Full Stack Digital Marketer: What is it?

The term “Full-Stack Digital Marketer” seems to have picked up some momentum since 2005. Since the concept of a “Full-Stack” itself is getting extended beyond the IT industry, applications have become more popular in recent times. One infers that this may be the case with startups in particular, where they don’t always have a big and well-established marketing department. Such environments are thus understandable to have a need for generalists possessing a wide MarTech skill set or broad-based digital marketing skills.

What is a Full Stack Digital Marketer?

A full-stack digital marketer would have expertise ranging from social media management and email marketing to SEO and content marketing in several digital marketing disciplines. The specialist will have deep knowledge and practical skills in various MarTech tools and digital strategies that enable them to perform and manage end-to-end any marketing activity.

In fact, according to recent research from Ascend2, only 4% of marketers have a complete, fully utilized marketing technology stack. Nearly three-quarters of marketers, 71%, report leveraging less than half of the capabilities available to them.

Growth Hacker vs T-Shape Marketer vs Full-Stack Digital Marketer

The professions within Digital Marketing could be merged on many occasions: Growth Hacker, Full-Stack Digital Marketer, and T-Shape Marketer—especially when the responsibilities of each role are not well established, as well as their goals.

From my experience, it is difficult to identify one sure description for each of them, since both have undergone serious evolution since the time they were invented. Nevertheless, the understanding of their different approaches and foci gives a clear explanation of how each contributes differently to marketing strategies.

Growth Hacker

The Growth Hacker would focus on how to find those unconventional ways of rapid, sustained growth. This professional has vast knowledge in matters of digital marketing strategy and experience to drive user acquisition, engagement, and retention for eventual revenue growth. Growth Hackers are known for being innovative and experimental because they keep testing and iterating to find the most effective strategies that ensure growth.

T-Shape Marketer

A T-Shape marketer has broad knowledge across many marketing disciplines—the horizontal bar of the “T,” but also deep expertise in one or two specific areas, which is the vertical bar of the “T.” This type of marketer will suit various organizational sizes, providing generalist support with specialist insight, and usually acting as a bridge between different marketing teams.

Full-stack marketers or T-shaped marketers contribute to multiple areas while bringing depth of expertise in certain domains. It makes them versatile and an asset for any marketing team.

Full-Stack Digital Marketer

The full-stack digital marketer focuses on a balanced, comprehensive marketing strategy across all digital channels, which is suitable for growth, but also for other goals such as brand building. The skill set makes them wholesome in approach toward marketing, ensuring that all channels work in cohesion. Full-stack marketers have a broad understanding of multiple disciplines of marketing; thus, they are enabled to manage end-to-end marketing campaigns and make informed decisions across multiple channels.

Key Skills and tools of a Full-Stack Digital Marketer

The skill set of a full-stack digital marketer can be defined by objectives, channels, responsibilities, or common tools available. I have listed the main tools below said to be most useful within a company:

1. Social media management/Ad tools
   • It is in this year’s report that Social Media Management, through the study conducted by Ascend2 on the Future of the Martech Stack, surpassed Email Marketing Software as the number one used tool.
   • Among the main competencies of this skill set are the following: management of social network profiles, campaign creation, and audience engagement. Also, analysis of social media metrics to optimize strategies.
2. Email Marketing Software
   • Under email marketing, this skill would include not only the capability to execute mailing campaigns but also to manage the content inside and outside the emails that are to be sent out.
   • The key roles in working on this strategy entail designing email campaigns, managing the mailing list, and analyzing campaign results. In this regard, utilizing email automation tools in lead nurturing and customer engagement is included.
3. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
   • It goes without saying that CRM technologies would be one of the most significant ones for a Full-Stack Digital Marketer, considering the commercial and B2B context in which integration with other departments is indispensable
   • Its key responsibilities will include lead management, scoring, and nurturing; customer journey mapping and optimization. Automation, personalization, and analysis of customer data for Insights into the measurement of campaign effectiveness are also all part of this.
4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
   • SEO is the basic duty or responsibility of every full-stack digital marketer through which organic visibility of a website is to be improved. This also involves web content optimization, keyword, and metadata in order to get higher search rankings with the result of driving more traffic to the website.
   • The key responsibilities under this skill set are listed as: SEO on-page and off-page, keyword research, content optimization, improvement of website ranking.
5. Analytics and Reporting Tools
   • I’ve noticed that Google Analytics stands out as the primary tool for data analysis among digital marketers. In any case, this skill involves the art of gathering insights from various sources, such as social, sales, third-party data, and competitive analyses, and making decisions based on such insights.
   • Other required analytical skills in this context also include interpreting data, implementing A/B testing, tracking performance, and creating/enhancing dashboards to present or visualize data.

Pros and Cons from a Full Stack digital marketing approach

Full-stack digital marketing means that the marketer is able to handle, efficiently, “a whole stack” of different areas of the world of digital marketing: SEO and content marketing, social media, email marketing, analytics. This comprehensive approach has several advantageous and disadvantageous sides:

Pros

1. Versatility:
   • Broad Proficiency: Full-stack digital marketers can cover a number of aspects in this domain in their work, which helps in multiple ways. That is to say, their fit for any task or project, from strategy down to execution, is an easy jump.
   • Resource Efficiency: This full-stack marketer reaps great benefits for small to mid-sized businesses, as the same person could manage many channels and tasks without requiring a large team.
2. Holistic Strategy
   • Integrated Campaigns: Full-stack marketers can conceptualize highly integrated marketing strategies that bring a number of channels together. This leads to an integrated brand message and better coordination across platforms.
   • Consistency: They deliver the voice and messaging of the brand across all digital touchpoints with consistency. This is key and core to brand recognition and trust.
3. Cost-Effective
   • Affordable: Sometimes, using a full-stack marketer in a startup or small business is cheaper than seeking a number of specialists. This means that you do not have to look for many employees, and this always cuts your costs of operation.
4. Improved Collaboration
   • Cross-Disciplinary Understanding: With experience in a number of disciplines, full-stack marketers can better understand and work effectively with required specialists to smooth project execution and integration.
5. Agility and Adaptability
   • Quick Adaptation: From new social media sites to algorithm changes that run search engines, they can quickly adapt to anything that changes the landscape of digital marketing. This agility indeed helps businesses to outcompete the similar businesses around.

Cons

1. Jack of All Trades, Master of None:
   • Limited Deep Expertise: Full-stack marketers have wide knowledge but may not have deep expertise in any one area. In that case, it can be considered a disadvantage if highly specialized skills are needed to carry out a certain task or project.
   • What might be compromised in quality is because of the broad responsibilities that they face in certain areas of work, particularly when compared to specialists who operate within only one domain.
2. Time Management Challenges:
   • Overwhelming: It may lead to the potential to burn out, as well as reduced productivity due to the management of many aspects in digital marketing. Many of the tasks and projects cannot easily be managed; hence, overall performance may be affected.
3. Scalability Issues:
   • Scalability is limited: As the business and, therefore, its demands grow too big for one person to manage effectively, full-stack marketers may be overwhelmed at certain stages. At this point, it may be time to move to teams of specialists.
4. Risk of Stagnation:
   • Continuous Learning Requirement: A full-stack marketer needs to continuously upgrade their skills in a wide variety of fields. This continuous learning is exhausting, and if not managed correctly, it leads to skill gaps.
5. Resource Allocation:
   • Resource Allocation: Difficulty can also be met in prioritizing since one needs to cover many areas, hence making it difficult to identify tasks in order of their priority from least to most important. This may lead to the omission of an important task or a lack of attention towards the critical areas.

The job market for a Full-Stack Digital Marketing professional in 2024

2024 is going to be very promising for full-stack digital marketers on the whole, and it is a very strong and vibrant job market. With more businesses getting dependent on digital channels to engage with their customers and bring in revenue, the demand for versatile marketing professionals who could handle a range of digital marketing tasks seems to be high.

During 2024, I analyzed the digital marketing job market in LATAM and the United States. The majority of employers do not advertise their open positions under the title of “Full-Stack Digital Marketer,” but rather titles like Digital Marketing Manager or Digital Marketing Specialist. The other approach is to name the main specialization required—SEO, Email, Content—adding other desired specializations in digital marketing within the qualifications.

In general, the Full Stack Digital Marketing professional is well-placed for a successful career in 2024, considering high demand for this comprehensive skill set and the strategic importance of digital marketing to business growth.