It is no more a secret sauce to the success of any business that digital marketing helps a lot in the development, growth as well as turning huge profits. Every firm has its own marketing department that handles all the stuff relating to the marketing of the firm, their services, and products which can be in any form like direct, inbound, outbound, geo-location, digital, etc. Every firm has a lead that regulates this body known as marketing strategist. However, the main thing that every business owner should focus upon is hiring a reliable and efficient strategist to handle or oversee all kinds of issues and tasks in the firm’s marketing, developing revenue building strategies, SEO, etc. However, it is not a piece of cake to find and retain such an extraordinary talent because it requires a lot of things in a single person to become a pro strategist.
Responsibilities of a Marketing Strategist
- Forecasting marketing trends
- Maintain brand consistency across all channels
- Establish a web presence
- Set marketing KPI’s
- Create and optimize digital campaigns
- Maintain client satisfaction with customer feedback
- Analyzing reports and highlight significant metrics
Requirements of a Marketing Strategist
- Marketing Degree or Bachelors Degree
- Team management skills
- Stark analytical skillls
- Experience with Google Analytics / Search Console
- CRM software skills
- Strong communication skills
- Great experience working as a Marketing Strategist
If you are looking a marketing strategist for your company then you should look for these traits:
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1. Ability to self-start
A true and successful marketing strategist must have characteristics of starting by themselves. To be more precise, a marketing strategist should know how to take their firm up to a threshold when all the supporting pillars are down. The process of marketing has that much capability but only if you have the right skills to use it as well as the correct amount of enthusiasm and motivation to walk down the road of building everything up again. If you remember your school projects in which rest of your friends used to get into one group and you alone were allotted a group of notorious kids who never accompanied or helped you in the project. As a result, you had to do it all by yourselves. So, if you are that ‘did all by yourself’ kind of kid, you have a good ability to start by yourself.
2. Innovative brains
To be one of a kind and to present out of the box idea, one has to have innovative brains. To be a unique and outstanding leader in the world of marketing, one should know how to bring up the ideas different from the mediocrity. However, innovation is the key to success in every aspect of life so does in the sphere of business and their marketing. A person who thrives to be the best strategist should know how to be creative and use innovative ways to attract more and more faithful customers and clients. If there are any sort of disagreements and impatience from the customer’s end, they should know to innovatively reconstruct and frame the strategies to increase customer satisfaction and revenue at the same time.
3. Tech-savvy and converse with upgraded technology
This trait is an essential must-have for a digital marketing strategist because one who is dealing with technology should know everything from scratch as well as about the upcoming technology. The basic idea behind this is one should know where and how to hit the ball i.e. if such strategist won’t be aware how digital platforms and software work, they might not be able to come up with effective technology. However, it is also important for all kinds of strategists to have a bit of knowledge about the digital and technological world because almost entire world eats, sleeps and breathes with technology and thus a strategist should know how to inculcate their strategies based on the contemporary technology in order to reach and retain greater crowd.
4. Customer centric and revenue approach
Another important trait that a good strategist should have is that they should know how and when to take customer-centric and revenue-driving approaches. It happens many times that a strategist focuses a lot on customer interaction via emails, calls, messages and other everyday tactics to increase sales and revenue. It is good but only up to some extent. It is recommended by professionals that strategist should also focus on bigger picture i.e. long term goals with a wider aspect. They should spend as much of their time in strategizing to generate more revenue as they are investing in making healthy customer relations.
5. Cultural and community fit
A very common fact is that people are deeply connected to their cultures and communities. A leader should have supportive and accepting nature to welcome all kinds of people in their team who belong to different cultures and communities. Since marketing strategist has the responsibility to hold the entire marketing team together, they should make sure that every team member and department employee in getting equal respect, non-discriminatory behavior and other deserving things. They should encourage positive aspects of every religion or community, so that team members not only welcome people from different views and cultures but also learn to mix up and socialize with them.
6. Healthy relationship builder
A marketing strategist is like super glue that holds things together or acts as a strong pillar that provides a durable base to the relationships inside and outside of the firm. This simply means that to be a good strategist, one should know how to build a healthy relationship with colleagues, clients, and customers. They are one of the main personnel of marketing or people who are responsible for the growth of a firm as their skill of healthy relationships with outer network and content with people helps the firm a lot. Also, they make sure that the clients and customers of the firm are in a trustworthy and satisfactory relationship. If a person is capable to build all these relationships for the firm then they can be a perfect fit for your company’s marketing strategist.
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7. Skilled in Multitasking
Marketing strategists of a firm have a lot of tasks apart from making remarkable and revenue-driving strategies. They are responsible for several functions and activities which cover analyzing and supervising areas like marketing, competitive analysis, farsighted planning, acquisitions, client relationships, etc. So, it can be easily understood that a good strategist should know how to multitask or they should know how to handle all these different tasks all at once. A usual person may mess up with all these numerous situations but a pro will know how to manage and balance different tasks without losing their calm.
8. Ability to socialize, digitally
Ability to socialize on the internet and social media platform is not just about sending irritant DMs or posting a bunch of vacation photos every month but it includes some serious and useful traits which prove that a person can be a good strategist. While looking for the best strategic player in the market, you can see if they have the skill to create Vlogs, Blogs like this or most importantly video content to send some sort of message for educating people.
This is one of the major traits of social media influencers and it is also needed in a marketing strategist of a company. You should do a little research if their social media accounts before hiring them. This trait clearly shows that a person is not afraid to share their thoughts in front of a camera and thereby won’t be afraid to convey their thoughts to their team too. With this skill, they would have good knowledge of the social media market and also will be able to run successful promotional campaigns for the firm.
9. Not a dictator but an influencer
Unlike other higher designations in a firm, a marketing strategist gets their position by influencing other employees in a positive way and bringing acceleration in the firm but not shoving off competitive colleagues or pulling up the ranks. A marketing strategist should be an influencer for the firm and sway other employees with their deep intellect and knowledge about their particular industry and its marketing strategies. They should know how to communicate their thoughts to the team in a polite and professionals way so that their team does not feel pressurized and agrees with the strategies at the same time. A person who states any statement like, your marketing strategist orders you to complete this task” or anything similar to that, they won’t be able to hold and guide a good team.
10. Adaptive and Flexible
A digital marketing strategist should be flexible as well as adaptive because the world is continuously spinning and changing cycle and undoubtedly, the technologies and trends that exist today, won’t be tomorrow. Thus, this makes it important that one should know how to stay flexible to the market and be adaptive towards the changes. Therefore, these become one of the most effective and necessary skills that you should see in your strategist. If they will be updated with latest and upcoming technologies as well as market trends then it will be easier for them to prepare themselves, their team and their strategies accordingly.
11. Should be comfortable with ambiguity
Let’s accept the hard fact that strategies and hard work of a marketing strategist pays off in months or sometimes it could be years, not all but at least in most of the cases. So, in order to see the result, a marketing strategist should be comfortable with the ambiguity of the situations in this long pause. With an uncertain future, a good marketing strategist should have faith in their hard work and have extraordinary skills to hold on such ambiguity.
12. The ability of farsightedness
Although there are a lot of roles and tasks that a marketing strategist has to see still their main responsibility is to come up with effective, customer interactive and revenue generating strategies for the firm’s business. These strategies are based on the future or you can say that they use their ability to assume future market conditions, according to which strategies and campaigns are designed. Therefore, your strategist should have a good ability of farsightedness. On the other hand, they should also be capable of conveying their thoughts to the team in an exact manner that they see it. Thus, they will be creating common goals in the mindset of every teammate and ultimately a winning strategy for the firm’s elevation.
13. Straight and Clear with their Objectives
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For a successful marketing strategist, it is important to be straight and clear with their objectives that are beneficial for the entire firm. They shouldn’t be having any of their favorites in the team or they shouldn’t be influenced by any other individual, mentally or emotionally. If a person fails to manage all these situations and diverts from the chief aim then they will also fail to be a good strategist. Nowadays, firms look for a marketing strategist who has enough endurance to face as well as handle such situations without blurring their vision. This trait is important because it not only helps to achieve long term goals but also holds the team together with A-grade teammates or employees. Also, it maintains a good and non-discriminatory environment in the organization.
14. Straight Forward Personality
It might sound like a little bit unmatched for a marketing lead because most of them make unfeasible promises and dishonest campaigns. But, the less known fact is that the public is not yet aware that nowadays firms look for honest methods for selling and promotion of their products. Thus, a person with a straight forward personality is right for the lead role. The continuously evolving world is developing an even more competitive market, day by day. Customers have become aware enough of all the traditional marketing strategies thus genuine promises and product reviews would be the best case scenario. However, a marketing strategist with straight forward personality will also be able to communicate with customers and clients effectively which would leave a long-lasting impression and eventually more people will be interested in your services or products.
15. An Executor, literally
Well, before you hire a person as your company’s marketing strategist, you need to make sure that they have this extremely important trait in them. Being creative, having good intellect and all other required skills is not enough because developing a strategy and executing it efficiently are two different things. Your marketing strategist should know how to execute the plans and most importantly do not fear in executing any of them.
Meet Our Digital Marketing Strategist
Lorenzo Gutierrez is our lead marketing strategist. Lorenzo has experience as a digital marketing strategist working for small businesses all the way up to publicly traded corporations. This experience makes Lorenzo uniquely qualified to spearhead a variety of projects. Lorenzo strategizes with CEO, VP’s, Marketing Managers and Board of Directors on companies best marketing strategies to grow revenue, increase brand awareness and create a steady stream of leads.
Lorenzo’s approach to marketing and sales is focused on driving revenue for the organization combined with great customer service. Lorenzo’s experience has helped mold his into the great exceptional digital marketing strategist that he has now become. With over 16 – 5 star reviews and countless of customer success stories.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are these traits important for a marketing strategist? These traits encompass a blend of soft and hard skills that enable a marketing strategist to understand market trends, create innovative strategies, communicate effectively, lead teams, and drive successful campaigns.
Can these traits be developed over time? Yes, many of these traits can be nurtured and developed through continuous learning, practice, and real-world experience. Training, mentorship, and hands-on experience can be particularly valuable.
How can I assess these traits in a potential marketing strategist hire? Assessment can be done through a combination of interviews, reference checks, portfolio reviews, and possibly skill assessment tests. Asking scenario-based questions can also provide insights into how a candidate might apply these traits in real-world situations.
Are all 15 traits equally important for every marketing strategist? The importance of each trait may vary depending on the specific role, industry, and company culture. However, these 15 traits provide a comprehensive overview of what generally defines a successful marketing strategist.
How do these traits translate into successful marketing strategies? These traits enable a marketing strategist to understand the market, identify opportunities, create innovative and effective strategies, communicate and collaborate with teams, adapt to changes, and ultimately drive success in marketing campaigns.
Where can I learn more about becoming a successful marketing strategist? There are many resources available, including books, online courses, workshops, and mentorship programs. Engaging with industry professionals, attending marketing conferences, and joining professional networks can also provide valuable insights and opportunities for growth.
