There are a growing number of marketing roles where digital skills are required and salaries in these roles are increasing at a good pace, according to new data from recruitment specialist Reed Marketing and Creative for its 2019 Salary Guides.

Key findings

• Advertised salaries in the marketing and creative sectors increased by 1.3% in 2018
• Advertised salaries for fundraising managers increase by fastest rate in industry (6.1%)
• UI designer (4.3%) and graphic designer (4.5%) also experience large increases in advertised salaries
• Regionally, salaries in London have seen the largest average advertised salary increase at 2.9%, closely followed by salaries in the West Midlands (2.8%). Both of these regions have seen large salary growth of 9.6% for web designers

Particular analysis of marketing and creative skills in demand revealed that interest in SEO managers had increased by 44% in the last five years and the interest in social media manager is 84 times the amount it was in 2008.

Discussing the demand for digital expertise, Jody King, director of Reed Marketing and Creative, says: “Digital skill remains the expectation now in every marketing role, a need that is developing and expanding as marketing is continuing to move through an exciting evolution. This is clearly demonstrated throughout this survey and I am pleased to report that we are seeing a majority growth in salaries across the full marketing spectrum.”

King says the demand for talent must lead to better pay and conditions in the marketing sector as a whole: “Most organisations want to recruit permanently, but they will need to offer more in terms of benefits and flexibility (particularly around remote working) if they want to attract talent on a longer-term basis. E-commerce, email marketing, SEO, social media and roles in product and brand are available in abundance at all levels as businesses work to promote their brands.”

King concludes that marketing is a thriving sector and this looks set to continue, but it is important for companies to invest properly in talent: “Marketing remains a multi-channelled industry, with opportunities to work and transition across all kinds of roles. We are seeing companies investing in their marketing teams and there is a lot of compelling innovation across the sector. Finally, we are finding that marketing professionals are driven by a desire to work for an organisation based on culture, ethics and objectives: businesses should build on this appeal to be best equipped to attract the best talent in the coming years.”

Background

Reed carried out analysis of more than 10 million jobs posted across sectors since 2015. For more information see Reed Marketing & Creative State of Skills research