What is a Digital Marketing Strategist?

In the previous post, we described the role of a Digital Marketing Specialist, and here we discuss the role of a Digital Marketing Strategist. Most strategists were once specialists, but they go a level higher up. So this is not an entry-level job but one at an intermediate level. A specialist is familiar with SEO, social media, PPC ads, and a strategist thinks out a unique plan. Probably a plan for the longer term. A small business could hire a strategist for a shorter period.

Because this is an intermediate job, you need to have 3-7 years of experience in marketing. The strategist is a level higher than a specialist and has a managerial position over Digital Marketing Specialists. But that depends on what the company has in mind.

What does a Strategist do?

Often, the strategist works in a Marketing agency, and this makes more sense. And in that case, the agency has clients who need help setting up an effective online presence. In that case, the strategist has contact with clients to understand their objectives and shares information with the client. This, in line with the company’s policy. Then the strategist looks at what the client offers online and takes a look at their competitors. From there, he develops a plan and possibly works that out with brand strategists. This plan includes the online presence, marketing strategy, SEO, Automation, apps.

While browsing for some job openings I bumped up one that describes what a Marketing Strategist does. It shows the following.

• No two days will be the same, but you might find yourself involved in:
• A full business meeting to discuss any issues/challenges/wins across our clients ahead of a new working week
• Preparing to deliver an inbound marketing strategy workshop for a new client later in the week
• Reviewing the lead conversion path created by a marketer on one of your teams, including a landing page, thank you page, call-to-action and email copy for the marketing automation sequence
• Reviewing the first draft of an article written by a copywriter on one of your teams, with an eye for its target reader and what the content needs to achieve, as well as any inaccuracies
• Optimising a paid campaign for a client, making small, data-driven iterations to improve the performance
• Checking in with your emails, Slack messages and account management responsibilities
• Brainstorming with a copywriter and marketer for one of your clients, looking at how you could boost the number of leads being generated from organic search
• Drafting a new client’s inbound plan, outlining all your key recommendations for their activity over the next year, as well as how you would break that down into quarterly campaigns
• Summarising the last three months of activity for another of your clients in the form of a report, to be presented at their quarterly review next week
• Running a workshop for a client to understand who their buyer personas are and how we can best engage them across the buyer’s journey

How to become a digital marketing strategist

One way to start is to get a Bachelor’s Degree in Advertising or Marketing. The next step is to become a Digital Marketing Specialist and get a promotion as a Digital Marketing Strategist. Another way is to educate yourself and start an advertising agency.