With the vast and ever-growing opportunities in the digital landscape, marketing your business online has become increasingly complex and involved. Long gone are the days of popping up a website and sitting back to watch the magic unfold. There’s a plethora of technical and creative processes to develop, perfect and tune, followed by a maze of integrated moving parts within which to develop strategy and marketing plans.It now takes a small army of individuals deeply skilled in their particular digital focus to create the nuts and bolts of a digital campaign, and help a business outshine their competitors online. When you’re entrusting your digital assets with a marketing agency, it helps to know why this space has become such a complex powerhouse, and what the dream digital team in today’s competitive arena should look like.
The Value of Digital Marketing Today
First, let’s look at the opportunities we’re working with in digital marketing. We love a good statistic. In their 2019 digital report, Hootsuite in collaboration with We Are Social Australia reported that 87% of our population are internet users, with 72% additionally being active social media users. This is a global trend. Since last year alone, there has been a 9.1% growth of people connecting to the internet. Evidently, it is now more than ever a necessity for businesses to concentrate a good percentage of their marketing efforts online. The world of marketing, promotions and advertising is not what is once was, and will never be the same. Yes, much to the chagrin of many marketers and advertisers, the suave 1960’s ‘Mad Men’ culture is no more. Largely seen as a male dominated industry for many years, it’s great to see the rise of more brilliant women shining in the marketing workforce. There are unique skills, strategies and perspectives popping up everywhere.
Where are we spending our advertising dollars as a nation?
Overall Advertising Spend Statistics
The total expenditure on advertising in 2019 will amount to $616 billion! And $17 billion of that total is directly contributed by Australia. It comes as no surprise that paid search leads the pack as the channel which received the greatest investment, and 53% of the total advertising spend was comprised of investments into digital media.
Data-driven Marketing Results
Why is digital marketing so powerful? In one word...data. Why is data so significant? It means we’re not advertising blind. We have the ability to research, strategise, track, analyse and review the success of all digital content in real time. We can accurately gauge return on investment with every campaign.
How is all this big data generated?
Each and every time we turn to a search engine for answers, or engage on social media, or interact with any website, whether on mobile or desktop, we’re adding to the deep data stockpile. We also create data trails every time we send or receive a text or email. These monumental insights allow us to trust real data, rather than our instinct when advertising online.With all this knowledge at our fingertips we can create targeted custom audiences for our offerings to send the right messages, to the right people at the right time - every time. We just don’t have this luxury with traditional marketing, data helps eliminate the guesswork and maximise the effectiveness of your advertising budget.
Relationship management and communication
Every seasoned business owner knows the importance of a good reputation and positive word of mouth. The web is a buzz with social media discussions, Google reviews, forums, comments and feedback. Word travels fast online, so the importance of building digital brand relationships with your customers is as critical as having a digital brand in the first place. All digital content has the potential to be two-way communication, hence the need to ensure your messages are engaging, informative and helpful; more conversational than a big bland sales pitch. It’s also critical to be responsive, and connect with your audience. Traditional marketing is typically one-way communication. Showcasing products, events or services to a broad audience, and hoping you get the desired outcome. Finger’s crossed!
So, in a nutshell, a good digital marketing team today should have the following bases covered:
- Brand design and development
- Research, Data analysis and reporting
- Reputation management
- Marketing strategy, budget control and advertising
- Content creation, delivery and management
- Technical development
You can be forgiven for thinking maybe one or two marketers could handle that; but it’s no longer the case. Each of those points require a number of niche skilled team members to work together. Yes, we have a bunch of software and tools to help us form new strategies, speed up our workflow and develop our solutions; but to build and manage several successful contemporary digital campaigns for multiple clients, there are a number of new and existing roles that have become essential in a digital agency. Perhaps you’re looking to start your own digital marketing agency, or you’re in need of a highly equipped agency to help you with your business objectives. To help, we’ve compiled a list of roles which are indispensable in any digital marketing office.
Managing Director
The MD, head-honcho, big kahuna - or whatever they shall be affectionately named - is the overseer of all tasks. The MD keeps and eye on the back end of the business, hires (and fires) and is responsible for steering the business in the right direction. They have a big to-do list and a broad general knowledge and expertise.
- Develop and manage company culture
- Business planning and strategic decision making
- Build and lead the team
- Business finance management
- Engage with clients, stakeholders and build relationships with professional associations.
The MD is usually the face of the company, representing the brand and its values.
Accounts Director
The Accounts Director is responsible for developing and managing client relationships. They consult closely with clients on their business, goals and objectives.
- Develop appraisals and business / marketing objectives
- Consult closely with clients on the details of their account
- Lead, delegate and oversee projects to the team
- Uphold deadlines and schedules to within agreed budgets
- Develop and monitor strategy and reporting
Head of Paid Search
Paid search is often the soul of a great campaign. It is a fast and powerful way to get results online. increasingly becoming the number one expenditure in business advertising, it’s vital to find a paid search specialist. These people are on-the-ball with financial matters, and closely follow the ins and outs of each client’s pay-per-click ads.
- Review all ad spends and budgets
- Research, develop and implement PPC Strategy
- Closely monitor campaign performance
- Test, analyse and adjust PPC strategy
Content Coordinator
Content comes in many forms, social media posts, videos, images, blog articles, website content, emails. It’s all content, and your customers love lots of it. A content coordinator will develop content briefs according to client objectives and overall strategy
- Assign briefs to relevant content curators
- Develop content calendars and strategies
- Ensure deadlines are met
- Delegate and arrange content scheduling and posting
- Review content development in line with the brief
- Quality control
- Oversee content delivery and monitor results
- Oversee aesthetics of websites and digital media, streamline look and layout to best present content and enhance the visual appeal.
Copywriter
Copywriters are skilled in writing sales messages, blogs, web pages, video scripts, traditional marketing copy and advertisements. They must develop and/or adhere to the specific brand tone of voice across all media, and write to attract a specific audience to achieve a desired objective.
- Develop written content working closely with the content coordinator
- Write to a specific brand tone of voice and target market
- Write content to achieve a specific defined objective
- Develop creative strategies to align with a clients goals, brand, values and audience.
Web Developer
The web developer is responsible for technical development and management of websites. The developer ensures websites are properly coded according to design specifications and vision, and are technically maintained to be fast, responsive and updated. The developer will problem solve and resolve any bugs or glitches and improve functionality wherever possible.
- Program / develop / code websites and webpages
- Develop according to design specifications
- Ensure technical maintenance is upheld
- Problem solve and resolve bugs and improve functionality
Graphic Designer
Graphic designers are digital artists capable of creating brand concepts, logos, illustrations, images and website design. They are responsible for ensuring the the visual look of campaigns, websites and marketing materials are brand consistent, appealing and visually engaging across all channels.
- Design brand identity
- Website and landing page mockups and concepts
- Image development and editing
- Create brand-consistent visually engaging design to appeal to a target market
Business Development Manager
Driving the agency’s sales and accounts opportunities is the role of the business development manager.
- Develop build and maintain a client database
- Identify and follow up on leads
- Develop creative pitching ideas
- Maintain strong relationships with potential, new and existing clients
Specialist Services
There are also a number of specialist services that might feature in a digital agency. If you know your business will require a lot of photography or videography content - or your strategy will be built around involved email marketing automations - you might look for a company with expert team members in that niche.
- Project Manager
- Photographer & Videographer
- Social Media Expert
- Affiliate Manager
- E-commerce specialist
- CRM and Email Marketing Manager
- On and Off Page SEO Expert
- Automations Specialist
It’s beautiful when it works like clockwork
All these wonderful, talented people come together like a well-oiled machine to see your goals are realised online. If you were considering hiring someone in-house to take care of your marketing, to be competitive online you’d be looking for a person with an impossible skillset.
Hiring an agency who have all these brilliant minds ready to work together on your account, should see you achieve results faster, more efficiently and perfectly in line with your growth aspirations. As the world increasingly becomes more digital and continues to grow marketing focus on multimedia campaigns, digital has become crucial to keep up with the modern business world. Get it right the first time! If you’re looking for a marketing team, get yourself a dream team.
