Marketing salary surveys show key qualities for gaining digital marketing jobs

What are employers looking for from digital marketers?

The latest research from Michael Page and EMR Recruitment shares trends in recruitment salary and skills trends in the world of digital.  Both surveys have highlighted optimism by digital professionals and employers as there are clear signs of continued growth for digital skills.

Some of the marketing respondents who were surveyed said that they are focused on trying to keep their digital skills up-to-date through on the job training and self-learning.

Over the past year, EMR's report shows that marketing professionals are now more satisfied with their salaries and bonuses - are these respondents just working for fantastic employers, or is it true across the UK!.

Michael Page's interactive salary checker tool is a great way to check out salaries by county, sector, and digital specialism. Here is an example of salaries for roles in Yorkshire and the North East:

 

For more detail on typical company requirements for each role, the Smart Insight's Digital Marketing Job Description and Template gives typical activities and personal attributes relevant both for companies advertising digital roles and candidates seeking new roles to enhance their skills.

EMR's '2014 Salary and Market Trend Report'

You can download the full report, here are some highlights:

• Strong growth for Communications roles and substantial increase in salaries and bonuses
• It's interesting to see that there is still a gender imbalance in terms of promotion to senior roles being dominated by men, though there is an increase in female respondents taking on more managerial roles
• Companies are attracting new talent, by offering more flexible working hours as there is a growing demand for work-life balance and companies are seeing the benefits by offering this

• Only taking up to 3 months to find new roles, where the top 3 reasons are for more challenging work, a higher salary or improved career prospects.
• Some great advice from businesses across sectors and those working both in permanent and on freelance contracts, on how to enhance your career and prediction to what the future holds

Previous salary survey findings

This previous salary survey and market insights report from Michael Page has some interesting findings for marketers about what employers are looking for if you're looking to gain a new job, or if you're a manager looking to recruit new members to your digital team.

What qualities are employers looking for from digital marketers?

The research shows that companies are not just seeking digital marketing knowledge, but hands-on experience and proven successes. Interest in the developments of the digital industry, all-round marketing experience and commercial awareness are all ranked as very important:

So, it's important to show a genuine passion. Being active in social media, following the interest or even better, publishing or contributing to a blog can help here. The ability for candidates to apply digital campaigns or knowledge to real business objectives and to add to the bottom line is now essential for employers. Perhaps surprisingly, social media is the least important quality, with 15.5% saying it was not important or not relevant.

Michael Page asked their clients, “What’s the best piece of advice you would give to candidates who are looking to develop their digital skill set?" Going on courses, attending seminars and reading are all important, but of course, nothing beats hands-on experience. An understanding of what works well for your sector and keeping an eye on the competition or those brands that ‘do digital well’ is also recommended and is another way to show your passion.

This summary of requirements for digital team members is also relevant to consider when recruiting for digital roles. It’s not surprising that experience and commercial experience are most important, but think what is the best way you can assess these to differentiate team members?

Where do employers turn to fill digital roles?

The research also shows where clients turn to fill these roles. Encouragingly, for those looking for work in digital, 80% of clients surveyed have experienced a shortfall in digital expertise in their marketing department. Agencies are still the main source, but it seems 24% now try to recruit their own permanent employee. Use of interims is also quite high (20.8%).

How should roles be structured in digital teams?

We’re often asked what the ideal digital marketing team looks like in terms of roles and structure. This will naturally depend on the type of business and its size, but there are some common activities that need to be managed. To help here, we have a Digital team structure template that can be used to compare digital roles and structures to your current situation to help plan and justify future changes.

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