We all want to be part of the latest trends in our respective areas of work or business, be it the sciences, medicine, engineering, technology, accountancy and so on. Specifically for businessmen and marketing executives, Digital Marketing is the new trend that is going to stay for the foreseeable future. Like in any business, most of us tend to stop at just “aspiring” and not proceed beyond a point, because we DO NOT know where to begin. Well begun is half done - and that is precisely the point where we are mostly stuck - “where to begin and how to begin”. It then becomes even more demotivating to hear from friends and others who claim how Digital Marketing transformed their business. This would lead to a situation of forced-complacency, akin to a person sitting by the pool-side dangling one’s legs in the swimming pool while others have already started mastering the art of swimming… And not knowing how to swim the huge ocean of competition can have a telling impact on the business.
I was faced with a similar prospect as I stuck to my old methods and started feeling left out, especially when my manager announced that he would be shifting close to 50% of the marketing budget towards Digital Marketing; this, he said was in line with the trends worldwide! And that caught me by surprise and off-guard. I also had a team that was looking up to me. It was a major inflection point for me and my team. When i interviewed a few friends from the marketing teams of other businesses, i got a sense that people have started doing something around Digital Marketing, but unfortunately no one had a clear understanding of how to use it effectively. The discussions were dominated by one or two folks who had some idea about Digital Marketing - maybe they had done a course or had learnt bits of it by attending conferences. With my experience, it was clear that the half-baked “semi-knowledge” wasn’t going to help me, nor my organization; nor the organization. That is when one of my friends who works for another company told me about the Nanodegree in Digital Marketing that Udacity was offering. She explained the benefits of working towards a Nonodegree, rather than complete “some course” as a “tick in the checkbox”.
Not only did i take her advice and enrolled in the nanodegree, but i also had a few key members of my team take the degree from Udacity. One of the biggest advantages i found with the nanodegree is that it is exhaustive, very well articulated, and provides a holistic view of Digital Marketing. This is a welcome contrast from the regular “courses” in Digital Marketing that are being offered by many educational service providers. We are now in the early stages of adoption of Digital Marketing and the results are already showing! Wish i could disclose how much money i’m making for my company after picking up the Nanodegree! https://www.udacity.com/course/digital-marketing-nanodegree--nd018
