What does a digital marketer do? 

A digital marketer is someone that uses various digital platforms to advertise a product or service for a company. At the core, it's someone that knows how to plan and successfully execute marketing campaigns. And that could include a variety of things such as: 

Social media marketing - publishing content on several social media channels, creating a social media strategy, and working with influencers and external partners.

Content marketing - creating different types of content (blog posts, white papers, landing pages) for the entire funnel, developing a content strategy, and working on optimizing existing content for search engines.

Email marketing - nurturing leads that come through a variety of digital marketing channels, segmenting audiences, and creating personalized data-based campaigns and automated flows.

Data analysis - using Google Analytics or the equivalent to analyze site traffic, track key performance indicators, and A/B test hypotheses. It's probably the most technical skill on the list.

SEO - search engine optimization or search marketing is organic acquisition. It involves on-page (keyword optimization) and off-page optimization like guest posts and backlink campaigns.

Affiliate marketing - getting traffic through partnerships with influencers, bloggers, and online publishers.

Paid advertising - launching paid advertising campaigns on social channels, advertising platforms, and search engines. 

Graphic design - a digital marketing expert should have a good grasp of design as any strategy is going to require great visual content to entice the user.

Digital marketing is very broad and there are a ton of different disciplines within that spectrum. You need to know exactly what you are looking for before you start the hiring process.

If you're looking for a marketing manager or someone that could manage an entire team then you will probably need a full-stack marketer or someone that has the creative chops, tech skills, and a good understanding of sales best practices to create the best messaging for your target audience.

When to hire a digital marketer? 

If you're reading this post you're probably wondering if now is the right time to hire a marketing expert. And it depends on the stage of your business and what your goals are. Here are different scenarios that require a marketing expert. 

• Your first marketer hire - if you have a good product and are just starting out then it's a great time to hire an internet marketer. You need someone to create a strategy, pick the right channels and marketing efforts to focus on, and build your customer base.
• Launching a new product - if you have a new product or are about to target a new audience then you may need someone that has experience with that target persona or that niche. It may be a good idea to get a strong candidate with experience in running influencer campaigns, brand partnerships, and establishing relationships with content creators, sellers, or marketplaces in your niche.
• Expanding to a new marketing channel - want to expand to a new digital channel? You may need a digital marketing consultant to help advise you on the best ways to maximize on your marketing spend. 
• Improving your marketing strategy - you've built a digital marketing team and they're firing on all cylinders but you're not happy with the results. Something doesn't seem to be working and you're not sure what that is. That's when you hire a marketing leader that's grown the specific channels you're working on that could advise you on what to change.
• Running a team - sometimes you have several employees you've hired doing different tasks and as your business grows you don't have the time to manage them all. That's when you should hire a digital marketing manager to take the reigns and lead the team.

How to hire the top digital marketers

Now that we've covered the different types of marketers and when you should hire one, let's talk about the process of actually finding and hiring the ideal candidate. 

Write a job description

First, determine what your goals are and write down all the tasks you want your marketer to manage. Are you looking for a freelancer or a full-time employee? What kinds of digital marketing campaigns would they be running? Break down each channel by tasks and decide if you want them to plan and manage the strategy and delegate the execution to someone else or do everything themselves.

• Social media - would they be creating social media posts? working with influencers? getting customers to create UGC? And which social media platforms should they be experienced with?
• Content creation - long-form? Social content? Video content? Would they be conducting content optimization or working on broader content marketing efforts (like white papers + lead magnets)? would they have a content team? 
• SEO - would they take direction from an external SEO expert or create their own SEO strategies? Would they be doing on-page or off-page optimization? 
• Paid ads - would they manage the campaigns themselves? Is it going to be social media ads or video ads? Would they manage an external digital marketing agency?
• Tech skills - which tools and platforms should they know how to use? It could be Google Analytics, SEO tools, content tools, social media management tools, or ad optimization platforms. Look at similar jobs to get some ideas of what's required.

Post the job and ask your network

Once you outline the job description it's time to publish your job post ad ask your network. You should reach out to current and past partners, ask your colleagues for recommendations, and post on relevant Slack and Facebook groups. 

Work with Mayple 

If you want to skip the mediocre candidates and go straight for the gold then you should source your marketing talent from Mayple's expert community. We have 600+ of the world's top experts and we will match you with someone that has proven experience in your niche and a successful track record working with similar brands.

Interview 

Now that you've got a few potential candidates, it's time to interview them. Now, interviews are important but you need to know the right questions to ask. Don't just ask about the candidate's professional experience, make sure to cover all the angles. Here are some great interview questions to include:

• Channel-specific expertise - do they have what it takes to manage the channel or specific marketing activity you're hiring for?
• Reporting - how well / often do they report their results? Which tools do they use? Which KPIs would they be tracking?
• Communication - how well do they communicate? If they're an agency or a freelance marketer then how often do they speak with their clients? 
• Overcoming challenges - how have they handled problems in the past? This could be communication breakdowns, misunderstandings, or marketing failures.
• Future ambitions - where do they see themselves in 5-10 years? What's their ideal job? 
• Culture fit - do they fit your company culture? Give them a personality test to see whether they would work well with the other people on your team.

Test project 

The interview is a crucial part of the process but that's where most brands get stuck. In order to really vet your candidate you need to give them a test assignment. You can make it paid or non-paid (depending on the requirements and the scope). 

You could ask them to create a digital marketing strategy for your project, a few designs + ideas for your social media channels, or to write an article for your blog.