The rise of big data, digitisation and globalisation have evolved the role of a marketer and marketing departments dramatically. There has been a tendency in the past to view marketing departments as a cost rather than revenue, but with an increased focus on Return on Investment (ROI) this is evolving. Digital channels and data continue to dominate marketing budgets, and marketing functions are increasingly overlapping with other business functions such as design and data analytics.
Digital or Traditional Marketing?
The gap between ‘traditional or direct’ marketers and digital marketers is becoming ever smaller. In the current digital climate, almost all jobs and functions have a digital element, and this is especially true for the marketing sector. Marketing relies heavily on digital and social platforms to reach target audiences and on data analytics to prove ROI. An Economist Intelligence Unit survey of nearly 500 marketing executives, 40% reported that they require skills in technology and digital engagement, compared to only 16% who are after traditional skills in creative and graphics and 26% who identify skills needs in advertising and branding.
Customer Experience
Everyone has heard of ‘Customer is King’ and with big data providing increasingly sophisticated insights into consumer experience, we have more of an understanding of what our customers want than ever before. In the survey The Path to 2020: Marketers seize the customer experience, it was found that 86% of CMO’s and senior marketers believe that they will own the end-to-end customer experience by 2020. Personalisation is the future of consumerism and marketing departments need to own and streamline CX for their organisation from the beginning. It was also found that 90% of respondents believe that marketing departments will exercise significant influence over business strategy by 2020. Watch this space…
What’s next?
A report commissioned by Deloitte Access Economics called the future of work: occupational and education trends in marketing in Australia predicted that the Australian marketing workforce is expected to see strong growth in the next five years. The projected workforce is expected to increase from 269,000 in 2016-17 to 299,000 in 2021-22 which indicates annual growth of 2.2%.
Further education in the marketing profession can significantly increase career prospects and annual salary. Deloitte predicted that those in possession of a postgraduate qualification in Management and commerce can expect to earn over $150,000 per annum in 2021-22. It’s clear that postgraduate study can not only increase earning potential for marketers but also develop core marketing, digital and leadership skills.
