Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Digital Strategist

🎯 Role Definition

A Digital Strategist designs, plans and optimizes multi-channel digital marketing strategies to meet business goals — increasing qualified traffic, improving conversion rates, maximizing lifetime value and ensuring measurable ROI. The role blends marketing strategy, channel-specific expertise (SEO, paid search, social, programmatic), analytics and cross-functional collaboration to deliver integrated campaigns, content strategies and measurement frameworks that scale.

Primary responsibilities include developing channel and campaign roadmaps, conducting audience and competitive research, defining KPIs and attribution models, managing paid media and organic search tactics, coordinating content and UX teams, optimizing conversion funnels using A/B testing, and delivering actionable performance reporting and stakeholder recommendations.

This role is ideal for a data-driven marketer with hands-on experience in analytics platforms (GA4, Looker, Tableau), ad platforms (Google Ads, Meta Ads, programmatic DSPs), SEO tools (SEMrush, Ahrefs), and marketing automation/CRM systems (HubSpot, Marketo, Salesforce).

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Digital Marketing Specialist / Coordinator with 1–3 years of campaign experience
SEO/SEM Specialist or Paid Media Analyst with hands-on channel management
Content Strategist or Social Media Manager with cross-channel exposure

Advancement To:

Senior Digital Strategist or Lead Digital Strategist
Head of Digital / Director of Digital Marketing
VP of Marketing or Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

Lateral Moves:

Growth Manager / Growth Lead
Product Marketing Manager
UX Strategist or Conversion Rate Optimization Lead

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Develop comprehensive, channel-agnostic digital strategies that align business objectives (acquisition, retention, revenue, brand awareness) with measurable KPIs, timelines, budgets and resource plans.
Build integrated campaign plans that combine paid search, paid social, programmatic display, paid video, organic search (SEO), content, email and CRM touchpoints to maximize pipeline and lifetime value.
Conduct deep audience segmentation, persona development and customer journey mapping to prioritize high-value cohorts and tailor messaging and channel mixes accordingly.
Create and maintain testing roadmaps (A/B and multivariate tests) for landing pages, ad creative, email flows and site experiences to continuously improve conversion rates and reduce acquisition costs.
Manage paid media strategy and execution across Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn, TikTok and programmatic DSPs — including bid strategies, audience targeting, creative direction and budget pacing.
Lead organic search strategy by directing keyword research, technical SEO audits, on-page optimization, content architecture and backlink acquisition plans to increase qualified organic traffic.
Design attribution models and reporting frameworks (first-touch, last-touch, data-driven attribution) and implement measurement strategies that accurately connect digital activity to downstream business outcomes.
Implement and govern analytics tagging and data layer standards with engineering to ensure accurate event tracking, conversion measurement and GA4/analytics configuration.
Create clear, executive-ready dashboards and performance reports (weekly, monthly, campaign-level) using Looker, Tableau, Google Data Studio or similar tools to drive data-informed decisions.
Optimize landing pages and conversion funnels in collaboration with design and UX teams to reduce friction, increase engagement and lift conversion rates through user research and usability testing.
Oversee content strategy and content calendar alignment to SEO and campaign objectives, ensuring content formats, distribution and CTAs are optimized for search visibility and conversion.
Manage cross-functional stakeholders including creative, product, sales, engineering and external agencies to execute digital programs on time and on budget.
Establish and manage channel budgets, pacing and forecasting, with proactive reallocations based on performance and cost-per-acquisition targets.
Analyze competitive landscape and industry trends to identify growth opportunities, new channels, and emerging tactics such as influencer partnerships or new ad formats.
Develop persona-driven creative briefs and provide direction to creative teams and agencies for ad copy, visual assets, and video that drive clicks and conversions.
Lead setup and optimization of marketing automation and lead nurturing programs (drip campaigns, behavioral triggers) to accelerate lead-to-close timelines.
Conduct regular campaign post-mortems to document learnings, attribution insights and recommended optimizations that feed into future strategy iterations.
Ensure compliance and privacy-aware measurement by implementing consent management, cookieless strategies, and server-side tracking where appropriate.
Manage vendor relationships (ad platforms, agencies, SEO consultancies, data providers) and evaluate tool stack efficiency to scale performance.
Translate complex analytics into clear, prioritized recommendations and tactical roadmaps for stakeholders at all levels.
Drive revenue-focused experiments such as pricing tests, promotional calendar optimization, bundle offers and landing page variations to increase average order value and retention.
Maintain a continuous improvement mindset by staying current on platform updates, algorithm changes and marketing technology innovations to keep strategies competitive.

Secondary Functions

Provide training and enablement to internal teams on digital best practices, analytics interpretation and campaign optimization techniques.
Support ad-hoc research projects such as market sizing, competitor benchmarking, and channel viability assessments.
Assist in RFP development and agency selection processes by defining scope, KPIs and evaluation criteria.
Collaborate with product and engineering teams to prioritize analytics instrumentation and data pipeline requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies for digital initiatives to ensure timely delivery and alignment.
Maintain documentation of campaign templates, tagging schemas, playbooks and SOPs to standardize execution and onboarding.
Contribute to crisis response or rapid pivot plans when campaigns underperform or when market conditions change.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Digital marketing strategy development and execution across paid, earned and owned channels (SEO, SEM, paid social, programmatic).
Advanced proficiency with Google Ads including search, display, video and shopping campaign management and optimization.
Strong SEO skills: keyword research, technical SEO audits, on-page optimization and backlink strategy (tools: SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz).
Web analytics and measurement expertise: GA4, Google Tag Manager, event tracking, conversion modeling and KPI definition.
Data visualization and reporting skills using Looker, Tableau, Google Data Studio / Looker Studio or Excel/Sheets for ad hoc analysis.
Experience with marketing automation and CRM platforms (HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot, Salesforce) to design nurture flows and track revenue attribution.
A/B testing and experimentation platforms knowledge (Optimizely, VWO, Google Optimize or similar) and statistical understanding of test results.
Familiarity with programmatic advertising and DSPs (The Trade Desk, Google DV360) for audience-based, PMP and programmatic buys.
Experience with paid social platforms (Facebook/Meta Ads Manager, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, TikTok Ads) including creative optimization and measurement.
Tagging, data layer and basic JavaScript familiarity to collaborate with engineers on tracking and analytics deployment.
Budget planning, forecasting and bid strategy experience, including ROAS, CPA and CLTV optimization.
Conversion rate optimization (CRO) methodologies and UX best practices informed by qualitative and quantitative research.

Soft Skills

Strategic thinker able to synthesize business goals, data insights and market trends into actionable digital roadmaps.
Strong cross-functional communicator who can translate technical analytics into clear recommendations for non-technical stakeholders.
Analytical problem-solver with a bias for testing, iterative optimization and evidence-based decision-making.
Project and stakeholder management skills to prioritize work, manage deadlines and orchestrate multiple teams.
Creative collaboration skills to guide copywriters, designers and video producers toward conversion-driven creative.
Leadership and influence with the ability to coach junior marketers and lead agency partners.
Adaptability and curiosity to quickly learn new platforms, tools and shifts in customer behavior or privacy regulations.
Presentation skills for delivering executive summaries, campaign reviews and strategic briefs.
Attention to detail in campaign setup, tagging, reporting and budget controls.
Time management and prioritization in a fast-paced, results-oriented environment.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, Analytics, Advertising, or a related field.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree or MBA in Marketing, Digital Strategy, Business Analytics or equivalent practical experience and certifications.
Professional certifications such as Google Ads, Google Analytics (GA4), Facebook Blueprint, HubSpot, or programmatic certifications are a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Marketing
Business Administration / Management
Communications
Data Analytics / Statistics
Advertising / Media Studies

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

3–7 years of progressive experience in digital marketing, media buying, SEO/SEM, or digital strategy roles at agencies or in-house teams.

Preferred:

5+ years leading cross-channel digital programs with demonstrable improvements in traffic, leads, conversions and revenue.
Experience working with enterprise analytics stacks, multi-million dollar ad budgets, and managing external agencies or vendor relationships.
Proven track record of developing and executing growth strategies, experimentation roadmaps and measurement frameworks that drive measurable business impact.