What Is a Digital Marketing Strategist?

What Is a Digital Marketing Strategist?

While there are a lot of roles in a digital marketing team, the digital marketing strategist is arguably one of the most important. A digital marketing strategist typically works in an agency setting and is directly responsible for determining the digital marketing strategy for clients. This means that a digital marketing strategist takes the lead in figuring out the best way to use the internet to achieve their objectives, ranging from increasing ROI to decreasing cart abandonment. 

Digital marketing strategists typically begin their work with clients by auditing their current digital marketing content, as well as investigating their competitors’ efforts to determine the best course of action for the future. The digital marketing strategist then works with other team members to put together an online marketing strategy that will result in achieving objectives previously set with the client. 

This online marketing strategy serves as a roadmap for all digital channels and activities, including content marketing, website and social media, e-commerce, SEO, marketing automation, and more. The digital marketing specialist is usually not responsible for carrying out each of these pieces of digital strategy but instead works closely with the team members who specialize in different channels and subsets of digital marketing. 

Digital marketing strategists also assist with market research, brand strategy, and target segmentation, especially with regard to research, analysis, and reporting for each of these. They often collate reports and digital marketing analytics and present these directly to their clients. 

Because digital marketing strategists are responsible for the entire digital marketing strategy for client companies, they need to have certain hard and soft skills. It is beneficial for digital marketing strategists to be curious about the field of digital marketing, staying on top of trends and emerging channels so as to pass this knowledge onto their clients.

Additionally, digital marketing strategists need to be highly analytical and able to quickly determine which digital marketing activities will benefit their clients. Finally, digital marketing strategists need to be strong communicators, as they are constantly liaising with the digital marketing team as well as with clients directly.