How COVID-19 Transformed Career Opportunities in Digital Marketing?

Since the COVID-19 first wave hit India in 30 January 2020 business owners before that were completely unaware of how the online promotions work or if there is some with the name of “Digital Marketing” with the help of which they can boost their business to the next level in terms of generating new sales, leads, branding, enhanced business visibility.

Nowadays, 7 out of 10 business owners in India are planning to start promoting their businesses online and are keen to take advantage of digital marketing campaigns. These campaigns help in creating strong brand awareness among their target audience. As a result, there has been a rise in job opportunities for fresh graduates, along with good prospects for freelancers offering digital marketing services.

Before moving forward with this topic, let me give you a quick insight on digital marketing and it’s latest career opportunities available in the Indian market.

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is a method of promoting a business, product, or service within a specific target demographic—such as based on location, age group, or community—commonly referred to as targeted customers/audience. This is done through various promotional campaigns run via social media platforms, Google Ads, organic search, content marketing strategies, as well as through re-marketing and re-targeting using AI features.

Latest Career Opportunities in Digital Marketing?

As the digital marketing industry in India has grown by over 30% in the last five years and is expected to grow by another 20–25% by 2028, it is set to create over 1 lakh job opportunities every quarter. These roles will include positions such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Experts, Google Ads Specialists, Meta Ads Professionals, Performance Marketers, Content Marketing Experts, Social Media Marketing Specialists, Market Research Analysts, and many more.

Moreover, there are growing opportunities to work with top MNCs and international companies in research and analytics, IT outsourcing, and across 40+ business sectors and industries.

The Average Pay Scale of a Digital Marketing Professional are as follows:

• At the executive level, salaries typically range between ₹25,000 to ₹35,000 per month.
• For professionals with 1–2 years of experience, the monthly salary usually falls between ₹35,000 to ₹50,000, depending on their skillset, knowledge, and project management capabilities.
• Those with 2–4 years of experience can expect salaries ranging from ₹55,000 to ₹65,000 per month.
• Professionals with over 5 years of experience can comfortably earn between ₹65,000 to ₹75,000 per month.

However, these figures may vary from company to company, based on their internal pay scale structures and compensation policies.

A Myth For Digital Marketing Industry

During my recent conversations with parents who are planning to enrol their children in digital marketing courses, I observed a sense of concern about career growth and the future of the digital marketing industry. Many of them have been misinformed by non-professionals who say things like, “AI is going to take over the digital marketing industry, and many people have already lost their jobs.”

This is not going to happen ever. Creating marketing strategies and executing them effectively will always require human intelligence. AI tools can only act on the instructions and guidance given by a skilled marketer. They are meant to support marketing campaigns—not replace them. Most of this support is in areas like content creation, graphics, and real-time data analysis for paid campaigns, where AI can assist in improving efficiency, but the decision-making and creative direction still rest with the human expert.

For the Concerned Parents: below I have shared a breakdown on What AI Can Do in Digital Marketing and What AI Cannot Replace.

What AI can do in digital marketing:

• Automate repetitive tasks (e.g., scheduling posts, basic ad copy generation).
• Analyze data faster (helping in performance insights and decision-making).
• Improve targeting and personalization (via predictive analytics, segmentation, etc.).
• Enhance customer support (through chatbots and AI assistants).
• Suggest content ideas or optimize existing content.

What AI cannot replace:

• Creative strategy and branding vision.
• Emotional intelligence in storytelling and content creation.
• Client relationship management and human empathy.
• Critical thinking in campaign planning and problem-solving.
• Understanding of cultural nuances and human psychology.

Hence, the scope of digital marketing industry is never ending infact Digital Marketing is the new future and every digital marketing campaign needs an experienced person to guide with a team to get the work done in order to achieve the end results.

Digital marketing can function without AI, but it is not possible without human intelligence.

– Anubhav Garg