Role and function of a digital strategist

We know that roles in the digital space in the Caribbean are pretty new and most HR teams and companies haven’t quite got a grasp of exactly what the new roles in marketing are and what types of skills, qualifications and duties to expect from them.

I want to give a breakdown of a digital strategist's role and function so that your company can understand how to use them. This will also serve as a guide for those interested in becoming a digital strategist.

What is a digital strategist?

Digital strategists help organisations plan and execute their digital marketing efforts. They are responsible for developing and implementing a digital marketing plan that aligns with the overall business goals and objectives. The goal is to help organisations effectively reach and engage their target audience through digital channels, to drive business growth and success.

Key duties of a digital strategist

• Develop and implement marketing campaigns that promote a company’s brand, products, and services through digital channels.

• Collaborate with the marketing team and other stakeholders to identify target audiences and develop strategies to effectively reach and engage those audiences.

• Manage the creation of digital marketing content, such as blog posts, e-mail newsletters, social media posts, video content, podcasts, online ads and any other type of content that will aid the growth of the company.

• Track and analyse key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of campaigns and make data-driven decisions to optimise their performance.

• Use tools such as Google Analytics, GSC, Bing Webmaster and social media analytics to track website traffic, engagement and conversions from various digital channels.

There are more duties, but these are the core of what they do.

Education of a digital strategist

• A bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, or industry courses/certifications

• Strong portfolio with a proven body of work in executing the roles and functions of a digital marketer

• Proficiency in digital marketing tools and techniques, including social media, email marketing, content marketing, and analytics

• Familiarity with search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising

• A strong understanding of the latest digital marketing trends and techniques, and the ability to stay up to date on industry developments

12 disciplines of digital marketing

These are the 12 disciplines that make up a digital marketer. It is expected that you have foundational knowledge in all 12 of the disciplines but specialise in three.

• Content marketing

• E-commerce marketing

• Search engine optimisation

• E-mail marketing

• Paid traffic

• Optimisations and testing

• Data and analytics

• Conversion funnels

• Search marketing

• Copywriting

• Community management

• Social media

Salary ranges for digital strategists

• US – US$50,000-$106,000/year

• UK – US$45,000-$90,450

• China – US$33,600-$101,380

• Australia – US$36,700-$100,150

Industry certification

There are some really good industry certifications that you can get to become certified as a digital strategist.

You can check out the digital strategist courses at Learn With Google, Digitalmarketer, Digital Marketing Institute, Google Digital Marketing course on Coursera and Digital Marketing on Clickminded.

If you are looking for a digital strategist to head up your marketing teams, then I hope this gives you a guide to what the role entails, the education and some of the salaries around the world for the role.

If you are looking to become a digital strategist, you can look at some of the courses laid out that will help you become certified internationally within the industry.

I will also stress that one of the most important things to truly get to know a digital strategist is their body of work/portfolio. This will ultimately give you the best insight into their abilities and what you can expect when bringing them into your organisation.

Anybody can pass the tests and get the degrees and certificates, but with digital marketing, you should be able to see the work that they have done online and use that to determine if this person is ultimately the right fit.

Keron Rose is a digital strategist who works with Caribbean entrepreneurs to build their digital presence and monetise their platforms. To learn more visit KeronRose.com or check out the Digipreneur FM podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcast.