Digital Marketing Trainer Sugin Benzigar with 16+ Years of Industry Experience
Learn Digital Marketing from Real Industry Experience
Key information:
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Total Years of Experience in Digital Marketing - 16+ years
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Total Years of Experience in Teaching Digital Marketing - 11+ years
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Total no. of Students trained - 1500+ students since 2015
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Media Spends (Budgets )Managed Onbehalf of Clients - 7 crore+
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Notable Organizations Worked For:
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CSS Corp
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Dr. Agarwal's Eye Hospital
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Workafella
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Notable Clients Handled:
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K7 Antivirus
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Intellect by Polaris
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Vurve Salon
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SIP Abacus
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GBR TMT
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Palam Silks
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Geek Robocook
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Organizations Founded
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Mammal Digital - Performance Marketing Agency
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St. Joseph's Digital
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Have a Question for Sugin?
Phone
Chat on Whatsapp
Addresss
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15b, Thattan Vilai Rd, East Ramanputhoor, Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu 629004, India.
Page Contents
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How I teach Digital Marketing
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Digital Marketing Programs Offered
How I Teach Digital Marketing
My Approach to Teaching Started Before Digital Marketing
My approach to teaching digital marketing actually started before I taught my first digital marketing student.
While working as a digital marketer at Dr. Agarwal’s Eye Hospital in Chennai, I was given an opportunity in 2012–13 to teach Computer Science to optometry students at Shri Prakash Optometry College as a guest lecturer.
For many of these students, computers were completely unfamiliar. Some had chosen optometry because they did not want to study computer science. Others had very little exposure to computers at school.
So I had a challenge: how do you make a subject interesting to students who never intended to study it?
I quickly realised that teaching could not simply be about completing the syllabus. I wanted students to become curious enough to explore the subject on their own.
I created a free Blogspot site for the department and used it to share notes and course material. I even demonstrated computer components by dismantling a computer cabinet in front of the class. These were small things, but they gave students something beyond what was available in their textbook.
One student eventually created his own Blogspot site, out of his own interest, after seeing what I had created. That stayed with me.
I may not remember every lesson I taught in that classroom, but I remember that blog that a student created. That, to me, was teaching working. The student had gone beyond the syllabus and wanted to try something himself.
Teaching Is More Than Covering the Syllabus
Years later, when I started teaching digital marketing, I carried that same idea with me. A digital marketing trainer should not simply repeat what is already written in a textbook or available in a course recording. The trainer should bring experience, context, examples and perspective into the classroom — and, hopefully, inspire students to explore further.
I am fortunate that I get to teach something I have been practising for more than 16 years.
When I looked back at how I teach today, I realised that many of these ideas have remained remarkably consistent since that classroom in Chennai. I also asked my students what they felt about my teaching, and their experiences reinforced many of the things I had been doing instinctively.
Here is how I approach teaching digital marketing at St. Joseph’s Digital.
1. Start With the Student, Not the Syllabus
At St. Joseph’s Digital, I don’t begin a digital marketing training session by opening the syllabus and starting with the first topic. I start by listening to the student.
Every learner comes with a different level of knowledge, experience, education and expectation. As a digital marketing trainer, I first try to understand where each student is starting from:
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What do they already know about digital marketing?
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What do they think digital marketing actually means?
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How familiar are they with Google, Instagram, YouTube, websites, online advertising and other digital platforms?
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Are they completely new to marketing, or do they already have marketing experience?
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What is their educational or professional background?
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Why have they joined the course?
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What are they hoping to achieve by the end of their digital marketing training?
For example, instead of immediately explaining search marketing using technical terminology, I may ask:
“When you have a requirement or are looking for a solution online, how do you usually discover it?”
A student might answer, “I search on Google.”
That simple answer gives us a starting point.
I can then introduce search as a digital marketing channel, explain why search traffic can be valuable because it often connects people who already have an intent with relevant solutions, and build the concept from something the student already understands.
This approach does two things at the same time: the student begins learning digital marketing, while also realising that they already understand parts of how digital marketing works.
That early sense of participation matters. It helps students become more comfortable asking questions, sharing what they know and interacting with the trainer. I have seen this confidence become particularly important for students who initially feel that digital marketing may be difficult to learn.
The same sense of confidence is reflected in one of student's testimony - Ms. Sharda’s experience.
She has spoken about how she initially felt apprehensive about learning digital marketing, but found herself becoming more confident once the training began and she experienced the way the concepts were explained.
For me, this is an important part of being a digital marketing trainer: before I teach the subject, I understand the learner.
2. Build Confidence Through Interaction
For me, the first objective is not simply to teach a concept. It is to help students feel “I can learn digital marketing.”
When students answer questions, contribute to discussions and connect their existing experiences with new marketing concepts, they become more comfortable participating.
That confidence matters, especially for beginners. Students who feel comfortable asking questions are more likely to clarify their doubts and engage with more complex topics.
This is also why my digital marketing training is interactive rather than simply presentation-based. I pay attention to facial expressions, hesitation, questions and participation to understand whether students are following the topic.
A little humour and an open classroom environment also help students feel comfortable.
My objective isn't simply to finish the syllabus. It is to keep students connected to what is being taught.
Senthil Nayagi’s experience is a good example of this transition.
In her video testimonial, she talks about how she initially felt apprehensive about learning digital marketing, but became more confident once the training began and she experienced the way the concepts were explained and discussed.
3. Explain Concepts Through Real-World Examples
Digital marketing is much easier to learn when you can see where a concept actually fits into the real world.
When I explain a concept during my digital marketing training, I don't want students to simply remember a definition.
I want them to understand where the concept is used, why it matters and how it works in an actual marketing situation.
That is why I use multiple real-world examples during my live online sessions. The examples I discuss are not simply repetitions of the examples already available in the course recordings. Students are exposed to additional businesses, situations and scenarios, giving them different ways to understand the same concept.
The learning process therefore becomes:
Concept → Real-world example → Different scenario → Discussion → Application
rather than simply:
Definition → Memorise → Move on
This approach helps students connect what they are learning with the digital platforms, businesses and marketing situations they encounter every day. It also gives them more than one way to understand and remember a concept.
I believe this approach makes a real difference when learning digital marketing, and Pravin’s experience is a good example.
In his video testimonial, he shares how the practical, real-time examples used during the sessions helped him understand the concepts and see how they work in the real world.
4. Make Complex Concepts Easier to Understand
Digital marketing has plenty of technical terms and concepts that can initially feel difficult, especially for beginners. I try to introduce these concepts through familiar situations and practical examples before introducing the terminology.
For example, when explaining CTR (Click-Through Rate), I first help students understand what we are trying to measure and why it matters, and then introduce the term and formula.
This approach helps students understand the concept before memorising the terminology, making it easier to learn and apply digital marketing in real situations.
Sriram’s experience reflects this approach. In his video testimonial, he talks about how the concepts were explained during the training and how this helped him understand digital marketing more easily.
5. Support Learning With Strong Materials
Good digital marketing training should not end when the live session ends. Students need reliable material they can return to when they want to revise or clarify a concept.
Since I started teaching digital marketing in 2015, my educational materials have continuously evolved with the industry. What began with around 100 slides covering SEO, SEM and Social Media has grown considerably, with SEO alone now requiring more than 100 slides as search algorithms and practices continue to evolve.
These materials give students a structured reference during the course and something they can return to later. Students also receive pre-recorded sessions to revise and reinforce what they learn in the live training.
This combination of live training, structured learning materials and recorded sessions supports learning beyond the classroom.
Digital Marketing Training for Corporates
Digital awareness is becoming important across teams, not just marketing departments.
At St. Joseph’s Digital, I offer a practical 2-day digital marketing training program for corporates. It introduces employees to the key digital channels and how AI is influencing them.
The program is delivered by a digital marketing professional with 16+ years of industry experience and 11+ years of teaching experience. I have also managed ₹7 crore+ in digital media spends.
The 2-Day Digital Marketing Program Covers
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Digital Marketing Fundamentals
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SEO and Search
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SEM and Google Search Ads
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Social Media Marketing
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Analytics and key metrics
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AI's influence on SEO, SEM and Social Media
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AI tools and practical prompting
The sessions use real-world examples and are designed for employees who want to become digitally aware, rather than become full-time digital marketers.
For corporate training enquiries:
Email hello@stjosephsdigital.com or sugin@stjosephsdigital.com, or call 8825821942.
Digital Marketing Courses for Individuals
For individuals who want deeper, hands-on digital marketing training, St. Joseph’s Digital offers live courses covering the major areas of digital marketing with internship. We are also offering specialised courses on SEO, Google Ads, Meta Ads
You can explore our Digital Marketing Course Online or Digital Marketing Course in Nagercoil based on your preferred mode of learning.
Digital Marketing Training for Colleges
We also offer digital marketing training for colleges through workshops, practical sessions and also as Digital Marketing Professors - where we teach the prescribed university/college digital marketing syllabus.
Through our workshops and other events students can be introduced to SEO, Google Ads, social media marketing, analytics, AI tools and digital marketing career opportunities.
The sessions are designed to give students practical digital awareness before they enter the workplace.
For college training enquiries:
Email hello@stjosephsdigital.com or sugin@stjosephsdigital.com, or call +918825821942.
Know More about Sugin Benzigar
Before “Digital Marketing” Was Really a Term
I am an engineering graduate by qualification and a performance marketer by trade. When I started working in digital marketing in the late 2000s, there wasn't really a thing called digital marketing as we know it today.
SEO and PPC were the main areas. PPC wasn't particularly popular among advertisers, while SEO was gaining serious traction. Social media was beginning to take off, Facebook Pages had only recently arrived, and Facebook Ads didn't exist yet. Android phones weren't mainstream either; button phones were still the norm.
When SEO Was a Very Different Animal
SEO was a completely different animal.
Google wasn't as complex as it is today. Exact-match domains were a craze. Keyword repetition was common, including techniques such as keyword cloaking. Link building involved social bookmarking, directory submissions and building large numbers of links using techniques that would have little value today.
And then there was Matt Cutts.
For people working in SEO at the time, Matt Cutts and Google's communication around search quality became a familiar part of the industry. We watched Google change how it treated keywords, links and spam, while practices that once worked started losing their value.
I remember those years because I was actually working through them.
SEO Didn't Die. It Changed.
Three paid results on Google Search were the norm. Then things changed. People started saying “SEO is dead.” It wasn't. It kept evolving.
Social media changed just as dramatically. We could buy followers. Posts were often information-heavy banners. Organic reach changed. Chronological feeds gave way to feeds increasingly influenced by interactions. WhatsApp, WhatsApp Business and other platforms became part of the digital marketing mix.
From Training Teammates to Training Students
Around 2015, something else happened in my own journey.
I noticed that many people entering digital marketing didn't yet have the skills they needed to perform their jobs well. I started training my teammates so they could perform better. That eventually led to the first company I founded, BlueLead, in 2015 — which has now evolved into St. Joseph’s Digital.
That was also the beginning of my journey as a digital marketing trainer. When I started teaching digital marketing in 2015, the total teaching material covering SEO, SEM and Social Media was close to 100 slides. Today, SEO alone has more than 200 slides, reflecting just how much the subject has evolved.
The Digital Marketing Course Syllabus has had to evolve with it. What students need to learn today is very different from what was relevant when I first started teaching. The tools, platforms, algorithms and even the way people discover information have changed significantly.
That evolution is also why I continue to update the Digital Marketing Course rather than treating the syllabus as something fixed.
From ₹10,000-a-Week Google Ad Campaigns to Crores
The change in the industry was remarkable. I went from working for days to collect the data required to run campaigns worth around ₹10,000 a week to managing digital advertising spends worth crores within a few years.
As businesses began putting digital at the centre of their marketing, performance marketing became increasingly important. That led me to co-found Mammal Digital, where we worked with organisations ranging from Fortune 500 companies such as Intellect by Polaris to retailers and brands including Viveks, Palam Silks and Vurve Salon.
Then COVID Changed Everything
Then COVID changed the equation again.
When businesses shut down and traditional ways of reaching customers became difficult, digital channels became one of the few ways many businesses could continue reaching their audiences. More people started recognising the importance of digital marketing, and more students started looking to learn digital marketing.
By 2022, I had crossed 1,500 students trained.
And then came another major shift: AI.
And Then Came AI
When ChatGPT and Gemini became mainstream, people again started saying, “SEO is dead.” I don't believe it.
SEO is more relevant than ever; the way we approach it has changed. Search has become more sophisticated, AI is influencing how people discover information, and quality content and genuine usefulness matter more than many of the shortcuts that worked years ago.
What Nearly Two Decades of Digital Marketing Have Taught Me
Looking back at almost two decades in this industry has taught me something simple:
The tools change. The platforms change. The algorithms change. But quality and a data-backed approach continue to matter.
That is the experience I bring into every digital marketing course and every student I train at St. Joseph’s Digital.
Want to Know More About Digital Marketing?
If you'd like to know more about digital marketing training, the course or how I can help you learn digital marketing, you can call me directly at: +91 8825821942 or leave an inquiry , we will get back to you soon