Digital Marketing Specialist: What They Do and If It’s Right for You
Every time you scroll through Instagram and stop on an ad that seems made just for you, there’s a digital marketing specialist behind it. When you receive a newsletter that convinces you to click, or when an unknown brand appears everywhere in your feed until it becomes familiar, someone designed that strategy.
The digital marketing specialist is one of the most in-demand professionals right now, but also one of the most misunderstood. They’re not “the person who posts on social media.” They’re much more: a professional who combines creativity and analysis, intuition and data, strategic vision and execution capability.
This article is for anyone who wants to truly understand what a digital marketing specialist does, how much they earn, and most importantly whether it’s the right path for them.
Who is a digital marketing specialist and why everyone talks about it
The digital marketing specialist is the professional who plans, executes, and optimizes marketing strategies across digital channels. But this technical definition doesn’t tell the complete story.
In practice, they’re the person who transforms business objectives into concrete actions in the digital world. Want to increase sales by 20%? The digital marketing specialist decides whether to focus on Google Ads, influencer marketing, SEO, or email automation and then makes it happen.
Why is everyone talking about them? Because marketing has moved online, and companies desperately need people who understand this world. According to industry estimates, global spending on digital advertising now exceeds spending on traditional advertising. And every euro spent requires someone who knows where to invest it and how to measure the return.
The result is job demand that exceeds supply. Companies struggle to find competent digital marketing specialists, and those with the right skills can choose where to work.
What a digital marketing specialist really does during a workday
Before talking about salaries, it’s important to understand what a digital marketing specialist actually does in their typical day.
The morning often starts with data analysis: checking the performance of active campaigns, verifying metrics like CTR, conversion rate, cost per acquisition. The numbers tell what’s working and what’s not.
During the day work is divided between strategic and operational activities. It might mean planning next month’s editorial calendar, writing copy for an ad campaign, briefing a designer for creatives, or A/B testing a landing page.
The afternoon can include meetings with the team or clients, competitor analysis, researching new trends, optimizing ongoing campaigns.
And the salary? In Italy, a junior digital marketing specialist starts at around €22-28,000 gross annually. With 3-5 years of experience, it rises to €35-45,000. Senior or specialized profiles can exceed €50-60,000. In international contexts or tech companies, figures can be significantly higher.
But numbers vary greatly based on specialization, sector, company size, and ability to demonstrate concrete results.
The main activities of those working in digital marketing
Digital marketing is a vast universe, and a digital marketing specialist can handle many different activities:
Paid advertising (Paid Media): managing campaigns on Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads, TikTok Ads. This means defining targets, budgets, creatives, and continuously optimizing to maximize ROI.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization): making a website appear among Google’s top results. Requires technical skills, analytical capability, and understanding of how people search for information online.
Content Marketing: creating content that attracts, informs, and converts. Blog posts, videos, podcasts, infographics, each format has its own rules.
Email Marketing: building relationships through direct communications. Newsletters, automation, nurturing sequences. Email remains one of the channels with the highest ROI.
Social Media Marketing: not just “posting,” but building community, managing brand reputation, creating authentic engagement.
Analytics and Data Analysis: measuring everything, understanding what works, making data-driven decisions. Without analytics, digital marketing is just intuition. To better understand the power of data in marketing, it’s worth exploring big data and its impact on the digital future.
Social media, email marketing, and digital content
Let’s dive deeper into three areas that often define the daily work of a digital marketing specialist.
Social Media Marketing goes far beyond publishing posts. It means understanding each platform’s algorithm, creating native content for each one, managing communities, responding to crises, collaborating with influencers. A good social media marketer knows that what works on LinkedIn doesn’t work on TikTok, and adapts strategy and tone accordingly.
Email Marketing is often underestimated, but remains one of the most effective channels. A digital marketing specialist who knows how to build email automation funnels, segment lists, write subject lines that get opened, has enormous value for any company. Email is the channel you “own” — you don’t depend on external algorithms.
Content Marketing is the foundation of everything. Without valuable content, there’s no SEO, no social, no email marketing. Creating content means understanding what your audience is looking for, answering their questions, solving their problems and doing it better than the competition. Those who want to explore how to build brand identity through content can read the article on working in branding.
Social media marketing specialist: how it differs from digital marketing
A frequent question: what’s the difference between a digital marketing specialist and a social media marketing specialist?
The digital marketing specialist has a broad vision across all digital channels: SEO, advertising, email, content, social. It’s a more generalist profile, capable of orchestrating strategies involving multiple touchpoints.
The social media marketing specialist is specifically focused on social networks. They know each platform in depth, its algorithms, its best practices. They’re the vertical specialist of the social world.
Which path to choose? It depends on your inclinations. If you love variety and want an overall vision, the generalist path is ideal. If you’re obsessed with Instagram, TikTok, or LinkedIn and want to become the ultimate expert on those platforms, social specialization might be the right road.
In many companies, especially smaller ones, the two roles coincide. In more structured organizations, they tend to separate. The good news is that skills are transferable: a good social media specialist can evolve into a digital marketing specialist, and vice versa.
Email marketing specialist: why email is still essential
In a world dominated by social and video, email seems antiquated. Yet it remains one of the most powerful tools in digital marketing.
Why does email still work? First, it’s a direct channel: you arrive in the person’s inbox, without algorithms filtering. Second, it’s measurable: you know exactly who opens, who clicks, who converts. Third, it’s scalable: you can reach thousands of people with the same effort as reaching ten.
The email marketing specialist is the professional who masters this channel. They know how to build quality lists, segment contacts based on behaviors and preferences, create automations that nurture leads over time, write emails that get opened and generate action.
Required skills combine copywriting (writing emails that convert), data analysis (optimizing based on metrics), and technical knowledge of platforms (Mailchimp, Klaviyo, HubSpot, ActiveCampaign).
The difference between a digital marketing specialist and other marketing roles
The world of digital marketing is populated by many professional figures. Here’s how the digital marketing specialist positions relative to other roles:
Digital Marketing Specialist vs Marketing Manager: the marketing manager has a more strategic and managerial vision, often coordinating a team. The digital marketing specialist is more operational, executing strategies.
Digital Marketing Specialist vs Growth Hacker: the growth hacker is focused on rapid growth, often with unconventional tactics and strong orientation toward experimentation. The digital marketing specialist has a more structured and complete approach.
Digital Marketing Specialist vs Content Creator: the content creator produces content (texts, videos, graphics). The digital marketing specialist can create content, but their focus is on overall strategy and distribution.
Digital Marketing Specialist vs Data Analyst: the data analyst focuses on data analysis. The digital marketing specialist uses data to make decisions but isn’t a pure analysis specialist.
The truth is that boundaries are fluid, and many professionals develop cross-functional skills that span multiple roles.
Digital marketing specialist salary: how much you can earn and what affects it
Let’s talk concrete numbers. How much does a digital marketing specialist really earn?
Entry level (0-2 years): €22,000-28,000 gross annually in Italy. At this stage, you learn a lot, pay your dues, build your first concrete experiences.
Mid level (3-5 years): €32,000-45,000 gross annually. With experience and demonstrable results, salary grows. Those with in-demand specializations (e.g., performance marketing, marketing automation) can position themselves at the higher end of the range.
Senior (5+ years): €45,000-60,000+ gross annually. Senior profiles with solid track records and ability to manage significant budgets can exceed these figures, especially in tech companies or international contexts.
What affects salary?
Specialization matters: those who can manage significant advertising budgets or have advanced technical skills (marketing automation, CRO) earn more. Sector influences: tech, finance, and pharma pay better than other sectors. Company size is relevant: multinationals tend to offer more competitive packages. Demonstrable results make the difference: a portfolio of successful campaigns is worth more than any certification.
Skills to develop to start a career in digital marketing
What skills do you need to become a digital marketing specialist?
Technical skills (hard skills):
- Knowledge of advertising platforms (Google Ads, Meta Business Suite)
- SEO and SEM basics
- Familiarity with analytics tools (Google Analytics, Data Studio)
- Ability to use email marketing and automation platforms
- Basic understanding of HTML and CMS like WordPress
Transferable skills (soft skills):
- Analytical thinking: being able to read data and draw insights
- Creativity: finding new angles to communicate
- Curiosity: digital marketing constantly changes, you need to stay updated
- Communication skills: writing well, presenting ideas, collaborating with different teams
- Time management: you often manage multiple projects simultaneously
How to develop these skills?
Theory is important, but digital marketing is learned primarily by doing. Managing a personal project (a blog, a social channel, a small e-commerce) teaches more than any theoretical course. Certifications (Google, Meta, HubSpot) help validate skills and are often required in job postings.
Artificial intelligence is also transforming the way marketing is done: those who want to understand how AI is changing the industry can explore the role of Machine Learning Specialist and its applications in marketing.
How to become a digital marketing specialist
Preparation for a career in digital marketing starts before entering the job market. Here’s a concrete path:
Build a practical portfolio. Don’t wait for someone to give you an opportunity: create it yourself. Start a blog and grow it. Manage social media for a nonprofit association. Launch a small ad campaign with personal budget. Every real project is a story to tell in interviews.
Get recognized certifications. Google Ads, Google Analytics, Meta Blueprint, HubSpot Inbound Marketing are free and valued by recruiters.
Stay constantly updated. Follow industry blogs (Search Engine Journal, Neil Patel, HubSpot Blog), podcasts, newsletters. Today’s digital marketing isn’t the same as two years ago.
Network. LinkedIn is your best friend. Connect with industry professionals, comment on their posts, attend events and webinars. Many opportunities arise from relationships.
Choose a practical educational path. The difference between those who find work quickly and those who struggle often lies in the ability to demonstrate practical experience, not just theoretical knowledge.
H-FARM College has built its educational approach on exactly this principle: learning by doing, working on real projects with real companies, developing concrete skills in an environment that combines innovation, technology, and business.
Discover the Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and Global Commerce and start your path in digital marketing with training that truly prepares you for the working world.
Digital marketing is a constantly evolving sector, full of opportunities for those willing to learn and experiment. The question is: are you ready to build your career in one of the most dynamic fields of the moment?
FAQ
It depends on the context. A digital marketing specialist combines creativity and analysis: they create content and campaigns, but also work with data, metrics, and results to understand what really works.
No. At the beginning, it is useful to have a broad view of digital marketing. Over time, many professionals choose to specialize in areas such as social media marketing or email marketing, based on their skills and interests.
They almost always work in a team. Digital marketing specialists collaborate with designers, content creators, data analysts, and business roles. The ability to communicate and work well with others is essential.
Yes. Many digital marketing specialists come from different backgrounds, such as communication, economics, or digital disciplines. What matters most is developing practical skills and proving you can work on real projects.
The best way is to experiment. Trying to manage a project, a campaign, or a digital channel helps you understand whether you enjoy working with content, data, and strategies in a constantly evolving environment.
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