A Day in the Life of A Digital Marketing Specialist

It’s bring your readers to work day and I’m going to give you an inside look at how I moved throughout any given day before the pandemic hit and shut everything down. Enjoy this trip down memory lane!

What is a Digital Marketing Specialist?

Before we jump in, let’s breakdown what a digital marketing specialist is:

A digital marketing specialist is someone who sits on a marketing team. They can either work on the brand side (sitting inside of a larger company) or on the agency side. The job of a digital marketing specialist normally entails planning, creating, and maintaining marketing campaigns across multiple digital platforms. If a digital marketer has a “specialist” title, that also normally means that they are “subject matter experts” on a specific part of the business.

Every day is a good day but I’m most productive when: 

4:30 AM

I wake up and go to my HITT class! My teacher is always so energetic (a little too energetic sometimes, haha), but in turn she always gets me pumped up for the day.

Wait, wait… don’t click away. I don’t always do this, so on the days, where sleep wins the battle, this is what I actually do:

When I’m done with that, I spray my Grace & Stella Rose Water Facial Mist on my face and then use my Maria Regale Fernanda Body Mist, to make sure I’m fully awake.

I check my project management calendars (we use Asana and JIRA) to make sure no last-minute approvals haven’t come in. I also check my work calendar to make sure no new meetings have been added for the day. Next, I check my work email box to make sure there are no fires happening at work. If everything looks good, I’m off and out of the door. I get in my car and head to the train station!

8:30 AM

I’m on the train and on my way to work by this time. During the ride, I have to listen to music with my huge JBL E35 wireless headphones. Lol, you’re probably sensing a pattern here. I love my music and JBLs!! If I don’t listen to music, the time on the train moves in slowwww motion, and people try to talk to you, so headphones are a MUST. I put on one of the 50 million playlists that I’ve created. It’ll most likely be Sweater Weather or BAE Music. 

I’m bad about creating content for my side projects, on a regular basis, so I do it on the train. I’d work on either of the following projects:

• Write a script for my Screenplay South tv scriptwriting project
• Write a music review for my DJ Deja Instagram account
• Draft a new blog post for Breakroom Buddha

9:15-9:20 AM

If I’m lucky enough to catch the 9:20 AM bus, I get on it and ride about 2 minutes down the road to work. But if I miss it, which happens most of the time (because the train arrival time is always off), I get to enjoy the glorious 10-minute walk to my company’s campus.

9:30 AM

I’m finally on campus and make my way to my little cubicle. I have a solid collection of snacks and oatmeal at my desk, so I make sure to get my breakfast in at this time.

While I’m eating, I usually re-check my email and take mental notes of what I need to complete for the day. Then I re-check Asana and Jira to see if our partners have updated any of the projects that I’m assigned to. I also start to delete email messages that don’t apply to me to keep my box as uncrowded as possible.

I get started on one of the projects I need to complete before I have to pause for a meeting.

10 AM – 11 AM

Morning meetings are real. I’ll normally have either a team meeting or a partner meeting. In the team meetings, we get updates on any major changes from all the team members that could possibly affect our current workflow. 

In the meetings with our brands, we get updates to our email launch calendar as well as updates on any campaigns that might be missing assets.

11:30 AM – 1:30 PM

This time is spent working on my tasks and projects. My day is filled with a rotation of the following:

Email Campaigns: If I’m working on an email campaign, I make sure I have all of my assets before I build it out. It usually takes me about 15-20 minutes to build out a campaign if I have all the assets. I get it done and began testing it and getting the necessary approvals for launch. The approval process can take anywhere from 1 hour to a whole day to complete! Once I get all of the necessary approvals I set it to launch at the requested time.

Here’s a snapshot of the process:

• I check Asana to see which email campaign needs immediate attention.
• I then copy the correct email template from one of our email marketing tools
• I move on to placing the assets into the email template (i.e. copy, images, partner graphics, etc.) from our partners into their email campaign).
• If I’m missing any assets, I contact design teams and project managers to get an ETA on the missing assets.
• I code and fix any HTML/CSS bugs that the email template might have (i.e. resizing images, adding new colors, editing URL links).
• I send test emails to internal teams and external teams for approvals (we need about 5-7 approvals in order to lock an email campaign in).
• While waiting for approvals, I build out my target audience (i.e. I could segment audiences based on age, location, previous actions they’ve taken, and more).
• After I receive all the necessary approvals from editorial, design, partners, and marketing managers, I schedule the email to launch.
• I do this process all over again for the remaining emails for the week. I could have up to 15 to complete per week!

Digital Ad Campaigns: This consists of me managing a revolving library of promotional assets for our brands. I’m always checking requests to make sure I catch all of the new promos that are up and running. These promos run on all of our online video players, websites, or in our apps. I also make sure our digital banner ads are properly placed and showing up in the correct spots. 

Here’s a snapshot of the process:

• I check JIRA to see if any new digital ad assets have been uploaded.
• If any assets have been uploaded, I download them, and “traffic” them using our advertising publishing tools. This basically means that I schedule each static or video promo to show up for a certain period of time on our websites and our mobile apps. Making sure to work with our partners target the necessary audiences too.
• I also check in on expiring ads and clean up any old advertisements on our platforms.
• I manage this library of around 11K digital ads, across 5+ brands!
• I send reports to our partners and make strategic suggestions on how they can approve their performance.

Project Management: Improving the way I work, as well as our team workflow is important to me. I essentially create small projects for myself to complete. For example, I’m currently working on a series of training videos that will walk internal and external team members through the various tools that we use on a daily basis.

Here’s a snapshot of the process:

• I update any team documentation documents. These documents serve as a foundation of our team processes.
• I also record screengrabs of our team’s tools and edit these down into short-form videos. These serve as a visual walkthrough of our team’s processes. These go up on our internal website (which I also manage!)
• I set up training sessions for our team as well. This makes it easy for us to quickly learn from technical experts and makes our jobs way easier

Related Article: Interview With: Deja White, Digital Marketing Specialist

1:30 PM – 2:00PM

Lunch! I’ve been so lazy, so I haven’t been bringing my lunch. When I was on my best behavior I normally would cook the night before (usually from my meal kit — Hello Fresh).

Lately, I’ve been opting to just eat lunch in our on-campus market. If you’re from Atlanta, just imagine it as being a mini Ponce City Market. It has any and everything you might ever want. A burger spot, a Jamba Juice, a pizza place, a sandwich shop, a salad bar, a hot bar, and so much MORE!

2:00 PM – 5:30 PM

I normally stay in the Market or sit outside and continue working on my daily tasks and projects. Every now and then, I’ll take a break, and attend:

Campus Events: Our campus-wide events are always a treat! It can be anything from guest speakers, panel talks, carnivals, parades, choirs, on-campus volunteer events, and more. The most recent one was a captivating panel talk with the new AEW wrestling league founders, as well as a pep rally. There were food trucks (with free food), a DJ, and swag!

Coffee Breaks:  These happen too! I don’t really drink coffee, so these are more so frappe breaks for me. We have an on-campus Starbucks, so I normally reach out to my colleagues and new connections, and schedule a time to get to know them, while also taking a much-needed break from work.

Check out the questions I ask during these professional coffee chats below!

5:30 PM – 7:00PM

I’m back on the train and headed to the gym for my 7:00 PM Zumba class at my local YMCA. This doesn’t happen every day, but it does happen at least twice a week. The Zumba class that I attend is essentially a hip-hop dance class, that does a good job of helping me clear my mind and decompress after work. The video below will give you a sense of the type of class I attend!

Sometimes, I’ll also just head straight home, and continue working on one of my many side projects. It’ll most likely be Breakroom Buddha! Haha, managing a blog is kind of like a full-time job. Whewww.

Quick note: The names of the products that I dropped are ones that I’ve personally used and/or have purchased with my own funds. Some of the links contain affiliate links.