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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Digital Marketing Specialist

💰 $ - $

MarketingDigital MarketingPerformance MarketingSEOSEMSocial Media

🎯 Role Definition

The Digital Marketing Specialist is an execution-focused marketer responsible for planning, launching, optimizing and reporting on integrated digital campaigns that drive brand awareness, qualified leads, sales and retention. This role combines technical skills (Google Ads, GA4, Google Tag Manager, marketing automation), content and creative production, performance analysis, and cross-functional stakeholder management to deliver measurable business outcomes. The ideal candidate is data-driven, experienced with both paid and organic channels, and comfortable operating in fast-paced, iterative environments.


📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Marketing Coordinator with 1–2 years of campaign execution experience
  • Social Media Coordinator or Content Specialist who managed paid posts and organic strategy
  • Junior Paid Media or SEM Analyst who has run small-budget campaigns

Advancement To:

  • Senior Digital Marketing Specialist / Senior Performance Marketer
  • Digital Marketing Manager or Paid Media Manager
  • Head of Digital, Growth Marketing Manager, or Director of Demand Generation

Lateral Moves:

  • Content Marketing Strategist
  • Paid Social / Paid Search Specialist
  • Growth Marketing or Lifecycle Marketing Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Develop, own and execute integrated digital marketing campaigns across search (Google Ads), social (Meta, LinkedIn, X/Twitter, TikTok), display, video and programmatic channels to meet KPIs for leads, MQLs, CAC and revenue.
  • Plan channel-level strategy and budget allocation for paid search and paid social; set bidding strategies, daily budgets, audience targeting, and campaign structures to maximize ROI and ROAS.
  • Conduct keyword research, competitive analysis and campaign structure optimization for SEM, including search, shopping and display campaigns; write and test ad copy aligned to landing pages.
  • Create and manage audience segmentation and targeting (lookalike, custom intent, retargeting) to improve personalization, frequency capping and funnel conversion.
  • Design and implement A/B and multivariate tests for creative, copy, landing pages and user journeys to increase conversion rates and reduce CPA using structured experimentation frameworks.
  • Collaborate with content and design teams to produce high-converting landing pages, ad creative, video assets, and email campaigns that reflect the brand voice and improve engagement metrics.
  • Implement and maintain tracking and measurement via Google Analytics 4 (GA4), Google Tag Manager (GTM), UTM taxonomy, pixels (Meta), and server-side tagging to ensure accurate attribution and reporting.
  • Build and maintain dashboards and regular performance reports (daily/weekly/monthly) using Looker Studio, Tableau, Power BI or internal BI tools to communicate channel performance and insights to stakeholders.
  • Optimize funnel performance through conversion rate optimization (CRO) initiatives—heatmap analysis, session recordings, form optimization, and UX recommendations in partnership with product and design.
  • Own campaign setup, creative QA, launch, monitor and ongoing optimization cycles; rapidly iterate on underperforming tactics and scale proven winners.
  • Manage marketing automation and lead-nurturing flows in platforms such as HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot or Mailchimp to move prospects through the funnel and improve lead quality.
  • Collaborate with Sales and Customer Success teams to align on lead definitions, SLAs, and campaign follow-up processes; ensure accurate CRM sync (Salesforce, HubSpot CRM) and lead scoring.
  • Perform SEO technical audits and implement on-page and off-page SEO tactics (meta tags, schema, content optimization, backlink development) in coordination with content and engineering teams.
  • Maintain paid media compliance and privacy requirements (GDPR, CCPA) and ensure proper consent and data handling across tracking and marketing systems.
  • Manage relationships with external agencies, vendors and channel partners; review deliverables, negotiate media buys and validate third-party performance.
  • Track and forecast monthly and quarterly channel spend, pipeline impact and ROAS; recommend reallocations to maximize performance against business goals.
  • Conduct cross-channel attribution modeling and incrementality testing to inform budget decisions and optimize toward the highest-value channels.
  • Lead competitor monitoring and market trend analysis to identify opportunities for new channels, creative approaches, keywords and audience segments.
  • Write clear, persuasive copy for ads, landing pages and email campaigns that aligns to user intent and driving action; maintain consistent messaging across paid and owned channels.
  • Oversee the creation and execution of lifecycle marketing programs (welcome series, re-engagement, upsell/cross-sell campaigns) to increase LTV and retention.
  • Train and mentor junior marketers, freelancers or interns on campaign best practices, tagging, reporting templates and SOPs to scale execution quality.
  • Manage campaign calendar and cross-functional timelines to ensure on-time launches and coordinated product/marketing promotions.
  • Troubleshoot tracking, attribution and conversion discrepancies across systems; partner with engineering to resolve technical issues and ensure data integrity.
  • Prepare executive-level summaries and strategic recommendations based on performance data, tests, and market context to influence leadership decisions.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
  • Assist with competitive intelligence collection, share weekly insights and recommended tactical changes.
  • Help maintain a centralized library of creative assets, campaign briefs and past test results for reuse and knowledge sharing.
  • Support event promotion and webinar marketing activities as needed to generate pipeline.
  • Participate in vendor evaluations for marketing technology (MarTech) or analytics solutions.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Google Ads (Search, Display, Shopping, Video) – campaign setup, bidding strategies, optimization
  • Meta / Facebook Ads and LinkedIn Campaign Manager – audience creation, creative testing, reporting
  • Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Universal Analytics migration knowledge; event-based tracking and measurement
  • Google Tag Manager (GTM) and pixel implementation for accurate conversion tracking
  • Marketing automation platforms (HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot, Mailchimp) and email campaign best practices
  • SEO tools: SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, Screaming Frog — technical audits, keyword research, backlink analysis
  • Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) tools: Optimizely, VWO, Hotjar, Crazy Egg or equivalent
  • Dashboarding and reporting: Looker Studio (Data Studio), Tableau, Power BI, Excel/Sheets (advanced formulas, pivot tables)
  • CRM integration and lead lifecycle management (Salesforce, HubSpot CRM) and lead scoring
  • Basic HTML/CSS and CMS experience (WordPress, Shopify or similar) for landing page edits and QA
  • Tagging, UTM taxonomy, and cross-channel attribution modeling (first-touch, last-touch, data-driven)
  • Paid media bidding platforms and DSP familiarity for programmatic campaigns
  • SQL basics for querying performance datasets (preferred but not always required)
  • Copywriting for paid ads and email subject lines that drive clicks and conversions

Soft Skills

  • Data-driven mindset with strong analytical and problem-solving abilities
  • Excellent written and verbal communication; able to present performance insights to non-technical stakeholders
  • Project and time management skills; able to manage multiple campaigns and deadlines simultaneously
  • Collaborative, cross-functional team player who can work with design, product, sales and engineering
  • Creative thinker who tests new ideas while maintaining rigor in measurement
  • Detail-oriented with a commitment to clean tagging, reporting accuracy and campaign QA
  • Adaptability to changing priorities and marketing channels in fast-paced environments
  • Coaching and mentoring skills to elevate junior team members and vendors

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Communications, Business Administration, Advertising, or related field OR equivalent practical experience in digital marketing.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, Data Analytics or similar plus certifications such as Google Ads, Google Analytics (GA4), Meta Blueprint, HubSpot Inbound or similar.
  • Continuing education in digital advertising, analytics, or UX/CRO highly desirable.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Marketing
  • Communications
  • Business Administration
  • Data Analytics / Statistics
  • Computer Science or Web Development (beneficial for technical tagging/analytics)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 2–5 years of hands-on digital marketing experience, including paid search/social and analytics.

Preferred:

  • 3–5+ years of experience in a growth-focused or agency environment with demonstrated ownership of full-funnel digital campaigns, experience with GA4 and GTM, and measurable results in lowering CPA / increasing ROAS. Prior exposure to CRM integration, marketing automation and cross-channel attribution strongly preferred.