A Day in the Life of a Marketing Strategist
This is a guest blog from our Expert Marketing Writer, Jillian.
If you were to research a marketing strategist job description on Google, you would find one common characteristic: goal-oriented. 📈
Sure, you need experience and project management skills.
You also need to navigate branding and storytelling.
But, without goals and objectives, it’s almost impossible to create a cohesive marketing strategy that drives ROI.
Marketing strategists have to stay focused on the bigger picture in order to deliver and exceed sales and marketing goals.
The digital marketing landscape is evolving at a drastic rate.
In 2019, digital ad spend worldwide surpassed $333.25 billion and is expected to increase to $517.51 billion by 2023. Meaning, there’s a growing need to discover new ways to connect and build relationships with consumers on their preferred platforms.
That’s where I come into play as a marketing strategist. I have to interpret consumer needs and turn them into a cohesive plan that my team can deliver on.
Every sales and marketing team needs a marketing strategist who can step back and not only build a plan full of tactics but also monitor every stage of the execution. As a result, the strategy turns into a pipeline full of leads that exceeds revenue goals. It’s a win-win for both teams.
As a digital marketing strategist in the finance industry, every day is different. I have the opportunity to expand on my own marketing skills, while also directly contributing to my company’s market share growth. Pretty cool, right?
As a marketing strategist, you have to interpret consumer needs and turn them into a cohesive plan that a team can deliver on. 💯 Follow the day-to-day of resident expert, Jillian 📋 Click To Tweet
What Does a Digital Marketing Strategist Do?
I’ve worked in marketing for roughly 6 years and my role as a marketing strategist has been the most challenging, yet rewarding. I have to be innovative, proactive, and direct in order to identify what marketing tactics my team needs to execute on in order to build the strategy and further promote the brand.
A sales and marketing strategist combines all relevant marketing channels—from content development, email, paid media, and more—into one plan that is used to steer a brand. I have to be a storyteller for consumers and an advocate for sales teams. It’s a science in order to combine all elements into a plan that moves marketing efforts forward.
A marketing strategist combines all relevant marketing channels—from content development, email, paid media, and more—into one plan that is used to steer a brand. You need to be a storyteller 📖 AND a scientist 👩🔬. Click To TweetTo give you a better idea of what a marketing strategist does, let’s dive a little deeper into my day-to-day.
Morning: Lead Generation and Analytics Go Hand-in-Hand
A large component of a marketing strategist career is the ability to interpret analytics and translate them into a strategy. However, before I can even think about reading charts, I need a coffee. Who’s with me?
Once I’ve settled in, I log into Google Analytics and analyze yesterday’s performance. I first look into my brand’s website traffic and which source resulted in the most website visits. Personally, I’m trying to increase our organic reach and not pay for every click. My main goal is to increase our organic reach by 30% by the end of 2020, and with the launch of a new website and resource center, I expect to exceed this.
Source: Google Analytics
Next, I dig into what’s important to our sales teams: Leads. How many leads did we get? What sources did they come from? How many are qualified? Because I have multiple campaigns going on at the same time—from paid search and sponsored LinkedIn ads to webinars—I need to analyze which channel is the most effective for earning new leads and driving traffic. After that, I compare the YTD performance to last year to catch any dramatic decreases or increases.
Source: Google Analytics
After I have a handle on the daily metrics, I start working on any ongoing projects and approvals.
Afternoon: Prioritizing the Big Picture
As a brand and project owner, part of the role as a marketing strategist includes executing on projects from start to finish. All of these projects—whether digital or content development—correlate to the larger strategy and have a purpose for my team. For example, how will my promotional strategy for an upcoming recruitment webinar earn us more leads? Why are clients jumping out of my email journey and how can I re-engage them?
With these projects in mind, I hold daily strategy sessions with our creative team and other digital channel owners to optimize our assets and performance. This could mean anything from avoiding creative wear-out or A/B testing different graphics.
Alongside these strategy sessions with the marketing team, I meet with key decision-makers from sales. I need to not only understand their process and needs but also innovate new ways marketing can provide a solution. If sales conversions are down, how can I create a more qualified lead flow? If we have too many leads, how can I automate the communication process?
For the rest of my day, it’s going between meetings, tactics, and approving creative assets to ensure each project hits deadline.
Evenings: Where Motivation Never Stops
If you think my day seems full enough, I don’t stop when the clock hits 6:00 PM. Instead, I head home and re-open my computer to start my part-time job as a Quality Assistant Editor and Expert Content Writer at Express Writers.
I’ve been writing since I was young enough to hold a pencil and my evenings with Express Writers have become my own personal therapy. I love the feeling of not only writing something that connects with readers but also being able to coach others like myself to improve their own craft.
So, from 8:00 PM – 11:00 PM, I write, edit, and review writing pieces that will be posted throughout various websites and blog platforms.
From mornings analyzing yesterday's traffic and lead sources to afternoons engaged in strategy sessions with marketing and sales teams, a day-in-the-life of a marketing strategist is never boring. 🎯 Read more 👉 Click To Tweet4 Characteristics of a Marketing Strategist Super Star
If becoming a marketing strategist consultant sounds up your alley, there are a few key traits you need to master in order to pursue this career path.
1. Know the Ins and Outs of Multiple Marketing Channels
You need to be fluent in various outbound and inbound marketing channels like social media, email, and branding strategies. Beyond that, exude a jack-of-all-trades mentality that allows you to understand all your channels and how your audience interacts within them.
With your various channels, examine and study the technology you need to execute your strategy like a CRM, Google Analytics, and more. This will not only help you determine a budget but also automate the day-to-day tasks so you can focus on the bigger picture.
2. Understand Marketing Strategy and Drive Growth
While this may sound like a no-brainer, you need to have experience driving results and delivering ROI for businesses. An expert marketing strategist will be able to examine the current business operations and processes, find the gaps, and put together a plan to build a better foundation.
While utilizing younger talent on your team is an excellent way to pull innovative tactics into a campaign, a marketing strategist needs to have real experience to be able to drive and scale business goals.
3. Communicate and Navigate Key Decision Makers
To succeed as a marketing strategist, you need to build trust within your own marketing team and the sales teams you’re working with. First, surround yourself with a team of channel experts who will support and execute your vision. This ensures you won’t get caught up writing your own email copy and it allows you to step back and analyze campaign performance.
Next, you need serious buy-in and trust from sales. After all, your strategy directly impacts their clients and the bottom line. To do this, prove your strengths and deliver results that make an impact on their day-to-day leads, client relationships, and more. To stay in good graces, hold bi-weekly strategy meetings, send status updates, and celebrate the successes when they happen.
Once you build a dynamic relationship between yourself and the teams you work with, true marketing magic will happen.
4. Be Passionate and Realistic
You need to be passionate about not only reaching business goals but also serving your customers. The excitement you bring to your teams will translate to their own motivation and execution on the strategy.
However, be realistic and stay within your resources and budget. Don’t promise mountains if you can only deliver hills. You need to be able to communicate accurate timelines to everyone involved so you set yourself up for success in the long run.
Beyond that, your ideas should inspire those you’re working with to reach new goals and innovations.
Bottom line: If you don’t believe in your strategy, why should your team?
4 characteristics of a marketing strategy superstar 🌟: 1) Know your marketing channels 2) Understand strategy and how to drive growth 📈 3) Communicate effectively with key decision-makers 💬 4) Be passionate but realistic. ♥ Click To TweetIs a Marketing Strategist Career Path Your Next Move?
Now is a great time to consider a marketing strategist career path. Not only is the digital landscape ripe with opportunity as it continues to evolve, but the average strategist makes $70, 175 per year depending on the region. Need training? We offer that, too.
A marketing strategist job both challenges your mindset and helps you hone in on your marketing skills. You’ll have the opportunity to actively engage on all platforms while also making a direct impact on your business. What could be better?!
To draw more inspiration for your future from expert content and inbound marketers, check out our list of the Top 100 Content Marketers.
