How to Recruit and Hire the best Digital Marketer in 2022

To be a marketer might be difficult, but to hire and recruit a one?

Challenging.

How about a Digital Marketer?

To be a digital marketer adds another layer of complexities due to the presence of “Digital Marketing” techniques and skillsets.

The word “Digital” in the “Digital Marketer” means a need to master modern marketing technologies.

How much efforts then is needed to hire and recruit a “Digital Marketer” in 2022?

Herculean.

It can be tough for any Recruiters, Founders, CEOs, and Hiring Managers to hire a Digital Marketer if one has not experienced being a Digital Marketer previously or has not hired a Digital Marketer before.

Fret not.

Due to our many years of experience as Marketing Recruiters, and highly involved in hiring more than hundreds and thousands of Digital Marketers, we have distilled important learning points into this guide on how to recruit/hire the best Digital Marketers in 2022.

Understand and Write the Job Description (“JD”)

The first of many.

Understanding and writing the job description or the JD of a Digital Marketer is usually the first move in the hiring process.

The JD contains the job scope and responsibilities, the job requirements, qualifications needed, activities, and other pertinent information about the Digital Marketing job.

It also contains the company information, i.e., where the company is located, the work details, etc.

According to Indeed, 52% of job seekers say the quality of a JD is important to their decision in applying for a job.

We think that this also applies to the pool of Digital Marketer applicants.

Before we venture further in dissecting and elaborating on the specifics of a JD, it is helpful to know some typical skillsets of a Digital Marketer.

As the role is technical in nature, it is crucial to get a sense of the technical skillsets.

Do note that as of the time of writing, these skillsets are relevant but can change due to the ever-evolving nature of the Digital Marketing Role. Also, the list below is non-exhaustive.

Skillsets of a Digital Marketer in 2022

Analytics
Content Marketing
Copywriting
Facebook Ads
Google Adwords
Graphic Designing
Email Marketing
Linkedin Ads
Paid Ads Marketing
Pay-Per-Click (“PPC”) Optimisation
Search Engine Optimisation (“SEO”)
Search Engine Marketing (“SEM”)
Social Media Marketing
Tiktok Ads
Video Creation and Editing

Job Title

The job title is usually the first thing that the Digital Marketing job seeker will notice.

Writing a compelling job title that is succinct and short will attract the right Digital Marketers to apply for your job.

Try to make this short and sharp. Around 100 Characters or less is recommended.
– 9cv9

There are two strategies in writing a Job Title.

1. Specific (Recommended): In the Specific method, the job title is written in a way that focus on the key skillset of the Digital Marketer.

For example:

SEO Manager
Email Marketer
Facebook Ads Marketer

The Specific method is recommended as it is more accurate.

This means getting Digital Marketer applicants who are more likely to fit snugly into the JD.

The downside to the Specific method is the chance of missing on the “Right” Digital Marketer applicant due to “perceived mismatch” (Applicants might not apply due to perceived impression that they do not meet the required skillsets) or the possibility to miss out on those who do not meet the technical skill requirements but excel in other areas, i.e., personality, soft skills.

One might ask, is writing a specific job title important?

According to Indeed, when they interviewed 2,000+ job seekers, they found that 36% of them use job sites to search for a job using the title of the job. Hence, they propose making the Job Title specific and to the point.

We recommend this as well to get the right applicants applying for your Digital Marketer role.

2. Broad: In the Broad method, the job title is written in a way that aims to capture as many applicants as possible.

For example:

Digital Marketer
Digital Media Planner
Social Media Director
Marketing Talents

In the broad method, this job title will attract all applicants, the good ones and the bad ones. Hence, the hiring manager will be spending more time in filtering and screening.

However, in the broad method, the hiring manager will not have the “perceived mismatch” issue.

In addition, the Broad method has the benefit of collecting data for subsequent Digital Marketing job openings in the company.

Job Scope

The job scope is important.

Job seekers look to the job scope to understand what the role entails or the responsibilities to be undertaken.

Ideally, you should be writing the daily or monthly tasks required to be done by the Digital Marketer. This will allow the latter to understand the activities and working duties needed.

For example, the Digital Marketer should track the digital campaigns on Google Adwords on a daily basis.

It is not required to drill down super deep to be writing numbers for the Key Performing Indicators in the Job Scope.

Again, the job scope of a Digital Marketer role can be either narrow or broad.

A narrow job scope will mean that the Digital Marketer focuses on one of the following Digital Marketing domains:

Affiliate Marketing
Content Marketing
Email Marketing
Marketing Analytics
Pay-Per-Click (“PPC”)
Search Engine Optimisation (“SEO”)
Search Engine Marketing (“SEM”)
Social Media Marketing

A broad job scope will usually entails either some or all of the above domains.

Keywords to focus on when writing the Job Scope are:

Planning: Planning a digital marketing campaign is crucial to the success of the company. As there are costs incurred, which might run into millions per digital campaign, it is of utmost importance that the Digital Marketer has great planning skill in digital marketing campaigns.
Executing: Executing a digital marketing campaign means uploading creatives to an ads platform such as Facebook or Google, tweaking the parameters of the audience and monitoring the campaign.
Measuring: Measuring the digital marketing campaign is the difference between an unknown result and a successful marketing outcome.

We have reviewed several job scopes written by top companies and list below some of the examples.

Sample Digital Marketer Job Scope and Responsibilities Templates in 2022

Brainstorm new and creative growth strategies
Collaborate with external agencies and other vendor partners
Collaborate with internal teams to create landing pages and optimize user experience
Conceptualise and execute digital marketing campaigns on ad platforms such as Google Adwords and Facebook ads
Design, and build our social media presence
Develop and implement marketing strategies
Establish end-to-end digital marketing capabilities and strategy that aligns with the needs and goals of the organisation
Grow our customer base via our company platforms
Increase online reach to new customers
Identify critical conversion points and drop off points and optimize user funnels
Identify trends and insights and optimize spend and performance based on the insights
Maintain our social media presence across all digital channels
Manage & strategise paid search campaigns on ad platforms such as Facebook, Google, YouTube etc
Measure and report on the performance of all digital marketing campaigns
Monitor the growth of digital marketing campaigns, i.e., Google Ads, Facebook Business Manager campaigns
Observe & analyse trends in paid search campaigns to regularly provide insightful and actionable data
Optimize digital marketing spend and performance based on the insights
Own the performance outcomes for the digital marketing campaigns
Plan and execute all Web, Mobile SEO/SEM, Database Marketing, Email, Social Media Marketing, and Display Advertising digital campaigns.
Plan, execute, and measure experiments and conversion tests
Plan digital marketing campaigns, including web, SEO/SEM, email, social media and display advertising
Responsible for overseeing the copywriting, design, implementation and optimisation of the digital marketing campaigns.
Utilize strong analytical ability to evaluate end-to-end customer experience across multiple channels and customer touch points

Paint a Professional and Accurate Picture of your Company

Usually in the Job Scope, it is also a place to allow the hiring manager to share about the company or organisation.

Ideally, the hiring manager should paint a professional picture of the company such as talking about the vision, mission, and the working culture of the team that the incoming hire will be working with.

Also, the hiring manager can share more about the working hours, whether the role is working onsite at the company or working remotely, the equipment provided, or any key mentors that the Digital Marketer will be working with.

In this part, the hiring manager can also elaborate on the company benefits, such as employee staff insurance schemes, bonuses, company perks, etc.

According to Indeed, 72% surveyed said it was crucial to see details about company culture in the JD.

Thus, do not miss out on attracting the best Digital Marketers to apply for your job by elaborating more about the company in the Job Scope.

Define the Job Requirements Clearly

In writing great job requirements, there are some principles to note.

For one, we refer to the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices (“TAFEP”) from Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower.

The TAFEP recommends that the hiring manager do not write or to avoid writing discriminatory words in the job requirements for age, gender, race, religion, spoken and written language, and nationality.

For example, try not to write “Christian/Buddhist/Muslim/Hindu preferred” unless for strict religion purpose that your company needs a particular religion.

In that case, writing the reason for that would be appreciated.

In writing a good job requirement, there are several parts to focus on.

The first focus entails the level of experience needed.

1) Experience

From an intern, to a fresh graduate, mid-level manager, and or even to a Chief Marketing Officer (“CMO”), it is prudent to specify the number of years of experience needed for your digital marketing role.

By stating an objective and quantitative number for the experience needed, you are able to reduce the number of unfit applicants and get only the right-fit Digital Marketer applicants to apply for your job.

For example, imagine getting applicants with less than 1 year experience when you need a leader and a highly experienced applicant for a Chief Digital Marketing Officer role.

The format for writing the experience field is usually written in number of years.

Typically, the level of experience goes according to the job level:

Intern: Less than 1 year of experience
Fresh Graduate: 0 – 1 year of experience
Junior: 1 – 3 years of experience
Mid-level: 3 – 5 years of experience
Senior: 4 – 5 years of experience
Director/VP: 5 – 10 years of experience
C-Level: Above 10 years of experience

For example, if you are hiring a Senior Digital Marketer, you might want to include one of the following sentences into your job requirements:

Minimum 5 years of working experience as a Digital Marketer
At least 4 years of working experience in Digital Marketing
4-5 year working experience in Digital Marketing is an advantage but not a must

2) Education

For educational requirements, some employers might skip this as the Digital Marketing domain is more practical rather than theoretical.

This means most hiring managers are looking for “hands-on” experience rather than a PHD in marketing type of a Digital Marketer.

That said, a degree usually signals some form of structured mindset capability and rigorous analytical training undertaken at the educational institution.

In that case, it might be relevant to input a certain level of education level.

For example, if you are hiring a Digital Marketer, you might want to include the following copywriting into your job posting.

Diploma in Communication / Marketing / Business or equivalent required
Degree in Marketing preferred
Degree or Diploma in Marketing Mass Communications, Creative Media Design, Digital marketing, Marketing, Advertising and relevant fields

3) Skillsets

Skillsets are crucial requirements in hiring the best Digital Marketer in 2022.

The hiring manager should consider a blend of hard skills and soft skills in this portion.

As a Digital Marketer role requires technical expertise in digital marketing, particularly in online marketing platforms such as Facebook, Tiktok, and Google, it is of utmost importance to write the required hard skills in the JD.

Of course, hard skills without soft skills would result in an incomplete JD.

We highly recommend inputting relevant soft skills into the JD to attract the right candidates for your Digital Marketer role.

Hard Skills of a Digital Marketer in 2022

Content Writing
Copywriting
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Data and Analytics
Graphic Designing
Lead Generation
Paid-Per-Click Optimization (PPC)
Research
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Storyboarding
Video Creation
Video Marketing

Soft Skills of a Digital Marketer in 2022

Adaptability
Artistic
Communication
Creativity
Critical Observation
Critical Thinking
Desire to learn
Determination
Flexibility
Innovative
Listening
Logical Thinking
Negotiation
Presentation
Problem-Solving
Resilience
Resourcefulness
Storytelling
Verbal Communication
Visual Communication

4) Certifications

The Digital Marketing role is technical in nature.

Hence, it is sometimes crucial but not always to include some proof of technical mastery requirements.

This can be either writing the educational requirements (as mentioned above) or writing on the certification requirements.

For Digital Marketing, the typical certifications required are:

Certification Requirements for a Digital Marketer Role in 2022

The more certifications you list, the better it is to narrow your requirements and to get in highly qualified applicants.

However, do note that the pool of applicants will be smaller and you might miss out on applicants who excel in other areas, such as great culture fit, but do not meet your certification requirements.

Also, these certifications can be attempted while on the job at your firm so we recommend to be judicious in writing them, and list those that you think are really crucial to the role.

With that said, we collate some of the Job Requirements we have analysed in hundreds and thousands of JD to list them down below.

Your company can cherrypick on the relevant Job Requirement keywords and phases for your JD.

Sample Digital Marketer Job Requirements in 2022

Degree or Diploma in Marketing Mass Communications, Creative Media Design, Digital marketing, Marketing, Advertising and relevant fields
Diploma in Marketing or related field
Diploma/Degree in Communication / Marketing / Business or equivalent
Excellent understanding of Digital Marketing concepts
Minimum 2 years of experience in Digital Marketing
At least 4 years of working experience in Digital Marketing
4-5 year working experience in Digital Marketing is an advantage but not a must
Have proven work experience in Google Ads, Google Analytics, Facebook Ads Manager and other paid advertising
Strong knowledge and experience of all different digital marketing channels, online marketing tools and best practices
Strong communication, analytical and creative skills
Strong creative and analytical skills
Creative detail-oriented, proactive and result-oriented
Organized and detail-oriented
Able to work independently and meet deadlines
Must have the following certifications: Google Digital Marketing Certification, Hubspot Inbound Marketing
Preferably has proven work experience in Digital Marketing for E-commerce platforms
Preferred knowledge or skills: Search Engine Marketing, Social Media Paid Advertising and CRM System
Experience with B2C social media marketing, Google Adwords and email campaigns and SEO/SEM
Proficient in MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint and knowledge in Photoshop, Illustrator and video editing software
Knowledge in other word processing and web analytics tools will be an advantage
To be able to handle multiple projects within stipulated deadlines and working closely with different stakeholders

Post the Job Description on Job Portals

Now that you have a good, concise and sharp JD written on your hands, what is next?

You will need to post or write that JD on Job Portals or platforms to start attracting applicants into your hiring pipeline.

Depending on your location, i.e., country or city of hiring, there can be many different job portals to post the JD and to advertise your open roles.

In this guide, we will share some top job portals worldwide that is well-renowned and proven to attract Digital Marketers.

That said, do note every country, city or locale will have their own localised job portals to attract the right candidates. It is therefore, recommended to search for that particular location’s job portals to advertise on if you need candidates who are local in that area.

Top Job Portals in the world for Hiring Digital Marketers in 2022

9cv9: Using a myriad of modern recruiting technologies, 9cv9 has proven to be effective in displaying Digital Marketers job advertisements to the right applicants. Post 1 job free now at the portal. 9cv9 has partnered with eight other job board partners such as Neuvoo, Google For Jobs, to drive top Digital Marketer applicants to your job post.
Indeed: General Job Board operating worldwide. Recommended to hire general digital marketers.
Glassdoor: General Job Board operating worldwide. Recommended to hire general digital marketers.
Linkedin: General Professional Networking Site operating worldwide. Can hire remote digital marketers.
Exitfive: Mainly focusing on B2B Digital Marketers.
Fiverr: Focusing on Freelance Digital Marketers.
Upwork: Focusing on Freelance Digital Marketers.

Utilise Headhunters and Recruiting Firms

Sometimes, posting your well-written JD on the afromentioned job portals might not be sufficient.

Why?

Top Digital Marketers are few and far between. They would have many recruiters queuing up to get their signature and these top Digital Marketers generally do not have the time, and the need to apply for the Digital Marketing job on the job portals.
Some top Digital Marketers are passive applicants. This means that they are not looking for a new job at the moment, but perhaps, a well-craft Digital Marketing job offer from headhunters might entice them otherwise?

In addition, headhunters and recruiting firms have in-house screening capabilities to help separate the “wheat from the chaff” in your Digital Marketer applicant pool.

Top Headhunters in the world for Hiring Digital Marketers

9cv9: Beside having its own job portal for hiring Digital Marketers, 9cv9 has a strong track record in headhunting top Digital Marketers as well. With its own in-house technologies driving strong talent acquisition for Digital Marketers, 9cv9 has received plaudits for its headhunting HR technologies services.
Jobsrefer: Jobsrefer is the world’s 1st CV referral platform and contains the largest pool of freelance recruiters, referrers and professional recruitment consultants. Jobsrefer uses the social network method to headhunt Digital Marketers 5-6 times faster than traditional recruitment firms.
HireDigital: A platform that allows companies to hire on demand. They connect businesses to a curated network of talents in content, marketing and digital to fulfill immediate and long-term needs.
MarketerHire: A platform that is focused on hiring marketers. They claim to have vet their talents throughly by accepting only less than 5% of all marketing applicants.
Michael Page: PageGroup is a British-based recruitment business with operations all over the world. Its recruitment consultants are highly experienced to find the best Digital Marketers for your organisation.
Robert Walters: With more than 4,000 people in 31 countries, Robert Walters has delivered top recruitment consultancy services, staffing solutions, recruitment process outsourcing and managed services across the globe. With its track record, hiring top Digital Marketers is a breeze.

Summary

In this article, we have shared the top tips and tools available for your firm to hire top Digital Marketers in 2022.

We elucidated on the nook and cranny of writing a clear broad or narrow job description, which includes the job title, job scope, job requirements.

Once you have a well-written job description or JD, then the next step is to post on prominent job portals to start getting inbound job applications.

However, we note that some top Digital Marketers do not exert time and resources to apply for jobs as they would have many recruiters on their heels.

In that case, we would recommend using headhunters and recruitment firms.

If you find this article useful, why not share it among your recruitment and talent acquisition counterparts, and also leave a nice comment below?

We at 9cv9 Research Team strive to bring the latest and most meaningful data, guide and statistics to your doorstep.

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