Traditional marketing techniques coming second to digital marketing skills

DM News wrote this week about a significant change that is taking place across the marketing industry at the moment. According to a study, skills in analysis, measurement and search engine optimisation are becoming more important than traditional marketing competencies like branding and product promotion. They also revealed that the industry is having trouble recruiting enough people who understand the intricacies associated with the digital marketing field.

This marks an increase in accountability from marketing firms, as 73% claimed that analysis skills have become more important in the past few years. Almost a third of respondents believed that search engine marketing was now the top most important skill a marketing expert could have. This is particularly interesting, since the questions were directed at senior marketing professionals, who have seen years of changes over the industry and who don’t all specialise in the digital field. This is recognition from traditional marketing bods, who although slow on the uptake, seem to finally recognise the importance of search engine optimisation.

71% of respondents said that the current educational programmes weren’t preparing marketing graduates for this shift in emphasis, indicating that those with the know-how would soon be at a premium with a salary to match!