DIGITAL MARKETING SKILLS HAVE STAGNATED AND DECLINED DURING THE PANDEMIC, RESEARCH REVEALS
Research conducted by Target Internet, a training body that offers digital marketing advice, in association with the Charted Institute of Marketing (CIM), reveals that the majority of digital marketing skills have stagnated or declined between 2020 and 2021.
The research report conducted a benchmarking test of digital skills in over 7,000 communications and marketing professionals. The results from the 2018 survey were then compared with the 2020 and 2021 findings. Respondents were asked to complete a series of tasks aimed at testing their knowledge across various criteria, with a particular focus on digital skills.
The decline spans across job levels and sectors, with skills in analytics and data falling by -6%, content marketing by -4%, and social media by -2%. The report also found that the only discipline to significantly improve over the last 18 months was ‘general marketing’ with an increase of +7%.
Data from the CIM’s previous report ‘Impact of Marketing 3’ found that 60% of marketers that were furloughed used the downtime on personal development, choosing to upskill in areas such as brand, copywriting and strategy.
The findings encourage employers and employees to focus on professional development and remember the importance of digital skills. Daniel Rowles, CEO of Target Internet, says, “The results of this year’s benchmark help us get a better understanding of the state of UK marketers' digital skills, presenting us with a real opportunity to upskill the sector. Organisations who have invested in individuals and allowed their skillset to flourish will stand out from the crowd and attract better talent in the long run.”
Agency professionals demonstrated more advanced digital marketing skills compared to the sector average, with 24% of its workforce in the top two quintiles. Target Institute suggest this could be reflective of the shift from using in-house marketing teams to outsourcing in 2020. Half of agencies reported an increase in revenue last year, according to the CIM’s CMO50 report, which then drove investment in staff upskilling.
Gemma Butler, director of marketing of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, says, “The risk of getting left behind needs to be highlighted on the basis that technology isn’t going to wait, and the need to continue upskilling in order to just stand still was apparent before the pandemic, the risk now is that it will only continue to grow and the skills gap could become unmanageable. Employers must invest in the on-going development of their marketing teams
