What Skills Should Digital Strategists Have?
Digital Strategists must be skilled in all aspects of digital marketing. They’ll need to know how to get information from clients, like their brand story and current challenges, and make a plan that will utilize search engine marketing, social media marketing, content strategy, email campaigns, advertising campaigns, and more to achieve the client’s goals and provide the proper return on investment (ROI). In the beginning, the Digital Strategist must be able to sift through website data, the buyer’s journey, current strategies, and brand voice in order to optimize the client’s business and create a new digital marketing strategy.
They must know how to use and the best practices for search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing (SMM), and content and email marketing. Most companies will use a project management tool like Jira, Trello, Confluence, or something similar and it is helpful to be familiar with these. For many clients, Digital Strategists will be creating and uploading content, emails, and social media posts. For this purpose, the Digital Strategist should be familiar with how to use social media platforms, content management systems like WordPress, and customer relationship management (CRM) platforms.
The systems that they create for this client should be able to be replicated for long term growth and consistent engagement.
Digital Strategists are expected to be proficient in and sometimes certified in Google Ads and Google Analytics. Some companies will also expect proficiency in Bing Ads and other analytics platforms. The Digital Strategist will need to be able to analyze and translate data from these analytics dashboards into strategies, proof of results, and proof for pivoting or altering a campaign. They will also need to monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) throughout the project and adapt their plan as needed. The Digital Strategist must be good at planning, strategizing, and thinking creatively. They should be fantastic communicators who can understand clients’ needs and translate their strategies and data into terms that the client can understand. They should be great teammates as they’ll almost always be working on a team, even as a consultant or a freelancer.
Learn the Skills You Need to Become a Digital Strategist
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Digital Marketing
Digital marketing utilizes the internet and web based digital platforms to promote products or services. This includes the use of digital advertisements, social media, brand identities, and more.
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SEO
SEO stands for search engine optimization. It is the practice of increasing both the quality and quantity of website traffic using tactics like keywords and backlinks to create organic, high-ranking search engine results.
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Google Analytics
Google Analytics measures your advertising return on investment while tracking your video, Flash, social networking, and applications. Google Analytics works by tracking website activity through a block of JavaScript code that the web developer, designer, or website owner, embeds within pages on a website.
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Google Ads
Google Ads is the new name for Google AdWords. It is an online advertising service that allows advertisers to pay for the display of brief advertisements, video content, listings, and calls to action within the Google Display Network (GDN) to web users. You'll see Google ads on the GDN which includes Google Search, YouTube, and over 2 million other sites.
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Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is the practice of using social media platforms to connect with your target audience or end-user. Social media marketing aims to build brand awareness and loyalty, increase sales, convert leads, and drive website traffic. Social media management can be done through content creation, keyword and target audience research, and the use of social media management platforms like Buffer and Hootsuite.
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Email Marketing
Email marketing is the practice of sending a commercial message to a group of a target audience using email. These emails might be advertisements, business requests, offers, services, sales solicitations, newsletters, donation requests, petition signature requests, and other calls to action.
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Ecommerce
Ecommerce is simply buying or selling products through online services or over the internet. Ecommerce utilizes tech like secure online payments, online shops, online marketplaces, and more to provide users with a convenient online shopping experience.
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WordPress
Wordpress is a content management system written in PHP that is usually paired with a MySQL database. It is free and open-source technology. Wordpress is used to build websites and offers a template system, plug in architecture, and content management.