Tag: digital marketing

Digital Marketing: An Emerging Field

The importance of digital marketing is taking quantum jumps in today’s business world. The world has become so digital now even small kids are becoming tech-savvy and started doing digital experiments. People have realized the importance of digital marketing in today’s competitive world, and so our young curious minds. Digital Marketing as a career has benefits which far outweigh other streams of Marketing, in much the same way demand outweighs the supply of Digital Marketing professionals. Yes, that’s right. The demand for professionals in the Online Marketing field has high sky-rocketed ever since companies realized that traditional channels of Marketing alone won’t bring in revenue. 70% of marketing job openings now require digital skills.

Digital marketing skills are so high in demand right now that many companies prefer giving jobs to the candidate who is digital amateur. But unfortunately, there are lot of jobs available but not enough readily adequate people to fill them. Today all job profiles seek practical knowledge. Going for a job interview with an academic degree does not work nowadays as these people are instantly rejected undoubtedly, Digital Marketing is a versatile and rewarding career.
With increasing budgets, higher pay and expanding career choices, the digital domain is finally being taken seriously. There has been an increase in Digital Marketing jobs worldwide, and Digital Marketers are hot property. With the possibility of steering your own career, the benefits of Digital Marketing are immense.


Various subfields spinning out of the Digital Marketing domain are in themselves full-fledged with a wide range of career options.

  1. SEO- Search Engine Optimization is the art of getting a high rank for a website in SERP’s.
  2. SEM- Search Engine Marketing involves using paid methods for maximum outreach.
  3. SMM- Social Media Marketing involves optimizing content and using social media to reach the target audience.
  4. Email Marketing- Effective Emails are written and designed for engagement and increasing product reach.
  5. Content Marketing- Effective copy and content are extremely important in engaging users.

Other than these most favourable career options of Digital Marketing, there are many other choices available such as Analytics, Copywriting, Web Design and Development, Advertising etc.

1. Compete with Large Corporations- Digital Marketing can enable you to compete head and head with large corporations. With Digital Marketing, you can get a coma competitive advantage even as a startup or small business leader.

2. Get Prepared For The ‘Internet Of Things’- As people are getting tech-savvy would be a good move to promote your business through the digital platform. This can help you connect with your customers anytime and anywhere in an effective way.

3. Earn People’s Trust And Build Brand Reputation- It’s important to classify brand objectives with customers interest. Digital Marketing can help target the right customers in a substantial way.

4. Ensure Online Business Survival- Digital Marketers can implement innovative ways to entice customers. By targeting the right kind of people, marketers can take the necessary steps for betterment and success for their businesses.

5. Know All About Your Competitors- Many brands and businesses are ramping up on their digital marketing campaigns, using various channels. Have a look at your comcompetitor’srategies and plan yours accordingly to get an edge over them.

6. Real-Time Results- Digital Marketing lets you know how influential your approach has been. By understanding the scenario, you can take the necessary steps to retouch the results in stipulated time.

7. Improve Your Outreach- The online platform is the best medium to connect with your customers worldwide. With Online Marketing, you can be more fetching in terms of providing earnest responses to the relevant queries and feedback.

Final Thoughts:
If there ever was a time to jump on the digital career bandwagon, then this is the time. Make yourself the perfect fit to fill in the Digital Marketing skill gap and open the doors to a wide variety of career choices. With the domain still in its infancy, the possibilities are endless but one thing is for sure: it’s only going to get better from here.

Do you need a Business License to sell on Etsy?

Etsy is one of the most popular online shopping sites which provides wonderful DIY craftworks and many other similar products. Though it’s one of the most valued sites for online shopping websites, one question always pops up when a seller anticipates setting up one’s business. The question is if one needs a business license to sell one’s products on Etsy. Many sellers have repeatedly tried to know the business license policy’s details through the official website of Etsy. The policy regarding if the business license is necessary or not is available on the policy page of Etsy. Also, there are many articles on the internet that have given some ideas regarding the business license policy but not in a very detailed manner. Hence, here’s all the information you need to know to clear your confused minds about what to do and what not to, whether to get a business or not, how to start with the entire procedure before you set up your business on Etsy.

Importance of Business License to sell on Etsy

A business license is a permit which a merchant or a seller needs to get once he/she sets up the business to profit from it. If you are the budding entrepreneur or have a small business that you want to set up on Etsy, you need to go through the details here.

First and foremost, the need to have a business license depends entirely on how you wish to perceive Etsy’s career. For instance, if you pursue working as a seller as your profession or you are working as a seller just as a hobby or passion. If you decide on being a fulltime seller on Etsy, you would have to get that business license to be legal with your business. Your business will only be considered legitimate if you have the permit in the form of a business license. Once your store becomes legalized, you can start working as a fulltime business merchant on Etsy, without any further delay.

To apply for the Business License or not?

Now, I guess you’ve already made up your mind to pursue this as your business, and hence, you need to be sure about a few more things related to the need for Business License here. Firstly, if you’re gaining profit from your store on Etsy, if the answer to this is yes, you would have to report how much amount you are earning from the store and inform it to the IRS. Secondly, if your Etsy store is set up on partnership or LLC, you would have to get an EIN to continue with your business here, and you would also need to get the business license. Here, EIN stands for Employer Identification Number. This is important if you have a partner or multiple partners in your business. 

Types of Business Licenses for Sellers

There are three types of business licenses for business merchants on Etsy. It mostly depends on the seller’s location or ownership or kind of products he or she sells here.

  • A Basic Business Operation License: This license provides you with the allowance to spread your business locally. You need to know how far you can spread your business in geographical terms, and this license helps you to operate your store within that periphery. You must get the idea of how far your business can reach from the local business administration office. You can contact them and know the details regarding the same.
  • An Employer Identification Number: As mentioned earlier, an Employer Identification Number is only required if you have a partnership business or LLC. Other than that, you don’t require an Employer Identification Number. If you are the owner of your store, mostly the case on Etsy, you don’t need an Employer Identification Number. This is only for the business sellers who have more than one or multiple partners attached.
  • A Home Occupation Permit: The Home Occupation Permit is needed if your business is based out of your home. You need this permit if your work is out of your home, like most other Etsy sellers. This kind of license is prevalent on Etsy because here, most sellers have their business set out of their homes.

Where to begin with the Business License?

Most readers now would want to know where to begin and where to go to get the much-needed business license. The entire process of how to get a business license pretty much varies from one place to another. The rules and regulations are pretty different from one city to that of another. You would have to make a proper conversation with the local SBA to know the complete detailed procedure of setting up your business and where to start. Once you contact them, you become aware of the entire process in your area or city, without any further confusion.

How safe is Etsy if you don’t have a Business License?

Etsy is mostly safe if you’re pursuing this platform as a hobby. Once you start making a profit out of your business, you need to get that business license done. Otherwise, you might risk getting caught by the IRS. The safest way to go about it is to make up your mind if you wish to make your store a profit-earning business for you or not. If you want to make this as your business, it’s better to be safe than sorry. You never know when you get caught without a valid business license. My advice would be to apply for that business license as soon as you make up your mind about making Etsy store your business platform or not.

If you’re pursuing your Etsy store as a hobby or as your passion, you don’t need to have a business license. You can continue with your hobby as a seller, as much as you want. You won’t get in any trouble. As the name suggests, the business license is only for those who are seriously taking Etsy as their start-up career or as an entrepreneurship platform for their business.

How to decide if it’s business or not?

The entire choice depends upon how you see your store, whether you see it as a hobby outlet or a business outlet, whether you want to make a profit out of your store or you are just doing it because you like doing it. The entire decision is yours. Also, the business license depends entirely upon this decision of yours. Many sellers get confused even after making their Etsy store, a business platform, about if they would gain profit or not. This is a very legitimate confusion, and one might always have this doubt on their mind. If you feel you need to be wholly assured of your decision and how profitable it is turning up for you, there’s always a path. You can opt for a five-year exemption, which would automatically postpone your choice on whether to get a business license or not. You can work on your business store for five years and see whether it makes a good profit on your profit. Once you’re satisfied with the feedbacks you would be getting, within the particular framework of five years, you can quickly go for the business license and make your business legalized and legitimate.

Etsy, as a business site, is business-friendly. So, you got nothing to worry about when it comes to your start-up career there. You can start with your store any day, even now, just after reading this article and follow the procedures to make a hobby out of it or a profitable business out of it. But you would have to keep in mind a few things before you jumpstart your business career. You cannot continue your business once you are making a profit. You need to report your profits and your earnings to the IRS. You would find many business holders there, who are using unfair means to continue gaining advantage without making their business legitimate. They are going to get caught someday, and they would have to pay a hefty sum of fine to the IRS. You should stay clean once you set up your business. Other than that, you need to contact your local business administration and get the remaining details about the business license. They would start with your paperwork once you understand the whole procedure. Once more, if you are a seller on Etsy who is not looking for profit there, you are not a business seller. You don’t need to apply for the business permit if it’s a hobby. But you surely need the business license once you are planning to make your business legalized and legitimate.

Who pays for Shipping on Etsy?

Apart from the business license, many sellers also face doubts regarding how who pays for shipping on Etsy. So, I am going to cover that part along with the business license details I gave previously. Etsy has a detailed shipping policy which is available on their website. Irrespective of that, here is some essential information regarding the shipping details.

The buyer pays for the shipping charge, no doubt in that. Many buyers only look for free shipping products so that they don’t have to pay for the extra costs which come for the product. Along with the buyer, the seller also has to pay a certain amount to Etsy for the transaction and the shipping of the product. If you charge a shipping fee for the products you sell on your store, you will find a shipping transaction fee. Even if you ship the product for free, you need to pay a certain percentage as the transaction fee. The transaction fee is compulsory for the seller. It doesn’t matter if you are charging the buyer for the shipping transaction or not; you need to pay 5% of the transaction cost anyway. If you charge the shipping fee, you need to pay 5% of the shipping transaction cost and 5% of the transaction cost. This is Etsy’s policy, and it is given in a detailed manner on their personalized website. 

The only profitable way to sell your products is to divide the shipping transaction between you and your buyer. If you try to make the buyer pay most of the shipping transaction cost, they might not end up ordering your product even after liking it. Many buyers remove the products from the cart once they see the shipping charge more than usual. It’s better to divide the shipping transaction cost and not let one party pay the entire or the higher amount, neither the seller nor the buyer. Also, it would not be profitable if you end up selling the product, free of any shipping charge. You would end up paying the shipping transaction cost on your own, which might turn out to be a loss on your part. You need to calculate the entire cost and divide it skilfully to make the product look pocket friendly for the buyer and profitable for the seller. 

You may need to go through the policy guidelines available on the Etsy website to get a detailed idea regarding the shipping transaction cost and the transaction cost and calculate what makes it profitable for you and lucrative for the buyer. Once you are in the midway, you might become satisfied with the profit you would be making even after you pay 5% of the transaction cost and 5% of the shipping transaction cost. But keep in mind that many sellers opt for free shipping so that buyers find the product more lucrative and end up buying more. You need to decide wisely how to move forward with the shipping cost. Rest assured, the buyer is the one who pays for the major part of the shipping cost.

Digital Marketing has changed Today’s Business World : Big Exclusive >>>>>>>>>>>…

Credit : Third Party Reference

Digital marketing as you heard this word, you will certainly focus on online marketing or the non traditional marketing technique which can boost the market of important goods and things digitally. Basically digital marketing is the type of marketing which is delivered over the digital channels especially on the internet, smartphones and other digital mediums are technically included. Digital marketing can create a hyphen market space which can be utilized by both suppliers and customers.

Without facts and principles, data is useless.” –Bob Hoffman, Writer, Speaker and Type A Group Partner

Anyone who is using digital media or mediums can take advantage of exclusive offers and deals which have been provided by suppliers. Digital marketing can boost the business turnover of the companies. Digital marketing offers a huge return on small investment. Nowaday Companies are hiring digital marketing experts for better promotion of their products.

“We need to stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in.” –Craig Davis, former Chief Creative Officer at J. Walter Thompson

“Content is not king, but a president elected by the votes of those whom it aims to rule.” –Raheel Farooq, Teacher, Writer and Voiceover Artist

Credit : Third Party Reference

Digital marketing can be divided into several types which is given as follows-

  1. Search Engine Marketing (SEM).
  2. Social Media Marketing (SMM).
  3. Email Marketing (EM).
  4. Content Marketing (CM).
  5. Pay-Per-Click (PPC).
  6. Television Marketing (TM).
  7. Affiliate Marketing (AM).
  8. Radio Marketing (RM).

“Does your content lead readers on a journey, or does it merely stuff them as leads into a pipeline?” –Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs

Digital marketing has consist several marketing benefits which is given as below-

  1. Low Cost: Marketing digitally offers more affordable alternatives than traditional methods. They create much impact yet cost less.
  2. Easy to Measure: Success of the digital campaign can be easily traced like email marketing software.
  3.  Easy to Adjust: Digital marketing can be easily adjusted accordingly or stopped all through with ease over traditional marketing.
  4. Brand Development: A well developed website that is highly interactive in some of the ways by which business can build its brand,
  5. Ease to Share: Digital marketing channels, feature sharing capabilities which allows campaigns to be shared with various followers.

“The consumer is not a moron; she is your wife.” –David Ogilvy, the Father of Advertising, Founder of Ogilvy & Mather

“Authenticity, honesty, and personal voice underlie much of what’s successful on the Web.” –Rick Levine, Author of The Cluetrain Manifesto

Hence, Digital marketing is the revolutionary step to increase the business capability and goals, promotes the goods and makes the business companies a big brand.

Online Learning Platforms And Courses.

What is Online Learning ?

Online Learning, or, e-learning, is the education that is done by, or through the internet. Online learning provides u an institution without the walls, you can learn, study and get certified by just being at your place. It reduces the need of travelling, or the traditional classroom sessions or 8 hours, e-learning gives you the chance to learn from anywhere and at anytime.

Resources you get while learning online:

  • EBooks
  • Videos
  • Recorded Lectured
  • Live Sessions for query
  • Journals
  • Quizzes

Some disadvantages of Online Leaning.

  • Lectures are not downloadable: The lectures available in the online learning platforms are not downloadable, this is not suitable for those who do not have proper network.
  • Multiple devices: The same account can be used by multiple users if the id and password is shared.
  • Only for certifications: Few users opt the courses just for the sake of getting certificate, they do not have to watch the whole lectures, if they have paid, they will get the certificate.

Some Online Learning Platforms.

  1. Udemy: It is an American online learning platform, founded in May 2010. Here, the courses are available in 65 different languages, like, English, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Polish, and etc. Here are several courses available in the field of design, development, marketing, photography, IT and software, personal development, and many more. Total number of instructors teaching in Udemy: 57K Total number of courses available in Udemy: 150K Total number of enrollments in Udemy: 295M
  2. Coursera: It is founded by Stanford computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller in 2012. You can access it through mobile, and download the lectures and watch them offline, this is a boon for those who don’t have proper network in their area. The courses are available in more than 40 languages with subtitles. Total number of courses available in Coursera: 4,300+ Total number of learners in Coursera: 63M
  3. Skillshare: It is an American online learning platform, founded in November 2017, by Michael Karnjanaprakorn and Malcolm Ong.There are courses available for designing, business, photography, and etc.
  4. Byju’s: For students of class 1st to 12th. It was founded in 2011, in India, by Raveendran. It offers learning programs for the students of class 1st to 12th, and aspirants of exams, like, JEE, IAS, NEET.

BEST ONLINE COURSES WHICH WORTH LEARNING.

  • Digital Marketing Course: It means the use of internet, mobile, or social media to reach customers.The basics of digital marketing are, social media advertising, social media management, email marketing, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, content marketing, web analytics.
  • Data Science Course: It is the study of data, which includes, recording, storing and analyzing the data. Work of data scientists is to do data modeling process, create algorithms and predictive models to extract the data.
  • Advanced Microsoft excel: It refers to the features and functions of Microsoft Excel tools, that are required to perform large and complex calculations, data processing, data analysis and better representation of data. In today’s time, many jobs require advanced Excel skills, which includes, data formatting, power query formatting, tables formatting, conditional formatting, advanced charting, and etc.
  • Graphic Designing Course: It involves problem solving through typography, photography, iconography and illustrations. in other words, it is the process of visual communication. The graphic designers need to create visual concepts,to communicate ideas with the consumers.
  • Content Writing Course: It is the process of planning, writing and editing the content, or we can say the web content. It includes, writing blog posts, articles, or content for specific platform.

How artificial intelligence is transforming the future of digital marketing

From smart search options and personalized messaging to being used in campaigns and marketing, AI and machine learning are increasingly being used in digital marketing.

Digital marketing relies on leveraging insights from the copious amounts of data that gets created every time a customer interacts with a digital asset. Algorithms optimize various factors and data points that influence digital marketing success.
In 2020, we anticipate a significant uptick in the mainstreaming of AI and machine learning use cases in digital marketing across several areas. 

Search will get very smart

In the past year, online search has had several AI and machine learning developments. Google is leading the pack with exciting applications in information retrieval. For example, Google’s BERT technology can process a word in the context of all the other terms in a sentence, rather than one-by-one in order. BERT also enables anyone to train their own state-of-the-art question answering system.  

Customization of search results and the results page based on learning from past interactions and preferences of a user is another application of machine learning used in search.

AI-driven personalization of messaging 

Several attach companies have been focusing on using AI and machine learning to find the right audience to write better ads than humans, and to increase conversion rates and engagement with the target audience. There are also several AI-led developments in the area of creating dynamic ads and landing pages to personalize marketing messages on the fly. 

AI has an application in content creation in terms of determining the logic of personalization as also crating content specific to an individual, using techniques such as natural language generation (NLG).

Use of machine learning in campaign operations 

Platforms such as Google and Face book have been at the forefront of AI/ML applications in marketing. Starting from smart bidding and smart campaigns to auto-generated ads, Google is making it easy for advertisers.

Smart bidding options such as TROAS, TCPA, and others use advanced machine learning algorithms to train on data at a vast scale to make accurate predictions about how different bid amounts might impact conversion or conversion value and assist advertisers in optimizing without getting into too many details. 

Google factors in a wide range of contextual signals (through search data) to predict user behavior and to influence auction time bidding as per the goal set by advertisers. Facebook has also incorporated machine learning across campaign planning and execution, as also in ad placements and ad delivery.

Similarly, on the organic search side, machine learning-based product ALPS reverse engineers Google’s ranking algorithm, and is able to accurately quantify ranking drivers, provide precise recommendations for changes, and predicts the impact of SEO actions before they are implemented.

Similar technology to drive improved ad copy testing in digital marketing exists. These help in evaluating ad copies and landing pages on various parameters like relevancy, use of action promoters/inhibitors, urgency inducers, page layout, load times, etc., to gauge the impact on ad relevance, expected CTR, and landing page experience. 

Future trends 

AI will also have additional application in digital marketing with the uptick in the adoption of technologies such as VR and AR, as commercial use cases of these technologies find wider adoption in retail and other sectors.

Many retailers are also testing AI and VR/AR technologies together to make the user experience personalized to an individual.

Other areas of impact include voice search. We will increasingly see ads about things which we just said or talked about, but haven’t searched for yet. Similarly, image search is also being used by many brands for their consumers to match patterns and identify products using image search. 

The coming years will continue to unfold newer potential uses of AI in digital marketing.

Digital Marketing: Unfolding of a new arena

In today’s digital era, when almost every information out there is in your hands using a smartphone and an internet connection, even the markets of advertising and content creation have undergone a shift from conventional channels like the radio, print, television towards mire internet-based options like being a blogger, YouTuber, podcasts, etc.

Due to this shift, more eyeballs are now fixed on a smartphone screen than ever, hence even brands are now channelizing their branding and advertising towards digital mediums. That’s where a new hot area of self- employment, entrepreneurship, or even business gave birth to digital marketing.

From a student’s perspective, it is a great opportunity, provided that the millennials are so comfortable and easily adapt to the fast pace changes coming forth in the world of the internet. Data is believed to be the new oxygen of this century and more than 500 million internet users in the Indian subcontinent alone prove it. This number is set to increase across the globe that’s where this arena of being a digital marketer becomes the new hotspot of employment and business like the IT industry picked up the boom in the early 2000s after the burst of the dot-com bubble.

Digital marketing is like a combination of a variety of skills like Search Engine Optimization (organic marketing), Search Engine Marketing (inorganic marketing), social media marketing, blog writing as per keyword researches, managing social media handles, online reputation management and many more. From being an employee at a digital marketing company to being a self-employed blogger or starting your own business without almost no investment, whatever your work ethic suits you, this budding field has everything in the pack for you.

Now, the question arises from where to learn this skill of digital marketing?
It’s easy, start simple. Learn about some of the terms and key factors involved in it from well established digital marketers like Harsh Aggrawal, Ankur Aggarwal, Mark Manson, etc. Either learn from their blogs or some of them even have their YouTube channels. Also, as a beginner, I would recommend you to get certified in the fundamentals of digital marketing by the most used search engine and the tech-giant: Google itself. Yes, you read it right! There is a free course on Google Digital Garage, absolutely free of cost (with certification).

Just start it as a hobby along with your regular education, and have a learning attitude because within a few years you will possess a great skill that will be greatly relevant for your future. Moreover, then you can start your website through a domain and hosting provider or work as a digital marketing intern. Further, it is believed that skills like digital marketing, communication skills, presentation skills are going to have omnipresent demand in almost every career choice amongst the multi-talented coming generation. These skills are more practical application and experience-based unlike conventional theoretical based. So, in this social media age, the students should have a mindset not to be just a content consumer but also be a creator or marketer of a particular niche to have an edge over the competition.