Digital Marketing Strategist: What they Are And How to Become One

Marketing has always been an area that has been around for quite a while but the evolution of digital marketing from the advent of the internet has opened up a whole lot of opportunities for businesses in terms of growth and for people in terms of employment.

With the internet comes digital marketing and because of digital marketing, organizations could take their business online and reach a lot of people, Individuals could also find jobs either employed in an organization or as self-employed people. One of those jobs that have resulted from the rise of digital marketing is a digital marketing strategist.

Digital marketing strategist has now become one of the most sought after jobs online since the internet came.

In this guide, you'll get to know what a digital marketing strategist is, what a digital marketing strategist does, how to become a digital marketing strategist and some other answers to questions being asked about a digital marketing strategist.

What is a digital marketing strategist?

A digital marketing strategist is someone who plans and executes marketing campaigns for businesses. A digital marketing strategist is good with numbers because they report to their clients and will need to interpret the different metrics to their clients in an understanding manner.

They are innovative, creative and are good in almost all aspects of digital marketing such as SEO, social media marketing, web analytics and other areas of digital marketing. They know the right tools to use and the right channels to use to get the best results they can for their clients.

With a lot of people online that can be reached, Digital marketing is the new marketing which makes a digital marketing strategist so needed that they are not going away anytime soon. As a digital marketing strategist, there will always be opportunities abound.

What makes a good digital strategist?       

As a digital marketing strategist, there are qualities you need to have if you want to be at the top of your Career and have the best opportunities to grow and be successful. Below are 5 qualities that make a good digital strategist.

1. Creativity

If you want to know what makes a good digital strategist then one of them is creativity. As a digital marketing strategist, you must make sure that your client gets the most out of their online marketing campaigns. To achieve this, you need to be creative, for example, if you are creating a Facebook marketing campaign for a business, you need to design the best way of attracting the attention of your target audience, and this involves being a good copywriter.

2. They are good with numbers

To be a good digital marketing strategist, you need to be good with numbers. Digital marketing involves knowing a lot of metrics that have to do with numbers. And as a digital strategist, you will have to give the numbers meaning by interpreting them to your clients.

3. Passion

 Passion is very important if you want to succeed in digital marketing. You need to have a passion for digital marketing and also be willing to grow the businesses of your clients. When you have passion for something, you naturally are motivated to do your best and to be a good digital marketer you should have a passion for digital marketing.

4. Good communication skills

The ability to communicate in an easy-to-understand manner with others makes you a good digital strategist. You need to be in contact touch with your clients explaining to them in clear terms the result of their online marketing campaign.

What does a digital marketing strategist do?

A digital marketing strategist does a lot of things that fall within the areas of digital marketing.  Below are the activities that a digital marketing strategist does.

1. SEO

One of the many things digital marketing strategists do is search engine optimization. It is their job to make sure that they make use of the techniques known as white hat SEO to boost the rankings of their client's contents on search engines. To achieve this, a digital marketing strategist is expected to be an SEO expert and be able to use various white hat SEO techniques in helping their clients achieve the needed visibility on search engines.

2. Brand Strategy development

Digital marketing strategists also do brand development. They aim to build the brand of their client's businesses by developing a brand strategy. They develop an effective digital marketing strategy to build brands that resonate with the customers of their clients.

3. Online reputation management

Online reputation management is concerned with the management of an organization's reputation online. A digital marketing strategist is able to influence and control the reputation of businesses online. They build a reputable brand for businesses on the internet space.

4. Social media management

Another thing a digital marketing strategist do is the management of social media profiles for businesses. They build a reasonable number of following for their client's brands and make sure that they build this brand into the mind of their customers. They are able to develop a social media strategy to achieve this.

5. Pay per click advertising

Digital marketing strategists also make sure they create successful performance-oriented advertising campaigns for their client's businesses. They know various advertising networks, create an effective strategy and aim to get the most of their online advertising campaigns.

How do you become a digital marketing strategist?

1. Get a degree in marketing

The first step to becoming a digital marketing strategist is to be versed and grounded in digital marketing, this means getting a degree in marketing. This is especially the case if you really want to make it to corporate organizations.

 Although this is not mandatory because becoming a digital strategist is based more on your skills, which you could gain without necessarily having a marketing degree even though having one could boost your career prospects.

4.  Utilize free online courses

Apart from a marketing degree, a digital marketing strategist could utilize the free online digital marketing courses to improve his knowledge. This is a very good opportunity for anyone who wants to become a digital marketing strategist. 

Examples of these courses include Google digital garage where they offer free online courses on digital marketing and analytics, Facebook blueprint courses from Facebook, twitter flight school from twitter and many more.

3. Gain experience

Becoming an expert digital marketing strategist is highly dependent on skills. A digital marketing strategist should have the necessary experience in executing successful campaigns and knowing the right tools to achieve this success.

One of the best ways to gain experience is by starting out as a freelancer working for different clients; there are a lot of freelancing platforms to start out as a freelancer which gives you the ability to provide services to people and businesses on the various aspects of digital marketing.

 You can also start out as an entry-level staff in organizations like digital marketing agencies or corporate firms with in-house marketing department where you gain experience as you work your way up the ladder.

It is important you know that becoming a successful digital marketing strategist is very dependent on your skills, which is why you need to have reasonable experience in this field.

How much do digital marketing strategists make?

According to Glassdoor, digital marketing strategist salaries are on the average $57,400 per year.

Wrapping up how to become a digital marketing strategist

A career in digital marketing like a digital marketing strategist can be a highly rewarding career if you are determined. The number of businesses going online is ever increasing making the demand of a digital strategist even more needed. Building your skill as a digital marketing strategist is very important because businesses and organizations are more interested in what you can offer.

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