What does a digital director do?
A digital director is in charge of spearheading and overseeing the campaigns and projects for digital marketing within a company. Their responsibilities revolve around devising strategies to boost sales and brand awareness, establishing goals and sales objectives, monitoring the progress of projects, and assessing workforce performance. They must also coordinate different departments, liaise with external agencies, and produce progress reports for the stakeholders. Furthermore, as a digital director, it is essential to lead and encourage teams to reach goals, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
Digital director responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real digital director resumes:
- Manage the planning, development, and delivery of email marketing channel including CRM.
- Implement the use of a CRM system and processes to assign and track new leads.
- Manage direct mail, email and social media projects to help clients with better response rates and ROI.
- Manage marketing strategies deliver through social media, email and Facebook advertising.
- Provide marketing automation expertise to clients with the use of Marketo and Salesforce implementations.
- film, edit, and post all video material to PPC social media pages.
- Improve credit risk models with innovative online indicators; leverage analyses to uncover new opportunities to improve online collection efforts.
Digital director skills and personality traits
We calculated that 14% of Digital Directors are proficient in Digital Marketing, Digital Transformation, and Digital Strategy. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Organizational skills, and Analytical skills.
We break down the percentage of Digital Directors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Digital Marketing, 14%
Identified, negotiated and managed ongoing digital marketing alliances and partnerships that augmented and improved consumer reach and subscriber base.
- Digital Transformation, 13%
Develop and implement the function-specific process changes associated with digital transformation.
- Digital Strategy, 4%
Pitched for new business, developed proposals and overall digital strategy.
- Project Management, 4%
Provided leadership for user experience, project management, policy and process development, and stakeholder communication.
- Digital Content, 3%
Introduced file automation, digital asset library and metadata utilization to deliver digital content more efficiently to global and studio customers.
- CRM, 3%
Increased sales by more than 200% in first year through close training with reps and CRM and broadening product list.
Most digital directors use their skills in "digital marketing," "digital transformation," and "digital strategy" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential digital director responsibilities here:
Creativity. One of the key soft skills for a digital director to have is creativity. You can see how this relates to what digital directors do because "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to generate new and imaginative ideas." Additionally, a digital director resume shows how digital directors use creativity: "improved overall media efficiencies and creative effectiveness through a/b testing and web analytics. "
Organizational skills. Many digital director duties rely on organizational skills. "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must manage their time and budget efficiently while directing and motivating staff members.," so a digital director will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways digital director responsibilities rely on organizational skills: "led organizational content strategy across large network of fox sports properties. "
Analytical skills. digital directors are also known for analytical skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to digital director responsibilities, because "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to analyze industry trends to determine the most promising strategies for their organization." A digital director resume example shows how analytical skills is used in the workplace: "led data visualization and create compelling reports that provide strategic implications. "
Communication skills. A big part of what digital directors do relies on "communication skills." You can see how essential it is to digital director responsibilities because "managers must be able to communicate effectively with a broad-based team made up of other managers or staff members during the advertising, promotions, and marketing process." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical digital director tasks: "improved product development and communication processes. "
The three companies that hire the most digital directors are:
- CBRE Group178 digital directors jobs
- Pwc133 digital directors jobs
- EPAM Systems56 digital directors jobs
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Compare different digital directors
Digital director vs. Chief marketing officer
A Chief Marketing Officer defines marketing strategies and oversees all marketing operations of a company. They are responsible for building a highly efficient team of marketing professionals.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, digital director responsibilities require skills like "digital transformation," "digital strategy," "digital content," and "digital platforms." Meanwhile a typical chief marketing officer has skills in areas such as "cmo," "patients," "sales strategy," and "market research." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Chief marketing officers tend to make the most money working in the media industry, where they earn an average salary of $125,889. In contrast, digital directors make the biggest average salary, $133,284, in the professional industry.On average, chief marketing officers reach similar levels of education than digital directors. Chief marketing officers are 2.7% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.7% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Digital director vs. Director of communications and marketing
A director of communications and marketing spearheads a company's marketing and communication projects in adherence with the company's vision and mission. Being the director, they have the authority to make decisions, delegate responsibilities among managers and teams, and direct the project and program cycle from planning to execution, solving issues and concerns if any would arise. They also set goals and budgets, establish timelines and requirements, and conduct regular assessments. Additionally, as a director, they must lead and empower employees in a joint effort to reach goals and industry standards.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that digital director responsibilities requires skills like "digital transformation," "digital strategy," "digital content," and "crm." But a director of communications and marketing might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "web content," "strategic communications," "external communications," and "market research."
Directors of communications and marketing earn a lower average salary than digital directors. But directors of communications and marketing earn the highest pay in the professional industry, with an average salary of $78,844. Additionally, digital directors earn the highest salaries in the professional with average pay of $133,284 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Directors of communications and marketing tend to reach similar levels of education than digital directors. In fact, they're 1.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for digital directors in the next 3-5 years?
Dr. Esther Swilley
Marketing Department Head, Associate Professor, L.L. McAninch Chair of Business Administration, Kansas State University
Digital director vs. Director of marketing & development
A director of marketing & development is a management professional who is responsible for improving the marketing scheme of an organization while discovering ways to obtain new customers. This director is required to lead a team of marketers and work with other departments to make the organization's marketing plans become a reality. The director must possess customer service skills as they often personally reach out to and deal directly with clients. This director must also work within the constraints of a budget to create the necessary marketing materials.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a digital director is likely to be skilled in "digital marketing," "digital transformation," "digital strategy," and "project management," while a typical director of marketing & development is skilled in "market research," "revenue generation," "event planning," and "seo."
Directors of marketing & development earn the highest salary when working in the finance industry, where they receive an average salary of $117,707. Comparatively, digital directors have the highest earning potential in the professional industry, with an average salary of $133,284.When it comes to education, directors of marketing & development tend to earn similar degree levels compared to digital directors. In fact, they're 0.3% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Digital director vs. Director new business development
A director of new business development is in charge of spearheading new programs and procedures, ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. It is their duty to set goals and objectives in adherence to the company's vision and mission, establishing guidelines, allocating budgets, and overseeing the progress of all efforts. Furthermore, as a director of new business development, it is essential to lead and encourage the workforce to reach goals, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
Types of digital director
Updated January 8, 2025
