Digital Marketing Roles Explained
An organization’s marketing team can make a big impact, boosting efforts and attracting more attention to its efforts. Whether you have a full marketing team or one person doing everything, there are very specific roles when it comes to digital marketing. By taking a look at each of those roles and how they play into your overall business strategy, you can make sure you’re fully covered.
Strategist
Before you can launch a successful marketing campaign, you’ll need to plan it. A marketing strategist pays close attention to data, coming up with a strategy that is most likely to get results. If you’re trying to attract new donors, for instance, you’ll likely need to reach out to people similar to those who already support you. A strategist can take a look at your existing base and craft a plan that will find the best target demographic. This strategist can be a staff person, but in some cases, it may pay to bring in a professional periodically to serve as a consultant and deliver strategy for you.
Analyst
Much like a strategist, an analyst oversees the execution of the strategy. “Analyst” can often be the catch-all term for that one person a smaller organization uses to manage all of its marketing activities. But whether your analyst is doing all the marketing work or outsourcing parts of it to others, this person still pulls it all together. Although this position can be outsourced, it can benefit an organization to have this role on staff since they’ll make sure things run smoothly on an ongoing basis.
Writer
Once you have a marketing strategy in place, you’ll need someone to execute it. Chances are, a large part of the strategy will rely on written content, including website copy, blog posts, articles for outreach, emails, and newsletter copy. You can hire one or more staff writers to handle this duty or rely on one marketing person to serve as both analyst and writer. However, an increasing number of organizations are outsourcing this type of work since you can call on a pool of freelancers when you need work without the commitment of a full-time salary.
Editor
Whether you use freelancers or salaried writers, an editor can bring it all together. This is another position that can either be on the payroll or outsourced. An editor can be charged with a variety of activities, including copyediting your content and managing digital marketing collateral like email newsletters and blog posts.
Designer
Visual marketing is a vital part of any campaign. Customers react on a visceral level to the content you put out there, whether it’s the images you use or the layout of your website. A good designer can not only create powerful logos and publications but will also ensure your messaging is consistent across all of your marketing channels. While you’ll likely find it necessary to only occasionally call on a designer, make sure you keep that consistency if you outsource to different professionals.
Data Analyst
It’s essential to measure your marketing activities so you can understand what has impact and what does not. A data analyst is responsible for setting up Google Analytics, tracking goals and KPI’s as well as creating reports that show campaign results. This is a vital role and one that is often overlooked.
No matter how big your marketing team is, it’s important to make sure each of these roles are well represented. On an ongoing basis, someone should also be monitoring metrics on your campaigns so that you can put that information to use in future campaigns.
