How to become a digital marketer
Scan every valuable brand’s LinkedIn profile—you’ll find their marketing departments filled with digital marketing experts. In fact, Digital Marketer is a constant in global lists of top-ranked careers of the future.1
Whether you’re looking for a bachelor degree, a TAFE course to pathway into a degree, or a postgraduate qualification, Swinburne’s digital marketing courses can take you from novice to leader in the fast-paced world of digital marketing.
4 steps to become a digital marketer
Earn a Swinburne qualification, gain real world experience, build a portfolio to demonstrate your skills and join a community of digital marketing professionals.
1. Get a qualification
Bachelor degrees
Swinburne’s 3-year Bachelor of Business, majoring in Marketing will teach you advanced omnichannel marketing skills. You’ll be immersed in the most up-to-date digital marketing practices, including data-driven strategy, innovation and business digitalisation, and apply your digital marketing skills in traditional marketing and media environments. Choose from over 30 co-majors and get the chance to complete a 6- or 12-month professional work placement.
If you’re interested in becoming a digital content creator, Swinburne’s Bachelor of Media and Communication, majoring in Immersive Media will allow you to develop specialist skills such as storytelling in augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), media design, and technical delivery—preparing you to collaborate with digital marketing experts.
Pathway courses
Searching for a pathway into a bachelor degree? Our Diploma of Digital Marketing builds foundation knowledge in digital platforms, marketing automation, planning and strategy. With this 1-year (full-time) course, you could transition into the second year of the Bachelor of Business, majoring in Marketing or Bachelor of Media and Communication.
Postgraduate degrees and courses
If you already work in digital marketing and are seeking a leadership role, consider a Master of Marketing. Not sure if postgraduate study is for you or seeking a mid-career move? Start with a Graduate Certificate of Marketing.
2. Gain experience
At Swinburne, we’re focused on making sure you graduate a job-ready digital marketer. Yes, you’ll study the theory of digital marketing, but the emphasis of your learning is applied digital marketing.
Whether you’re starting out with a TAFE course, or advancing your digital marketing career through postgraduate study, practical skill development begins with Swinburne’s renowned industry-connections.
Bachelor degrees
Swinburne guarantees real industry experience in all our bachelor degrees:
- Standard three-year bachelor degrees provide the opportunity to advance your real-world digital marketing skills with a 6- or 12-month work placement.
- For a guaranteed 12-month paid work placement, choose the 4-year Bachelor of Business (Professional), majoring in Marketing.
- Build your skill-base with a part-time job or internship through Swinburne’s student job boards and industry networks.
- Immerse yourself in high-impact, CV-building projects that may include: Developing your personal brand strategy then executing it online, and creating a digital marketing plan to help real-world businesses take their brand online.
- You’ll get to grow your marketing skills, share your knowledge and collaborate with peers on industry-linked projects.
- Get familiar with tools used by digital marketers, such as Google Analytics and AI search experiences.
Postgraduate degrees and courses
At the graduate certificate and master degree level, you’ll work on industry-informed case studies across diverse sectors, such as publishing, retail and consumer goods. Plus, you’ll tackle live case studies—creating personas, conducting digital marketing audits and developing digital marketing plans for real clients. You’ll even have access to an off-market job board.
TAFE and Vocational Education
In our Diploma of Digital Marketing, you’ll learn through practical methods, such as industry-informed case studies and simulated media agency communication challenges.
3. Build your digital marketing portfolio
Real industry experience will give you the skills to excel in the workplace. But to secure your first graduate job, you should have visual evidence to showcase your digital marketing skills.
Curate your portfolio from work created as part of your course, as well as on personal projects.
- Whether at TAFE, bachelor degree or postgraduate-level, you may find yourself solving case studies or building an online brand. The artefacts you make in these exercises should form the main body of your portfolio.
- Seek personal digital marketing projects and document the work you do. For example, offer to help a local business create a social media marketing campaign, volunteer to grow the number of followers for your chosen charity or build your own online community.
4. Join a digital marketing industry association
With chapters on every continent, the International Association of Digital Marketing Professionals (IADMP) is the largest digital marketing community worldwide. The Australian chapter is based in Sydney.
Nationwide, the Australian Marketing Institute offers masterclasses, free webinars and networking events for members.
Explore our digital marketing courses
Ready to jump into the world of search engine marketing, social media advertising, SEO and email campaigns?
How long will it take to become a digital marketer?
Swinburne offers a range of flexible pathways to build your digital marketing career. Start building your digital marketing career in as little as 1 year with a diploma; take 3- to 4-years with a bachelor degree; or 2 years for a postgraduate program.
With full- and part-time study options available, you can make study fit around your commitments. You could even fast-track your course by taking classes over a summer or winter term.
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TAFE and UniLink courses
From 1 year full-time or part-time equivalent
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Postgraduate degrees and courses
2 years full-time or part-time equivalent
Quick facts about digital marketing careers
Average salary
$90k3
Job growth
11.4% more jobs by 20264
Job satisfaction
4.2/55
What skills do digital marketers need?
Technical skills:
- marketing automation
- data analytics
- video and photo content creation
- artificial intelligence (AI) services.
Creative skills:
- content ideation and development
- storytelling
- design thinking.
Analytics skills:
- data analysis
- data and web analytics platforms
- reporting.
Business skills:
- digital strategy planning
- written and interpersonal communication
- problem solving
- project management.
Study digital marketing at Swinburne
Swinburne’s unique emphasis on practical digital marketing skills will set you up for career success—whether you choose to work in an agency or client-side.
Courses and study pathways
Duration:
8-12 months or part-time equivalent
Entry requirements:
Successful completion of VCE or relevant study and/or work history.
Career outcomes:
- digital marketing assistant
- marketing coordinator.
Recommended courses:
Recommended if you’ve recently completed VCE or an international year 12 equivalent. Also recommended if you’ve partially completed an approved tertiary qualification, or have relevant work experience. Successful completion guarantees you a pathway into second year of a bachelor degree:
Recommended if you’re already in the workforce and are seeking an early career role in digital marketing, or a pathway into the bachelor degree:
Duration:
3–4 years or part-time equivalent
Entry requirements:
Successful completion of VCE, relevant Unilink diploma, TAFE course or similar.
Career outcomes:
- digital marketing specialist
- SEO specialist
- PPC specialist
- digital marketing coordinator
- digital marketing manager
- digital content developer.
Recommended courses:
Recommended if you’re interested in digital marketing strategy, planning and campaign implementation:
Recommended if you’re interested in creating the content that appears in digital marketing campaigns:
Duration:
6–24 months or part-time equivalent
Entry requirements:
Successful completion of a recognised bachelor degree
Career outcomes:
- brand manager
- market research manager
- digital marketing director.
Recommended courses:
Recommended if you’re seeking a mid-career move into marketing or digital marketing:
Recommended if you’re already in a digital marketing career and want to gain leadership skills to advance your career:
Why study digital marketing at Swinburne?
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First TAFE-level digital marketing course
Swinburne was the first Australian university to offer the Diploma of Digital Marketing.
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Real world experience in all courses
Practical work integrated learning opportunities embedded in all courses.
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Pioneer Adobe Creative Campus
We are the first Australian university to be appointed an Adobe Creative Campus.
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5-stars for student support
Awarded by the Good Universities Guide 2023 for business courses.
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No.1 in Melbourne for graduate salary
According to the QILT Graduate Outcomes Survey, Swinburne business graduates earn the highest salaries one year after graduation.
Frequently asked questions
As a digital marketer, you’ll have a wealth of career pathways to choose from—including:
- content marketing
- search engine optimisation (SEO)
- performance marketing
- social media management
- content strategy
- email marketing
- brand management
- campaign management
- analytics.
When it comes to industries, you’re spoilt for choice too. Nearly every organisation—corporates, small and medium enterprises, startups, and not-for-profits—either have marketing departments or utilise digital marketing in some way.
Depending on the level of an organisation’s marketing maturity, the digital marketers who work with it will get to flex many different skills.
Alternatively, you could work in a digital marketing agency for clients who outsource parts of their digital marketing function.
You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more in-demand career. According to Jobs and Skills Australia, annual employment growth in marketing is around 4,400 jobs, with digital marketing making up a significant proportion of those jobs.
As digital marketing continues to adopt AI and data-driven decision making, the roles in digital marketing will evolve too. If you enjoy dynamic environments and love a challenge, digital marketing is the career for you.
It’s definitely possible. Swinburne is the first Australian university to offer the Diploma of Digital Marketing, which could give you the foot in the door you’re seeking. It’s also a great pathway into a bachelor degree in digital marketing. If you’re on the fence about committing to a degree, here’s a fun fact—52% of marketing professionals hold a bachelor degree (according to Jobs and Skills Australia).
If you have many years of experience in marketing and are hoping to formalise your skills and knowledge, consider the Graduate Certificate in Marketing, a 6-month postgraduate course that could boost your career advancement prospects.
Regardless of whether you choose a TAFE course, bachelor degree or postgraduate course at Swinburne, you’re guaranteed to have Work Integrated Learning experiences embedded in your course.
From 6- or 12-month professional placements (in bachelor degrees), to industry-informed projects (in the diploma and bachelor degree) and live industry case studies (in the graduate certificate and master degree), we ensure that you start flexing your actual problem-solving, digital marketing skills while you’re still studying.
Over and above that, we encourage you to apply your skills outside the course—for example, by volunteering to create digital marketing campaigns for community organisations or small businesses.
Sources
- Simplilearn, Future of Work 2023
- Forbes.com
- talent.com
- Labour Market Insights, accessed May 2024
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Want to learn more about our digital marketing courses
Compare your options and pathways into digital marketing.