General Observations

2017 has been another growth year in terms of hiring trends for Marketing & Digital professionals and this shows no sign of abating in the first quarter of 2018. It’s been a year of change as well, with the political impact of Brexit and GDPR creating a number of new challenges. 

Marketing leaders are now expected to be at the forefront of customer experience initiatives. As well as their traditional marketing responsibilities, like branding and external communication delivery, CMOs today need to use their analytics and customer intelligence expertise in order to drive revenue and sales, and much of this activity is interwoven into Digital strategy.

It’s against this changing landscape that we view the hiring trends in Q1 of 2018.

Digital skills continue to be a key requirement within Marketing teams as they increasingly become an integrated channel within the overall Marketing strategy. As a result, online Marketing skills, including SEO, social media, content performance, UX/UI and e-commerce skills, are all as important as ever.

[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]the strategic importance of Marketing continues to grow from the cost centre to the essential revenue driving function.[/pullquote]

To serve today’s generation of B2B and B2C customers, companies must first accept that the customer is now in charge and then understand their needs. This means creating a customer-led marketing culture to win their business. There has been an increase in data analytics and improving customer experience as a result, which are both increasingly being absorbed into the Marketing function.

Lead generation, proposition development, product marketing and data insights now sit side by side with traditional brand marketing, as the strategic importance of Marketing continues to grow from the cost centre to the essential revenue driving function.

The rise in Digital transformation has led to a demand for the key soft skills that are necessary to implement change and communicate often complex data to non-technical decision makers at a senior management level. Blended skill sets that combine both a ‘storytelling’ capability with technical expertise will be a key demand next year, as the digital customer-centric journey continues to gain internal relevance and importance.

Marketing Automation and Lead Generation technology has become a more crucial part of the Marketeers toolbox in 2017 as revenue-driving activities now take precedence. Marketo, Hubspot and Advanced analytical programs, such as SAS, R, Python and Hadoop, will both be in big demand and short supply in 2018. In addition, data transformational leadership with GDPR, AI and Blockchain technology experience will be required by most large businesses in 2018.

To give a quick sectoral overview:

• There will be a demand in Retail for Customer Experience expertise and a requirement to manage end-to-end brand and communication campaigns

• The Financial Services Sector has displayed a demand for Marketing CX, UX and Digital skills, as well as Customer Insights and Proposition development

• There is a continual demand for Customer insights and category solution skills in FMCG. This is combined with an increase in digital online content creation, which has led to a demand for innovative campaign creation experience

• There is an increased demand for internal communication, employee cultural change and employee engagement experience in Professional Services

• The traditional roles in product development, customer base retention and segmentation in Teleco have now been joined by a huge demand across data analytics and predictive modelling

• Tech/IT companies are growing out their demand for Inbound Marketing / Lead generation and digital marketing skills.

TOP 5 SKILLS IN-DEMAND

1. Big Data Experience
2. Experience with Automation Software (Marketo, Hubspot)
3. Market Insight/strategy delivery
4. Google Analytics Expertise
5. Customer Journey Experience

Our Marketing & Digital recruitment team are consistently ready and prepared to assist with hiring requirements for small and large projects. To view up to date salary trends for 2018  please see full survey comparison by sector here.

About the Author

Emma Morrissey

Manager Temporary and Contracts

emorrissey@lincoln.ie+353 1 661 0444