Digital promotion is a crucial aspect of marketing strategies in every modern firm. If you are a business owner, you have two choices – either to hire a digital marketing agency or to build one in-house. Either way, you have to work closely with the team, and for that you need to understand the anatomy of a digital marketing team.
A Digital marketing team is a unique combination of individuals with varied skills. There are designers, creative heads, strategists, optimizers and marketers, although one person can wear many hats.
Let’s take a look at each role closely and understand why each of them is paramount for team functioning.
Website
A website is the first step to having a digital presence. So let’s start from the skilled resources required for building and maintaining a website.
The Web Designer (UI/UX):
Role: An expert who head starts the process of website creation by carving out the blue print of the landing pages. The skeletal framework of the website also known as the wireframe marks the genesis of website development. The designer then creates a design mockup to illustrate the alignment of text and images.
The whole idea as projected by the designer is presented to the client or the stakeholders for approval.
The UI/UX designer could also be an expert in HTML, CSS and java script and capable of rapidly generating website prototypes.
The designer should fabricate the website bearing in mind the target audience and website objective.
Traits required: Confidence, Creativity, Colour Sense, User Psychology, Curiosity, Proactivity, attention to detail, good communication skills.
Technical Skills Required: UI/UX Knowledge, HTML, CSS, Javascript and jQuery
Marketing skills: Knowledge of Google Analytics, Customer behavior
Web Developer
A web developer creates the websites from a blue print to a viable virtual function.
Developing website involves transcribing the UI/UX wireframes created by the designer to visual elements.
A developer is a pro in coding languages and would know how to work with one or more development frameworks.
In addition, he manages the hosting environment and makes changes in the functional websites as requested by . He also implements software testing and observes the ongoing progress of the website.
Furthermore an adequate knowledge of security principles and their application in E-commerce applications enhances the scope.
The web developer studies the back-end data and employs the information to improve and refine the specifications of the website.
He is expected to be flexible towards the demands of the clients and open to suggestions of the designer and the strategist.
Traits required: creativity, love for learning, analytical mindset, curiosity, pragmatism, proactivity, attention to detail, good communication skills.
Technical Skills Required: Photoshop, Coding, HTML, CSS, jQuery, PHP, web user Interface design, object oriented design, software testing, SEO.
Research
Ideally, research should happen as the first step. But most startups end up doing it at the later stages.
Market researcher/strategist
Technically these are two different roles, but as specified earlier in small firms, one person can wear many hats.
The analyst performs audits of various campaigning and promotional activities across platforms. The resultant audit figures are transcribed into attractive images to help the team assimilate how effectively their efforts are reciprocating.
On grounds of the conclusions drawn from the audit he provides suggestions for feasible utilization of resources and helps the team to tweak their efforts and avoid waste of time on ineffective strategies.
One of the significant activities carried out by the analyst is to scheme a calendar pre meditating the approximate time taken by each task at each stage. He follows up with the team to get the work done within the pre-decided time frame.
The strategist game plans the whole idea of the content, keeping in mind the aim of the website and target personas.
He provides writers with insights of what exactly the content should communicate to the audience.
He devises promotional strategies and decides the social platforms and channels to be used for content promotion. As a part of commercial marketing strategy new product launches, hike in market share and acquisitions are a few ideas schemed by the strategist.
He is responsible for creation, advertisement and administration of content that justifies company’s goals and values.
In case of small start ups, there is a need to boost the credibility and validate presence in the market. Guest posting, like popular websites helps to leverage their popularity to grow market and audience.
Traits required: Fluent English, writing skills, presentation skills.
Technical Skills Required: Proficiency with content management systems, SEO/SEM, Google Analytics, Google Adwords and social platforms, web design, html, URL architecting, email marketing.
Marketing skills: Content marketing, crisis management, guest posting, link building, digital campaign optimization, Influencer marketing.
Content Creation
Content creators
The creative section of the team manifests the idea of the brand into words and images.
These include content writers, Graphic designers and animators.
The perception and central theme of the desired content is interpreted to the writers and graphics team by the strategist.
The writers then compose content relevant to the website or the brand.
Writers can be of different types.
Article writers research and write on various topics depending on the projects they receive and the website they work for.
Copywriters work for brands and e-commerce websites and write product descriptions, taglines while maintaining the credibility.
Similarly different kinds of content require different styles.
News writing demands AP style which has journalistic standards of spelling, grammar and punctuation.
Blogging is catchy, friendly and assertive.
Traits required: Adaptability, researching, Fluent English, presentation skill, Time management
Technical Skills Required: SEO, impeccable Editing, Microsoft word, Google docs,
Marketing skills: Online marketing, lead generation
Graphic designers and animators
The content written by the writer is loaded with images and videos by the graphics designers and the animators. It makes the content look vivacious.
The basic function of the designer is to create compelling images, charts and infographics.
Infographic designers create a visually attractive representation of the data. They design captivating flow charts for blogs and articles big time.
An Ad creator convincingly picturizes the value of articles, taglines and designs convertible images. They are involved in organic promotion which includes the social media jazz, as well as inorganic campaigns or paid promotion where in the brand or content is pushed or advertised on another website.
It is always a plus point to have a designer with the knowledge of headline writing and copywriting.
Traits required: creativity flair, versatility, visual ability, originality
Technical Skills Required: Photoshop, CoralDRAW, illustrator, InDesign, 3D Aftereffects
Editor
The editor proofreads the content created by the creative team. Though the content is written by different writers the editor sees to it that the content quality and style is uniform throughout.
It is important that the content resonates with audience.
The web editor is also responsible for creating the editorial schedule depending on deadlines. Furthermore, he co-ordinates with content providers to close the activities as and when planned. Again due to the overlapping functions between various roles, this task can be carried out by the strategist.
Evaluation of content based on site objectives and building team focus on consistently providing valuable content are the major goals of the editor.
Editing is an intricate affair which requires good researching skill and strong attention to detail.
Traits required: Organizational skills, collaborative spirit, time management, detail oriented, critical thinking and problem solving skills.
Technical Skills Required: HTML, MS office, CMS, Analytical skills, calculation of ROI, Social media, SEO
Marketing Skills: Conversant with calculation of ROI and written collateral
SEO
Bang the keys but the right ones! That is what SEOs do.
Once the content is finalized by the editor, it moves to the publishing team which consists of the SEOs.
The SEOs strive to modify the content created by the creators and elevate the quality in a manner that it comes under the lens of the search engine every time a search is carried out.
Predominantly involved in keyword research, understanding meta tags and page description, SEO specialist analyses the webpage structure and elements to recommend improvement in the design.
SEO works in close proximity with the content strategist to expand the traffic and deliver quality content to the audience.
Once the content has all the essential ingredients, SEO specialist hits the publish button.
Content writers essentially need to have the knowledge of SEO tools such as keyword analysis, as it would help them write a search engine friendly content. This would also cut down the efforts of the SEO specialist and help him dedicate more time to execute content expansion strategies.
Moreover it is important for the SEO to stay updated with latest analytics and keyword tools. The SEO should maintain strong media relations with mainstream and print publications and online media.
Traits required: creative, proactive, information management, interpersonal skills, Enthusiastic.
Technical Skills Required: HTML, CMS, site auditing, content migration.
Marketing Skills: Social media campaigns, content marketing and optimization.
Distribution
Once published, we need maximum people to see what our website or brand has to offer. So it is important to promote it over various social media and email platforms.
The distributor pans the content across various media and channels to attract more visitors to the website.
It is important that the person understands the basic practices over channels and ensures proper distribution of content across respective channels.
The content posted on various platforms should have attractive and entertaining captions to easily catch the eye of your target audience.
The distributor integrates the research of the analyst and strategist to come up with effective marketing approaches.
Latest distribution techniques such as PPC (Pay per click) and other paid promotional techniques are used in addition to organic means to attract traffic.
He regularly monitors the promotion to enhance the reach of the content.
Major platforms for promotion include social media websites such as Facebook, twitter, Instagram and email marketing.
It is important that the distributor channelizes his efforts to maximize marketing and promotion effectively and fosters highly effective relationships with stakeholders.
Attracting visitors through email marketing is a tedious business as most audience does not view promotional emails. If the write up does not captivate the audience within first five seconds of reading, you have already dropped the ball there. The writers and distributors can slave over this together for a better output.
Traits required: Well developed business operational, organizational, and administrative skills, Multi tasking
Technical Skills Required: CMS, Analytical skills, Knowledge of tech and digital lifestyle, SEM, SEO.
Marketing Skills: Mobile marketing, Deal making ability, project management, executing marketing strategies, aligning company’s goals with web content strategy.
QA
The story does not end here. The website is ready, content is published and advertisement is being carried out. But how will we know if the content is being seen by the people? Or if the brand is attracting audience and making the desired profits?
This is where the analyst comes into play again.
He consistently monitors the traffic over the website in real time and over other time periods through analytics tools. Apps like Google analytics help you track the performance of your website and fine tune efforts of your team in the right direction.
Analysts are required to have this insatiable instinct to explore the figures perceive actionable areas.
The analyst should have expertise in building inbound organic search traffic and improving SERPs.
He should be familiar with the best tools of the times and knowledge of current, past and projected trends in the SEO industry.
Furthermore, comprehending which channel has led to most sales and acknowledging that channel as per its role in the sales cycle, is also the responsibility of the analyst.
Traits required: Creativity, curiosity, strategic perspective, statistical and technical expertise.
Technical Skills Required: Advanced excel, Google Analytics, Keyword tool, SEO, Site catalyst, Google Adwords, Coremetrics etc.
Marketing Skills: PPC, mobile marketing, organic promotion, ROI analysis, interpreting trends, multi-channel attribution, analyzing online user behavior.
Check out this video to know more about content marketing methodology.
Tying It All Together
This is how the content is typically relayed in digital marketing business.
It starts with the client approaching the web designer with a proposal to build a website which is thematically relevant to his brand or business.
The designer and developers together fabricate the space over which content writers and graphic designers convey to the audience the features and credibility of the client’s services. Before publishing the content is scrutinized by the editor and enhanced by the SEO.
The analyst and strategist together find means to channelize the labour in the right direction. The promotion of the website over various channels ensures expansion of business domain.
Even though the website is ready, it doesn’t mean the task has ended there. In fact it has just begun. The website needs constant modification and maintenance based on insights provided by the strategist and the analyst with frequent updates in the appearance and themes.
The trick is to keep digging your creativity kit and employ new tools of innovation.
Your suggestions and insights are always welcome in comments. Please feel free to share.