How to Be a Better Digital Marketing Manager
You have finally taken the next step in your digital marketing career and secured a position in management. Congratulations! Now, what are you going to do to boost success for you and your team?
Being a digital marketing manager is more than passing along tasks to your underlings. You need to understand advanced digital marketing practices and organize your workforce optimally to achieve success for your employees, your company and your clients. Here are three ways you can start being a better digital marketing manager today:
Gain Advanced Digital Marketing Skills
You likely have some degree of digital marketing expertise to have reached your current position in management, but to function well in your new role, you will need to broaden your knowledge and skills to cover all corners of the digital marketing field. You may want to return to school for an advanced degree in digital marketing, or else you can take short online courses to become certified in key areas, such as:
SEO. Search engine optimization is among the most technical fields in digital marketing, but it is also among the most important. Even if you decide to outsource your SEO services, you should have a fundamental understanding of how SEO works to integrate SEO more effectively into your overall strategies.
Data analysis. Data is the digital marketer’s best tool — but only if you know how to use it properly. Effective data analysis can help you track the success (or failure) of ongoing campaigns and guide clients in the right strategic direction.
Strategic thinking. Strategic thinking is a technique for understanding the world that involves the intentional and rational assessment of factors that can influence success. By implementing strategic thinking practices, you can identify greater opportunities for your clients, your firm and yourself.
Project management. Unless you have a dedicated project manager on your team, you will likely take on a project management role for your staff. The more experience you have in project management, the more effective you will be handling this responsibility, so courses in project management can help you gain the skills you need to ensure mutual success.
Know Your Team’s Strengths and Weaknesses
No matter how well-equipped you are, you are not the only digital marketing professional at your firm. As a manager, you will be overseeing a team of digital marketers, who will primarily be responsible for conducting the work your clients need to achieve their goals. Thus, not only do you need to recognize your own strengths and weaknesses — and work to improve what knowledge and skill you can — but you need to understand the abilities and interests of your staff, as well.
Not all employees excel at all tasks. You might take some time to meet with your workers one-on-one to get a better sense of the projects they feel competent working on and those that tend to be more difficult for them. Likely, there are some digital marketing assignments that your team as a whole struggles with, and these you might consider outsourcing. For example, if your workers lack the technical expertise to manage SEO, you can easily partner with SEO resellers to ensure your clients have access to top-quality SEO services, which are essential in digital marketing. Being able to alleviate your team’s pain points and better satisfy your clients are impressive achievements of an incredible manager.
Understand Your Clients’ Goals
Many business clients come to digital marketing firms with specific goals in mind: acquire more leads, drive increased sales, improve customer loyalty, etc. However, many business clients are much vaguer in their desires for digital marketing. It is your job to understand exactly what your clients want and need from your firm, so you can develop a strategy that delivers high levels of client satisfaction. You might need to work with your firm’s account managers to improve client onboarding and ensure clarity with regards to goals and interests. You should also connect directly with clients, at least initially, so you have a better chance at detecting the intricacies of their digital marketing objectives.
As a digital marketing manager, you have improved your pay and prestige — but you have also gained a slew of new, difficult responsibilities. Fortunately, with some extra education and effort, you can excel in your new role and continue moving up your career ladder.
