New social platforms, new ways of advertising, new approaches to work. Marketing is ever evolving, which means that marketing teams need to be able to shapeshift to keep up.
As we countdown to 2023, we’re taking a look at the most important skills to add to your team in the new year. Whether in a flex capacity or full-time position, these roles can help your marketing org stay agile and impactful, no matter what the new year brings.
1. Social media creatives
“Find me a successful business without social media,” says Nancy Prentice, a Senior Copywriter. “It is time for leaders to consider social media as an important element of the mix—not an extra.”
These days, each social channel calls for its own approach. What works on TikTok is different from what works on LinkedIn. Hiring creative talent that understands these nuances can help set your brand apart.
“Every brand now is eager to use the power of social media to create community and with that, there is a lot of noise,” says Rosie and Senior Social Media Art Director Brandon Vara. “The job of a social-specific creative is to look for the white space and create content that allows for reciprocal engagement between brand and fan.”
Bradon adds that his job is to “support a brand’s mission with scroll-stopping and engaging visuals.”
To do that, collaboration is key. Your dedicated social creative team might include a copywriter, designer, and videographer, who can adapt broader campaigns to social or generate unique content for each channel. They’ll also work closely with strategists who schedule and post content and paid social experts who deliver insights on ad campaigns.
Working together, a social-focused team of creatives and strategists can deliver “big ideas that make an impact,” says Nancy.
2. Digital asset manager
The creative team at a one global hospitality company, a We Are Rosie partner, produced 29,000 marketing assets last year.
Yes, 29,000.
What’s a marketing team to do with so many assets? Keeping them organized and accessible is a gargantuan task, which is why a Digital Asset Management (DAM) expert might be the MVP of your marketing org in 2023.
“We now live in a content world, where core assets will be developed in multiple places and served in countless places and formats,” says one Rosie working in DAM. “Knowing this to be true, companies invest a great deal in asset development and to even approach strong ROI from an efficiency and consistency perspective, DAMs are critical.”
A DAM expert can select and roll out the right platform or software for your asset library. They’ll then make sure it’s adopted across the company and that everyone is trained to use it. Plus, they’ll build a system that can help keep you compliant by tracking usage restrictions for assets.
The result: huge time and financial savings for your company.
An easily accessible asset library makes it possible to repurpose content and ensures you keep track of all the creative files you own. This is especially critical if you’re using a layer cake workforce, which relies on an in-house team combined with some mix of agency partners and freelancers (the best way of building teams, in our opinion).
3. SEO Specialist
SEO is by no means the new kid on the block, but in our digital world, it’s not going anywhere either.
“The online landscape is becoming increasingly competitive, with more and more businesses vying for attention from consumers who are using search engines to find products and services,” explains Paula Jacobs, a Senior SEO Analysis at Bruce Clay, Inc and a Rosie community member. “Companies are realizing that they need to invest in SEO to stay competitive and ensure that their websites are visible to their target audience.”
While many marketing managers know the basics of SEO, Paula says channel expertise is key for successfully optimizing websites across desktop and mobile search.
“What works today may not be effective tomorrow,” says Paula. “As a result, it’s important for companies to be flexible and to stay up-to-date with the latest developments in the field in order to ensure that their SEO efforts remain effective.”
You may be used to tackling one or two SEO projects a year, but Paula advises differently. SEO should be considered an ongoing process, rather than a one-time effort, she says; fully integrate SEO into your broader marketing strategy and align it with your content, social, and email efforts. If you don’t have a go-to SEO expert—either on your core team or as a year-round freelancer—2023 might be the time to change that.
4. UX designer
As a marketing leader, you work hard to get your product or service in front of your target customers and inspire them to convert.
Without UX design, that can be a serious uphill battle.
“You can get the people to the door, but if the experience is bad, it turns the users off,” says Senior UX Designer Ayumi Williams.
“Content is of course the most important thing in terms of marketing, but if you cannot effectively distribute that content, that’s a problem,” Ayumi adds. “If the receiver or user can’t get it in the way they wish to receive it, that’s a problem.”
UX designers like Ayumi help make sure that when you have a user’s attention, you make the most of it by delivering a friction-free experience. They create solutions that support your team in reaching goals, whether that’s capturing more leads, driving conversion, or boosting retention rates. And, they work with engineering to make sure the solutions are properly implemented, with nothing lost in translation.
Anytime you’re building a new landing page, creating blog content, or launching a new product page, you’ll want your UX design expert in the room.
5. Programmatic media pro
Today, more than 90% of digital ad dollars go to programmatic buying. Recognizing the huge role programmatic plays in any marketing plan, more and more brands are bringing the expertise in-house.
As Senior Digital Media Specialist Maddie McGraw explains, “Media transparency is crucial for advertisers, and programmatic allows that full look into the landscape and for you to tap into a full-funnel strategy all within one platform.”
Programmatic experts bring knowledge about the demand-side platforms (DSPs) where you can manage and buy ads across different publications and channels, ranging from social media to podcasts and video streaming services. These platforms make it easier for your brand to reach your target audience in the right place, at the right time, and to regularly fine-tune campaigns to keep the ROAS high.
“Programmatic can be a great tool for reaching both broad and niche audiences and understanding how those audiences are interacting with your brand,” says Maddie.
One piece of advice for working with programmatic experts: give them the flexibility to take a test-and-learn approach.
“There will be wins and many lessons for moving forward, so allow for that process to happen,” Maddie explains.
In the end, a programmatic expert won’t just help your ad campaigns perform well. They’ll also provide real-time insights about your brand and audience that can help spur even more growth.
6. Campaign management expert
Sure, your brand and growth teams know what it takes to create and run impressive, omni-channel campaigns. But are your processes and playbooks rock-solid?
Campaign management experts are “project managers that think with a strategic mindset,” explains Jennifer Jackson, a We Are Rosie Project and Campaign Manager with 17 years of experience. Just about any company or team focused on consumer marketing can benefit from this skillset, she says.
Campaign managers like Jennifer vet, test, and implement project management tools. They also standardize the processes for planning, executing, and measuring campaigns—a game-changer, especially for larger marketing organizations with multiple teams running campaigns.
We all know that “do more with less” is a common refrain in the marketing world (especially during times of economic flux), and campaign management helps make that possible.
There are different ways to harness the power of this skill set for your team. You can bring someone onboard for a fixed-term project to set up your systems and processes. And once the foundation is built, there’s value in having ongoing support from a campaign manager who will keep everything running smoothly on a daily basis.
7. Influencer manager
Whether you call them influencers, creators, or celebrities, having an army of people to spread the word about your brand, products, and campaigns will move the needle—when done right.
“Influencers are useful to any kind of brand,” says Jason Pollak, a Director of Social Media and Marketing who has been working with top entertainment and fashion brands for over a decade.
“Algorithms are limiting in terms of how many people you can reach on your own personal feeds, so being able to spread out the message is especially helpful for a campaign. It also showcases your product outside your direct sphere of influence, so you might even reach people who didn’t know about your brand.”
To do influencer marketing well (and make sure it delivers ROI), it involves a lot more than just sending free products and asking someone to post.
“An Influencer Marketing Lead will help connect your team with influencers across all major platforms,” says Jason. “They will build up a Rolodex of influencers within different demographics that your team can call upon for the appropriate campaign when the time comes. They should also have influencers ready to go at different price points and levels of followers. There could be micro-influencers or influencers with millions of followers.”
In addition to building relationships on behalf of your brand, an influencer manager works closely with your finance and legal teams, as well as the social media department. They may collaborate with creative teams to develop guidelines or creative direction for influencers, too.
Some brands rely on influencer agencies, some manage it all in-house, and others take a hybrid approach. No matter your plan, having someone (or a whole team) dedicated to juggling the many responsibilities of influencer marketing is a worthwhile investment.
8. Data analyst
Marketing is part art and part science, so as you plan for 2023, assess whether you’ve got the right mix of the two to set your team up for success.
Consider all the information you’re collecting about customers, as they journey from your advertising and social media to your website and emails and back again. In our increasingly sophisticated digital world, there’s a vast amount of data that can unlock priceless insights to inform your marketing programs.
“If you don’t have someone on your team analyzing the data you are collecting from your customers, then you won’t know the next big steps and moves to make as a business when working with your customers,” says We Are Rosie Senior Client Partner Ithica Williams.
But the role of a Marketing Data Analyst goes beyond just gathering and reviewing the data.
“Besides having an understanding of the data, you need to be able to turn that data into a story, be able to ascertain any risks, convey possible next steps with stakeholders, and be able to present your findings,” explains Ithica.
Data Analysts are some of the unsung heroes of marketing. Their behind-the-scenes work can play a huge part in driving your team and the entire business forward on the right path for growth.
9. Your core freelancers
Maybe you’ve already set up digital asset management, built a killer team of content creators, and hired data analysts. Every marketing team is different—we get it.
That’s why the most important step in planning for 2023 is figuring out who your go-to freelancers will be. This will help you navigate economic uncertainty, leverage new technologies and platforms, and adapt to the increasing number of talented marketers choosing to work outside the confines of 9-to-5.
Think about any skill gaps on your team and when those gaps will have to be filled. Is it a few times a year, or a few hours a week? Consider your marketing playbook and also your people: be sure to plan for any expected leaves or sabbaticals so that you can prevent the team from burning out. As you take this 30,000-foot view of your marketing org, don’t forget to include support functions like project management, web development, and data analysis, which help keep the marketing engine running smoothly.
It takes time to be intentional about how you’ll get the work done, but doing so will pay dividends in the months ahead.
Shameless plug: if you need help building your talent strategy and finding the best freelance marketers for your brand or agency, the We Are Rosie team is here to help. Learn more about working with us or book a Rosie today.
