Digital Planner Simply Black Zambia

OVERVIEW

We are seeking a dynamic Digital Planner to lead the development and delivery of best-in-class digital media strategies or rationales. This role is pivotal in driving performance marketing, cross-platform efficiency, and digital innovation across multiple markets. The ideal candidate will bring deep telco industry experience and a passion for delivering measurable results aligned with the client’s bold digital ambitions.

CORE IMPACT

• Strategic Planning & Performance: Develop full-funnel digital media strategies grounded in the client’s telco business and campaign objectives. Champion performance marketing, with a strong command of biddable media, audience-first planning, and outcome-based KPIs. Craft scalable and innovative plans across platforms (Meta, Google, DV360, programmatic, telco portals, etc.) aligned to customer journeys and telco user behaviors. Integrate cross-market strategic planning, leveraging pan-African footprint and audience data.
• Digital Media Implementation: – Lead end-to-end campaign implementation, ensuring alignment with strategic direction, channel mix, budget allocation, and campaign timelines. Oversee media placement, flighting, and material trafficking across markets, ensuring flawless execution. Ensure integration of mobile-first creative formats, app marketing strategies, WhatsApp engagement, and USSD-based digital prompts relevant to the telco environment.
• Optimization & Reporting: Monitor and optimize campaigns in real time using leading analytics tools (GA4, Meta Ads Manager, Campaign Manager 360, etc.). Deliver clear, insight-rich performance reports, benchmarked against agreed KPIs like CAC, ROI, CTR, CPC, and conversion rate. Surface trends and insights to refine campaign strategy, audience segmentation, and platform investments.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Planning: Incorporate the planning principles that drive both incrementality and scale for the client brand. Create an objective-led media strategy that aligns the media plan and channel with the brand, project, and campaign with the target audience’s media consumption habits and changing media landscapes.
• Performance: Drive performance marketing with emphasis on ROI, acquisition, and customer value delivery. Strong knowledge of attribution, tracking, and conversion optimization. Constantly tests new formats, e.g. gamification, WhatsApp campaigns, and telco integrations, driving measurable innovation and learning.
• Client Service: Proactively anticipate clients’ evolving needs. Support strategic decision-making with data and insight. Work seamlessly with account managers, creatives, analysts, and media partners to deliver cohesive campaign experiences.
• Placements: Ensure that all media plans and channel executions are aligned to the strategy put forward to client ensuring the audiences are adhered to. Proactively manage placements, timelines and material.
• Campaign Diversity: Ensure constant, measurable innovation in the plan for channels, platforms and units across all digital entities such as mobile, gaming, app strategy, branding, lead generation, video ads, etc.
• Optimization: Understand analytics tools to track and measure campaign performance in real time and be able to analyze data for clients, delivering on measurable outcomes. Generate regular reports and optimize media channels, platforms, and formats to reach the target audience.
• Reporting: Present comprehensive campaign reports alongside client teams that include analysis on key performance indicators (KPIs) and provide data-driven insights aligned to the strategies presented.
• Compliance: Close off the campaign or project and follow internal billing protocols. Maintain financial, legal, and ethical compliance in all strategy reverts and plans.
• Digital Acumen: Robust technical understanding of how digital media platforms operate when targeting audiences and familiarity with how consumers interact with the platforms. Stay informed about emerging digital marketing technologies and integrate them into campaigns to enhance effectiveness. Maintain certification related to platform knowledge, especially across biddable platforms where the fundamentals are critical to this role.

OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE

• Professional working proficiency in English (essential) and local language (advantageous).
• Communicate timeously (calls, emails, texts, calendar invites).
• Demonstrate a keen eye for detail, prioritize and deliver work on time or requests input timeously.

SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT

• Digital strategy, planning, and performance specialist. Telco specialist.
• Robust technical understanding of how digital media platforms operate when targeting audiences and familiarity with how consumers interact with the platforms.
• Strive to maximize Simply Black’s integrated offering with client objectives.
• Display cross-cultural awareness and regularly collaborate with in-market experts to drive the best outcomes for clients.

RELATIONSHIP BUILDING AND INFLUENCE

• Put the client experience at the heart of every encounter and proactively foster ‘Client Delight.’ Develop and nurture trusting client relationships.
• View suppliers as strategic partners in delivering excellent client service.
• Be respectful to all colleagues. Cultivate constructive working relationships. Positively engage and collaborate with internal community members.
• Actively participate in group conversations, using correct tone, grammar, and spelling when communicating.
• Use the appropriate channels to escalate and address stakeholder concerns timeously

COMMERCIAL ACUMEN

• Identify opportunities to drive and implement digital-first and through-the-line objectives.
• Able to handle billing, pacing, and media investment planning across local currencies and tax frameworks.
• Knowledge of basic financial terms and metrics (e.g., CPM, CPA).
• Understand the basics of an invoice: quantity, tax types, etc., and the cost structure related to advertising campaigns.
• Comply with regional currency and tax requirements.

INNOVATION

• Think creatively. Come up with innovative and unique ideas.
• See problems as opportunities for innovation and approach challenges with a solutions mindset.
• Able to interpret data and display sound data-driven decision quality.

PERSONAL MASTERY

• Thrive in a fast-paced media environment. Maintains focus on tasks and goals. Avoids distractions and procrastination. Follows through on commitments.
• Demonstrates agility. Responds quickly and effectively to changing situations. Adjusts plans and priorities as needed.
• Aware of strengths, weaknesses, and emotions. Actively seek and deliver feedback.
• Pursues growth and development. Looks for opportunities and sets goals to enhance skills and knowledge.

SB VALUE ALIGNMENT

• Simply Black’s values are more than words on a wall, and we hold all members of the Tribe to the same high standard. Living the organizational values is crucial to your success at Simply Black, and this is measured throughout the year.

SB SUCCESS METRICS

(What tools we will use to measure success)

• Commercial Success: Budget Management + Invoicing + Billings + Growth
• Client Experience: Annual Client Service Survey + Contract Retention
• Success Tracker: Simply Black’s bi-annual internal performance assessment tool
• Planit: Simply Black’s Internal Planning and Buying Tool
• Awards

SB GROWTH PHILOSOPHY

At Simply Black, we value holistic growth. The primary focus will always be internal growth (or personal mastery), but growth in the form of organizational movement, such as a role change, is dependent on three key factors:

(a) Success in Current Role: Continued excellence in a) Core Impact, b) Success Drivers (role KPIs), and c) Values Contribution.

(b) Business Readiness: This relates to overall financial success, year-on-year growth, operational gaps, client demand, or strategic needs.

(c) Industry Need: The media industry changes rapidly, and as a forward-thinking organization, we need to adapt accordingly.