Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Digital Marketing Manager
π° $ - $
π― Role Definition
The Digital Marketing Manager is responsible for developing, executing, and optimizing integrated digital marketing programs across search, social, display, email, affiliate, and content channels to acquire, engage, and retain customers. This role owns campaign strategy, media planning and buying, creative coordination, performance tracking, and continual optimization using analytics tools (GA4, Looker Studio, GTM) and marketing automation platforms (HubSpot, Marketo, Salesforce Marketing Cloud). The ideal candidate is both strategic and tactical: they set the roadmap, manage budgets, analyze data to improve ROI, and coach a small team or manage agency partners to deliver scalable growth.
Key focus areas: SEO & content strategy, paid search (Google Ads), paid social (Meta, LinkedIn), email & lifecycle marketing, conversion rate optimization (CRO), marketing analytics & attribution, CRM alignment, and campaign measurement.
π Career Progression
Typical Career Path
Entry Point From:
- Senior Digital Marketing Specialist
- Paid Media Specialist / SEM Specialist
- Growth Marketing Associate
Advancement To:
- Head of Digital Marketing
- Director of Marketing / Director of Growth
- VP of Marketing
Lateral Moves:
- Performance Marketing Manager
- Content Marketing Manager
- CRM / Lifecycle Marketing Lead
Core Responsibilities
Primary Functions
- Develop and own the annual and quarterly digital marketing strategy for acquisition, activation, retention, and revenue growth across paid search, paid social, display, email, organic search (SEO), and content marketing channels aligned to company OKRs and revenue targets.
- Plan, execute, and optimize multi-channel paid media campaigns (Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads, programmatic display) including keyword strategy, bid management, audience targeting, creative testing, and budget pacing to maximize ROI and CPA targets.
- Lead SEO strategy and execution including technical SEO audits, on-page optimization, content gap analysis, backlink strategy, local SEO where applicable, and performance tracking with a goal to improve organic traffic, rankings, and qualified leads.
- Design and own the content marketing strategy and editorial calendar: develop content themes, oversee production of blogs, whitepapers, landing pages, video, and assets that drive organic growth and support paid campaigns and lead nurture programs.
- Build and manage high-performing email and lifecycle marketing programs using marketing automation platforms (HubSpot, Marketo, Salesforce Marketing Cloud) including segmentation, drip campaigns, promotional sends, re-engagement, and retention flows to increase LTV.
- Implement conversion rate optimization (CRO) programs: design A/B and multivariate tests for landing pages, checkout flows, and CTAs using tools like Optimizely, VWO, or Google Optimize and iterate based on statistical results.
- Establish and maintain robust analytics and reporting frameworks using GA4, Looker Studio (Data Studio), Tableau/Power BI, and internal dashboards to measure channel performance, funnel conversion, LTV, CAC, and attribution across paid and organic channels.
- Lead ad hoc and ongoing attribution and marketing mix modeling efforts to allocate budget efficiently across channels, understand incremental impact, and recommend reallocation to drive growth and profitability.
- Manage the full-funnel paid media budget: develop forecasts, monitor spend daily, reconcile monthly billing, and provide recommendations to optimize investment versus performance.
- Set up and maintain tracking and tagging infrastructure: implement Google Tag Manager, GA4 event schemas, conversion tracking for platforms (Meta Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag), and ensure accurate data capture for reporting and optimization.
- Collaborate closely with product, sales, design, and engineering teams to align digital campaigns with product launches, feature rollouts, promotions, and landing page requirements to maximize campaign effectiveness.
- Manage relationships with external agencies, creative partners, publishers, and vendors; negotiate scopes, SLAs, and pricing while ensuring timely delivery and high-quality execution.
- Translate business objectives into measurable KPIs, create weekly/monthly reporting cadence, present insights and optimization plans to senior leadership, and provide clear recommendations to improve performance.
- Conduct regular audience research and persona development to refine targeting strategies, messaging, creative concepts, and channel mix for higher engagement and conversion.
- Oversee creative brief development and production workflows for display, social, video, and search assets, ensuring brand consistency and performance-driven creative testing.
- Optimize landing page experience and site conversion paths by working with UX/design and engineering teams to prioritize and implement enhancements that reduce friction and increase conversion rates.
- Run performance reviews, mentoring, and career development for junior marketers and cross-functional contributors, fostering a culture of experimentation and data-driven decision making.
- Ensure digital campaigns comply with privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA) and platform ad policies; manage consent frameworks and coordinate with legal as needed.
- Lead competitive and market analysis to identify trends, emerging channels, and new opportunities (e.g., emerging social platforms, zero- and first-party data strategies) and recommend pilots or expansions.
- Drive demand generation initiatives including webinar promotion, gated content programs, ABM support for enterprise target accounts, and cross-channel nurture tracks to accelerate pipeline velocity.
- Develop and maintain playbooks and SOPs for campaign setup, bidding strategies, creative testing, and reporting to scale operations and enable consistency across campaigns.
- Manage affiliate, partner, and influencer marketing programs: recruit and onboard partners, set performance terms, and monitor ROI and compliance.
- Coordinate cross-channel campaigns to ensure consistent messaging, precise UTM tagging, and unified reporting for holistic performance visibility.
- Provide hands-on campaign optimization during peak periods (product launches, Black Friday, end-of-quarter) including rapid bid adjustments, creative swaps, and landing page updates to hit revenue targets.
- Architect and maintain audience segmentation strategies in CRM and ad platforms, enabling lookalike modeling, retargeting funnels, and personalized ad experiences that improve conversion rates.
Secondary Functions
- Support ad-hoc data requests, exploratory analysis, and campaign post-mortems to uncover learnings and translate insights into action plans.
- Contribute to the organization's broader marketing strategy, roadmap, and process improvements by providing input on channel performance, tech stack needs, and hiring priorities.
- Collaborate with business units to translate marketing requirements into technical specifications for tracking, attribution, and CRM integrations.
- Participate in sprint planning, agile ceremonies, and cross-functional project meetings to prioritize marketing initiatives and ensure timely execution.
- Assist with RFP responses, vendor evaluations, and onboarding activities for new marketing platforms and tools.
- Help create training materials and onboarding documentation for new marketing hires and stakeholders who need to interpret reports and dashboards.
- Support crisis communications and rapid-response campaign activations when necessary, coordinating with PR and communications teams.
Required Skills & Competencies
Hard Skills (Technical)
- Paid Search (Google Ads) β campaign setup, search & shopping optimization, bidding strategies, and SKU-level ROAS management.
- Paid Social Advertising β Meta Ads Manager, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, X/Twitter ads and best practices for creative and audience targeting.
- SEO Tools & Techniques β technical SEO audits, on-page optimization, keyword research, backlink strategy using tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, Screaming Frog.
- Analytics & Tagging β Google Analytics 4 (GA4), Google Tag Manager (GTM), event and conversion tracking, and dataLayer implementation.
- Marketing Automation & Email Platforms β HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot, or Salesforce Marketing Cloud for segmentation, workflows, and lead scoring.
- CRM Integration & Lead Management β Salesforce or similar CRM experience to align marketing campaigns with sales pipelines and CRM reporting.
- Reporting & BI β Looker Studio (Data Studio), Tableau, Power BI or similar dashboarding tools for building executive and channel-level reports.
- Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) β A/B testing platforms (Optimizely, VWO), hypothesis design, test analysis, and UX optimization.
- HTML/CSS & Landing Page Builders β basic HTML/CSS understanding and experience with CMS/landing page tools like WordPress, Unbounce, or Webflow.
- Excel & SQL β advanced Excel skills for analysis and basic SQL querying to pull and validate data for attribution and performance reporting.
- Programmatic Display & DSPs (preferred) β familiarity with programmatic buying, private marketplaces, and display targeting strategies.
- Ad Platforms & Compliance β familiarity with pixels, SDKs, platform policies, and privacy/compliance requirements (GDPR/CCPA).
- Budgeting & Forecasting β ability to create media plans, perform budget allocation, and forecast outcomes against targets.
Soft Skills
- Strategic thinking β develop multi-quarter plans that align with company growth objectives and measurable KPIs.
- Data-driven decision making β analyze complex datasets, draw actionable insights, and prioritize tests and initiatives.
- Strong communication β present performance results, strategies, and trade-offs clearly to cross-functional teams and executives.
- Project management β manage simultaneous campaigns, deadlines, and multiple vendor relationships with strong organization.
- Leadership & people development β coach team members, provide feedback, and build scalable processes.
- Creative collaboration β work with designers, copywriters, and product teams to create high-performing creative assets.
- Stakeholder management β influence and align internal stakeholders (sales, product, finance) to support campaign objectives.
- Problem solving β quickly diagnose performance issues and execute corrective actions under tight timelines.
- Adaptability β navigate changing platform algorithms, privacy constraints, and market trends with agility.
- Attention to detail β ensure tagging accuracy, budget reconciliation, and compliance for reliable measurement.
Education & Experience
Educational Background
Minimum Education:
- Bachelorβs degree in Marketing, Business, Communications, or related field (or equivalent practical experience).
Preferred Education:
- Bachelorβs or Masterβs degree in Marketing, Digital Marketing, Business Administration, Data Analytics, or related field.
- Certifications such as Google Ads, Google Analytics (GA4), HubSpot, Facebook Blueprint, or similar are a plus.
Relevant Fields of Study:
- Marketing
- Business Administration
- Communications
- Data Analytics / Statistics
- Computer Science or Information Systems (beneficial for analytics/tracking work)
Experience Requirements
Typical Experience Range:
- 3β7 years in digital marketing roles with progressive responsibility; demonstrated experience managing multi-channel paid media, SEO, and marketing automation.
Preferred:
- 5+ years of hands-on experience with paid media and performance marketing, proven track record in driving acquisition and revenue, experience managing budgets >$500K/year or equivalent scaled spend, and experience leading teams or agencies.