Insights into Account Strategists: Skills & Responsibilities

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Dani Rusas and Josh Pheneger
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Account Strategists act as a business’s gatekeeper, ensuring client proposals are constructed to ensure the company can deliver what it promises. 

As a consultative arm for Sales and Account Management, our Strategy team provides recommended solutions to meet clients’ short- and long-term objectives, goals, budgets, and/or timelines.

In this post, we will look at the day-to-day responsibilities of an Account Strategist and the skills and qualities required to succeed in this role. 

⚡ Insights into Account Strategist careers ⚡

    • Around 60% of Account Strategists are women, while around 40% are men.
    • Roughly 80% of Account Strategists have a bachelor’s degree.
    • There are around 69,217 job openings for Account Strategists in the US job market. Source: Zippia.com

What Are the Top Skills Required for an Account Strategist? 

Zippa, a career guidance website, ranked the top skills for Account Strategists based on how often specific skills appeared on resumes. 

#1 Digital Marketing

With digital marketing, we promote products or services through digital channels such as search engines, websites, social media, email, and mobile apps. 

In our job, this looks like: 

  1. Exploring consumer behaviors, analyzing industry trends, and staying up-to-date with recent technological advances and digital marketing techniques.
  2. Orchestrating and overseeing digital marketing campaign strategies, ensuring they achieve client outcomes. These strategies are typically built within a DSP interface that offers a suite of planning tools for audience targeting and inventory selection. 
  3. Identifying prospects for client expansion and offering suggestions for their ongoing digital marketing plan regularly and during quarterly demonstrations.
  4. Rendering digital marketing guidance, marketing needs, technical consultation, and digital operations solutions to agencies, corporations, and non-profit organizations.

Resources to learn digital marketing skills: 

💡 Our Pro-Tip: Find what interests you the most about digital marketing, whether paid search or display advertising and read about it as much as possible. When you’re on a team, you can lean into each other for specialized knowledge. 

#2 Critical Thinking and Strategy

We also develop marketing plans and provide strategic guidance to clients, so having a deep understanding of media (and/or programmatic) strategy and thinking critically is key. 

Day-to-day, this looks like

  1. Analyzing consumer behavior and market trends to develop digital marketing strategies.
  2. Conducting research and gathering data to inform and improve campaigns.
  3. Identifying and anticipating potential issues and challenges in digital marketing RFP and developing strategic solutions.
  4. Interpreting a client’s campaign objectives to evaluate each campaign variable’s effectiveness through data analysis and making data-driven decisions for future campaigns.
  5. Collaborating with cross-functional teams (Sales, Account Managers, and Ad Ops) to align digital marketing efforts with business goals and objectives.
  6. Adapting digital marketing strategies and tactics based on changing market conditions and emerging technologies.
  7. Identifying and pursuing new opportunities for digital marketing initiatives based on market research and emerging technologies.

Resources to learn critical thinking and digital marketing strategy: 

Dani’s Advice: I believe the most important skill is possessing a strong sense of critical thinking and the ability to approach things analytically to identify any potential issues in advance.

#3 Communication and Interpersonal Skills

We have to work closely with clients to understand their goals and objectives, develop strategies to meet their needs, and communicate progress and results like:

  1. Performing client-facing assessments and interviews, identifying challenges and bottlenecks, and delivering solution recommendations to executives and directors.
  2. Leading multiple internal and external discovery sessions requiring business analyst/consulting direction to help identify requirements.
  3. Collaborating with internal Ad Operations teams on complex projects, producing measurable results.
  4. Providing suggestions and insights in a succinct manner that are supported by research into a client’s product set and customer base. 
  5. Educating internal departments to ensure client-facing individuals interact with customers and understand the nature of the client’s business.

Resources to learn client-facing skills:

💡 Our Pro-Tip: Communication skills constitute a significant part of our job responsibilities, including identifying issues, explaining decisions, and collaborating with others. An ideal candidate should be a quick learner, a good communicator, and willing to do the work necessary to understand the client’s problems thoroughly.


Join the KORTX Family! 

Our positive work culture fosters collaboration, innovation, and growth for all team members. Even if you don’t see a job opening that suits your interests and experience, apply to our Talent Pool today.

Join Our Talent Pool Today!

What Does An Account Strategist Do Day-to-Day?

Account Strategists provide strategic guidance and support to clients to achieve their marketing goals.

Works Closely With Sales, Ad Ops, and Account Management

On a day-to-day basis, we work closely with multiple internal teams to evaluate client RFPs and determine the best strategic approach for a media plan proposal. This includes assessing the objectives, goals, budget, media tactics, and targeting, among other factors, to ensure that the plan is realistic and achievable for the client.

The process looks something like this: 

  1. First, the client provides objectives and goals for a plan after the initial sales call.
  2. Then, a formal RFP (request for proposal) on the client’s side goes through Sales, and Sales submit it to the Account Strategist. 
  3. Our Strategist uses an RFP template in JIRA that outlines expected dates, budget, media tactics, and targeting. AEs and Strategists meet to review every inbound RFP which ensures all teams are aligned on the strategic approach. 
  4. Then, the Strategist builds a plan, primarily within the DSP’s interface, and sends it back to Sales for final review.
  5. If any part of the proposal doesn’t align with the client’s stated KPIs, the Strategist devises an alternative to help reach the campaign objective and set all parties up for success. For example, if a client has what they want in mind but we think there may be an easier solution, we will propose an alternative to help them reach their goals. 

Sometimes, we’re pulled into client conversations. The level of involvement depends on the client and our relationship with them, but for the most part, we’re only pulled in if Account Management needs assistance. 

The Strategy team often proactively generates a KORTX Intelligence report for new products, competitors, or the client’s vertical, providing a tactical advantage before the campaign launch. 

Offers Strategic Guidance to Clients

Our team is responsible for setting up the initial campaign structure, identifying target audience segments, and ensuring key performance indicators (KPIs) are aligned to measure success. 

We also measure the effectiveness of campaigns and set performance benchmarks, using analytics and other tools to determine what could be improved in future campaigns (KPIs, media tactics, targeting, etc.). 

Example: We’re tasked with creating a paid social campaign for a health food brand. Sales provides the client’s campaign goals (e.g., increase website traffic, boost sales), and we build a plan to meet those goals. If the client’s goal is web traffic, we will build a campaign that optimizes site clicks, whereas if the goal is sales, the campaign will optimize to a point-of-sale conversion.

After we finalize a tactical media plan, the process is handed off to Ad Operations and Account Management. They have the expertise and daily insights to optimize, make mid-flight recommendations, and identify any potential issues early in the campaign. 

Research

Our job involves a significant amount of custom research, whether analyzing current industry trends or studying consumer behavior, and we use many tools to gather data and insights for clients, like DSPs, where we build out audiences to forecast performance, as well as our CDP-lite, Axon Audience Manager. 

KORTX subscribes to a suite of sophisticated industry tools that most agencies and brands cannot access, which provides value throughout the RFP and proposal process. Categories include site and audience analysis, on-domain and off-domain trends, and First-Party insights via Axon that help ensure each campaign reaches the target audience with the ideal mix of digital tactics. 

We also often consult with other agency team members or one another so that the campaign aligns with the client’s goals and objectives. 

Outside of this, we work independently and use various methods and tools depending on the client and industry.

📊 What makes for a great Account Strategist?
“Effective account strategists tap into their wide knowledge of digital media and apply it in a variety of ways based on the unique variables that come with every individual RFP or campaign. Recognizing instances where digital media programs are not structured for success is key, and we will proactively offer better-positioned alternatives to meet performance goals. Balancing the art and science of media strategy ensures that end clients and internal KORTX teams are aligned to achieve success.”
–Corey Rice, Director of Strategy, KORTX

How to Become an Account Strategist: Account Strategist Career Paths

No single path to becoming an Account Strategist exists. All of us have started in different positions. 

Let’s look at how we became Account Strategists: 

Dani’s Path, Account Strategist for 7 Years

I have a degree in Communications and started my career as a Media Assistant, then worked my way up to a Media Planner and eventually became a Supervisor of Brand Experience. But despite my career growth, I still felt like something was missing. 

I enjoyed the strategy end of planning on the agency side but found the client management aspect draining.

When I applied for the Account Strategist position at KORTX, I was excited to focus more on strategy and less on client management. It’s been a great fit for me, and I love the puzzle-solving aspect of building out plans. I see myself staying in strategy for as long as possible.

That said, I wouldn’t mind returning to account management eventually, but probably not for a few more years. I needed a break from it. 

Josh’s Path, Account Strategist for 3 Years

After dropping out of college during my Sophomore year, I became fascinated with Digital Marketing. I immersed myself in the subject, watching Gary Vaynerchuk videos and devouring everything I could find about marketing.

My first foray into the industry was as a Trade Show Coordinator. I traveled and sold products while also getting a taste of marketing. I later moved on to a Sales position at a small digital marketing company, but the COVID pandemic disrupted my plans.

Eventually, I found a job as a Project Manager at another digital marketing company. This role gave me my first exposure to the creative and branding aspects of marketing. I became an Account Strategist and managed accounts, focusing mainly on paid social and search campaigns.

That’s when KORTX recruiter, Laurie McNamara, contacted me about a position. Despite not having any experience in programmatic advertising, I felt it was an excellent opportunity and a great fit for me.

It exposed me to a different level of advertising that I had never considered before. This experience helped me acquire new skills and add more tools to my marketing skillset. 

I’m passionate about digital marketing, and I find it fascinating. It’s enjoyable to be part of the conversations where we can explore new ideas beyond the typical plans focusing on cross-platform display with a CTR KPI.

✨ Tips for Becoming an Account Strategist ✨ 

  1. Research everything you can about the role, especially applicable skills like digital marketing, strategy, critical thinking, and customer relationship management.
  2. Having a college degree in marketing, advertising, or business is a plus but isn’t required. Josh’s path shows that having substantial interest and knowledge in the industry is enough! 
  3. Starting as a Media Assistant or a Media Planner can be a good starting point for gaining the experience and skills necessary for the role of an Account Strategist. Moving up to Supervisor of Brand Experience or similar roles can provide more responsibility and leadership opportunities.
  4. Network with professionals in the industry can help you learn more about the role, gain insights, and potentially land a job. Join marketing organizations, and connect with other strategists on social media platforms like LinkedIn.
  5. The marketing industry continuously evolves, and staying up-to-date with the latest trends and techniques, like attending training, workshops, and industry events, can help you develop new skills and stay relevant in the job market.

Become a Successful Account Strategist

Account Strategists are a business’s gatekeepers, ensuring that proposals are achievable and the company delivers on its promises.

They help clients achieve their short and long-term goals by establishing business strategies, conducting risk assessments, identifying weaknesses and strengths of existing procedures, and resolving client concerns. 

To succeed in this role, one should be a quick learner, a good communicator, and possess a strong sense of critical thinking and the ability to approach things analytically.


At KORTX, we’re committed to you.

As a Great Place to Work-Certified™ company, we’re proud of our positive work culture that promotes collaboration, innovation, and growth for our team members. 

If you’re interested in joining our team but don’t see an opening that matches your interests and experience, apply to our Talent Pool today.

Join Our Talent Pool Today!

Dani Rusas is an Account Strategist at KORTX. She spends her free time hanging out with her 2 border collies, cooking, and crafting. 

Josh Pheneger is an Account Strategist at KORTX. He likes to play golf, explore the city, and spend time in coffee shops. 

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Dani Rusas and Josh Pheneger
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