Why You Need a Team of Web Marketing Heroes

How to Prevent Superhero Syndrome

When I was a kid, I loved everything to do with Superheroes and comic books. Even now as an adult I have an affinity toward these caped crusaders.

It's not just me either. As a culture we spend billions of dollars to enjoy our favorite superheroes. And some characters have an entire cult following, with conventions held in their honor.

No One Can Do it All

There isn't one hero who will save us from doom. No one can do it alone.

Yet Superhero Syndrome is so embedded in our culture. It impacts the way we live and clouds our choices - both personally and professionally.

When it comes to digital marketing, we tend to look for one person who can solve all of our problems: the new employee, the part-time freelancer, the expensive consultant.

We hope that one person will do it all - but we will never find them.

You Need a Team of Web Marketing Heroes

That's because in order to plan and execute a successful digital marketing strategy, you need more than a single superhero. You need a team of heroes - all with different training and areas of expertise.

Yes, it's true that one person might be able to handle two areas if they're really good, but not all of them. Remember, it takes 10,000 hours (10 years) of focused practice to become an expert at something. That means someone who is an expert in both areas needs to train double time. Those people are harder to find.

So really, what this means is that if you want a team of web marketing heroes, then at the very least you will need to find the following six experts:

The Marketing Strategist

This hero should be highly trained in the principles of marketing and marketing management. They should understand all areas of marketing, and how to effectively utilize each tactic in a cohesive strategy in order to grow the company. Their main role is to plan marketing initiatives that will help grow the company, and to manage the rest of the marketing team in order to get the job done.

The Copywriter

This hero should be an excellent writer, with a keen understanding of what it takes to sell through words. They should have a versatile portfolio, ranging from traditional collateral, like brochures, press releases and article pitches, to digital mediums, like websites and blogs articles. This person will work closely with the marketing strategist to plan and create new content.

The Designer

This hero should be a creative graphic artist, with training and expertise in both the traditional and digital worlds. They should possess inter-disciplinary experience with a portfolio that stretches across a variety of industries and business types. This person is responsible for creating visual content that accurately represents the brand, and they should be acutely aware of how their work influences lead generation, conversion rates, engagement and the overall marketing strategy.

The Front-End Developer

This hero should not only be a creative artist, but also a technically skilled web developer with expertise in both HTML and CSS. This person is ultimately responsible for making sure that digital assets, such as websites and applications, are optimized, functional, accessible and usable across all different browsers, operating systems, platforms and devices. As a result, they should be highly skilled in user-experience design, and in developing responsive websites and mobile assets.

The Programmer

This hero should be highly trained with capabilities in multiple programming languages, and they should have an innate understanding of how to use those skills in order to make the marketer's life easier. This person is responsible for building out your content management system, and integrating it with multiple marketing systems for eCommerce, CRM, email marketing, customer rewards programs and more. They will also provide ongoing technical support, deliver system upgrades and monitor and maintain your marketing technology.

The Business Analyst

This hero should be highly analytical, with a passion for mulling over data to find nuggets of information that will improve marketing initiatives. They should be trained to collect, analyze and interpret all sorts of data, including web analytics, email marketing data, customer data, and more. This person is responsible for tracking marketing goals, preparing data reports, and making recommendations to improve the company's marketing strategies.

Your Marketing Team

So the next time you're faced with a marketing challenge, remember that it will take a team to solve it.

Think about this:

Would you rather take down bad guys next to Batman, or with all the DC comic book characters? Would you rather fight alongside Wolverine, or with the entire XMEN gang? Would you rather hire one expert to market your company, or an entire digital marketing team?