In a world filled with opportunities, the A Day In The Life Series is here to shine a light on the many different career paths you can pursue, with sage advice from amazing women who are doing the work! Throughout the series, we’ll hear from women in many different roles across many different industries with one major thing in common - a desire to help you win with whichever path you pursue.

In today’s A Day In The Life segment, we had the privilege of connecting with Bria Woods to talk more about the life of a Digital Marketing Manager. Check out our conversation below!

Tell us about yourself. 

I always have a challenging time with this question. Haha. Currently, in my 9-5 (and other times, work sparks my energy), I work in the digital marketing space on keywords, trends, advertising (programmatic and social), and developing shopper experiences through various retailers as a Digital Marketing Manager. Outside of my full time, I work with women on developing their style as a dress code decoder and style curator. Also, I own a Poshmark storefront in the fashion space to help with my carbon footprint. I enjoy giving back to my community, so I have found time to share what I learn. In 2021 I started a Girl Scout Troop, working with high school girls working on earning their Gold Award (Highest Award on GS); to date, I have had two girls complete. For the past 4+ years,  I have been the regional webmaster within my sorority's South Eastern region, where I monitor the online presence of three (3) states and 114 chapters and the overall online presence of the region.

Tell us more about your career journey. 

Early in life, I always thought I would be a fashion designer. Then I went to a career fair in middle school, and this woman shattered my dreams, so I changed my career path to the "cookie-cutter" answer of the time — a lawyer. College is what really started to shape what I wanted to pursue as a career. My friend Josh told me about his Communications class, and the rest was history. I sat in the seminar and changed my Interior Design Major (I started as History Major) to Communications. I chose Communications because of the flexibility to go into fashion and events and be creative in a way pre-college education never discussed.

What are your main responsibilities in this role? 

- Create pre-sale and post-sale digital promotional strategies (social media, search, programmatic, etc.)

- Lead and oversee the digital brand portfolio of 30+ authors and 100+ titles

- Provide creative direction for ads, websites, and other digital outlets

- Use research and data analytics to develop innovative ways for consumers to explore products in new ways on various retailers

What does a typical day look like? 

Ok, so the math that you never needed, I use it every day. My typical day is reviewing the daily sales vs. advertising dollars. Then transfer those numbers into ROI percentages so the team understands what creative is working, what needs to be adjusted, and what we need to put more dollars behind. It's a lot of relationship-building in the digital space as you work with vendors to buy digital placement. I spend the other percentage of my time creating new partnerships to develop new audiences. This requires a lot of project management (if I didn't create the design) with designers, managing spreadsheets, developing monthly/quarterly/yearly presentations on your progress, and understanding how consumers shop. 

What do you enjoy most about the job? 

Miranda Priestly, from The Devil Wears Prada, describes what I enjoy most about my job the best. I get to select what's presented to consumers to shop for in the market.

What would you consider the most challenging aspect of the job? 

You can't control the algorithm! No matter how well I know the consumer and understand what they want. As the algorithm changes, I'm constantly relearning how to get it in front of the audience tactfully. 

What would you say are the top skills needed to succeed in your role? 

The top two (2) skills I believe you need to succeed in my role are to be a teacher and a learner. You are constantly teaching people through data and numbers why what you are doing is working. (While the creative is cute and fun, the part that matters is what is bringing in the sales.) Digital Marketing is still so new; whatever is true today might not be true tomorrow. Be ready to learn it so that you can stay in demand. Plus, with the flexibility in digital, you don't have to know everything. You can decide what subject you want to be the subject matter expert in and be the teacher and learner to dominate the space.

What advice can you give someone who is looking to pursue a career as a Digital Marketing Manager? 

If you want to become a digital marketing manager, start taking on volunteer or side projects like social media management, web development, etc. I started volunteering in social media management and helped an organization build its online presence and brand. Find something that sparks your interest, then add that to your resume. Also, become proactive about advocating for yourself to the management team of your interest, whether building websites or learning a new platform. Highlight that no matter how small those opportunities are on your resume. Then you can start spearheading your career to be on this path. (That's how I did it!)

Anything else you'd like to add?

My last little nugget of advice is to start searching for people on Linkedin with job titles in digital marketing. Review their certifications, skill sets, etc. And start making your plan to become like them, if not better. 

Thanks for tuning into the A Day in the Life Series! Be sure to check out the other segments for a glimpse into other roles you may be interested in pursuing.