What Does a Market Strategist Do?

A market strategist attempts to improve his company's competitive position in the marketplace by researching, improving or developing strategies based on research results, working with marketing accounts the company holds, measuring the results of strategy implementation and communicating strategy goals to workers. Within this broad spectrum, duties may be slightly more specific, such as if a market strategist concentrates only on a company's digital marketing. The work of strategists plays an enormous role in the business a company does, so they are highly-valued members of marketing teams.

A primary component of work for a market strategist is research. He gathers marketing, financial and product information not only about the company he represents, but also about competing companies. Along with this information, he gathers information from the public through methods such as surveys to identify consumer trends, desires and needs. This data lets the market strategist make some deductions about what is and is not working within his company's current marketing tactics or overall approach. At this point, the strategist brainstorms about how to improve existing marketing strategies or formulate new ones in order to improve the visibility of his company, coming up with formal proposals for management.

Companies also have multiple marketing accounts. These accounts are arrangements with businesses that allow the market strategist to advertise or sell, such as using a third party website to generate and send email advertisements. It is the strategist's job to maintain all of these accounts, ensuring the company is using them in the most efficient and productive way. As the needs of the company change, the strategist closes old accounts and develops partnerships for new ones. During this process, he checks that working with the new account actually is realistic and viable given the company's current status and resources.

A fundamental principle behind any marketing strategy is that the results of the strategy have to be measurable in some way, such as an increased number of units sold or an increase in revenue. Thus, a market strategist monitors the results of all the tactics he puts in place using methods similar to his initial research. If the strategy is not effective, the market strategist figures out why it didn't work and comes up with something different to try. Regardless of whether the strategy worked, the strategist has to submit formal progress reports to members of management.

Changing a marketing strategy takes considerable work, particularly when employees are used to a certain way of doing things. Therefore, a marketing strategist communicates formally with members of the company at all levels, explaining the exact purpose of the strategy and how implementation will work. He may do this through meetings, memos or other business communications such as emails. If there are questions about the strategy, the strategist will respond and/or tweak the strategy as needed.