Hiring And Building An In House Digital Team


In this section of our Digital Marketing Recruitment Guide we've got a great contribution from Phil Turner, Head of Digital at Direct365, about how to approach hiring and building an in-house digital team. Phil touches on each role within a complete digital marketing team and how their roles and responsibilities work across the different departments; this piece should give you a clear overview on the forming of an in-house team.

Building an in-house digital team can be a valuable investment for your business, what is the best way build a team. Which positions need to be filled?

A fully functioning, well-motivated and competent digital team is a huge asset for any business in a world that is increasingly looking online for sales growth. The digital world can seem so complicated and daunting; with so many buzz words, differing skill sets and changing technologies. It is important to understand the different roles and skills required and how they work together.

As with any team, a strong and positive leader is essential, one who brings in the right talent and personalities gives the right motivational direction and strategy while at the same time allows the individual team members to develop and flourish and do what they do best in their specific given area.

A strong Ecommerce Leader of Head of Digital should have broad experience and knowledge of all disciplines and channels, authority and leadership skills, as well as the ability to see the way forward. It is a fast changing world so an adaptable and energetic individual is essential.

Assuming you have a great product or service that you believe in, you won't be a success without having a well-stocked, well presented and easy to find shop (i.e. website). Step forward the Web Development team.

Front End Web developers will need a blend of technical skills and creative abilities which can be like mixing oil and water! If an individual has this mix then they will have a lot to offer the in-house marketing team. I would expect them to offer much in the area of web usability (UX), improving the customer journey, making it smoother, shorter, more enjoyable and most of all, relevant to them. A great looking website needs an efficient, well written 'back end'. This calls for a dedicated and smart…

Web Developer dealing with the purely technical coding and server side of things. Expect earphones in and hours of dedicated focus from these self-confessed geeks.

SEO Professionals are a tricky breed! This is quite a new skill set and the rules are changing all the time. Search engines dictate that everything about the site and content should be built round relevance to the customer and the products and services that they are buying. The reality is that there are crucial skills and expertise required to optimise a website for search engines, so the keywords you choose are first to be found by the search engines and your site is chosen to rank high in the results.

Investing in the right individual here will reap big rewards for what is a 'free' channel. Succeeding in this area will make you a truly winning Digital team and save you money on paid search too. A SEO professional will have deep technical knowledge of the way a website should be structured, the ability to write accurate, relevant and creative content and crucially a broad appreciation of the whole digital arena. A real lynch pin of the team.

Paid Search Manager (PPC) The skills required for this role are in great demand as this role and this marketing channel can reap immediate return - given the budget to spend. A PPC Manager is a skilled role that requires technical ability alongside an analytical mind. Research skills, good business sector knowledge and being a wizard with spreadsheets are all crucial skills as lots of analysis and reporting of results will be key to the business. Paid search team members may not light up the team with their charisma, but you need a smart mind and safe pair of hands - getting this wrong will just waste money for your business.

Other Key Roles in a Digital Team Listed below are the individual skills required but although shown separately, these should not be carried out in isolation.

Many roles blend into one another and overlap. Social Media and Content Writer roles link closely to SEO. SEO cannot thrive without original, creative and relevant content writing. A Web Analyst will unlock numerous tasks and actions for the Web Developers, especially from a UX point of view, and the Data Manager should be segmenting and feeding data to the Email Marketing person. In fact, a strong Web Analyst should be feeding good data, ideas and recommendations to the whole team and will prove to be a very pivotal member.

Front End Web Developers and HTML Designer roles also overlap. The PPC paid search channel performs better with successful SEO performance and the keywords will need to be shared between departments.

Many companies will have some of the skills required already and it is rare to have to start from scratch. Many people in roles such as Web Development, Search Engine Marketing and even Web Analysts may have a finance background or have come from a more specific Business Analytical background, but certainly a data obsession and appetite for pivot tables is a requirement!

Adapting Roles and Skills Creatives and Designers may need support and training to adapt from traditional design skills in direct mail, catalogue and print, to areas such as HTML email, web pages and digital banners. It is surely better to develop these individuals who are proven assets to the business and who already have the knowledge of your particular product or service.

The key to success in any environment is a strong team. You are unlikely to trip over these people easily and will need the supporting and expertise of a respected and professional recruitment agency to fill these roles.

A Full Digital Team and Roles Head of Digital or Ecommerce Front End Web Developer Back End Web Coder / Developer SEO Specialist Paid Search PPC Specialist Social Media Specialist Content Writer Web Analyst Data Manager Email Marketing Creative / HTML Designer

The Candidate... Now the bare bones of the digital in-house team have been laid out for you, take a look through our other pages with great contributions from all around the digital marketing sector guiding you on your digital marketing recruitment.

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