Next generation of marketers the most digitally sophisticated yet, concludes new research

• But, while the digital skills of the least experienced marketers are rocketing, their managers’ knowledge has drifted across many digital disciplines
• Key digital skills like social, SEO and usability are becoming more complex, creating a knowledge gap

New research published today by the training body Target Internet in partnership with the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) has uncovered a dramatic shift in the digital marketing skills of the sector’s junior level marketers.

Over the past two years, the skills of the marketing sectors’ interns, graduates and executives have improved dramatically, while those of the people who manage them have stayed at about the same level and in some areas fallen.

The results come from a benchmarking test of digital marketing skills of almost 9,000 marketing professionals, carried out by Target Internet in 2018 and repeated in 2020.  The test requires professional marketers to complete a series of tasks aimed at testing their knowledge in 12 areas of marketing, with a particular focus on digital. The result therefore is an accurate and comparable assessment of the digital skills of individual marketers. 

Two years ago, staff at agencies registered a better level of general knowledge of digital than most. However, there has been a decline in most disciplines, indicating the challenge of staying up to date in an increasingly complex and fast changing world.

The most striking improvement in skills since 2018 has been among interns, suggesting that the newest generation of marketers are entering the marketplace far more highly skilled than their recent predecessors.

• Intern improvement – Interns’ scores on data and analytics skills jumped from 15% to 28%, on digital strategy from 6% to 24% and on general marketing from 12% to 30%.
• ’Head’ing downwards – Digital skills among Heads of Department have fallen across many digital disciplines measured by the benchmark, most dramatically on SEO.
• Directors are focused elsewhere - Two years ago it was clear the digital skills gap at director level was an issue. This has improved slightly in some cases, but gaps remain.
• Email in decline – Scores for email marketing have fallen at the same time as industries have become less reliant on email as a marketing channel.
• Growing complexity - Social Media, Search Engine Optimisation and Usability have all seen slight decreases in scores as these disciplines have become increasing complex.

Marketers can take the test themselves here: https://www.targetinternet.com/benchmark

Gemma Butler, director of marketing of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, said: “The results reveal, the pace of technology has showed no signs of slowing down and the marketing profession continues to evolve in the range of skills required to be effective. Many organisations have changed marketing structures or staffing requirements to meet market demands. Technical roles such as PPC and SEO have been moved in-house, reducing both the cost and reliance on outsourcing, whilst ensuring those who carry out these roles are truly experts in their field.”

“The complex nature of digital means that marketers need to be continually upskilling themselves just to stay in the same place. The finding that junior marketers are seeing significant investment in their development and increasing their technical knowledge is positive.”

Commenting on the results of the benchmarking study, CEO of Target Internet, Daniel Rowles, said: “The results of this year’s benchmark highlight some great opportunities, and great risks, for all types of business. Those organisations that embrace a culture of ongoing learning really do have the opportunity to stand out. It also shows that when budgets are constrained, cutting training is a counterproductive strategy.”

To download the full report, click here

• To benchmark your skills click here: https://www.targetinternet.com/benchmark
• To take advantage of CIM’s growing portfolio of online services, which include: webinars, podcasts and training materials and online courses like the recently launched ‘Digital Marketing Channels’ course click here: https://www.cim.co.uk/training/list-courses/.

ENDS

For media enquiries

For full copies of the research contact:

Good Relations: cimteam@goodrelations.co.uk

For CIM enquiries

James Delves
CIM Head of PR and External Engagement
james.delves@cim.co.uk  

Methodology

Nearly 9,000 individuals (8,749) were asked a series of questions on 12 core digital marketing related topics. The questions were taken from a bank of questions on each topic that tested both tactical and strategic knowledge. These questions were weighted according to difficulty/ level of specialism, and a percentage score was calculated out of a possible 100%. The benchmark was tested in a range of commercial organisations before being made more broadly available. This was to make sure the results aligned with the reality of an individual’s skills. Questions are regularly updated to reflect the latest industry best practice and are aligned with the Chartered Institute of Marketing professional standards and qualifications. The data was collected and then cross referenced against third party industry data to check for validity. It was also manually reviewed to make sure the individuals and their organisations represented a broad range of roles, organisation type and size within each industry. We continue to collect data on an ongoing basis and this allows us to keep on increasing the sample size, as well as seeing changes over time.

About CIM

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) is the world’s leading professional body for marketing, with over 28,000 members worldwide, of which there are over 2,500 Chartered Marketers.

CIM’s mission is to create a marketing advantage for the benefit of professionals, business and society with a focus on export, data and skills. CIM believes marketing is the critical factor in driving long term organisational performance.

CIM provides members and organisations with five key benefits: 

• Partnership – CIM is a professional and organisational partner to support performance and career development
• Education – CIM allows individuals and businesses to continuously upskill
• Information – CIM keeps members up to date with the latest marketing thinking, and keeps organisations at the forefront of practices
• Connection – CIM provides access to services, expertise and peers
• Recognition – CIM is the global benchmark of professional competence

For more than 100 years, CIM has supported, represented and developed marketers, teams, leaders and the profession as a whole. There are 120 CIM study centres in 32 countries and exam centres in 132 countries worldwide. In the last year, over 7,500 people registered at over 230 UK CIM events. Find out more about CIM by visiting www.cim.co.uk.