Is Digital Marketing a Trade?
Reading Time: ~3 Mins | Written By: Anabel Blesch
There has been a lot of discussion recently on the topic of tradespeople and skilled workers in Canada. As digital marketing becomes a popular career choice and requires specialized skills training to land a job, you may be wondering if it falls under a trade distinction. To first determine that, we can define digital marketing as a sector of marketing that utilizes digital tools such as search engines, social media, websites, and other platforms to increase brand awareness and boost conversions. At this time, the Canadian government does not consider marketing itself as a trade, but it is considered its own industry, which includes digital marketing specifically. To understand more about what makes up the marketing industry, we will dive into some key roles and careers that can be found within the industry!
Advertising Manager
Advertising managers are defined as the key personnel responsible for overseeing and executing all ad campaigns for a brand. In digital marketing, an advertising manager would be responsible for ad efforts via platforms such as Google Ads, Facebook and Instagram ads, and other digital platforms. The goal of this role and department would be to increase sales, brand awareness, and conversion rates.
Director of Communications
A director of communications would be responsible for managing communication that happens both publicly and internally. This is a key aspect of brand perception and awareness, and ties in with the public relations team, which we will dive into below. In digital marketing communications directors can be responsible for all things like online presence via a website, social media, and mainstream media to maintain a flow of communication in all channels.
Director of Public Relations
The goal of public relations directors is to increase brand awareness, and maintain consistent messaging and public perception of a brand, especially via media relations. The channels public relations directors focus on to maintain messaging would include all aspects of media (i.e. radio, T.V., social media, press, printing media, journalism websites). Public relations directors would also work on the publicity of an event, announcement, or campaign.
E-Business Managers
E-business managers are responsible for the design, maintenance, and development of internet websites. These managers would likely oversee maintenance roles such as SEO, public relations, digital communications, and copywriters.
Web Communications Manager
A web communications manager has similar duties and aspects of a director of communications, but focuses primarily on internet regulations and digital communication styles. This would be in relation to messaging via media, and a brand’s website.
Web Marketing Manager
A web marketing manager, also known as digital marketing manager, would be responsible for planning, implementing, and organizing digital marketing efforts such as SEO, social media, email marketing, and digital advertising. A web marketing manager could be either a smaller role that executes larger strategies from the above roles or alternatively, would manage all digital aspects of the above roles - just depending on what marketing strategy a brand is focused on.
The roles outlined in this blog are just the tip of the iceberg on all the incredible departments, careers, and strategies that can be used in marketing. While digital marketing is not a trade, it is an expansive and exciting industry that is continually evolving! To learn more about roles in digital marketing, check out our blog post on How to Address the Digital Marketing Skills Gap.
Stay updated on the latest digital marketing news by subscribing to our newsletter.
