Econsultancy’s Future of Marketing survey, which canvassed close to 1,000 client, vendor and agency-side marketers on their predictions about the future of the industry, revealed that an overwhelming majority of marketers feel optimistic about their future.

All told, 82% of marketers say they are optimistic about the future of marketing – a third (33%) are “very” optimistic, while almost half (49%) are “quite” optimistic. Twelve percent were neutral on marketing’s future, leaving just 6% who are pessimistic (4% “quite”, and 2% “very”).

As Richard Robinson, MD of Econsultancy, highlighted as he opened Econsultancy’s quarterly intelligence briefing, ‘The Skills Dilemma 2022 – How can marketing cross the digital chasm?’, there is plenty for marketers to be optimistic about at present. The marketing jobs market is rebounding with a vengeance, with a 302% rise in opportunities for marketers in the six months to August 2021 compared with the same period in 2020, according to data gathered for Marketing Week by the job website Reed.

However, this surge in opportunity is accompanied by a rise in pressure, with marketers expected to master a broader range of skills than ever before, from technical capabilities like ad serving to marketing fundamentals like strategy and brand building. How can organisations ensure that their marketers are equipped to tackle the varying demands of the role in 2021 and 2022, and evolve their skillset along with the changing times?

Robinson put this question to a panel of experienced marketing leaders: Anne Price, Director of Global Marketing Capabilities at UPS; Tony Miller, VP Growth & Performance Marketing at WW; Paul Duxbury, Programme Director of Repeatable Growth Model & Marketing Capability at GSK; and Emily Latham, Head of Digital Marketing and Martech at Channel 4. Here are some highlights from the discussion.

Reasons to be optimistic

To kick off the discussion, the panellists shared some of the reasons they have to feel optimistic about the direction that marketing is taking.

“One of the impacts of the pandemic is that we’ve got more open to change,” said GSK’s Paul Duxbury, who describes himself as an “optimist by nature”. “Things that we believed would never happen now happen very easily.

“I think that’s been reflected in the way that Philippines Photo Editor we approach learning, and the journey we’re on to move from traditional, instructor-led training to much more progressive, resource-based problem-solving, learning and development has been accelerated.”

Channel 4’s Emily Latham similarly struck a note of hope and change as she reflected on the past year and a half. “Covid has put us into a parallel universe – would we have been in the same position eighteen months ago? Would we be as far ahead as we are today, and having these progressive conversations?

“I truly believe that it has shown us that we can do things we didn’t think were possible. It’s moved people to action quicker; it’s stopped prevarication and questioning, and I think it’s put people’s belief in change … front and foremost.”

Leaning on internal expertise

When putting a learning and training programme in place, one thing that can greatly aid uptake and engagement is drawing on subject matter experts within the company and providing an opportunity for them to mentor their peers, as both UPS and WW discovered.

“We have been able to feature 14 of our internal subject matter experts on everything from customer experience, data analytics, our own internal digital campaign planning tools; we have our own experts appear on camera around the world through this virtual experience,” said UPS’ Anne Price. “I think it’s really critical … it shows that we have digital expertise inside our company, and … that’s sending a signal – ‘This is important, and we have senior leaders who can talk the digital talk and walk the digital walk, and therefore you need to, too.’”