Digital transformation isn’t a future event – it’s already happening. Companies that move quickly and stay flexible will win. The ones that wait too long risk falling behind.
Marketing has been digital longer than most departments.
That’s why marketing leaders often lead digital change across the business.
But leading this change takes more than adopting a few tools.
It means changing how people work and think, at every level.
As a marketing leader, you’re in a strong position to drive this shift. You know the customer, the product, and the strategy. You just need to lead by example and get the rest of the business on board.
Key Takeaways
Marketing leads the shift: CMOs are often the ones driving digital transformation company-wide.
Tools don’t fix everything: It’s not about what you buy – it’s how you use it and what you learn from it.
Focus on the customer: Use your data and insights to help the business stay close to what people actually want.
Keep teams connected: Collaboration tools and clear communication are just as important as tech.
Lead by doing: The best digital leaders show others what good looks like – then help them get there.
What is Digital Marketing Leadership?
Digital leadership is the person or people responsible for managing digital transformation. This is usually carried out by senior leaders with experience in digitalization, such as the CMO or CIO.
Digital transformation is key to becoming more customer-centric, but strong leadership is needed to manage this new mindset shift. As a marketing leader you’re close to: the customer, consumer trends, the product, company goals and are digitally-savvy. Pair all of this with great communication skills and you’re uniquely positioned to drive digital leadership, and get the message across to the rest of the business.
Why is Digital Marketing Leadership Important to Digital Transformation?
Employees these days are quick to change jobs, with many choosing companies that can deliver a worthwhile, on-the-job experience, as opposed to those that don’t prioritize this.
The strength of your digital leaders and the digital tools you use, along with the ambition to be innovative and use cutting-edge technology, can be a deciding factor in employee loyalty. Especially for younger generations entering the workforce now. They’re digitally native and won’t relate to a company that isn’t.
Does your business nurture your employees’ skill sets and encourage career progression? Are you switching up processes and maintaining the right balance between work that’s challenging and exciting for your staff? This is where digital leadership is important to digital transformation.
So, How Can Marketing Leaders Be Effective Digital Leaders?
1. Develop talent for digital transformation
As a marketing leader you can encourage digital transformation by developing current talent to facilitate your digital transformation strategy. This is done by adjusting roles and responsibilities so they align with your new targets.
You need to lead by example, teaching other executives how to do the same with their team. The aim is to engrain this in company culture, to remove silos and ensure your organization is moving as one.
This might not always be easy.
You might find that it’s another senior leader that needs to change, and not their staff.
It can open up difficult conversations, but this is why marketing leaders make great digital leaders as they need to possess excellent communication skills.
2. Leverage technology to improve operations
According to Forrester, 93% of companies agree that innovation technologies are necessary to reach their digital transformation goals. Depending on the roles within your organization, the CIO, CMO or CTO are usually the first to embrace new digital tools.
But, where a lot of CTOs may have used the same legacy technology for a while, it’s the CMO who understands how to make the move from old to new.
Savvy digital leaders leverage technology to help improve the daily operations of the company. Just like savvy marketing leaders, who use platforms like Camphouse to improve the daily running of their marketing operations.
It’s not as simple as buying into technology. You need to actually use it to its full potential, monitor and measure the results you’ve achieved from using it and spot opportunities to use it to your advantage.
3. Become customer-centric
Shifts in consumer behavior and loyalty are pushing businesses to adapt. People now expect fast, personalized experiences on the channels they prefer—and that kind of engagement is key to keeping them loyal. For many digital leaders, customers are their top business priority.
Great marketing leaders are always up to date on how customers act, what makes them tick, how they make decisions and what technologies they’re using. You must leverage this technology to boost your own services and infrastructures, so that your whole business can become more customer-centric.
4. Encourage collaboration
With more people working remotely, digital leaders need to embrace knowledge-sharing models and technology to improve team collaboration.
Marketing teams know this all too well. With the daily running of marketing activities paired with new campaigns, reporting and collaborating with agencies, silos can ruin the best of your work.
It’s important to find tools that help encourage collaboration, not only within teams like marketing, but within the whole company, to ensure data and communication is not disorganized and chaotic.
5. Improve the employee experience
Remote work has changed how workers communicate with colleagues and their employers.
Digital transformation can also be deployed to improve employee experience and efficiency, for example, by adopting tools that help employees do their job better (like Camphouse..), training staff on new technologies or techniques so they learn and become more confident in their role, and automating processes to reduce heavy workloads.
Read more: Tips for Leading a Remote Marketing Team
6. Inspire others to embrace innovation
As marketers we have a knack for keeping people connected and engaged. It isn’t always easy to encourage people to change old habits, but it’s the key to success. Great marketers will encourage other C-suite executives to adopt new ideas and strategies that will work towards the collective future.
Marketing leaders are so good at this as it needs to come from someone with communication skills to tailor messages to their audience, to reduce resistance internally and actually make a change.
Take a deep dive into being an innovative leader here.
7. Explore new partnerships
To lighten the load on teams focused on hitting goals, smart marketing leaders know when to use tech – and when it’s time to bring in agency support to stay on track with digital transformation.
8. Lead digital transformation purposefully
Digital workforces need businesses to respect their concerns and values for a digital transformation to be successful. It isn’t just a case of optimizing capabilities and creating new opportunities, but of adjusting an environment.
Business leaders must be attentive to how their leadership is experienced, and decide which tools, technologies, and methods to deploy to make stakeholders, consumers and employees feel valued.
FAQs
What skills are important for digital marketing leaders?
Digital marketing leaders need clear communication, adaptability, strategic thinking, and a strong understanding of both customer behavior and digital tools. These skills help them guide transformation effectively and influence others across the business.
How does digital leadership differ from traditional leadership?
Traditional leadership often relies on hierarchy and long-term planning. Digital leadership is more agile and collaborative, with a focus on real-time data, innovation, and technology to drive progress.
Can small businesses benefit from digital marketing leadership?
Yes. Even with fewer resources, strong digital leadership helps small businesses stay competitive by using the right tools, streamlining operations, and keeping up with customer expectations.
How does digital leadership shape company culture?
It encourages openness, continuous learning, and a willingness to adapt. When leaders model digital-first thinking, it helps build a culture that supports innovation and collaboration.
Why should digital leaders explore agency partnerships?
Outsourcing to the right partners can fill skill gaps, reduce pressure on internal teams, and speed up digital transformation—especially when internal resources are limited.
The Role of Marketing is Evolving with Digital Transformation
New marketing leadership is going to be measured differently than in the past. It also requires a new skill set and for marketing leaders to become key digital leaders too, driving digital transformation.
So what should you as a marketing leader do first? Well, get your own ducks in order. Ensure your marketing processes are aligned with the digital transformation strategy and that you’re practicing what you preach. Move away from tired old methods of data collection and reporting, and automate it so you can do your job better.
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