multiple people inside the organization and usually deal with needs of multiple clients at the same point of time.

An agency is constantly updated with latest trends and brings in timely implementation of them for their clients. Team-work is an integral part when working in an agency, which makes you stronger and tougher as a Digital Marketer. I would recommend entry-level digital marketers to kick-start their career by working with an agency because as an intern you are more likely to help managers in achieving those laborious tasks.

While at first, this might be too much to process, what might seem to be an ordeal at the first instance slowly yet steadily becomes an amazing learning experience. You deal with needs of clients, you write content, you visualize, you get your ideas rolling into designs, you look at metrics, and you strategize campaigns and always aim at making multiple clients happy at the same time. In a nutshell, you get to work with different set of brands and verticals as a Digital Marketing person.

– It Differs When You Work With a Brand:

While working closely with only one brand, it presents an opportunity to delve into the depths of their domain but this has its own limitations. Our area of expertise narrows down and becomes streamlined. Another challenge the single brand scenario throws at us is that we work with pretty tight pockets& a complex hierarchy, in most-case scenario unless or until it’s a really big brand that tests their hands on all kinds of Digital Marketing practice.

In E-Commerce companies that heavily rely on Digital Marketing, their digital marketing teams are huge and you end up doing only a particular task in the whole lot. At instances, they are so small that you end up outsourcing everything to the vendor. There is minimal amount of team-playing that comes in place and this prohibits your skill building.

Wrapping it up, I reinforce my stance about working with a digital marketing agency because if you want growth, it might as well be proportionate!

12. How to stay updated in the Digital Marketing industry?

Following Blogs: This is something that has to be on the top of your to-do list and also possibly the easiest to do. Simply Google for what’s new on social media marketing and munch into the blogs that show up. I have about 50,000+ blog subscribers to whom I send an email every Monday on ‘New Things in Digital’ you might want to subscribe to my blog to receive an email every Monday.

Following Experts: This is something that you sometimes end up doing sub-consciously while following top bloggers. Find top blogs, who they’ve blogged about & follow their social media handles.

Trying New Tools: This is the part where you get out of your research shoes and get into a pair of new ones. The blogs would have already educated you about the tools one could use at the entry-level. Most of the top tools give you a freemium period which is a good enough period for you to understand if that’s the best tool for your business or not. So, start working already!

13. How quickly should I shift jobs in the Digital Marketing arena?

Patience Matters! I am a fan of loyalty. Work with one company for a long try new things. Move on after 4 years. Build the clients from the scratch – adapt new technologies and have a completely new vision year on year. The best part of working in a Digital Marketing domain is – everything is absolutely new all the time.

14. Where can I go and hunt for Digital Marketing jobs?

With the digital marketing industry itself being at its zenith, landing a job isn’t that difficult, provided you have the right skill set. Job portals like Naukri, Monster &Indeed would present you with a bunch of opportunities at which you could take a shot. Currently, LinkedIn is the best platform to land the right digital marketing job.

15. They say Digital Marketing analytics have more growth. How true is this?

VERY TRUE! The internet is fed with more than 3 quintillion bytes a day and in order to sort and prioritize what would be essential for businesses, an analyst is required. An analyst has to observe and analyse consumer behaviour and draw useful insights. There is also a lot of number crunching involved. Conversion optimization is a new arena of specialization. You might want to probably score high mathematically to crack these numbers.

16. Which domain of Digital Marketing can I excel at to work from home?

Marketing Copywriter– The basic job description itself suggests that this can be done entirely from home as it includes publishing things straight to the internet.

Marketing Analyst – Dealing with numbers and converting them into strategy requires a peaceful ambience. What better place to crouch into your own personal bubble than home?

Social Media Marketing: Many women I work with today find it more comfortable to run social media marketing campaigns and content strategies by sitting at home. So this is one arena you can specialize and offer service as a freelancer.

Overall, Digital Marketing is a virtual game. So if you excel, it doesn’t matter where you work as long as you bring Results.

17. What are some of the Digital Marketing skill sets required for 2019, and what should be upgraded?

• Focus on learning Artificial intelligence and machine learning because this completely transforms business.
• Voice search is one crucial area of specialisation. 25% of searches today are happening via voice.
• People are vouching for technical skills and strong technology-based digital marketing innovations, and marketing automation is very hopeful.
• Content skills – this is one thing that will never go out of fad. So people who can create a lot more personalised communications can win.

18. Is a Career in Digital Marketing a Good choice?

Honestly, yes. I would recommend so. Here is a video that talks about some of the biggest challenges of a Digital Marketing Agency. You can also notice how finding the right candidate for Digital Marketing is one of the biggest problems in the industry: