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How Choosing the Right Skillset Transformed Sarah’s Business
A Familiar Challenge: Navigating Marketing in a Complex Digital World
Sarah, the owner of a thriving online boutique, recently faced a critical decision. Her business was expanding, but marketing challenges were mounting. Should she invest in multiple specialists—each highly skilled in a niche area like SEO, PPC, or UX/UI design—or hire a versatile stacked marketer capable of wearing many hats?
Like many business owners we speak to at Best Web Design, Sarah was uncertain. Her journey towards finding the right solution can help you better understand your own marketing needs.
Meet the Players: Specialist Marketers vs. Stacked Marketers
Sarah’s dilemma revolved around understanding two key profiles:
Specialist Marketers: Precision Experts
These are masters of their craft, deeply knowledgeable in one specific discipline. Think of them like a talented surgeon—highly skilled but focused exclusively on their specialty.
Real-life Inspiration: Consider Rand Fishkin of Moz fame. His deep knowledge of SEO catapulted his company into global recognition.
Stacked Marketers: Versatile and Adaptive
Stacked marketers (or T-shaped marketers) have a breadth of skills across digital marketing areas, with deeper expertise in a few core competencies. They’re the marketing equivalent of a skilled general practitioner who sees the big picture.
Real-life Inspiration: Ann Handley, the Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs, excels in content creation, brand storytelling, social media, and strategic leadership across channels.
Sarah’s Turning Point: A Tale of Two Approaches
Initially, Sarah hired several specialists—a PPC expert, an SEO strategist, and a UX/UI designer. While each was skilled, the campaigns quickly became fragmented, costly, and tough to manage. Communication broke down, and marketing strategies drifted apart.
Feeling overwhelmed, Sarah reconsidered her strategy. She needed clarity, integration, and above all, simplicity.
That's when she decided to shift gears and hired Olivia, a stacked marketer who combined strategic understanding of SEO, content creation, PPC campaigns, and UX/UI principles.
The Stacked Marketing Advantage: Why Olivia’s Approach Worked
Within months, Olivia brought cohesion to Sarah’s marketing. Her cross-channel knowledge allowed her to effortlessly align SEO with UX improvements and streamline PPC campaigns that complemented the website’s refreshed content.
At Best Web Design, we adopt Olivia’s approach: integrating our expertise in UX/UI design, SEO optimisation, engaging content creation, and tailored PPC campaigns to deliver holistic digital solutions.
Sarah’s business flourished because Olivia:
- Integrated Strategies Across Channels: No more isolated campaigns—every marketing effort supported a unified vision.
- Adapted Quickly to Change: As Sarah’s business evolved, Olivia pivoted easily, utilising new trends like AI-driven tools for efficiency and innovation.
- Reduced Costs and Complexity: With fewer communication barriers and streamlined operations, Sarah saw a significant reduction in her marketing overheads.
Curious how integrated marketing strategies can be supercharged with paid media?
But Specialists Still Matter: When Deep Expertise Counts
Of course, not all scenarios fit Olivia’s stacked marketer model perfectly. Sarah learned through experience that certain tasks—like complex SEO audits or intricate data analytics—sometimes require the specialised expertise that only a true specialist could provide.
When specific needs arose, Sarah strategically enlisted specialist freelancers for short-term, high-impact projects, complementing Olivia’s broader strategy.
Continuous Learning: How Sarah Keeps Her Edge
Sarah’s journey underscored an essential lesson: continuous learning and adaptation in marketing is non-negotiable. Staying ahead meant staying curious.
Following Olivia’s lead, Sarah encouraged her team to regularly upgrade their skills through platforms like HubSpot Academy, Google Skillshop, and Coursera. At Best Web Design, we likewise believe continuous improvement empowers sustainable business growth.
The Hybrid Future: Building Your Marketing Dream Team
Sarah’s journey revealed an exciting truth: the most effective marketers blend specialist expertise with versatile adaptability. These hybrid marketers represent the future—a balance between depth and breadth that meets the dynamic needs of modern businesses.
Take Neil Patel, for example—his combined mastery of SEO, content marketing, and PPC makes him a powerful force in digital marketing, exemplifying the hybrid marketer ideal.
A New Era of SEO
What’s Right for Your Business?
Sarah’s experience is relatable because it echoes a challenge many business owners face: aligning marketing choices with business goals.
- Choose Specialists if: You have clearly defined, technical challenges or operate at a scale where specialist-driven precision is essential.
- Choose Stacked Marketers if: Your business values versatility, needs integration across multiple channels, or wants efficiency and strategic cohesion.
Your Next Step: Partnering with Best Web Design
At Best Web Design, we embody the very best of stacked marketing principles. We offer tailored solutions across UX/UI design, strategic SEO optimisation, targeted PPC campaigns, and compelling content creation—ensuring your marketing efforts align perfectly with your unique business objectives.
Like Sarah, you don’t have to navigate these decisions alone. Let us help you build a unified marketing strategy, combining flexibility, creativity, and expert insights.
Final Thoughts: Success Through Smart Decisions
Sarah’s story is one of strategic decision-making and adaptability. Whether your business is ready to scale or just aiming to improve efficiency, choosing the right type of marketer—specialist, stacked, or hybrid—can dramatically influence your success.
As Sarah learned, the choice isn't about picking sides. It’s about understanding your business deeply, aligning marketing skills with your goals, and embracing continuous improvement to ensure long-term success.
At Best Web Design, we’re ready to help you write your success story. Let's navigate your digital journey—together.
