Report shows an upward trend for rewards, salaries and recruitment for marketing professionals, but the industry is not without budget challenges
A new jobs report has revealed an upward trend around rewards, salaries and recruitment for marketing professionals. But despite hot demand for talent, most marketers don’t feel budget allocation for project delivery is enough to deliver the best possible results.
According to the 2015/16 Michael Page Australia Salary and Employment Outlook, 83 per cent of marketing leaders will be rewarding their employees with a salary increase, and almost half plan to grow headcount over the next 12 months. Professionals with mid-level management experience are highest in demand.
“We have seen an increase in industry confidence as the jobs market for marketing professionals remains stable,” said David Khadi, director of marketing, sales, retail and digital at Michael Page Australia. “A stable economy means businesses feel more comfortable in the decisions they make and also means marketing budgets should be on the rise again.”
Khadi claimed this confidence is not just a phase and will continue to grow, given what is already happening internationally in the UK and US.
“You speak to a lot of marketers and even customers, and we’re actually behind a little bit when it comes to the technologies, social media and even the e-commerce platforms in retail,” he said. “So whether it is a strong economic time or a challenging time, the investments need to be made in marketing so businesses in Australia can maintain a competitive advantage. I think we’re going to go on a bit of a journey here and the investment will continue to flow through.”
Job types in highest demand are loyalty and acquisition marketing specialists, campaign managers, product managers and insights and analytics roles. Across Australia, the strength of hiring activity for marketing roles is strongest in Victoria, with growing improvement in other states.
“Salary increases have remained consistent, but increased confidence in the economy means there could be uplift in bonuses this year in New South Wales and Victoria,” Khadi said. “Additionally, the recent tax cuts for small and medium-sized businesses announced in the federal budget could mean higher levels of recruitment for the remainder of 2015 and going into 2016.”
“Marketers are absolutely demanding more from a budget perspective, especially when you look at all the different channels to market now and the importance of digital.” Khadi said. “That skillset will vary from business to business depending on how savvy they are with their digital component.”
According to Khadi, organisations wanting to invest in digital that don’t have the initial framework will face an associated cost not only from the infrastructure, but also headcount and how that fits in with the overall business structure.
“There will be challenges with that as well as most businesses and heads of marketing have a certain salary banding associated with certain positions within their team,” he explained. “Sometimes, digital will fall into that, but in most occasions they will fall outside of that when it comes to hiring good talent. Once you hire the right talent, the next challenge is having the ability to set up different channels for digital platforms, then investments from a technology perspective.
“So if we’re going to get a bit more market share and a bit more voice with the customer, we need the funds there to give us the opportunity to do so.”
Khadi stressed marketing has evolved and will continue to evolve as very much as a strong commercial element of any business moving forward.
“While digital is a big focus, it won’t be the only thing, it will about the holistic marketer that has every other element associated with their background,” he added.
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