So, what is a digital marketing strategist and why are more and more companies looking to hire a digital marketer? With even more businesses allocating a larger portion of their advertising budget online, the demand for a person that is able to tie the dots between SEO, paid ads, content and analytics has never been more crucial. A digital marketing strategist is the individual who takes disparate marketing initiatives and makes them into a single marketing strategy that aligns with the reality of a business’s goals.
This guide explains what the job entails, the most important skills and how a strategist is different from other marketers.
What Does a Digital Marketing Strategist Do?
A digital marketing strategist is a marketing professional who is charged with the responsibility of planning, creating and managing a company’s overall digital marketing strategy. A strategist looks beyond individual products to decide where to invest, how much to spend, what to say, and how to measure results.
A strategist is like an architect of a digital marketing strategy. They determine the course, and those who specialize in SEO, content, paid ads, and email marketing do the individual parts. In smaller businesses, the strategic and execution roles might be filled by one person. The strategist usually works with a team of specialists in larger organizations, directing all channels to work together towards the same objectives rather than in separate silos.
The Key Roles of a Digital Marketing Strategist
A digital marketing strategist’s job can range by company size and industry, but most are tasked with the following:
The ABCs of Mobile Marketing
It’s important a strategist has a working knowledge of all major channels, even if they are not the ones that they perform. This typically includes:
- Social media marketing and social media strategy
- The goal of this content marketing strategy is to attract and educate potential customers.
- Building a community and brand presence through social media marketing
- Building websites for paid advertising and PPC marketing so that the service is there when it is needed
- Social media marketing to engage and connect with customers
Designing and Writing Content for Digital Marketing Campaigns
The term Digital Marketer refers to the people who manage digital marketing campaigns, from start to finish. This covers goal setting, targeting, producing creative briefs, content briefs, and measuring the outcome when the campaign is live. A good strategist is able to shove in a new direction on a dime when data indicates that a campaign isn’t working.
Optimize the Customer Journey
The digital customer journey refers to all of the touchpoints a potential customer comes into contact with a brand, from the first time they see an ad to when they buy the product. A strategist charts this path and identifies friction points along the way, then attempts to remove them. This is often directly connected with conversion rate optimization, which makes sure that visitors who are being driven towards the webpage actually convert into leads and sales.
Creating Brand Awareness and Online Visibility
Not all strategies are about conversion only. Strategists also create campaigns to create brand awareness and boost online visibility, especially for newer businesses or ones that are entering into a competitive market. These initiatives can help pave the way for the later campaigns that are geared toward conversion.
Analyzing Data and Reporting Results
In today’s landscape, marketing strategists have a huge dependency on marketing analytics and data-driven marketing. A strategist analyzes traffic, conversions, lead costs, and customer value to improve campaigns. It is as important as collecting the data as it is to report these results clearly to the stakeholders.
Digital Marketing Strategist vs Digital Marketing Consultant
Digital marketing consultant and digital marketing strategist are interchangeable terms, but there is a difference. A strategist works with a company long-term to manage its strategy and campaigns. A consultant handles specific projects, audits efforts, suggests improvements, or develops strategies for in-house teams.
These two positions involve very similar skills, but have vastly different levels of interaction and collaboration.
The Skills that Define a Digital Marketing Expert
To become a true expert in digital marketing, you need a blend of technical expertise, analytical skills, and creativity. The very best strategists usually possess very good abilities in:
- Data analysis — reading data from tools such as Google Analytics, ad management systems, and CRM software
- Understanding of the basics of search engine optimization, paid media, content, email, and social media (SEO, PPC, Content, Email, and Social Media)
- Project management — managing several campaigns, deadlines, and team members at the same time
- Communication — interpreting complex data and strategy and then communicating it clearly to the leaders.
- Adaptability — digital marketing platforms and algorithms are ever changing and a good strategist is flexible and adapts accordingly.
This is what makes the true digital marketing expert stand out from anyone that only cares about working on one channel.
The Reason Why Businesses Require an Online Marketing Strategist
When businesses don’t have a dedicated online marketing strategist, the marketing efforts sometimes get divided up, for example, when an SEO firm operates separately from the social media team, or when paid ads are launched but the messaging doesn’t align with the content on the website, or when there’s no system for tracking what’s actually working for them.
A strategist finds a solution to this by building alignment. Each channel has a common objective, budget resources are distributed according to actual performance, rather than estimation, and the marketing function is increasingly efficient over time. This can be a crucial distinction for growing businesses in particular, because it can be the key to having a marketing strategy that drives consistent, predictable growth or one that has occasional, unpredictable traffic surges but no sustained results.
Final Thoughts
Therefore, what is a digital marketing strategist? In summary, they’re the individual who is accountable for transforming a company’s objectives into a seamless and quantifiable digital marketing strategy. They aren’t merely conducting single tactics, they are integrating SEO, content, paid, email and social strategies into a single strategy, driven by real data and real business results.
The attention span is shrinking online, making it more than a luxury for the strategist to have. Businesses that focus on comprehensive strategic planning instead of individual strategies are more likely to establish a sustainable online presence, secure regular leads, and make online marketing a viable growth driver.
