Who does not aspire to be a leader in their profession such as the Head of Digital Marketing? Beware though, even in digital there are not only honors, on the contrary. There are far more burdens, as Andrea Bortolazzi Head of Digital Marketing at Triboo Digitale tells us in this interview.
Andrea, you are the Head of Digital Marketing team, can you explain what the Head of Digital Marketing does?
Today, a Head of Digital Marketing does many things. We talk about digital marketing, but in reality, there are many different skills. They range from the world of biddable and therefore the whole business of performance marketing based on cost per click to display program marketing.
But we also talk about SEO, email marketing, and marketing automation. So many things that, for Triboo, the company I work for, mean bringing performance.
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Andrea, what is your background? How did you scale these positions to become Head of Digital Marketing?
Mine is a bit of a story. I graduated in computer science and started as a developer on the technology side. Then I realized that project management and digital adv were environments I enjoyed more than pure coding.
I started in a company, Nextre Engineering, where I was a project manager for large technology projects Then I founded Sevenlike, a company based and founded on E-commerce, which was later acquired by Triboo, the main player and leader in E-commerce.
Andrea, what skills should a Head of Digital Marketing or who aspires to this position have?
My path has definitely helped me because today the world of digital and adv are very much linked to the world of technology. So today, having technical skills combined with marketing and analytics skills is fundamental.
Today the platforms that were adv are all integrated with the technology platforms of our partners, and certainly, all the choices we make at the digital level are data-driven. Consequently, a good foundation in analytics and data interpretation are the main skills a Head of Digital Marketing (also called Chief Digital Officer) must have.
What is the added value that a Head of Digital Marketing provides to a company that wants to focus strongly on digital?
Today, companies demand results, there are no more rich-form projects or awareness in the world I represent. The added value in digital is always very measurable. We are talking about KPIs that can be turnover, exposure to predefined customer targets, registration, or lead generation.
The added value, therefore, is knowing how to transport a company into a world as varied as digital is, trying to build a custom fit for the company itself. Digital today means “everything and nothing”.
It is too vast a world, and the real added value lies in interpreting the true objectives that that company can achieve, thanks to digital, exactly in the reference sector in which it operates, precisely in relation to its size, the markets it wants to address, and the target clientele it wants to hit.
So the first added value is to interpret the need and above all to define measurable and attainable goals. After that, this world makes a lot of information available to us even ex post with respect to what we do, and so bringing this information forward in the company serves not only for advertising and digital.
Because the data that we collect today – precisely thanks to digital – also influences the production of the company itself, which, therefore, can be based on a much more analytical knowledge of the clientele itself.
If digital is “everything and nothing”, a digital team’s job is not primarily to add, but rather to take away until they understand what the company really needs, right?
As “Head of Digital Marketing”, we work both with very famous brands, with very high awareness, and with start-ups. And the markets we operate in – we are also in Asia – have totally different dynamics.
Consequently, interpreting also means channeling companies’ investments – which are not infinite – toward the most profitable digital channels for their individual case.
What other figures are part of your team?
My team is made up of several units that deal with:
- Seo, and thus of all organic indexing on search engines
- Programmatic Advertising, i.e. Real Time Display and Data-Based Display
- Biddable “World” linked to both search engines and social media advertising
- Direct marketing, sms, mail, and push-up notifications are also linked to marketing automation logic
- Creative, in our case, this Unit follows the data very closely: creativity is not good or bad, but that works. A/B tests tell us which creative worked best and which concept to push more at the next campaign flight on declinations that can be email, social compost on Facebook, or a text message for the “drive to store”.
They are very different skills so much so that within my division there is a Head for each area and each of them answers to me. Then we “orchestrate” everything in progress meetings where we put together common working tables because none of these “stand-alone” verticals can work today.
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What is the first thing you do when you arrive at the agency and the last thing you do before leaving?
The first thing I do is greet people, trying to see if there are any critical issues. Then I try to give morale to the troop to start the day in the best possible way and I try to set goals.
I think this pays off a lot, because people feel involved in a project, empowered, and at the same time they feel the presence of a manager who cares about what they are going to do on the day. It’s nice to set “short terms”, measurable goals that then lead to the common design.
At the end of the day, we often meet again to review the macro topics that needed to be closed or the important meetings that took place so as to learn from mistakes and reward those who did well.
Andrea, whoever aspires to the position of Head of Digital Marketing must expect to work 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.
I have done 15 years of apprenticeship to get here. That doesn’t mean that my professional life today is relegated to the standard eight-hour working day.
A lot of flexibility is needed, but whoever works the hardest does not necessarily win. There have been certain steps in my professional life that I know have been the drivers of my growth.
Certain choices I have made during my career, such as taking on more and more responsibility and thus also more burdens every day or internal balances to be uprooted, are passages for which you have to be a bit brave but which, if you succeed, represent real opportunities for growth.
The digital world is a very “captive” world, but it is also very demanding and runs at a speed not comparable – at this moment in time – to that of any other business. If you want to do well, therefore, you have to be ready for anything!
How much does a Head of Digital Marketing earn? Salary in the US
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In the meantime, here is a little help referring to the American market. If, on the other hand, you are interested in a career in digital, the Course’s program with an internship is the path for you!
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