Not every business has the luxury of having a full internal marketing team. Oftentimes, these duties are being handled by one of their salespeople, or a solo in-house marketing coordinator, manager, or CMO.
A business owner or salesperson tasked with marketing has to balance the work of two full-time jobs. Yes, it’s great that they are already out there networking and have first-hand knowledge of the company's sales goals. But someone placed in this position gets pulled in so many directions that it’s impossible to give marketing initiatives and sales/ownership duties the level of individual attention they need.
And while the solo coordinator/manager/CMO might “only” have marketing to focus on, it’s difficult for one person to juggle multiple department requests while staying on top of the latest marketing trends, planning and executing strategies, and analyzing the results.
In a survey conducted by CMO Council, “65% of CMOs said marketing must own and optimize a company’s revenue-generating engine.” Marketing leaders are required to deliver measurable ROI from every spend and initiative; however, planning, executing, and monitoring strategies across multiple digital channels is time-consuming. In fact, that same CMO Council survey found that, “86% of CMOs said a lack of resources or capabilities has resulted in missed revenue, growth, or customer acquisition opportunities.”
Developing and executing successful marketing strategies is time-intensive when you do it the right way; you can’t expect someone to be a “Jack of all trades” and still make meaningful progress that moves the needle for your business. The only thing you’re doing in that situation is setting the person, and your company’s marketing, up for failure.
Understanding what it takes for marketing to be successful starts with understanding the digital marketing roles and responsibilities involved in strategy development and executing projects and campaigns.
In this blog, we break down what a typical digital marketing team looks like and the responsibilities of each role. It’s our hope that the information will help you understand everything that business owners, sales leaders, or marketing professionals at your company need to feel supported and have the resources they need for the job. It will also help you slowly build an internal team and recognize when it makes more sense to enlist a professional digital marketing agency.
What Are the Typical Digital Marketing Team Roles?
Digital marketing roles and responsibilities vary from business to business. There are also many levels associated with each role, based on experience. We don’t want to get too far into the weeds, so for the purpose of this blog, we’re using high-level descriptions of the roles that make up a full-service digital marketing team.
Marketing Director/Manager
As with any leadership position, marketing directors and managers do a bit of everything. If you have an internal person currently in this seat, you know how hard they work! Their job is to understand multiple levels of marketing at a high level and plan and execute strategies. They are also people managers and project managers, and essentially the glue that holds everything together.
The depth and responsibilities of this role are often underestimated. And for managers who serve as the sole marketing person, requests and expectations often exceed what one person can realistically deliver.
Digital Marketing Strategist
In order to meet specific goals, whether it’s brand awareness or increasing sales, you need a comprehensive, long-term marketing plan in place. That’s where the digital marketing strategist role comes in. You say, “nobody knows that we do XYZ,” and they take that information and run with it.
Digital marketing strategists develop tailored strategies and campaigns based on market research and industry knowledge. They analyze data and trends to decide which types of initiatives — SEO, AIO, email marketing, social media, paid ads, etc. — are required to meet specific objectives. Not only that, but they also regularly measure the success of initiatives and use that data to guide future recommendations.
Paid Advertising Strategist
Paid ads are a fast way to drive traffic to a website while you give organic strategies (like SEO and AIO) time to work their marketing magic. However, developing and managing an effective campaign takes time and expertise.
PPC campaign management involves strategy, keyword research, landing page and ad development (sometimes in collaboration with a copywriter and designer), and managing daily budgets to maximize your ad spend. As you can see, there’s no “set it and forget it” here. You need someone who can dedicate time to developing, executing, and refining your strategies.
Email Marketing/Social Media Strategist
Email and social media support several initiatives: lead generation, product/service promotions, recruiting campaigns, customer engagement, and audience building…the list goes on and on. Seems straightforward enough. But the process involves a lot more than you think.
As with anything marketing, there is a lot of research and strategy involved in the process. Those who specialize in email marketing know how to analyze industry trends and data, then blend those learnings with your personal business goals to develop newsletters, e-blasts, and email or social campaigns that speak to a specific audience and their needs.
Creative Team
Anyone can write or add graphics to something, but not everyone is a trained copywriter or a designer. Even with AI as a tool, you cannot replace the skill set of those experienced in the psychology of customer behavior and in successfully putting creative ideas into action.
Part visionary, part strategist, copywriters and designers use their creative skills to develop digital and print assets that help build brand awareness, attract and engage customers, and promote and sell your products or services. These duties include content strategy and producing the copy, design, and visuals for your website, email marketing, social media, tradeshow booths, brochures, and other marketing collateral. Basically, anything with words and graphics or images.
Website Developer/Technical Webmaster
Your website is a virtual storefront and often the first impression your business makes on potential customers. It needs to not only look good but also provide site visitors with a helpful, frustration-free experience. And when something “breaks,” you need someone who can fix it quickly.
A website developer and technical webmaster can handle all the back-end details, from hosting and plugin updates to content and design updates to resolving glitches (like broken RFQ forms) that can cost you business. This is an area where having a designated expert is more beneficial than someone who dabbles in website development. Yes, someone on your team can probably handle minor updates, but you don’t want to be left scrambling when bigger issues arise.
Marketing Coordinator/Intern
In marketing, there are endless smaller tasks associated with each initiative or deliverable, from proofreading copy to performing competitor research or sourcing images for website content. And while these tasks can be rolled into the duties of the roles listed above, it’s always helpful to have extra help, so the team has more time to focus on their larger, core duties.
A marketing coordinator can support one or several roles in your department. It’s a great entry-level or internship position that lets someone get hands-on experience while taking work off your team’s plate. This is a role meant for growth, allowing the person to discover which area of marketing they are most passionate about, then eventually move into a specific role — preferably at your company!
You Don’t Have To Hire an Entire Internal Team
As we mentioned in the beginning, it’s impossible to expect one person to fulfill all of the digital marketing roles and responsibilities described above. Not only that, but add up all of those salaries in your head. Oof, right?! For small- to medium-sized businesses, hiring an entire team probably isn’t feasible, even if you slowly scale the hiring over the course of a year or two.
The point we’re (finally) getting to is this: when you work with an agency, you instantly have an entire digital marketing team working alongside your internal marketers — and that’s a level of instant support you can’t beat!
Understand there will still be an onboarding/learning period, just as there would be with an employee; the skill set is already established, so all they need to do is learn about you and your business. And if you work with an agency that has other clients in your industry, the learning curve becomes a lot shorter. Seems like a no-brainer to us, though we might be a little bit biased.
How To Find an Agency That Is the Right Fit for Your Business
Marketing is an investment, whether you build a digital marketing team internally or hire an agency to support your business. Finding the right fit is important not only for individual contributors you hire, but for the agency you decide to partner with. Here are a few questions to ask yourself while researching options:
What level of support do I want and need?
That is up to you! There are times when a more transactional relationship is the best fit for your needs and budget. Some examples include updating website copy, refreshing brochures and sales sheets, or designing a series of branded templates for your social media and email marketing. The benefits of this option are that you get help with one-time projects and build a relationship with an agency for future work, whether it remains transactional or develops into something more.
A full-service agency, on the other hand, provides support by leading strategy, having designated experts execute the deliverables, and monitoring and analyzing the success and ROI of each initiative. This can be done either entirely for you or in collaboration with your internal marketing person. The benefit of this type of relationship is that you have a partner, and your staff has the opportunity to learn directly from experts in specific areas of digital marketing.
Can they support my business where we need it most?
Some agencies specialize in one area, such as paid ad campaigns, email marketing, or SEO strategy. That works fine if you only need support for one type of marketing initiative; however, keep in mind that strong, all-encompassing strategies will have a bigger impact and deliver a better ROI.
Businesses with a small or nonexistent marketing team might benefit more from having an agency partner to fill the gaps across various areas. For example, if improving your website is a goal, you need someone capable of handling website UX design, development, and content strategy and creation.
How can this agency support my business in the long term?
Again, this all depends on your current needs. Transactional work is great for supporting your business in the short term. However, if you want to focus on long-term goals that involve multiple strategies for your website, paid advertising, and content, a full-service agency is the way to go.
Whichever option you choose, finding the right fit for your business is most important. You would interview a potential employee to make sure they have the skills and expertise to do the job, right? So you should take the same approach to finding a digital marketing agency. Ask questions, get to know the team, and make sure the partnership is a good fit all around.