Considering a career in digital marketing? Great news! No matter what your underlying strengths, weaknesses, and skills are, you’ll almost certainly find a role to suit you in this expansive field. However, with so many digital marketing job titles out there, it’s hard to know where to start. What do the different roles involve, what skills do they require, and which ones might be best for you?
From SEO to web design, this definitive guide to digital marketing job titles will help you navigate the roles and what they entail.
Rather than list every possible digital marketing job title, we’ve taken a more pragmatic approach. Instead, we’ll name a few typical roles for each digital marketing discipline, exploring how you can move from one job to a more senior position as your career progresses. Whether you’re a newbie or a seasoned digital marketing expert looking to shift career lanes, we’ve got you covered!
We’ll explore job titles in the following categories:
- SEO digital marketing job titles
- Content digital marketing job titles
- Social media digital marketing job titles
- Email digital marketing job titles
- Web design digital marketing job titles
- Paid advertising digital marketing job titles
- Analytics digital marketing job titles
- Cross-channel digital marketing job titles
- Summary
Ready? Then let’s learn more about the exciting opportunities that digital marketing can bring! If you’d prefer to watch this guide, let our Chief Marketing Officer, Ed, talk you through the different roles:
1. SEO digital marketing job titles
Search engine optimization (SEO) is an essential component of digital marketing.
It involves making websites visible to search engines and their users. Best suited to those with an analytical streak who are comfortable with technology, SEO uses tactics like keyword research, link building, content development, and technical optimization to push websites further up search engine results pages (SERPs).
Here are some of the most common SEO digital marketing job titles:
SEO strategist
Role level: Typically a junior or entry-level role.
An SEO strategist is responsible for developing and implementing SEO strategies. Someone in this role must understand the latest SEO trends, be able to create content, monitor performance, and optimize websites for search engine visibility.
SEO analyst
Role level: Intermediate or mid-level.
Building on the skills of an SEO strategist, an SEO analyst is responsible for analyzing a website’s overall SEO performance. Their work heavily influences things like keyword research and link-building strategies. In particular, an SEO analyst should be adept at identifying new opportunities and any issues that prevent a website from ranking higher in the SERPs. It typically requires more problem-solving skills than a standard SEO strategist.
SEO manager
Role level: Senior-level role.
Once they’ve mastered the art of SEO analysis, SEO experts might progress to become SEO managers. This role often exists in SEO agencies or within a dedicated team in a larger organization. SEO managers mainly lead teams of specialists, strategists, and other junior executives. While they’ll have an in-depth understanding of SEO tactics, they’ll also have honed their leadership skills and ability to allocate resources and create long-term strategies.
2. Content writing digital marketing job titles
Another vital aspect of any digital marketing strategy is content. While content marketing takes many forms: blogs, videos, imagery, and more, the primary skill these roles require are excellent writing and communication.
Regardless of the exact media, effective content marketing boosts search engine visibility, builds relationships with customers, and increases conversion rates. It’s best suited to creative people with a flair for the written word.
Here are some content digital marketing job titles:
Copywriter
Role level: Typically a junior or entry-level role.
While copywriters work at all levels, it’s an excellent entry-level role for those looking to break into the field. Copywriters create blogs, product copy, website landing pages, and social media posts, to name a few. They might also write scripts for videos and other multimedia. They should be good at researching topics, writing (of course!), and incorporating SEO keywords into their work.
Content editor
Role level: Intermediate role.
Building on the skills of a copywriter, a content editor typically reviews, edits, and curates content. Their job is to ensure that any content balances a company’s needs with that of customers and search engines. Content editing typically involves more SEO expertise than a standard copywriter. Editors must also be good at providing clear feedback to their writers (or teams of writers), such as suggesting improvement areas or introducing new tactics.
Content manager / Head of copy
Role level: Senior or director-level role.
Content managers, or heads of copy, are responsible for overseeing other content writers, editors, and content creators. They’re normally responsible for creating and implementing high-level content strategies, carrying out content audits, and setting and policing standards, such as tone of voice guidelines. Naturally, they also have excellent leadership skills and the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
3. Social media digital marketing job titles
Probably the best-known and most popular digital marketing channel is social media. It offers a great of building relationships with customers, generating leads, and boosting brand awareness. It’s also an accessible way for companies to show off their brand personality, engaging with customers in order to show their ‘human’ side.
Here are some of the social media digital marketing job titles you might come across:
Social media manager
Role level: Typically entry-level.
Social media managers are responsible for the daily management of a company or client’s social media accounts. However, they aren’t usually heavily involved with setting strategy. Instead, their role includes curating content, engaging with followers, and responding to customer queries. A social media manager must have excellent communication skills, a cool head, and knowledge of how best to use social media to reach their target audience.
Community manager
Role level: Intermediate or mid-level role.
Like social media managers, community managers are responsible for engaging with customers on social media. However, they typically do this at a larger scale, working across online platforms to take a more holistic view. Beyond managing day-to-day social media tasks, community managers will moderate discussions, respond to customer queries, resolve complaints, and generally build a solid relationship with followers to drive a brand’s strategy forward. If they work for an organization or agency specializing in community management, they might carry out this role for numerous clients at once.
Senior social media manager
Role level: A senior role.
Senior social media managers are responsible for leading teams of social media and community managers. Rather than focusing on daily activities, they create social media strategies and tailor community management approaches for their clients. The role is often more client-facing, and they’ll generally work at a higher level. Nevertheless, a senior social media manager must have an in-depth understanding of social media approaches, plus strong management and organization skills.
4. Email digital marketing job titles
Email marketing was one of the first digital marketing channels to emerge. To this day, it remains one of the cheapest and most cost-effective ways of engaging with customers. Using email, companies can send targeted messages to their client base, boost sales, advertise new products, and more.
Some key email digital marketing job titles include:
Email marketer
Role level: Entry-level.
While most entry-level roles involve a little email marketing, some organizations (for example, email marketing software providers) might employ dedicated email marketers. It is their role to create and send emails to their own customers or their clients’ customers. This involves writing copy, designing layouts, overseeing the work of graphic designers, and managing contact lists. They must also understand concepts like customer segmentation and personalization and have a good understanding of HTML.
Email campaign manager
Role level: Intermediate role.
Building on the skills of an email marketer, email campaign managers are typically responsible for overseeing the whole process, from an email campaign’s initial concept through to final delivery. Whereas entry-level email marketers focus on execution, a good email campaign manager creates strategies, sets targets, analyzes data, and interprets the results. They’ll then implement changes to increase the effectiveness of their campaigns.
Email marketing manager / Head of email marketing
Role level: Senior or director-level role.
Heads of email marketing are mainly responsible for leading teams. They are in charge of setting budgets, managing resources and overseeing campaign delivery. While they may not be directly involved with devising campaign ideas, for example, they will set the overall strategic goals of a campaign, e.g. to boost sales of product X by Y%. They also need to have a good understanding of email marketing technologies and tools, a keen eye for detail, and excellent people skills.
5. Web design digital marketing job titles
As the field of digital marketing bleeds into other disciplines, areas like web design have increasingly emerged as marketing roles in their own right. Web design for marketing involves creating websites that are both aesthetically pleasing and that also provide a user-friendly experience. It’s an ideal role for those who are both creative but also enjoy building new products from the ground up. Web design uses a range of skills from wireframing to coding and graphic design.
Here are some web design digital marketing job titles you might find on your travels:
Web designer
Role level: From entry-level to intermediate.
A digital marketing web designer’s role involves creating websites or apps that meet a particular need. It usually means creating layouts, designing visuals, and probably some coding, although this is not always a strict requirement. Mainly, web designers should have design know-how, plus some understanding of user experience (UX) and web analytics.
Front-end developer
Role level: Typically an intermediate or mid-level role.
Front-end developers are responsible for coding web pages, ensuring they look and work as they should. The role typically requires knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and other programming languages. Front-end developers are also responsible for accessibility, such as making websites mobile responsive or compatible with different browsers. Like web designers, they should have a strong understanding of UX, web analytics, and SEO.
UX/UI designer
Role level: Intermediate to senior level.
UX/UI designers are responsible for designing products that are both aesthetically pleasing and easy to use. They must have a good eye for detail and should be capable of creating wireframes and prototypes. In many ways, the role is similar to web design. However, where they distinguish themselves is through their expert understanding of UX and user psychology, plus a strong sense of web design principles such as color theory, typography, and layout.
6. Paid advertising digital marketing job titles
Paid advertising is an excellent way for digital marketers to reach specific target audiences with tailored messaging. While there are many different types of paid advertising, including pay-per-click (PPC), display advertising, and social media advertising, they all follow the same general principles. Paid advertising digital marketing jobs are best suited to creative individuals with a good head for figures and budgets and the ability to track and monitor data.
Here are some paid advertising digital marketing job titles you might come across:
PPC specialist
Role level: Typically an entry or mid-level role.
Pay-per-click (PPC) specialists are responsible for creating and managing PPC campaigns, in which advertisers pay a small fee every time one of their ads is clicked. The role involves researching keywords, setting up campaigns, and monitoring performance to ensure the best use of budgets. PPC specialists need excellent research skills and should be able to analyze basic data.
Display advertising specialist
Role level: Usually an intermediate or mid-level role.
Display advertising specialists create and manage display advertising campaigns. While PPC campaigns are typically text-based, display advertising might also use banners, images, and animations. Again, this role involves researching keywords and writing copy. However, it also means working with other stakeholders to get campaigns up and running.
Paid advertising manager
Role level: Typically a more senior role.
Paid advertising managers are responsible for PPC, display, and social media specialist teams. They’re responsible for implementing paid advertising strategies across various channels, setting budgets, and overseeing campaign execution. While they must have an in-depth understanding of paid advertising techniques, the role primarily relies on management and organization skills, not to mention the ability to spot and exploit new opportunities in this fast-evolving space.
7. Analytics digital marketing job titles
Data analysis is growing in all business areas, and digital marketing is no expectation. Digital marketing analytics helps companies understand their customers better, allowing them to optimize their campaigns. Digital marketing analysts should be passionate about digging into data and discovering new ways of communicating with customers.
Here are some typical digital marketing analytics job titles:
Marketing analyst
Role level: Typically an entry-level role.
While digital marketing is well-known for being creative, a marketing analyst’s main job is to collect, analyze, and interpret data to make dispassionate, evidence-based decisions about how best to deliver campaigns. Essentially this is a data-driven market research role. Marketing analysts are adept at problem-solving, can identify trends and exceptions in data, and present findings in an easy-to-understand way.
Web analytics specialist
Role level: Intermediate or mid-level role.
Web analytics specialists are mainly responsible for analyzing website performance. This is a more technical role than a marketing analyst, although a web analytics specialist may also carry out marketing analytics tasks. However, they’ll also monitor the performance of websites and apps, using data to hone technical performance. As such, they’re typically familiar with coding languages like HTML, JavaScript, and others.
Digital analytics manager
Role level: A more senior role.
Digital analytics managers lead digital analytics teams, taking final responsibility for data accuracy and data-based insights. They are responsible for developing and implementing strategies that allow a company to maximize the value of its campaigns. They’ll have a solid understanding of marketing analytics tools, an ability to communicate findings to non-technical marketing team members, and will play a key role in data governance, too.
8. Cross-channel digital marketing job titles
In reality, not every digital marketing discipline is neatly separated into categories. More often than not, you’ll come across roles that require a combination of skills. We call these cross-channel digital marketing roles. Cross-channel digital marketing job titles typically adopt various strategies and tactics from across the digital marketing sphere, such as SEO, content, social media, and email marketing. The term for marketing that works across channels is multichannel marketing, and it is increasingly common in a landscape where products and services must compete for attention.
Some popular cross-channel digital marketing job titles include:
Digital marketing manager
Role level: Typically a mid- to senior-level role.
Digital marketing managers are responsible for overseeing an overall digital marketing strategy. This involves working with different teams to develop and implement campaigns, often across several channels at once. Digital marketing managers should have a thorough understanding of different approaches, the ability to develop innovative tactics, and knowledge of how to track and measure performance. They should also understand how different channels complement one another.
Growth marketer
Role level: Usually an intermediate or senior-level role.
Growth marketers are responsible for creating and implementing strategies that help companies to expand their provision. Initially, this means working with different teams to understand the various goals of each and how best to integrate these strategies into a holistic approach that will ultimately boost revenue. Growth marketers are usually more data-driven than traditional digital marketing managers, and their role involves a combination of things like marketing analytics, CRO tactics, and high-level strategic thinking. Even at a more junior level, this very much tends to be a leadership and communication role, since it involves obtaining buy-in for ideas from various stakeholders.
Digital marketing director
Role level: Director-level role.
The digital marketing director is perhaps the most significant digital marketing position of all. This is a senior leadership role. The individual in this role is responsible for setting the organization’s overall digital marketing strategy and overseeing the teams that must execute it. They are experts in all areas of digital marketing with the ability to lead, motivate and manage dispersed teams. To align the organization’s digital marketing activities with its strategic objectives, they also need to understand the business at a much more intimate level than most digital marketing roles. This is not one you’ll land overnight, but a job title to aim for, perhaps?
9. Summary
In this post, we’ve explored the different types of digital marketing roles that exist and how you can use them to break into this fascinating and rewarding world of work. As we’ve seen, digital marketing is a diverse field, and there are many routes you can pursue.
From SEO to web design, content marketing to digital analytics, you should now have a much clearer understanding of the digital marketing landscape and the roles that might interest you most.
Of course, keep in mind, many of these roles exist with different titles attached to them so learn to read between the lines. It’s also worth remembering that many digital marketing roles meet at the intersection of these different skill sets. Which positions can you find that interest you the most? Try looking at job boards like Indeed and Glassdoor to see what’s being advertised in your area.
To learn more about digital marketing, sign up for this free, 5-day digital marketing short course or check out the following introductory guides: