Interview with Or Fialkov in the Career Deliberators group On what it's like to work in digital marketing
On May 6, 2019, Irit Homsy, a UX expert specializing in startups, interviewed Or Fialkov in the Career Deliberators group on Facebook about what it’s like to work in digital marketing, what a standard day in the field looks like, how necessary a degree is in this field, entry-level salaries, adjacent niches, and what is the magic of the profession?
The Career Deliberators group aims to make professions accessible to the wider world, and primarily features interviews with professionals sharing what it’s like to work in their field. Among the many interviewees there you will find interviews with: a space researcher, a weather forecaster, a music producer, a composer, a film director, an ambulance driver, an ice cream chef, and more…
How do you get into the field ?
One way is to study at one of the colleges in the country (I, for example, teach at Digitalent, but there are others)
A second way is to start in an entry-level position at a digital agency or an advertising agency and advance from there
A third way is to open an independent agency as a freelancer and acquire small clients
Does it require technical skills? And what are they (if needed at all) ?
You need to be good with numbers, track everything, and not make mistakes
In your opinion, is a degree necessary to be professional at this in addition to self-learning ability?
Unfortunately, a degree does not contribute in this field. A degree in communications hardly teaches you anything effective that will help your professional skills.
It is better to take online courses to learn about new things
What experience is required to enter the field ?
You can also come with no experience at all, but having a background in marketing or programming is recommended (which can help in the areas of building websites / landing pages)
Are there mostly people in the industry with experience from a specific background? And if so, what kind ?
There are people from all backgrounds, but a large portion studied marketing or communications
How is the work-life balance of campaign management?
In advertising agencies people work around the clock, in startups they also work around the clock.
There are places where people work 9 to 6 and it’s possible to balance life with work
To what extent can family life be combined with this field?
There are quite a few people with families who adapt their hours to work
Entry-level salary in the field ?
We conduct a salary survey every year and a beginner earns between 6-7k depending on where they start
How much does it change for someone with over a decade of experience ?
After a decade, you can reach salaries of 20K+ if you have experience and skills and advanced in your role
Are there people who earn significantly more than others because they are in a specific unique niche?
Good campaign managers with a lot of experience who manage a team can earn quite a lot
What is the less glamorous side of the profession?
Endless Sisyphean optimization work on campaigns and the need to learn on an almost daily basis, where if you disconnect for a week or two for a vacation, a lot can change
Would you like to share an insight or lesson you learned along the way in your work as a campaign manager?
Constantly learn as a campaign manager and try all the new tools, don’t be rigid, and build a specific method of consistent work that brings you results
What do you like most about the profession? What is its magic?
The magic is the innovation, the constant change, and the endless tools as this field changes all the time. 5-6 years ago if you advertised on Facebook people would look at you weirdly, today it’s the second largest advertising network in the world
Are there trends and patterns in this profession? Things that didn’t exist a decade or two ago (types of challenges or fads)? Where is the profession heading?
Of course, there are constant changes, chat bots for example are a new thing, Instagram which didn’t exist, or even Facebook where advertising has only been around for 6-7 years.
You have to be very careful not to stick to a trend that won’t catch on or get stuck on a specific segment, because sometimes things don’t progress and you are left with irrelevant knowledge
To what extent will marketing professions maintain their status when many jobs will disappear due to technological advancement? Let’s take PPC for example. How much is the field going to change? How much will the field maintain its current status?
I don’t believe machines will deliver better results than humans in the coming years, but in the long run, we will deal less with the day-to-day and more with the strategic management of campaigns. Unique creatives are something that is fading, and today people can test multiple creatives until we understand what works best. If in the past you were expected to come up with some magic phrase that makes people buy, today it’s all a matter of trial and error
In your estimation, is there an area in marketing that will gain momentum in a decade or two?
Without a doubt, advertising budgets are moving to digital at a dizzying pace, and the market is growing by double digits per year
Is there an adjacent field that might merge with campaign management in the coming years?
The whole world of e-commerce sites and how to get people to buy online; we are only at the beginning of the e-commerce world and it is growing at a crazy pace
How many years have you been in the field? (Are there more freelancers / employees in this field?)
I have been in the field for almost 7 years, there are more employees than freelancers in the field, but many people enter the field to try their luck
How long has the field existed and how does it contribute to the world?
The field of internet advertising has been around for over a decade, it gained momentum in the last 5-6 years with the entry of additional advertising networks, like Facebook and LinkedIn
How is digital marketing different from non-digital marketing? And are they necessarily integrated?
The major difference is in tracking expenses, which are much easier to measure in digital marketing than on a billboard. In addition, the difference is in the precise targeting capabilities available in internet advertising, allowing you to reach a relevant audience so every shekel goes to the relevant audience
How common is the profession? In Israel and abroad?
The field is very common and growing rapidly both in Israel and much more abroad; new roles and new tools are constantly opening up. The field is very dynamic and every month is unlike the previous one
What are the required or optimal traits for good digital advertising professionals ?
In my opinion, you need to learn a lot on your own, constantly keep your finger on the pulse, and learn new tools, otherwise you get left behind
Or Fialkov is the CEO and owner of Fialkov Digital, a digital marketing and advertising agency. He runs paid campaigns on Google, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and TikTok, and builds websites and landing pages. He also implements AI in businesses, including AI agents, agentic marketing automation, AI reporting systems, GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), and AI video for campaigns.
