Web Strategy Jobs in Australia
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009In order to get what can loosely be called a ‘web strategy job’ in Australia I did quite a bit of research and analysis on how different companies hire for that position and I thought it might be useful to share what I’ve learnt. This serves two purposes:
- Others who are looking for jobs in the same area might find my analysis useful.
- Those who know more about this area than I do can improve my understanding of it.
Here’s hoping this blog post accomplishes a bit of both.
What Do You Mean by ‘Web Strategy Job’?
So what exactly does a ‘web strategist’ do? Well, it depends on the industry and company that job is in. In general, though, a web strategist is someone who takes care of everything a company does online. This includes:
- managing the company’s online presence (website, intranet, social media presence, etc.)
- figuring out what the company should be doing in the online space over the next few years; i.e. creating a web strategy and making sure it is aligned with the company’s business, marketing, and communications strategies
- implementing that strategy
This job can be in different departments and at different levels of seniority within a particular company. To explain this further I have come up with the How Companies Build Their Online Presence table (below). The columns on this table represent company size and the rows divide companies into those that consider their online presence to be strategic and those that don’t (yes, this is an artificial, binary division while, in reality, there is a range here). [1]
The text in the cells describes the solutions that these companies implement in order to build and maintain their online presence (yes, I am generalizing here). The jobs that I spent the last few months looking for are the manager-level web strategist/online manager positions described or implied in the green coloured cells.
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Interestingly, over the last year, I have worked in companies in all three of those green-coloured areas:
- Shell is a very large company that uses its online presence strategically (both internally and externally)
- Melbourne Business School is a medium-sized company that uses of its online presence strategically (and increasingly so)
- Linfox is a large company that doesn’t use its website strategically but makes very good use of its intranet
Melbourne Water sits in the strategic row and is a large company.
Where the Web Strategist Fits in All This
As mentioned earlier, the web strategist jobs in those green-shaded boxes exist at different levels within different companies. That is why, over the last few months, I applied for jobs that spanned a range of tasks, skills, and seniority levels. In some small companies, for example, the primary driver of the web strategy is the specialist consultant hired on a 3-6 month contract. In some larger ones, the strategy is driven by a small group of people who are, in turn, led by the web/online manager.
There are pros and cons to being in each of those positions. For example, a short-term specialist-level consultant may not have the time, influence, or opportunity to have a major impact on a company’s overall web strategy. That said, this consultant sits outside the internal politics of that company and can be more blunt and direct about what that company needs to do without having to worry too much about what people think of him. A full-time online manager in a large company, meanwhile, many find corporate inertia working against her for the first six months but, once things get moving, will benefit from it. And because this manager knows the inner working of the company, she may get things done more quickly and more effectively.
The sweet spot for me was to get a middle management position in a good-sized company that made good, strategic use of its online space. There is huge potential (and lots of fun to be had) in this role because companies in this position are often quick to move and are willing to make a real impact online. Fortunately for me, this is exactly where Melbourne Water sits.
What About the State of the Job Market?
Of course, all this analysis is useless if it doesn’t help you get a job – particularly if no one is hiring for the position you really want to get. Because of that, I was also looking for less-than-perfect jobs or jobs on the periphery of where I wanted to be. The idea was that I would work towards the role I really wanted.
Speaking more generally: One good thing about this type of job is that every organization needs a website regardless of how the economy is doing (and Australia’s isn’t doing that badly). As a result, web strategists, website managers, and specialist online consultants are still getting hired. And though there are very few perfect jobs out there (and many companies are hiring less senior people to do the same job that more senior people were doing last year) I did come across a whole bunch that were great places to start. Read my previous blog post for more on that.
Further Research
So that is a summary of what I have learnt about web strategist jobs in Australia over the last couple of years. I encourage you to do your own research on this topic. To do that, I recommend the following three things:
- Subscribe to online job feeds from Seek, MyCareer, CareerOne, and SixFigures. This will teach you a great deal about the state of the job market and will help you adopt the lingo that hiring managers and recruitment firms use to match candidates to open positions.
- Talk to people who are in the industry and find out more from them. This is particularly useful if you are targeting a narrower segment in the market (e.g. web strategy jobs in the education sector). Also read their blogs, interact with them online, and get in touch with them through LinkedIn or your own networks (then meet up with them for a coffee or something).
- Talk to recruitment agents who recruit in this area. I mentioned three firms and three recruitment agents in my previous post but there are many others – you just need to find the ones that work best with you.
And when you learn stuff, blog about it so all of us can learn from your experiences.
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[1] The words ’strategy’ and ’strategic’ are used very loosely in everyday speech while, in actual fact, they mean something very specific. Let me clarify that here: when you say something is ’strategic’ you necessarily mean that it is relative to your competitors. Take your website’s ‘Contact Us’ page. If, along with your office address, you were to give your office’s Melways Map reference, this would not be considered ’strategic’ because this is common practice. If, instead, you embedded a Google map that showed your office’s location exactly (assuming, of course, that your customers found this useful and that it helped your business) this would be a ’strategic’ move since few companies tend to do that and this gives you an advantage over your competitors. Note, however, that if you had decided to include that Google map without considering your competition, it would simply have been a ‘plan’. A ’strategy’, on the other hand, is action taken specifically with your competition in mind (i.e. in order to gain an advantage over them).
Murtaza Rehman said,
June 10, 2009 @ 9:40 pm
Just a quick comment about strategic vs strategy: strategy is an entire ‘plan’ to achieve a specific goal – normally the objective of an organization (as opposed to just being a set of actions).
Ameel Khan said,
June 11, 2009 @ 1:46 pm
Murtaza: You’re right — I should have been clearer about that. A strategy is a plan and not a set of actions (e.g. things you might do with your website). Those set of actions, however, could come out of a general plan (that doesn’t necessarily account for your competitors) or a strategic plan (that keeps your competitors in mind).
So, when I talk about companies using their websites strategically I mean that they have defined goals and objectives (generally based on a vision) for their website. And the more these goals and objectives incorporate their competitors, the more ’strategic’ that plan is.
Craig Buszko said,
February 4, 2010 @ 1:00 pm
Hi,
Firstly very nice blog. I found it linked off the Melbourne Business School alumni portal. Hopefully with time more alumni blogs will surface.
I like your post about defining “web strategist”. However I think it does miss 2 key areas…
#1: WEB STRATEGIST IN ONLINE BUSINESSES
Many businesses are online businesses, in that the product they offer is an online product. Examples include Salesforce.com, Google search, Gmail, Yellow Pages, Facebook, etc. The “web strategist” role might actually be fulfilled by a “product manager”. So the functional side of the role is the same, but the outcome is maintaining a product. A slight break from this convention is companies who sell an online product or service. For example, Salesforce.com might have “product managers” to develop its web-based CRM tools it sells, while “web strategists” might help develop the Salesforce.com website which promotes the CRM tools it sells.
#2: WEB STRATEGIST IN ADVERTISING
Many companies (regardless of size) include advertising in their marketing strategies. The advertising value chain includes things like creative, production, media planning/buying, and measurement. The objectives of advertising vary, from direct response (e.g. visit store today, click on this web banner ad now, etc) through to branding. The objectives are usually spelled-out in a brief created between a client and their lead agency.
In this arena, the “web strategist” engages a client somewhere between marketing and advertising strategies. More acurately, a “web strategist” will be engaged strategically at a campaign level, and will be one of several channel strategists for an integrated marketing campaign using both traditional and digital forms of media (e.g. print, TV, radio, direct mail, outdoor signage/billboards, websites, SEM, eDM, etc.). Several businesses will run several large campaigns a year spending millions of dollars per campaign across all the different channels (e.g. Telstra, Coles and Woolworths spend well over AUD$100m a year on all advertising according to Ibisworld reports).
In an integrated marketing campaign, a “web strategist” will work in a multi-vendor environment, often with several suppliers. The “web strategist” could be from a full-service agency, specialist digital agency, or working with the client (I have personally served in all 3 capacities before). But fundamentally, the web strategist is engaged at a campaign level. The web strategist is ultimately responsible for helping the client maximise the benefit of digital channels, namely web, email, and mobile (hence why I prefer “digital strategist” over “web strategist” as the world digital emcompasses a few different channels). The digital strategy needs to align with the rest of the campaign strategy, including how digital channels work with non-digital channels.
To be a good web/digital strategist, you need to know about the “tactical” side of the channels you work with, like websites, direct email marketing, social media, mobile marketing, etc. But to be a GREAT web/digital strategist, you need to engage on the strategic side, understanding fundamental marketing strategy such as segmentation, positioning, channel use, media consumption patterns, etc. Then when you engage with the client and other channel strategists, you can talk their lingo, and help clients understand the strategic benefits of web/digital channels, and help reveal the tactical implementation side which is essential, especially as many digital channels are still emerging as tools for marketers (e.g. social media, mobile marketing).
And unlike many website strategies where you have many short and long-term planning done, campaigns are usually short-lived (often only 3-6 months lifespan including planning and design). So much of the work you do might end up being thrown away at the end of the campaign. That is where, as a GREAT web strategist, you need to work with clients to think outside of short-lived direct response campaigns, or branding campaigns requiring lots of expensive media buying. Rather get clients to think about repeat website traffic, signing up to EDM lists, viral marketing, social marketing, and all the other benefits new digital media/mediums offer that traditional can’t.
I think the advertising/campaign role a web strategist can have is an important one to acknowledge.
How do these 2 fit in to your matrix?
Well, I would suggest revising the left side… I don’t think an organisation is merely “strategic” or “not strategic” when it comes do digital channels like the web. Rather I think you could split “strategic” up into different dimensions, such as “Marketing Strategy”, “Communications Stratey”, and “Business Strategy”. For example:
“Marketing Strategy” is a organisation who needs to employ marketing tactics to grow it’s business. Best practice includes segmentation, positioning, value proposition(s), frequency and reach of “the offer”. The web/digital strategy sits underneath the marketing strategy.
“Communications Strategy” is an organisation with different audiences to reach. Usually these are much more targetted, like “Customers”, “Employees”, “Investors”, “Media/Press”, etc. Best practics includes properly identifying all audiences, and defining a communications strategy for each audience (best-practice for HR sits here as well). The web/digital strategy sits underneath the communications strategy.
“Business Strategy” is an organisation whose business relies heavily on the web. This includes all your news companies like Newscorp and Timewarner, media companies like Disney, and businesses who rely on e-commerce for direct sales, just to name a few. A online “business strategy” means that the web is deep into an organisation, and as such has most of the organisations resources (inc. labour and capital) committed to digital channels. Google, Youtube, e-Bay and Amazon are all good examples of online “business strategy” organisations.
These 3 dimensions are a bit more definitive in explaining the types of strategies an organisation might have, and where a web strategist might fit and the role they would have. The word “strategy” is a tricky word, often over-used and mis-used. The word “strategy” means a plan to achieve a desired goal… Your definition of strategy above is more like the definition for “competitive advantage”, which is more an outcome of strategy. You create a strategy, execute it, and if its a good strategy you could gain competitive advantage.
It’s also important to understand the different types of strategy in an organisation, and to remember that strategy includes the “do nothing” option… For example, you mentioned Linfox doesn’t use their website strategically. I beg to differ — they do use it strategically, in that they have strategically not done much with it. I have done some work for Linfox, and one thing that’s interesting about their business is they don’t have a marketing department. A vast majority of their business is with large companies, where relationships are important. Their clients include the likes of Coles, Woolsworths, and BHP, all of whom don’t “shop” for logistic services on the web. So Linfox doesn’t have a need for a “marketing strategy” (at least in Australia). But they do have a “communications strategy” which infox has recently started to implement on their website. Linfox are not necessarily targetting new customers with their web strategy, but as for other audience groups, they do plan to improve the use of the web as a effective tool for their communications strategy.
As for career paths for web strategists, I tend to recommend following one of three paths:
1. Learn about marketing & communications strategy, then work in the marketing or communications department of a decent size company using digital channels like the web. Learn how the marketing or communications strategy is created and implemented using different channels. Ideally work for someone who advertises a lot. Marketing and advertising spend is rapidly shifting towards digital, so you should be able to “ride a wave” in an organisation as they make the switch.
2. Learn about marketing & communications, then work for a digital or full-service agency. Like a traditional consulting firm, start off as a business analyst, and work your way up to a consultant. Your “web strategist” role will take shape depending on the type clients the agency has.
3. Learn about marketing & business strategy, and work for a digital business. Often the “web strategist” is a “product manager”. You’ve got your pure digital businesses, like online verticals/classifieds (e.g. Carsales.com.au, Realestate.com.au, Seek.com.au), and online media companies (e.g. Google, Yahoo, NineMSN). You’ve also got your “transformational” business who are having to change their business to support digital (e.g. Sensis [who owns Yellow Pages and Trading Post], and traditional news companies like Fairfax and Newscorp). Unfortunately Australia is plagued with monopolies and duopolies in the digital arena, so unless you work for a market changer like Google, or in a new developing market like mobile, expect to work for someone who is very resistant to change (sorry no Nash equilibriums these days :)
Hope this has helped!
Regards,
Craig Buszko
MBA 2004 (Melbourne Business School)
Director, The Buszko Group