The digital landscape is constantly evolving, and so are the skills and roles required to succeed in it. If you're looking for a career in digital marketing, you might be wondering what are the most in-demand positions and what they entail. In this article, we'll explore six of the most popular and rewarding digital marketing roles, and what you need to land them.
A digital strategist is someone who plans, executes, and evaluates the overall digital marketing strategy for a brand or a client. They have a holistic view of the digital channels, platforms, and tools available, and how to use them effectively to achieve the business goals and objectives. A digital strategist needs to have a strong analytical, creative, and communication skills, as well as a solid understanding of the target audience, the market, and the competitors.
In my experience, a strategist is someone who can help building the business through relevant media campaigns across all channels. With a good understanding of business and media goals along with competition, a strategist helps identifying right audience, budget, creatives, duration and channels.
Here's my list, based on inquiries I've received from employers in the past several months: Digital Marketing Manager Content Strategist/Manager SEO Specialist Social Media Manager/Specialist Data Analyst Email Marketing Specialist PPC Specialist/Manager Graphic Designer/Visual Content Creator Marketing Automation Specialist Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) Specialist E-commerce Specialist Influencer Marketing Manager
Strategists - from creative to performance - are in high demand because they’re defining the what, why and how behind the marketing decisions we make and how we talk to our customers.
A social media strategist is essential for businesses in today's digital landscape, responsible for developing strategic plans aligned with overarching business goals, nurturing audience relationships, and increasing brand visibility and awareness through engaging content and interactions. They drive traffic to websites and generate leads by optimising content for conversion and tracking performance metrics. Social media strategists monitor trends, manage crises, and stay abreast of industry developments to ensure brands remain competitive. Additionally, they facilitate collaboration across internal teams, aligning social media efforts with broader business initiatives to maximise impact and achieve shared objectives.
Digital strategist is in high demand due to the complexity of the market. Strategists play a crucial role in helping companies develop roadmaps to achieve their goals and guide teams in the right direction. They are like having a Dhoni on the team – a good captain who can make sound decisions and inspire the team to victory.
A content marketer is someone who creates, distributes, and optimizes engaging and relevant content for the digital audience. They have a knack for storytelling, writing, and design, and they know how to align the content with the brand voice, the buyer persona, and the customer journey. A content marketer needs to have a good command of the language, the SEO best practices, and the content management systems, as well as a flair for research, innovation, and collaboration.
With the digital landscape shifting to short-form content in the last few years, content and content marketers is now one of the most important roles in a company. Content has generally had the best ROI for most businesses as it can be very cheap to create, and very efficient at harnessing the essence of a brand, allowing for people to understand who you are and what you stand for at a quick glance. There have also been a lot of smaller brands scaling rapidly from effective use of organic content. Although, if your content is lazy, irrelevant, lacks a clear brand strategy and story behind it, it's tossed aside and potentially decreasing your brand's credibility and authenticity.
A content marketer wields the power of words to captivate and engage a carefully defined audience. Their primary mission? ?? To create and distribute valuable, relevant, and consistent content that leaves an indelible impression, attracting and retaining the hearts and minds of their target audience. A skilled content marketer is a true chameleon, adapting their communication style to suit the unique nuances of different social media platforms. A successful content marketer is also a master of data analysis. Content marketers are masters of storytelling, weaving narratives that resonate with their target audience on a deeper level. To thrive in content marketing, one must stay updated on the latest social media trends and technologies.
Definitely content marketers. The digital marketing landscape is constantly changing and you need someone who has the basic knowledge and skills to keep you afloat during these changes. Content marketers are constantly getting their hands dirty in the landscape. They know the most about different platforms and they often come with a bit of skills from other fields like digital strategy etc.
Those with the ability to succinctly guide brands on how they can optimise their short format strategy are the true hidden gems of the content marketing world.
Ive found that when alot of companies advertise for content marketers what they want is social media copy writers or blog writers… content marketing is so much more and requires skills in SEO and copywriting along with basic marketing knowledge and storytelling.
A social media manager is someone who manages the social media presence and reputation of a brand or a client. They have a deep knowledge of the social media platforms, trends, and algorithms, and how to leverage them to build and engage the community, generate leads, and increase brand awareness. A social media manager needs to have a high level of creativity, empathy, and responsiveness, as well as a keen eye for data, analytics, and performance.
To be honest this role doesn’t get the credit it deserves. A social media manager has to be across pretty much everything at a business and know how to prioritise. Social media is one of the most demanding touch points around.
The social media manager role is evolving as platforms and algorithms change constantly. Not only is a social media manager required to understand how to manage and grow an engaged community online, but they are now expected to confidently run social media advertising campaigns across channels as well as run influencer and creator outreach programmes. This includes brainstorming, updating the strategy and reporting on success too - it's a demanding role for sure! But a good social media manager is hugely in demand right now, especially one who can demonstrate experience.
A skilled individual takes the helm as a social media manager, overseeing and orchestrating the brand's online presence with finesse. Their primary mission? ?? To curate, create, and distribute captivating content across various social media platforms, captivating the target audience and propelling the brand forward. To excel in this multifaceted role, a social media manager must possess an arsenal of essential skills, such as the art of content creation and curation. They have a keen eye for selecting and curating content. They're the masters of community management, skillfully handling user interactions. A top-notch social media manager stays updated with trends, armed with strategic thinking and quick problem-solving skills.
In my experience, a social media manager also has to understand the audience. Engagements are the most beneficial ways of having a loyal audience. Once they know that when they comment on a post and their comment will either be liked or shared, they will not hesitate to engage.
Social media manager is the one, who mostly understand the audience's internet habits and up to date platform policies. This role is quite famous to maintain the brand's engagement & finest, it's not about running media paid advertisings only, but because they understand the audience's joy so they can run out some campaigns with pages & groups from the number 0, with alot of interesting activites without running advertising like promotion - gift for new followers, Member get member, .... They're not only care about the new follower but also the unfollow & figure the reason why to have some significant retention campaigns.
An email marketer is someone who designs, writes, and sends effective email campaigns to the digital audience. They have a clear understanding of the email marketing principles, techniques, and tools, and how to segment, personalize, and optimize the email messages to increase the open, click, and conversion rates. An email marketer needs to have a strong copywriting, design, and testing skills, as well as a familiarity with the email marketing software, regulations, and best practices.
To achieve success as an email marketer, it is important to understand the inbound marketing strategy. It goes beyond just sending emails; is to create buyer persona and its journey, creating email flows and comprehending the broader scope of inbound marketing is essential. I highly recommend exploring resources such as HubSpot, which can provide valuable insights into inbound marketing, marketing automation, and email marketing, as these are all integral components of a well-rounded email marketing strategy.
An email marketer takes on the role of a strategic wizard, expertly crafting and distributing email campaigns that captivate, educate, and convert subscribers into loyal customers like magic. Their primary mission? ?? To be the best in the business, email marketers must possess a deep understanding of the intricate dance between email and social media. Persuasive copywriting is their secret weapon. They masterfully craft email campaigns that not only grab attention but also inspire action. Through their strategic integration efforts, email marketers enhance brand visibility, reaching a wider audience through the power of social media.
Email remains second best way to market any product or service after word of mouth. Email marketers hence form part of any Digital Marketing Campaign therefore they are very valuable. Ability of email marketer to reach the perfect audience for a product / service is necessary.
My company JDWCreate had specialized in email marketing and content marketing for almost a decade … successful email marketing can make or break a company . Ive watched fantastic beauty brands completely tank because the CSuite put all their eggs in social media. If you are a new brand or a struggling brand you simply cannot compete on social media with brands spending millions of dollars but you absolutely can compete and thrive by storytelling and effective drip email campaigns ??
Email marketing can be challenging due to factors like inbox competition, changing algorithms, and evolving consumer preferences. However, success can be achieved through strategies such as crafting compelling subject lines and content, personalizing messages, segmenting email lists, optimizing for mobile devices, testing and analyzing campaign performance, and staying informed about industry trends and best practices. Building trust, providing value to subscribers, and maintaining a consistent and engaging presence is also key to achieving success in email marketing.
A PPC specialist is someone who manages and optimizes the pay-per-click advertising campaigns for a brand or a client. They have a thorough knowledge of the PPC platforms, such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or Bing Ads, and how to set up, monitor, and improve the campaigns to maximize the return on investment and the quality score. A PPC specialist needs to have a sharp analytical, mathematical, and problem-solving skills, as well as a proficiency in the keyword research, bidding, and landing page optimization.
I will say that those who learn or specialize in PPC (which I would call biddable/performance media) are likely to set themselves up better to understand other media and marketing channels in their future careers. Being successful with performance media channels requires strong knowledge of data, attribution, consumer behaviour, trends, and deep understanding of the underlying business strategy of the product that is being promoted. Because of this cross-functional knowledge, I've seen many practitioners use this skillset to successfully pivot into different digital marketing and data roles later in their careers.
Quality cross channel PPC/paid media specialists are the toughest positions to fill. Many SEM specialists dabble in SMM, and vice versa... but a true cross-channel ninja, one that thrives with 2+ platforms open, connecting the dots across channels, with deep expertise in more than one... that's a VERY RARE skillset. One very much worth developing.
If you don't like stats and dashboards, avoid this field. But if you like trading positions on the advertising spaces and managing data, that's the one for you.
PPC specialists manage paid advertising campaigns on platforms like Google Ads, social media, and display networks. They research keywords, create and optimize ads, adjust bids, analyze performance metrics, and make data-driven decisions to maximize campaign effectiveness and achieve set goals. Their focus is on driving targeted traffic, generating leads, and optimizing ad spend to increase conversions.
PPC Specialists can make or break your business. A skilled Specialist of PPC can make your budget utilisation optimised without losing a lot of money on testing. Hence they are most valuable people for any marketing team.
An SEO specialist is someone who improves the organic visibility and ranking of a website or a web page on the search engines. They have a comprehensive knowledge of the SEO factors, such as technical, on-page, and off-page SEO, and how to audit, analyze, and implement them to enhance the site performance and user experience. An SEO specialist needs to have a keen attention to detail, research, and data, as well as a familiarity with the SEO tools, such as Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or Moz.
In the ever-evolving world of digital marketing, an SEO specialist assumes the vital role of optimizing a website's online presence, ensuring it shines brightly in the vast expanse of search engine results pages (SERPs). Their primary mission? ?? Enhancing a website's content, structure, and technical elements for better search rankings. Proficient in strategic content marketing, SEO specialists create engaging, platform-specific content. They adeptly merge SEO and social media expertise for powerful digital strategies.
SEO is a great way to build an organic growth engine that reduces your reliance on paid ads in the long run. But where most companies start with keyword research, the true starting point should be the pain you’re solving and your customers’ jobs to be done. Start with that and your SEO strategy will practically write itself, making your SEO specialist’s job easier.
In my experience, a very difficult set of skills to grab hold of. When I was creating a marketing team for a well-known corporation, I had tons of CVs for copywriting, social media, video, etc. The pool for the role of SEO specialist was extremely small. I was just very lucky that amongst the three applications or so that we got, there was this one person who was brilliant at the job. With the landscape changing so quickly courtesy of AI, I believe this role will be even more critical in the next two years or so. What happens after that? Who knows.
An SEO expert's contribution to a team goes beyond optimising for search engines; it's about creating a seamless and engaging user journey. As someone else mentioned, SEO is more than just keywords. Us SEOs analyse keywords not just for their search volume but for the insights they offer into user needs and behaviours. There is also the added benefit of greater site usability. Features such as intuitive navigation, mobile responsiveness, and fast loading times, crucial for search engine rankings, but also significantly improve user experience.
Le spécialiste SEO est le pilote discret mais puissant derrière la visibilité en ligne d'une marque. Avec une expertise pointue dans les tenants et aboutissants du référencement technique, on-page et off-page, il analyse, ajuste et met en ?uvre des stratégies pour améliorer le classement sur les moteurs de recherche. Doté d'une obsession pour les détails et d'une compréhension profonde des outils tels que Google Analytics et Moz, il fa?onne l'expérience utilisateur et génère un trafic qualifié de manière efficace et durable. En somme, le spécialiste SEO est le maestro discret mais essentiel de la croissance organique en ligne d'une marque.
None of the aforementioned roles are successful without two key partners: Data Analysts and Creatives. As was noted, digital marketers need to understand if their campaigns are successful, then iterate and optimize to try to move closer to their goals. An analyst will help to identify those goals, ensure they are measurable, then analyze performance, and identify opportunities. Creating great content is core to any campaign’s success. You’ll want to have a trusted creative team who can bring your brand to life with words and visuals. They’ll be able to create content that resonates with and inspires your audience to trust your brand and take action.
You need to have a strong digital media marketing generalist who can bring everything back to the functional strategy of a company. Many roles are focused on the tactical deployment, which is important to have, but a strong leader who can bring the diverse functions of marketing teams together so each contributor understands how their roles ladder up to the bigger picture.
As martech stacks pile higher and higher, Marketing Ops is becoming an increasingly critical role for any serious lead gen team. I’ve also seen an emphasis on Product Marketing Managers and Lifecycle Managers in the last couple years.
In my experience and following the evolution of digital marketing and business, social economic needs, all the previous are valid and must had the Analytics Specialist and Data Scientist. We are all marketers and know the importance of data, big data relevance for a strategic and operational support. It is becoming a full time role for each position and a must have in every MARCOM team, but definitely a skill to consider for every new and experienced marketer.
I spent a little time doing all of these roles and that's exactly what prepared me to be a hands-on VP. The kind that could understand strategy, activity, and have a real conversation vs just "winging it." If you want to work your way up - be versatile. Learn a little bit of all of these at a minimum.