The digital marketing space is continuing to accelerate with new opportunities for businesses and professionals emerging across the sector, while the sales market has moved away from traditional sales methods and embraced digital platforms to drive growth after an uncertain year.
Digital marketing dominating the job market
As with any economic downturn, companies have been prioritising their marketing strategies over the past year with the aim of driving more growth. This has led to an increased demand for marketing experts, and 2021 was one of the busiest jobs markets we have seen.
Digital and performance marketing roles have been more in demand as businesses are focused on driving high traffic to their websites, products, and services. We have seen roles within customer experience, social media, CRM, SEO, PPC, and analytics flood the market.
Based on the latest data in our 2022 marketing and sales salary guide, annual salaries for social media managers have generally increased across the UK, offering on average of £31,100 in the North East, £38,900 in London, and £35,300 in East Anglia. An SEO/PPC executive can expect an average salary of £26,000 in the North West, £23,700 in Northern Ireland, and £28,600 in the South East.
Covid-19 is continuing to dominate the way we live and has changed customer behaviours forever, with digital at the forefront of this revolution. Businesses will need to continue investing in the area and keep up with the latest trends – especially if their focus is to attract and retain staff.
This will become even more vital in 2022 as the marketing, creative and PR sectors are experiencing a shortage of candidates, as are many other industries. The market is extremely competitive at present, with jobseekers being presented with multiple job offers at once. Companies need to ensure they act fast when recruiting – good professionals aren’t available for long.
Sales embraces digital technologies
The Covid-19 pandemic meant sales professionals had to adapt to a new remote environment. We have seen growth in the size of internal sales teams over the last 12 months - particularly as the pandemic forced them to strengthen their offering to cover more ground.
This growth is reflected in salaries this year. Sales managers’ salaries have either increased or remained stable across the UK, with a 10.9% increase from last year in East Anglia, 4.5% in the North East, and 11.3% in Yorkshire and Humberside.
While the industry has struggled over the past year, things are looking up for the year ahead. We are still not quite back to pre-pandemic levels, but I am optimistic that we will be by the end of the year. Interest in sales jobs is also high, with sales seeing the sixth-highest amount of job applications via Reed.co.uk by the end of 2021 – something that will continue as we move further into 2022.
As the economy begins to strengthen, now is a great time to enter a career in sales – a sales executive can expect an average salary of £33,900 in London, £32,300 in Scotland, and £31,600 in the West Midlands - but with the market being so fast paced, companies need to work on their talent attraction methods.
Benefits to attract top talent
Competition for the top talent is fierce. Therefore, businesses need to review their benefit packages this year to stand out from the competition and attract the best professionals. Since the onset of the pandemic, employees’ expectations are higher, and they are demanding more from their employers.
Flexible working has become a benefit that most marketing and sales professionals now expect as standard, and those that fail to offer some form of flexibility will find themselves struggling to recruit. At the end of 2021, we surveyed over 500 professionals on what salaries and benefits they find most attractive, and only 4% of those surveyed said they do not want to work remotely at all. This highlights how widespread the popularity of remote working is.
We also asked participants what their top-five desired benefits were, and annual leave/paid time off was the most popular, with two-thirds of respondents stating that they find it attractive. Health insurance was ranked highly, with just over half (51%) of respondents listing it in their top-five, while performance bonuses (48%), annual salary increments (45%) and a higher-than-normal pension (44%) also featured prominently in professionals’ top five.
It is going to be an interesting year for the marketing and sales sectors, but with the fast-paced nature of the market, companies need to be strategic in how they approach their recruitment.
For more information on salaries and benefits in the sector, download our free 2024 marketing and sales salary guide here.
