Digital Marketing Strategist: Ultimate Guide

Every business that wants to have a strong web presence needs a digital marketing strategist.

But, what does a digital marketing strategist do? What is he or she responsible for? How can you become a digital marketing strategist?

I will talk about all of that in this article, so stick with me till the end.

Let’s start with the basics.

 

Quick Recap on Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is a way to reach customers online; it can be through social media, search engines like Google, forums, or email.

Basically, marketing strategies when implemented digitally become digital marketing.

Although traditional marketing still works today, but only where it can reach the target audience.

No matter what type of business you run, your audience is present online. So, if you want to get in front of them, you need an effective digital marketing strategy.

But, of course, implementing the right strategies requires expertise and experience. This is where a digital marketing strategist comes in handy for businesses.

 

What is a Digital Marketing Strategist?

As a business, you need to go where your customers go, right? According to Statista, there are more than 4.66 billion active internet users worldwide. So, you know where most of your target audience is hanging out.

But, the digital landscape is continuously changing. In such an unpredictable environment, you need someone who can make sure your business is represented in the right way.

That someone is called a digital marketing strategist.

A digital marketing strategist plans, develops, implements, and manages your business’s digital marketing strategy.

They can also be responsible for training and guiding other digital marketers in a team.

 

Digital Marketing Strategists – What Do They Do?

A digital marketing strategist has a diverse set of digital skills. They are responsible for promoting a brand or its products on the right digital platforms.

The job responsibilities of a digital marketing strategist include:

• • Creating, implementing, analyzing, and maintaining SEO campaigns
  • Optimizing pay-per-click campaigns
  • Leveraging social media for traffic generation, brand building, and selling
  • Supervising all inbound marketing campaigns
  • Managing a team of digital marketers
  • Setting realistic goals and analyzing the overall performance

Clearly, that’s a lot of responsibility for a single person, which is why digital marketing strategists are so highly paid.

And, although it will take time and work, you can also become one by following the right track.

 

How to Become a Digital Marketing Strategist?

To be an effective digital marketing strategist, you need to learn the following skills.

 

Digital Marketing Essentials

The first step would be to learn how digital marketing works and why businesses need it.

There are multiple sub-disciplines under the umbrella of digital marketing.

These include:

• • Search engine optimization
  • Content marketing
  • Email marketing
  • Affiliate marketing
  • Video marketing
  • Social media marketing

To become a digital marketing strategist, you need to understand all of them.

 

Search Engine Optimization

To be able to make a website successful on search engines like Google, you need to master the art of SEO.

You might have an SEO specialist in your team who will handle the technical aspects. Your role would be to supervise them and make sure your SEO strategies are in line with other marketing strategies.

 

Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Managing PPC campaigns as a digital marketing strategist can be tricky as it involves good upfront investment.

As a digital marketing strategist, you will spend a major portion of your time managing PPC campaigns on platforms like Google and Facebook.

Depending on your industry, it’s possible that your marketing strategy only includes PPC campaigns. So, it’s imperative to have a good grip on paid advertising.

 

Social Media Marketing

By 2025, the total active social media users will surpass 4.4 billion. Most businesses that want to build brand awareness utilize social media marketing.

So, you need to learn how to promote a brand on social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, and more.

Of course, the right social media platform will depend on the type of business.

 

Content Marketing

Content remains crucial no matter what type of digital marketing strategy you are implementing.

To make your marketing campaigns successful, you need content that:

• • Satisfies user intent
  • Grabs users’ attention
  • Keeps them hooked
  • Optimized for the intended platform (Facebook, Google, etc.,)
  • Can make people act

The type of content can be images, videos, text, podcasts, and more.

As a digital marketing strategist, you will decide which content type can help you achieve your business goals.

Plus, your job would be to ensure that the content is relevant and of high quality.

 

Email Marketing

Despite the ever-increasing popularity of social media, email is still one of the most effective marketing mediums.

Marketers are still using email to achieve their business goals cost-effectively.

In fact, email marketing offers the highest return-on-investment among all digital marketing strategies.

The primary goal of email marketing is to generate conversions. Today, businesses do that by using the power of autoresponders.

As a digital marketing strategist, your job is to make sure your team is using the right email automation tools and setting the right automated flows.

 

Team Management

To be an effective digital marketing strategist, you would be managing a team of other digital marketing experts.

For that, you need to be good at team management. Otherwise, the job can easily become overwhelming, which can reduce your effectiveness.

Managing a team of experts can mean:

• • Working with project management tools effectively
  • Setting targets and goals
  • Training team members
  • Other managerial tasks

 

Data Analysis and Reporting Tools

In addition to monitoring digital marketing campaigns, you need to make sure you are moving in the right direction.

And, for that, you need to prepare performance reports and analyze marketing data.

Here are a few important digital marketing tools that an aspiring digital marketing strategist should learn:

• • Google Analytics
  • Google Search Console
  • Facebook ads reporting
  • SEO tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and more

Digital Marketing Certification

The most efficient way of becoming a digital marketing strategist is by doing an in-depth digital marketing certification.

A comprehensive digital marketing course will help you learn everything you need to learn without having to consult multiple sources.

Plus, by owning a certificate from a professional digital marketing company, you will improve your credibility, and organizations will trust you more.

That said, having a digital marketing certificate doesn’t always mean that you know everything or you are qualified for the job.

You still need to show your skill and knowledge (or experience) if you want to get hired by a reputable company.

And, when you are applying to a big company, you would need to demonstrate your skill with case studies and a relevant portfolio.

 

Stay Updated

The digital marketing industry is always evolving; for instance, Google and Facebook are always striving for a better user experience.

Plus, the inception and growth of artificial intelligence in digital marketing make it somewhat unpredictable.

So, as an expert in this field, you need to be on your toes and lookout for any updates.

As a digital marketing strategist, your learning never stops, which is why it’s so exciting and challenging.

Keeping yourself up to date as a marketer helps you implement the right strategies.

 

Must-Have Skills for a Digital Marketing Strategist

In addition to the ones discussed before, a digital marketing strategist should have the following skills as well:

 

Communication

One of the first things a digital marketing strategist must have is exceptional communication skills. This is important because you need to interact with other marketers and bloggers.

Effective communication is important to survive and thrive in this competitive world of digital marketing.

 

Analytical Skills

Data analysis is an important aspect of digital marketing because it helps businesses identify loopholes and opportunity gaps in their strategies.

So, to effectively implement any digital marketing strategy, you need to make data your friend.

 

Digital Marketing Strategies

We’ve touched the digital marketing strategies in the “How to become a digital marketing strategist” section.

Let’s talk about them briefly.

Search engine optimization: SEO helps you make a website more visible on search engines like Google.

It’s one of the most cost-effective ways to attract prospects to a business. The only caveat is that it takes time to show results.

Pay-per-click ads: This is when an advertiser pays a platform to showcase their business to a relevant audience.

Although pay-per-click advertising demands upfront investment, it brings almost instant results.

Platforms like Google ads and Facebook ads are two of the most popular paid ads platforms.

Social media marketing: Social media has become an important part of most people’s lives, which means no marketer can ignore it.

Social media marketing helps you build brand awareness, create a community around your business, and boost your sales.

Email Marketing: As a digital marketing strategist, you need to have a good grip on email marketing.

Although list building and nurturing takes time and effort, email marketing brings the highest return on investment.

But, it can be tricky sometimes, as you need to keep your subscribers’ list in the loop. Send too salesy or boring emails and you could make many of them unsubscribe your newsletter.

Your role would be to come up with the right content, set up automated flows, and analyze the performance of your campaigns.

Video Marketing: Video marketing emerged recently and has proven to be pretty effective. This is mainly because videos are engaging and are an excellent way of communicating a message.

Marketers use different types of videos to achieve their goals, including:

• • Informative
  • Instructional
  • Behind the scenes
  • Product videos
  • And, more

As a digital marketing strategist, you would need to make sure that your videos align with your goals. Keeping a tab on the performance of your videos is important as well.

Content Marketing: Content is a part of every digital marketing strategy, but when it comes to content marketing, you need to use content to:

• • Attract
  • Retain
  • Convert
  • And, delight

One of the most common forms of content marketing is blogging, where you produce high-quality relevant content around particular keywords.

Content marketing works because it provides valuable information to prospects. Plus, your content stays on the internet, driving long-term results.

 

Digital Marketing Strategist – Why Do You Need One?

Businesses need to follow their target customers wherever they go. If your prospects are online, you need to develop a strategy to convert and retain them.

Not only that, but as digital media is continuously changing, you need a specialist who can make sure your strategies are up to date.

A digital marketing strategist is someone who can steer your business’s digital aspect in the right direction.

Here are a few more reasons why businesses need a digital marketing strategist:

 

Prioritize Business Activities

A digital marketing strategist can make your work as a business person much more easier and effective.

When you outsource such important tasks to a professional, you let yourself focus on other stuff that needs your attention.

Plus, you won’t have to worry about brand awareness, visibility, generating leads, and more.

 

Drive More Results with Your Website

Your business website has more potential than you might think. But, attracting, engaging, retaining, and delighting customers can be an overwhelming task.

A digital marketing strategist can handle everything for you.

 

Leverage Automation

Marketing automation is an ever-evolving industry. You need to have an eye on the latest developments to be able to effectively leverage digital marketing automation.

A digital marketing strategist can help you utilize marketing automation effectively for your business. If there is a task that you can automate, you don’t want to waste your resources doing it manually.

 

Final Thoughts

A digital marketing strategist is someone who makes sure that a business is represented on digital platforms in the right way.

They are specialists who monitor digital marketing strategies like:

• • Search engine optimization
  • Pay-per-click ads
  • Social media marketing and advertising
  • Content marketing
  • Email marketing
  • Video marketing

And, to become an effective digital marketing strategist, you need to have a good grip on all of them. Plus, it helps to have a professional digital marketing certificate.