Digital Marketing Degrees: Skills in Demand for 2014 Says Article

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One of the reasons why the University of Michigan-Dearborn has one of the best digital marketing degrees programs in Michigan is because of the skills the students learn. According to recent article authored by Megan Leap, titled "Most Coveted Digital Marketing Skills for 2014 [Infographic]", more than 700 advertising and marketing executives were about digital marketing skills. Here is what they had to say:

• More than 3 out of 4 executives said that analytics is an important skill to have while the article noted that there is a 37% talent gap according to the people surveyed.

• 58% also said that mobile marketing is an important skill. Which is not a real surprise considering that 58% of Americans (at least 18 years old) own a smartphone according the PEW research.

There is much more in the article which I highly encourage you to read (the is link is in the first paragraph by the way). Especially if you would like to pursue a digital marketing degree and ultimately a career. 

Graduate Digital Marketing Degree from Eastern Michigan University: My Review

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While in my past reviews of digital marketing degrees I've only stuck to undergraduate programs, for this review I will talk about something a little different. A graduate (masters) digital marketing program. Offered by Eastern Michigan University this program is called the "Integrated Marketing Communications Graduate Program". Since this is a masters degree program there is a different market that will be interested in this rather than a digital marketing degree from a undergraduate university in Michigan. This degree is 2 years instead of 4 and you obviously need to have an undergraduate degree (bachelors) before you are able to get accepted. 

This is great option if you have already graduated college and don't want to go back for a 4 years bachelor degree in digital marketing. 

Learn Digital Marketing From Google? The Online Market Challenge

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For those that are not entirely sure about pursuing a digital marketing degree at a Michigan University, Google has developed a free online course  to let you "try it before you buy it". The goal of the course is to "help shape your advertising goals and strategy for the Google Online Marketing Challenge" (Source). 

What is the Google Online Marketing Challenge?

Students are give a digital marketing challenge to manage campaigns using Google Adwords and Google+. According to the website, the challenge has been going on for about 7 years and 80,000 students have participated. If you are interested in this challenge, check out their site.

What about the digital marketing course?

The course is divided into 7 modules. Covering everything from introduction to digital marketing to analytics and video, this free course is designed to give a good overview of the field of digital marketing. This is one of the best resources on the web for anyone who wants to pursue a digital marketing degree. The course titles are:

• Introduction to Digital Marketing
• Search Engine Marketing
• Search Advertising
• Display Adverstising
• Mobile
• Social
• Analytics
• Video

You might ask why should I even pursue a digital marketing degree from an University when I can get the same experience at little to no cost with Google's course? While I suggest going the more traditional route for a digital marketing degree in Michigan because of the experience you will get working in groups and the connects you will make that will also help you in your career, some students want to go on their own path.

Digital Marketing Degree from University of Michigan-Dearborn in Top 8 List

"there’s a growing disconnect between the needs of the market and the available resources at universities. Marketing and Advertising— digital marketing, in particular, and digital advertising—are driving the mobile and digital revolutions which have created billions of dollars in equity value and hundreds of thousands of jobs" Source: http://www.iab.net/iablog/2013/09/top8digitalU.html

The University of Michigan-Dearborn Digital Marketing degree program has been ranked as one of the top 8 digital universities according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). One of the main reasons this University was acknowledged by the IAB is because it address the growing gap between school and the professional world which was address in the quote above. The author of the article also called for employers to connect more with educational institutions to better equip students with real world experience. It's a great article and I highly encourage you to read it. The link is below the quote.

Also on another note, I recently found another great blog about digital marketing degrees. http://joshsdigitalmarketingblog.com/ I highly encourage you to check it out!

Latest Digital Marketing Trends - State Of Digital Marketing 2014 - Stan...

Why Digital Marketing is Important to All Industries

When you think of IBM, the first thing that comes to your mind is not digital marketing. However, according to a venturebeat.com article titled "Why digital marketing companies have become tasty acquisitions" IBM is starting to invest in digital marketing. And they are not the only ones.  Below is a list of some companies that recently acquired digital marketing companies. For the full list, be sure to click on the link above.

• LinkedIn bought Bizo 
• IBM bought Silverpop
• PricewaterhouseCoopers bought BGT Partners

It's very encourage to hear news like this, especially if your a student that is getting his or hers digital marketing degree. These companies are a just a small sample of the firms that are realizing the value of digital marketing in today's digital economy. 

While your in the process of earning your digital marketing degree in Michigan you can be assured that companies will recognize the value of your skill set to their business goals. This was very interesting article and I highly encourage you read it even if your not a digital marketer. It shows digital marketing is applicable to all kinds of businesses. So this means a getting a digital marketing degree can be a flexible way to go in industries that you are passionate about. 

Google Digital Marketer explains Digital Marketing. Great Video!

Interview with Avinash Kaushik, digital marketing evangelist for Google

Hi everyone! I thought I might share this video about how Google thinks about digital marketing. If you're a student who want to get a degree and a career in digital marketing, I highly recommend you watch this video. 

Another Reason Why a Digital Marketing Degree is Worth it.

Actually there's about 62 billion reasons why students interested in Marketing should pursue a digital marketing degree. According to the Wall Street Journal blog, there is a study which claims the digital marketing industry is worth $62 Billion dollars. Why is it worth so much even though it's a relatively new industry (less than 30 years old by my estimates)? Well, there are many reasons account for such a high valuation, the main reason this article states is data. 

There has been no other time in history where the collective information of so many people has been this accessible. The goal of digital marketers is to analyze and interpret this data into valuable information that gives business new insights and new paths to better advertise their products and services.

"The study, published Monday by the Direct Marketing Association, an industry group, was authored by John Deighton and Peter Johnson, a Harvard Business School professor and a Columbia University adjunct professor. It counted some 650 companies working in the personal data business."

Digital Marketing Degree at Western Michigan University Review!!

Know as the Electronic Business Marketing major Western Michigan University, combines two well known fields: marketing and technology. In fact if you research many digital marketing degree programs that is how they are generally described.  Similar to the digital marketing degree at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, students can find the this degree under Western Michigan University's business degree. 

• "Students who have exposure to both marketing and IT courses will have unique skills and advantages in the employment arena."

The Classes

The class sequence is divided into 3 sections:

• Common core
• 2 Information Technology classes and 3 Marketing classes
• Students have the option of pursuing an IT track or Marketing track

The Review

This gives the students more flexibility with choosing the type of career they want to pursue. If they want to learn more tech skills they can choose the IT track and if they want a more traditional marketing career they can choose the Marketing track. This digital marketing degree is a great choice for students who are creative and analytical minded. Technology has made access to data much easier than before and with the access there is a need for analysis. The digital marketing degrees in Michigan offer that need. 

Digital Marketing and the Holidays

In the article "Holiday Is (Almost) Here: 5 Shopping Trends Marketers Should Watch", from thinkgoogle.com, the authors describe each of these trends using data to backup their findings. Here is my summary of their article which can be found at https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/five-holiday-shopping-trends-marketers-should-watch.html

• Mobile
• Shoppers will begin using their ever more powerful smartphones to start purchasing products via mobile sites or apps.

•  "52% of online smartphone shoppers used their phones throughout the shopping process during the 2013 holidays (Google and Ipsos MediaCT, 2014)."

• Gray Friday
• Stores are starting to promote their holiday deals a lot earlier than before mainly because they have seen that consumers have responded to this timetable in advertising. These retailers have stretched the deals that were only on black Friday to be help throughout the month of November.

• "Some shoppers (29%) will start holiday shopping before Halloween"

• Tech Savvy Shoppers
• With smart phones and tablets permeating through our culture. Is inevitable when shoppers will start using this newly available tech to optimize their shopping experience.

• "The time spent on digital has increased by more than two hours in the past three years—from 3 hours 11 minutes in 2010 to 5 hours 46 minutes in 2013 (eMarketer, 2014)."

• Spending is up but not In-store Traffic
• Shoppers simply don't have to wait in line to purchase products anymore. Technology has made buying products much more efficient (1 click purchasing on Amazon). Therefore spending money has never been easier for the holiday shopper.
• Deals, Deals, and more Deals

• "An extremely high percentage (92%) of shoppers will check prices online for the best bargain (parago, 2014)."

• It's important to advertise your deals where your target market will be able to see them.

What exactly is digital marketing?

Watch this clip to determine if earning a digital marketing degree in Michigan is right for you.

Top Michigan Universities to Earn Your Digital Marketing Degree

About.com's education division have come out with an article that ranks the top universities in the state of Michigan. 13 to be exact. Two of the top 13 universities in Michigan were the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and the University of Michigan in Dearborn.

I decided to share this article with you to illustrate that the University of Michigan-Dearborn is considered a good school and their digital marketing degree program is apart of that.

Digital Marketing Degrees in Michigan

Found a fascinating article today that talks about the skills students need to learn after they get their digital marketing degree. It's called 4 skills every graduate needs in digital marketing.



The article breaks the essential skills down into 4 categories:

• Analytics and Reporting
• Social Media
• Search Engine Optimization
• Writing

The University of Michigan - Dearborn Digital Marketing Program REVIEW!!

While the field of digital marketing has existed for many years, getting a degree in digital marketing has only been a recently granted opportunity to the students of University of Michigan in Dearborn, MI.  

The Classes

Apart of the college of business over there, the digital marketing major consists of 5 specific classes that you are required to take and you are also required to pick any a 2 classes from a list of 6 marketing courses. This totals up to 21 credits for the digital marketing core classes. The other 99 credits are associated with general requirement and various other business class which make the rest of the requirements to receive a bachelors of business administration (BBA) with a concentration in digital marketing. To find more information about the specific classes please click here.

The Skills

The goal of the digital marketing program at the University of Michigan - Dearborn is to give students the skills and knowledge necessary to hit the ground running in the digital marketing field after graduation. This program aims at providing skills that can be applied in the real world not just in the class room. An example would be student ranking assignment given to students in the first digital marketing class offered there. This assignment allows the students to use Google Adwords to help students find the relevant key words to help getting their blog ranked on Google's search engine. This is just one example, and there are many more for the other classes offered. 

My Review

Based off the types of classes and tools learned. I would rate the digital marketing program at the University of Michigan Dearborn a 4/5. I would have given it a 5 out of 5 however there are some software programs that are used every day in digital marketing, Photoshop for example, that are not included in the curriculum and out of the financial reach of many college students. However, with that said,  the digital marketing program at the University of Michigan Dearborn is still a great choice to help students, with the passion and desire to become digital marketers, take their first step in to the fast growing field.

Welcome To Michigan Digital Marketing Programs 101!

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mkhmarketing/

Class is about the begin, please take your seat.  

In my, slightly biased, opinion, digital marketing is one of the most interesting and fastest growing fields within the general marketing field.  But if you're a student or prospective student in Michigan, there aren't really any good resources to compare and contrast the digital marketing programs offered by Michigan's Universities. This is were my blog can help.  My ultimate goal is to help find the best digital marketing program for students in Michigan or students out of state that would like to attend a Michigan University.  

We will look at traditional digital marketing programs which consist of physically going to a class and we will also look at online digital marketing programs that offer greater flexibility to students that have busy schedules.  The best digital marketing programs in Michigan will offer classes to develop your digital marketing skill set that is relevant to a career in digital marketing.  After all, as as student, developing a relevant skill set to land your chosen career is the goal after going to school. That is why we will also evaluate the different skills that are in demand in digital marketing.

Within the next week we will take a look at our first digital marketing program offered by the University of Michigan - Dearborn.

I always appreciate feedback from the community, so if you think my blog is helpful in anyway, please comment, like, or share my blog!