Manuel Ohanjanians in the “Digital Advertising Growth” session, discussing educational centers, emphasized the importance of combining practical experience with specialized training for employment and income generation:

“It is clear that specialized training alone is not enough; no subject can be more impactful than hands-on experience. Learning through experience has a major effect on reaching a job. In my view, the mission of an educational platform is to help each person achieve their goal, and this value cycle must be created by educational centers.”

He added that training alone does not guarantee employment—practical experience, practice in different environments, and stress management are also necessary.

Nima Mohammadsani highlighted the gap between education and market needs:

“Education and labor market demand are parallel lines. While experts say a comprehensive digital marketing course costs on average 20 million Tomans (sometimes up to 40 million), Tapsel College has, over the past year, tried to improve ecosystem literacy through free training as part of its social responsibility. This ensures both individual goals and the institution’s mission are met. During our activities, we have provided scholarships to 6,000 people, and approximately 88,000 hours of our educational videos have been watched on various platforms.”

He added that while educational content is available, coaching and mentoring help filter and guide learners effectively in digital marketing.

Mehdi Dehban, head of Dehban Academy, stated:

“Over 95% of the market does not fully understand its nature. Currently, digital marketing has become a fundamental, widely-adopted knowledge base. In these courses, we need to teach students the concept of business itself. The challenge is that instructors teaching marketing in the digital space must possess both strong communication skills and business acumen. For instance, in Digikala, despite advantages, the retail market share is still quite low.”

Behnaz Esmaeilinejad emphasized the role of guidance for newcomers:

“Anyone entering the marketing field needs a mentor to show them the way. In reality, education is expensive worldwide. Building a pathway for someone starting from zero is challenging. Implementing knowledge and accessing services comes at a high cost; affordable knowledge is rare. Knowledge should primarily act as a facilitator.”