5 Reasons to Start an Exciting Digital Marketing Career in Singapore

Singapore has maintained a focus on driving growth and innovation in the tech sector. Because of this emphasis on tech, many companies are going digital and seeking talent with digital marketing skills. This article covers everything you need to know about a digital marketing career in Singapore.

Why Choose a Digital Marketing Career in Singapore?

1. It’s an innovative and exciting field.

As technology evolves, digital marketers have the opportunity to find new and exciting ways to reach consumers. For instance, many social media managers use AI chatbots to assist more customers by answering the most common questions. As video game technology evolves, there has also been a trend of brands collaborating with gaming companies to hold virtual in-game events. These are just some ways marketers use technology to attract, retain, and engage customers. 

2. Enjoy greater job security and a lucrative digital marketing salary.

According to Marketing Interactive, Singaporean employers ranked “digital marketing” and “digital marketing strategy” among the top five job roles they aim to fill. Digital marketing is also among the five most in-demand tech skills in Singapore. 

Moreover, digital marketing has become an umbrella term for various specialisations, such as SEO, content marketing, et cetera. As the industry evolves and changes, it’s easy to pivot from one genre to another through upskilling.

Furthermore, the average digital marketing salary is quite lucrative (check out our Salary Guide). The annual salary for a Digital Marketing Manager ranges from $45,000 to $110,000. If you work your way up to Digital Marketing Director, you can earn as much as $84,000–$250,000 a year. 

3. There’s a specialisation for every skill set and interest.

Digital marketing has a wide range of subspecialties for people with different talents and interests. If you’re a more creative fellow, you can go into content marketing or UX design. If you’re more into number-crunching, you’ll be in demand as a digital marketing analyst. You could also become an SEO or SEM manager. 

Moreover, you could go into marketing for an industry you’re passionate about. Love reading? Look for digital marketing openings at publishing and bookstore companies. Are you a foodie? Every restaurant needs a savvy digital marketer to help them stand out from the stiff competition. 

4. There’s a low barrier to entry.

Unlike hard tech jobs where you may need a solid background in IT, employers seldom look for a marketing degree so long as you can prove you have the skills required. And there are all kinds of online courses you can take to acquire these skills. ZilLearn, for example, offers various marketing certification courses, including Instagram Marketing to Content Marketing for Beginners. The first 20,000 sign-ups will receive free classes from a range of programmes that last up to three months! Visit ZilLearn for more information. 

Moreover, MySkillsFuture offers courses on all kinds of topics, from digital marketing to SEO/SEM. Google Academy and Facebook Blueprint also provide certificate courses you can use to boost your resume.

5. You can opt for flexible work. 

Given the nature of their job, digital marketers can work from anywhere so long as they have a laptop and a good internet connection. Because of this, employers are more open to offering flexible work arrangements to digital marketing employees. If you have sufficient experience, you could even go freelance and build your roster of clients.

Digital Marketing Specialisations

Since there are so many different specialisations in digital marketing, what you do on a day-to-day basis will vary depending on which one you choose. However, if you work for a small/medium enterprise, you may need to perform several of these roles simultaneously. 

The upside is that if you dislike routine, you can rest assured that you’ll be doing something different daily. You may find yourself planning a social media campaign on Monday and analysing the customer journey on your website the next. The following week could have you supervising a photoshoot for content that will be used across all digital channels. 

For each of the roles listed below, you can start as a specialist or officer, then work your way up to manager and finally director. 

1. SEO/SEM

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, while SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. SEO involves structuring your website and optimising its content so it ranks first on search engine results for specific keywords. SEM entails driving traffic to your website through both SEO and paid ads. Google is constantly updating its algorithm for organic search results, so be prepared to stay up to date on the best SEO practices and bidding strategies for pay-per-click ads. 

2. Content Marketing 

Customers may be tired of seeing ads, but if you create informative articles, insightful blog posts, or engaging videos, they are more likely to consume your content. Content marketing is all about establishing trust with the customer by sharing your expertise on particular topics. As you gain their loyalty, they become more inclined to purchase your product or avail of your services. 

This field is ideal for creatives since you can maximise your talents to produce quality content. If you move up from content writer to content strategist, you’ll find yourself planning campaigns and working closely with SEO specialists to ensure that you’re optimising your content for the right keywords. Together, you’ll analyse the results of your campaigns and recalibrate as needed. 

3. Social Media Manager

Social media managers are responsible for creating content calendars, scheduling posts on different platforms, and engaging with customers via social media channels. You’ll also plan ad campaigns and report to your manager on campaign results. In addition to this, you’ll be responsible for “social listening”—finding out what customers think of your brand and protecting your company’s reputation by monitoring social media channels. 

4. Email Marketing

This field has evolved into more than simply sending the same newsletter to your entire mailing list. As an email marketer, you’ll need to think strategically and create different messages tailored to each of your customer segments. An email to a new customer should be different from one addressed to a repeat buyer. If a customer hasn’t visited your store in a while, you’ll want to send a new email to recapture their interest. And all of these emails must have a compelling subject line to stand out from the rest of the messages flooding customers’ inboxes. Thus, email marketing has evolved into the art of moving people down the marketing funnel by changing them from potential buyers to loyal customers. 

5. Digital Marketing Analyst

If you’re an Excel wiz and enjoy analysing figures, then this is the job for you. To maximise resources and ensure the effectiveness of campaigns, digital marketing has become very data-driven. You’ll be responsible for monitoring and analysing all sorts of data, from customer segments and website traffic to ad spending and revenue. Your job is to generate reports that help marketers and business executives make the right decisions to drive profit. 

6. Digital Marketing Manager

As a digital marketing manager, you’ll oversee all the job roles listed above. Your role is to plan campaigns across all channels, monitor their execution, and evaluate their effectiveness in increasing revenue. Because of this, apart from good project management and leadership skills, it’s necessary to have a working knowledge of the various fields of digital marketing. 

Digital Marketing Skills in Demand

According to Marketing Interactive, these are the digital marketing skills that are most in demand in Singapore:

• Data Analysis
• Project Management
• Research
• SEO/SEM
• Social Media

The Types of People Who Excel at Digital Marketing

The people who thrive in digital marketing are creative problem-solvers who use all the information at their disposal to make data-driven decisions. They’re creative and innovative, meaning they can come up with unique and memorable campaigns. Furthermore, they have a growth mindset. They are constantly upskilling and keeping abreast of industry trends and best practices. They are also flexible enough to keep up with this fast-paced field. Finally, they have good business sense. After all, at the end of the day, marketing’s goal is to increase sales and profits. The best digital marketers must justify campaign expenses by showing a return on investment. 

Digital marketing is an exciting field with plenty of room for growth. With its low barrier to entry, attractive salary, and variety of specialisations, it could be the perfect career for you. Start your digital marketing career in Singapore and #SEEKBetter by searching for jobs on JobStreet. For ease and convenience, make sure to download our app on the App Store and Google Play.