PHL digital marketing industry to be worth P8-B by 2016, analyst says

The Philippine digital marketing industry is estimated to be worth P8 billion by 2016, requiring a surge of talent to meet the demand, said Michael Palacios, the newly inducted president of the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP), on Thursday.

The good news is that there is plenty of room for more talent in the growing industry. The bad news? Your diploma may not be enough for you to rise in the ranks.

IMMAP arrived at this growth figure by looking at the country’s e-commerce revenues for 2013, coupled with an informal survey of the biggest local digital advertisers, including telco operators, key e-commerce players, and brand advertisers.

The Digital Commerce Association of the Philippines pegged e-commerce revenues at US$ 1 billion last year. But 85% of that came from tourism, i.e. “people booking hotels through online platforms”, Palacios said.

“There is a lack of talent right now. That’s not to say that the best and the brightest in the industry aren’t good enough. They are, but there’s just not enough of them. That’s the problem. So we need to staff up,” he said.

Digital marketers and advertisers are expected to be holistic thinkers capable of creating content and understanding analytics – two very separate fields in the industry, as of the present.

Need for advanced training

To make up for needed skills in digital marketing, major players in the digital marketing industry have partnered with education providers like E-Learning EDGE to make specialization courses that tailor to the industry’s needs.

“Dati the level of specialization is low. But now they need to advance. Companies cannot rely on generalists anymore,” said Hans Eric Roxas Chua, President of E-Learning EDGE in a phone interview with GMA News Online, Thursday. “There is a need for companies to become more sophisticated. The work needed is becoming more advanced.”

Due to the request of E-Learning EDGE’s International Advisory Board, a four-month Social Media Marketing course was added to the online education provider’s roster. Among the members of the International Advisory Board are digital marketing companies MRM Worldwide and OgilvyOne.

“It’s hard to BS (in) social (media) because your brand gets stripped naked for all to see. Look at the celebrities who have engaged in social media: one wrong tweet, everyone thrashes out,” Palacios said.

Specialization courses

The Social Media Marketing course is an online specialization program for people who want to learn crisis management, analytics, and content shareability, among others. The course will be offered in the iAcademy School of Continuing Education starting February 27.

“We talked to top brands and agencies. A lot of organizations requested the program,” said Chua.

Like the Certified Digital Marketer (CDM) Program and other specialization courses, the Social Media Marketing Course was requested and suggested by companies to support its need for more skilled and trained professionals.

People taking classes for digital marketing come from different parts of the world, including Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and United States, but the bulk still are students from the Philippines. Digital marketing students come from Cebu, Davao Cagayan, Laguna, and even the outskirts of Metro Manila, Chua said.

“We’re trying to figure out how to tap into the Vietnamese and the Singaporean market for this. So we have an international partner in Vietnam,” said Tina Vitas, Executive Director of iAcademy, one of the partner schools of E-Learning EDGE where the Social Media Marketing course is offered.

“(Enrollees) will get the access to global experts, which I think is very important today. (They are also going) to learn how to use the existing platforms now in social media. We have not left traditional, but we have to put together traditional and digital now as part of one big marketing program.”

IMMAP trainings

The CDM program is a one-year online course catered to first level, young talents. The course covers most of the essentials in the industry, Palacios said. People who get a certification from the course is also required to upgrade their skills every year.

On top of that, the IMMAP offers the Passport Program, which caters to people who are already in the industry but want to level up in one field or another. These include strategic communications, and better practices for development in design, among others.

The digital marketing industry is a young and fast-growing field constantly improving and becoming more complex. That means anyone who enters the industry has to constantly level up their game. — TJD, GMA News