The Need for Cultivating E-Marketing Talent
There is no question that the Internet is transforming consumer behaviour and buying practices, and companies without access to digital marketing expertise quickly find themselves falling behind. Over the last three years, e-marketing has been growing over 50% per year and in 2009 digital marketing is forecasted to increase a modest 5% (which is decent growth given the -3% decline in traditional media spend forecasted by eMarketer). As a result of the growth and the unique nature of digital, one of the key future issues for employers is the shortage of digital marketing talent.
The big question that many executives have is “how will the current economic downturn affect the digital sector”?
The Impact of Lean Marketing
The landscape for Canadian marketers is changing rapidly, with major media players fearing bankruptcy and marketers constantly trying to prove their worth. The last six months has been a battleground out there and some people have been unfortunately caught in the crossfire. Many companies and agencies have trimmed their staff in order to survive and there are lots of experienced marketers looking for new jobs. Remaining departments are doing the same with less people and resources. In a downturn, businesses need to focus on efficiency and people need to be retrained. But few companies and agencies are stepping forward and investing enough in online marketing (other than a few smart boutique agencies who are picking up talent and enhancing their teams). Talent is waiting on the sidelines.
The Digital Talent Gap will Grow
Digital marketing is one of the largest short-term and long-term potential opportunities that marketers don’t want to miss. It’s efficient, growing and a coveted skill set. Digital marketing is by no means immune to the overall economic climate but there are good job openings. It’s also an exciting area with great future career potential. A CMA research study predicts that the number of online marketing jobs will increase 155% between 2007 and 2011 and there will be a gap of over 4,000 new “advertising jobs” in the internet advertising space (Source: Marketing’s Contribution to the Economy report p22). We will need entry level people but also senior talent with Internet expertise.
Many mid-level marketers are finding their roles now require more in-depth digital marketing understanding to advance and be successful. There’s pressure from senior management to stay ahead and leverage the huge cost-efficiencies and real-time measurability of digital media – in tough economic times, expenditures that can deliver measurable ROI are what the C-level executives want to see – and are pushing their marketing teams hard to meet these new standards.
The need for strong e-marketing talent is growing faster than the talent pool and we as an industry need to start working hard to close the gap.
So Where is the New Digital Marketing Talent?
The easiest source is to tap the current marketers who are out of work. Education is about lifelong learning and there are many willing and skilled candidates who can learn the specialties of online. Companies can grow and cultivate the online expertise but they must invest the training resources. Cultivating managers is a great strategy to enhance your competitive companies’ position.
The next best source of talent is the young new graduates. But there is a problem that many new graduates overlook marketing as a profession and they have the wrong perception of marketing. A few of the key findings from the 2008 CMA Talent Study:
• “Cultivating and competing for top marketing talent is a growing concern. Prospective hires and students considering a career path in marketing do not have a clear understanding of what constitutes a marketing career.”
• “… marketing needs to be presented as a competitively skilful profession, as are finance, consulting, accounting, medicine, or law.”
• “We need to do a better job of showcasing the marketing profession by featuring successful marketers as role models through a variety of media. Our study indicates that role models have a strong impact on a student’s decision making – it’s time to put marketing on the map as a rewarding, skilful, lucrative, creative, and professional occupation.”
Bottom line – Marketers have not been doing a good job of marketing marketing as a profession. Ironic isn’t it? CMA has taken action though, with marketing career resources for students – a place for students to learn more about the marketing profession and find a mentor or two.
Furthermore, as an industry, we also need to encourage recruitment and training for all levels. More on this next time.
Authored by Geoff Linton, VP Inbox Marketer and Taina Suomela, VP The Aber Group
