The Gaelic Marketer

As this is The Gaelic Marketer’s first blog, I decided to post about why digital marketing is the way to go.

Digital marketing to me is one of the most relevant and necessary skills for any business to have today. If your online presence is not up to scratch, then your at a disadvantage. Worst still, if you have no online presence whatsoever, your dead in the water. As the saying goes, ‘if your not online, you don’t exist!’

Of course every business is different. There is varying business objectives and different target audiences for every individual business. However, whether your company makes the Forbes 100 (My namesake tops it again)  or you are just doing some handy work in your area, there is still an opportunity to maximise your ROI with a little digital marketing. If you happen to be lets say, for argument sake a plumber, how are you ranking in Google? Assuming you have a website, are you engaging with SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) best practices?  If this all seems a bit foreign, then thats okay, because it might as well been Swahili to me not that long ago.

The overarching point I’m trying to make is that getting your name in the Yellow pages just doesn’t cut it anymore. Although you probably knew that because the internet has been around for a while now. So from a business point of view, yes you absolutely can benefit from digital marketing. Now lets look at the other side of the coin.

Why would you want to get involved in Digital Marketing as a career? For me it is the same reason why a business would need it. To stay relevant and up to date.  In today’s increasingly competitive world, I have to give myself the best possible advantage. At the present time, there is a gap between old school marketing and what businesses actually need and want. The education system is churning out marketers but unfortunately they are not modern marketers. However this is beginning to change. My own course is the very first of its kind in Scotland. This trend I believe will continue, because present-day digital expertise is required by companies in marketing and ultimately third level education will have to meet these expectations.

My other main reason for a career in digital is because its fun. The face of digital marketing today very much centres around youth and innovation. After making a trip to a digital marketing agency with my class mates, one thing stuck out in mind; the culture. In the past, I have worked in the traditional office environment of suit and tie with everyone being very formal and just grinding it out until 5 pm. However the atmosphere I got at this agency was completely different. Everybody was dressed casually (and no it wasn’t a friday!), Lose yourself by Eminem could be heard as I walked into into one random department. It was coming up to Christmas at the time, and a few desks were ‘deskorated’ with Christmas wrapping. Aside from this seeming like the coolest office I have ever seen, the general reaction I got was that people actually enjoyed there work.

I am not saying a career in digital is a complete utopia because there will always be work and a certain element of stress at given times, but in general it is definitely different from the traditional office environment. It is a fast-changing industry but if you have a passion and a willingness to learn and adapt, then there are many rewards to be reaped in this line for work.

So there you have it. A very general and brief overview at why digital marketing is important. Hope you enjoyed!

‘Almost overnight, the Internet’s gone from a technical wonder to a business must’.