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What does a director of digital marketing do?

Updated January 8, 2025
8 min read
Quoted expert
Dr. Esther Swilley

A director of digital marketing oversees the online marketing operations in a company or organization. Their responsibilities typically revolve around crafting strategies to utilize web platforms for increasing brand awareness, producing reports and presentations, liaising with clients and stakeholders, approving projects, and coordinating with analysts, designers, managers, and writers. There are also instances where they must set the budget and goals, recruit staff, and reach out to vendors or suppliers. Furthermore, as a director, it is crucial to implement all policies and regulations, all while leading and shaping the team into a valuable asset of the company.

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Director of digital marketing responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real director of digital marketing resumes:

  • Hone list of contacts including prospects, leads, and customers within Salesforce.
  • Manage multiple affiliate network relationships, negotiating CPA deals to drive increase, high quality traffic.
  • Manage all functions of marketing campaign creation and execution including copy, design, HTML coding, scheduling and analysis.
  • Manage PPC and SEO agency relationship and act as a liaison between the CEO, web designer and the agency.
  • Produce YouTube videos including editing and managing YouTube page.
  • Manage CRM strategy to maximize prospect acquisition and customer conversions.
  • Create research and brand strategies for advance content marketing, audience targeting, lead management, CRM and marketing automation.
  • Perform SQL queries for trouble shooting and reporting.
  • Establish a WordPress blog; generate content and add-on functionality.
  • Create and implement automatic stock updates on the site to sync with ERP system daily.
  • Introduce the first SEO-SEM project which will drive significant growth on the ATG web platform.
  • Craft terms for talent placement (JB Smove) on premium Cinefix YouTube channel, fund by Google.
  • Market all company camps, tournaments and showcases through online marketing including Facebook advertising, Google ads, SEO.
  • Turn raw copy into compelling HTML and landing pages with cleanly-construct offers to acquire new subscribers and re-engage unresponsive ones.
  • Execute operational strategy and implementation of new technologies base on desire increase of key performance indicators (KPI s).

Director of digital marketing skills and personality traits

We calculated that 29% of Directors Of Digital Marketing are proficient in Digital Marketing, KPIs, and Marketing Campaigns. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Creativity.

We break down the percentage of Directors Of Digital Marketing that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Digital Marketing, 29%

    Implemented research-led digital marketing campaigns, managed stakeholder relationships, and collaborated with Universities to interact directly with target end users.

  • KPIs, 4%

    Developed KPIs for evaluating performance.

  • Marketing Campaigns, 4%

    Developed unique and tailored video and online marketing campaigns for each account with follow up recommendations, implementation and reporting.

  • Google Analytics, 3%

    Created solution-based execution plans to achieve business goals based on Google Analytics and internal reporting data.

  • CRM, 3%

    Created research and brand strategies for advanced content marketing, audience targeting, lead management, CRM and marketing automation.

  • Email Marketing, 3%

    Developed first in-house automated email marketing program to proactively target new and returning customers with customized messaging and offers.

Common skills that a director of digital marketing uses to do their job include "digital marketing," "kpis," and "marketing campaigns." You can find details on the most important director of digital marketing responsibilities below.

Analytical skills. The most essential soft skill for a director of digital marketing to carry out their responsibilities is analytical skills. This skill is important for the role because "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to analyze industry trends to determine the most promising strategies for their organization." Additionally, a director of digital marketing resume shows how their duties depend on analytical skills: "work with analytics data, ab testing and other quantitative sources to develop for continuous testing. "

Communication skills. Many director of digital marketing duties rely on communication skills. "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," so a director of digital marketing will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways director of digital marketing responsibilities rely on communication skills: "leveraged relationships to enhance the branding of the athletes, products and communications on national and international scale. "

Creativity. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of directors of digital marketing is creativity. This skill is critical to many everyday director of digital marketing duties, as "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to generate new and imaginative ideas." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "led content marketing for editorial, video and imagery covering marketing, creative, production, publishing and operations. "

Organizational skills. A big part of what directors of digital marketing do relies on "organizational skills." You can see how essential it is to director of digital marketing responsibilities because "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must manage their time and budget efficiently while directing and motivating staff members." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical director of digital marketing tasks: "established team and organizational process for digital marketing operations. "

All director of digital marketing skills

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Compare different directors of digital marketing

Director of digital marketing vs. Marketing vice president

Marketing vice presidents (VPs) are responsible for a company's overall marketing efforts and strategies. They plan and develop marketing strategies to bolster their company's market positioning and attain business goals. In addition, they are responsible for overseeing and coaching a marketing team and driving the implementation of marketing campaigns. Marketing VPs also direct and support the collection, analysis, and interpretation of market data market research, and manage marketing expenditures and budgets. The qualifications and requirements for this position include a master's degree in marketing or communication, previous work experience, and outstanding leadership skills.

The annual salary of marketing vice presidents is $64,775 higher than the average salary of directors of digital marketing.Even though directors of digital marketing and marketing vice presidents are distinct careers, a few of the skills required for both jobs are similar. For example, both careers require digital marketing, kpis, and marketing campaigns in the day-to-day roles and responsibilities.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, director of digital marketing responsibilities require skills like "google analytics," "digital channels," "user experience," and "digital strategy." Meanwhile a typical marketing vice president has skills in areas such as "analytics," "seo," "sem," and "demand generation." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

Marketing vice presidents tend to make the most money working in the retail industry, where they earn an average salary of $178,047. In contrast, directors of digital marketing make the biggest average salary, $129,225, in the technology industry.On average, marketing vice presidents reach similar levels of education than directors of digital marketing. Marketing vice presidents are 1.6% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.4% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Director of digital marketing vs. Manager/marketing director

Marketing Supervisors oversee the performance of employees in the marketing department. They ensure that the employees in the department adhere to company standards, policies, and guidelines. They create marketing campaigns, cascade these campaigns' mechanics to employees, and manage the follow-through. They also delegate tasks to their team members to ensure the achievement of the marketing goals. Marketing Supervisors should be creative, personable, and strategic. They should understand the company's context, market positioning, and branding to create campaigns that are in line with the company's identity.

Manager/marketing director positions earn lower pay than director of digital marketing roles. They earn a $35,297 lower salary than directors of digital marketing per year.While the salary may differ for these jobs, they share a few skills needed to perform their duties. Based on resume data, both directors of digital marketing and managers/marketing director have skills such as "google analytics," "roi," and "channel marketing. "

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that director of digital marketing responsibilities requires skills like "digital marketing," "kpis," "marketing campaigns," and "crm." But a manager/marketing director might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "customer service," "payroll," "r," and "seo."

Managers/marketing director may earn a lower salary than directors of digital marketing, but managers/marketing director earn the most pay in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $77,050. On the other hand, directors of digital marketing receive higher pay in the technology industry, where they earn an average salary of $129,225.In general, managers/marketing director achieve lower levels of education than directors of digital marketing. They're 6.6% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Directors of digital marketing in the next 3-5 years?

Dr. Esther SwilleyDr. Esther Swilley LinkedIn profile

Marketing Department Head, Associate Professor, L.L. McAninch Chair of Business Administration, Kansas State University

Mobile technology was the trend for the last ten years, but now we need home-based technology. What is going to make "my space" a better "office space." This will also include mobile, as people set up offices in their homes, their kids/parents' homes, and in their vacation homes. Folding monitors, hot spots, of course, as well as more powerful machines that can handle each family member at the same time. It will also mean more cloud usage - both personal and professional use.

Director of digital marketing vs. Marketing supervisor

The marketing strategist is an executive who works with the members of the marketing team to ensure the implementation of high-quality marketing strategies within a given time frame. Marketing strategists examine data to find out the best way to administer resources to increase revenue and profits. Their responsibilities include performing in-depth research to determine new market prospects and customers' preferences as well as forecasting market trends. Also, they set certain marketing goals that reflect the overall business goal together with developing and managing digital campaigns.

On average scale, marketing supervisors bring in lower salaries than directors of digital marketing. In fact, they earn a $48,109 lower salary per year.Using the responsibilities included on directors of digital marketing and marketing supervisors resumes, we found that both professions have similar skill requirements, such as "digital marketing," "marketing campaigns," and "roi.rdquo;

The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, directors of digital marketing are more likely to have skills like "kpis," "google analytics," "crm," and "email marketing." But a marketing supervisor is more likely to have skills like "customer satisfaction," "customer service," "excellent interpersonal," and "payroll."

Marketing supervisors earn the best pay in the retail industry, where they command an average salary of $77,363. Directors of digital marketing earn the highest pay from the technology industry, with an average salary of $129,225.When it comes to education, marketing supervisors tend to earn lower degree levels compared to directors of digital marketing. In fact, they're 5.7% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.3% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Director of digital marketing vs. Marketing strategist

Marketing strategists tend to earn a lower pay than directors of digital marketing by an average of $32,380 per year.According to resumes from directors of digital marketing and marketing strategists, some of the skills necessary to complete the responsibilities of each role are similar. These skills include "digital marketing," "kpis," and "marketing campaigns. "

Even though a few skill sets overlap between directors of digital marketing and marketing strategists, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a director of digital marketing might have more use for skills like "digital channels," "web analytics," "digital campaigns," and "paid search." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of marketing strategists require skills like "healthcare," "powerpoint," "web content," and "cloud. "

In general, marketing strategists earn the most working in the technology industry, with an average salary of $100,214. The highest-paying industry for a director of digital marketing is the technology industry.marketing strategists reach similar levels of education compared to directors of digital marketing, in general. The difference is that they're 1.2% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of director of digital marketing

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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