Is Digital Marketing Considered an IT Job? A Simple Guide

Is digital marketing really an IT job or something else? This simple guide explains the role, skills needed, and career scope.

What is Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is fundamentally a modern form of marketing, sometimes also referred to as social marketing, which deviates significantly from traditional methods like radio, television, or print advertising. This field uses digital channels to interact with, influence, and build audience trust in a brand or product. 

The channels used are diverse, including search engines, websites, social media platforms (such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn), emails, and mobile applications. A primary advantage of digital marketing is that it is less expensive than traditional forms and effectively targets people based on their online actions and preferences. The industry’s massive scale is demonstrated by its valuation of 60,000 crore.

Digital marketing operates at a unique and rarely seen intersection of three critical components that define its operational success and efficiency:

Data

The most effective marketers are inherently data-driven, and their success is ultimately determined by return on investment (ROI). Data serves as the primary decision-making matrix, guiding strategies and allowing for continuous, quantifiable evaluation of campaign effectiveness.

Creativity

Despite the emphasis on data, creativity remains crucial. It is required to effectively appeal to people, communicate the brand’s identity, and showcase exactly what the product or service does.

Digital and Automated

Digital marketing is intended to be fully digital and completely automated. This flexibility allows a marketer to build a system in which they may never meet the client in person, execute everything online, and automate every step from campaign creation to campaign management.

This convergence of data, creativity, and automation is distinctive, as these three elements rarely come together in other professions.

The Operational Framework: How Digital Marketing Works

Digital marketing encompasses a wide range of highly specialised fields, each dedicated to engaging and nurturing an audience in order for them to eventually purchase the products or services offered. This operational framework includes several distinct areas of expertise:

Performance marketing

Performance marketing is at the top of the marketing “food chain” because it is extremely quantifiable. Performance marketers manage advertisements on platforms such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Instagram Ads at scale. 

ROAS (Return On Ad Spend) measures success by calculating the amount of money returned (e.g., ₹1.5, ₹2, or ₹3) for every ₹1 spent on a digital ad. Because they can show clear, immediate returns, they are highly rewarded and valued within the hierarchy.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

These specialisations are primarily concerned with search engines such as Google.

SEO

Search Engine Optimisation is the ongoing optimisation of a website and its content to improve its ranking in search results. This involves ensuring that links and answers rank higher when users conduct searches. 

The challenge with SEO is that results are often delayed, typically taking six to nine months to appear, and the return is not always directly quantifiable, unlike performance marketing. SEO specialists measure success through organic traffic gains and ranking improvements.

SEM

Search Engine Marketing focuses on achieving high rankings in search results through paid advertisements. SCM specialists operate similarly to performance marketers because they can demonstrate a clear return on investment (money spent versus money returned), meaning their work is highly quantifiable.

Growth marketing 

Growth Marketing is a relatively new discipline, dating back only about ten years. Growth marketers are tasked with launching a product, service, or company and positioning it on a sustainable growth trajectory. 

These professionals do not solely focus on performance marketing; they look at a comprehensive unit that includes creative strategy, analytics, and product design to collectively drive company growth. This is an intense job, typically found in startups, with the possibility of high burnout, but it also has a high salary potential.

Content marketing 

Content Marketing entails creating various types of content, such as blogs, videos, infographics, and case studies, in order to generate general interest in a company’s offerings. Examples include Zomato generating cool notifications and social media content, or Zerodha using educational videos on stock market fundamentals through their YouTube vertical or Varsity. 

The goal is not direct advertising but building user appreciation and trust in the brand, hoping users will eventually buy into it. Because results are not directly quantifiable, content marketing is generally thought to be of lower value than performance or growth marketing in terms of direct attribution, despite the fact that it is almost universally recognised as essential for every modern brand.

Social Media Marketing (SMM)

This specialisation includes the complete management of a brand’s social media assets. It includes handling content creation, advertisements, announcements, and, critically, customer support (responding to complaints and feedback). SMM uses platforms like LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram to promote brand content, products, or services using text, images, and video, reaching a large audience.

Other specialisations

Email Marketing

Historically significant (once driven by companies like Groupon with “Deal of the Day” emails), it is used to nurture customers and encourage them to complete a purchase. Today, it is frequently regarded as spam-infested, low-paying, and unsuitable as a career path due to the difficulty of learning.

Affiliate marketing generates traffic through third-party websites. 

own audiences and are compensated based on outcomes like email sign-ups, registrations, conversions, and subscriptions. Affiliates promote the brand to their own audiences and are compensated based on metrics such as email sign-ups, registrations, conversions, and subscriptions.

Traditional Marketing

This category includes radio, television, print, and outdoor media. Because print is declining and TV budgets are prohibitively expensive for most brands, salaries are often lower (₹3-₹6 lakh) and less AI-friendly or technologically advanced.

Is Digital Marketing a Part of the IT Industry and How It Is Related

While we do not classify digital marketing as a direct component of the IT (Information Technology) industry. However, digital marketing is inseparable from technology, automation, and the core principles of IT, making it a highly technical field.

The most compelling evidence of this technological integration is the disruption caused by artificial intelligence (AI). Advancements in technology are shaping the future of digital marketing.

• In October 2025, the CEO of Salesforce, one of the world’s largest companies, announced that the company would not hire any marketing professionals because their entire team would be replaced by AI. This AI can handle campaign creation, copywriting, management, and execution.

• WPP, the world’s largest creative advertising agency, laid off 40% of its creative staff, highlighting the automated nature of modern creativity.

• Furthermore, a McKinsey report predicted that entry-level marketing jobs would be eliminated by 73% by the end of 2026 due to the rapid rise of automation.

These figures demonstrate that marketing roles that rely on manual or simple tasks are being replaced by technological systems. Success now requires a level of technological proficiency where the ability to interact with and prompt AI tools like ChatGPT may become more valuable than traditional MBA skills.

Specialisations in digital marketing are deeply rooted in IT concepts.

• SEO and SCM are based on the fundamental structure and ranking algorithms of search engines such as Google, necessitating continuous optimisation techniques.

• The field is shifting towards next-generation optimisation techniques to account for voice and visual search, which necessitates optimisation for image-based queries and intelligent assistants.

• Interactive content now includes Augmented Reality (AR), which is transforming e-commerce by allowing users to “try before they buy”. Marketers are now integrating these AR tools into social commerce campaigns, a clear link between marketing strategy and software application.

• Even consulting roles, such as WhatsApp marketing, rely on setting up and managing technologically advanced, automated support systems for clients, removing the need for physical human intervention.

Thus, while digital marketing may not be classified universally as “pure IT”, it is a profession where digital flexibility and technological expertise (data, automation, and AI literacy) are prerequisites for success.

Why Anyone Should Choose Digital Marketing as Their Career Option

Digital marketing offers exceptional career potential due to its high-growth trajectory, financial returns, and flexible work opportunities.

High Financial Return on Investment (ROI) Through Non-Traditional Education

Digital marketing presents a fascinating contrast between high-cost, high-risk education and low-cost, high-reward options.

The Pitfalls of Traditional Education:

• A traditional MBA from a random college, involving an investment of approximately ₹12 lakh, typically results in a starting salary of ₹6 to ₹8 lakh and a total profit of only ₹50 lakh over ten years, which is not very impressive.

• A BA in Marketing, involving an investment of approximately ₹8 lakh, may only lead to a profit of ₹5 lakh over ten years.

• Attending top MBA colleges (IIMs, ISB, etc.) is the secure path, but only for the very few who can afford the intense competition and high fees (up to ₹45 lakh), guaranteeing success primarily through networking and top placements.

DIGITAL MARKETING COURSE IN HYDERABAD

White Scholars Digital Marketing Institute in Hyderabad offers a practical digital marketing course with strong mentorship, hands-on projects, and hybrid learning flexibility. Students gain expertise in SEO, social media, content strategy, and analytics while improving communication through mock interviews. 

The program emphasizes creativity, clarity, and industry readiness, supported by placement assistance. With structured guidance and real-world exposure, learners build confidence and skills to thrive in today’s fast-growing digital marketing landscape.

COURSE LINK: Best Advanced AI Digital Marketing Training in Hyderabad 

The modern industry values application and dedication. Simply joining a certification program is not enough; success depends on acquiring skills. Interning, building a portfolio, and hustling (for example, sending cold emails to companies).

High Demand and Quantifiable Rewards

The current digital marketing industry is facing a paradox: it is valued at 60,000 crore, but there is a shortage of people with the required digital marketing skills.

• Reward Based on Quantifiability: Growth potential in marketing is directly proportional to how quantifiable the job is. Roles that can accurately attribute every penny spent to generated revenue are the most rewarded.

• Performance Marketing as a Benchmark: This is why performance marketing, which strictly tracks ROAS, ranks at the top of the food chain. In contrast, roles based on non-quantifiable metrics, such as “brand lift” from a celebrity endorsement, are generally undervalued in the hierarchy.

• Salary Expectations: Entry-level digital marketing salaries range from ₹6 to ₹12 lakh and can increase to ₹15 to ₹20 lakh after three years of experience. Growth marketing roles can start at ₹8 to ₹15 lakh, reaching ₹25 to ₹35 lakh by year five.

Geographical and Financial Flexibility (The Side Gig Economy)

Digital marketing’s fully digital and automated nature creates massive flexibility and lucrative opportunities outside traditional employment. High-earning opportunities are shifting geographically:

• High salaries in expensive metropolitan hubs like Mumbai (average ₹8 to ₹12 lakh) or Hyderabad (average ₹6 to ₹15 lakh) often result in low savings due to high rent and commute costs.

• The highest savings potential is found in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities (e.g., Gwalior, Indore, Kochi, Surat, and Jaipur), which have much lower living expenses. Marketing professionals in these areas are increasingly handling digital marketing and social media for international companies, earning in dollars and spending in rupees.

Examples of Digital Side Gigs:

• A college dropout from Gwalior earns ₹5 lakh per month selling Facebook ad packages to local businesses.

• A 23-year-old in Indore earns ₹80,000 per month managing Instagram campaigns for US clients.

• YouTube Channel Consulting: Highly specialised consultants help brands develop content strategies, with some earning seven figures and reaching significant financial milestones by the age of 25.

This flexibility allows individuals to bypass traditional career ladders and leverage high-value digital services globally.

Final Thought

The defining reality of the digital marketing industry is its relentless shift toward automation and quantifiable results. The career is distinguished by an extremely high-risk, high-reward environment in which success is determined less by expensive academic credentials (which frequently yield poor ROI) and more by personal commitment to continuous learning and mastery of technology tools.

Future marketers must recognise that AI is more than just a tool; it is a replacement for manual labour, necessitating that they upgrade their skills to those of strategists and AI prompters. The lucrative nature of the field is accessible to anyone, even those in Tier 2/3 cities, provided they possess a genuine passion for data, creativity, and the discipline to leverage digital automation to deliver clear, measurable returns on investment.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is digital marketing considered an IT career?

A. Digital marketing is not strictly an IT career, but it heavily relies on IT tools, platforms, and analytics. It bridges technology with business, making it essential in industries that depend on IT infrastructure. Professionals in IT often find digital marketing skills valuable for expanding their career options.

2. Why is digital marketing important in IT-related industries?

A. IT-related industries thrive on innovation and online presence. Digital marketing enables these businesses to reach global audiences, showcase products, and analyse customer behaviour. It ensures that technological solutions are effectively communicated and implemented in competitive markets.

3. What skills are needed to succeed in digital marketing?

A. Key skills include SEO, social media management, content creation, and data analytics. Technical knowledge of IT tools enhances these abilities, while creativity ensures campaigns stand out. A mix of analytical and creative skills makes professionals versatile and industry-ready.

4. How can students prepare for a career in digital marketing?

A. Students can begin by learning the fundamentals of online marketing, gaining experience with real-world projects, and developing communication skills. Institutes like White Scholars in Hyderabad provide structured training, mentorship, and placement support, helping learners transition smoothly into digital marketing careers.

5. Does digital marketing offer long-term career growth?

A. Yes, digital marketing is a rapidly evolving field with continuous demand across industries. As businesses rely more on digital platforms, professionals can advance to specialised roles such as SEO strategist, content manager, or digital marketing analyst. This adaptability ensures long-term career stability.