Brand owners are crying out for marketing chiefs with data
analysis and coding experience – so-called marketing hybrids – to bridge a major skills gap, according to the head of IBM digital management.
With marketing campaigns increasingly reliant on technology, there is an increasing need for individuals with both business and IT skills claims strategy director Jay Henderson.
“Marketers used to be solely focused on the creative side… [but now businesses are] looking for someone who understands the technology and the business,” he said. “There is a demand right now for IT-skilled marketers, and there is more demand than supply.”
But Henderson said the skills gap is good news for young people willing to train in IT and develop their business acumen. “When there is a scarcity of people with the right skills, the main option is to train them.
“I think that companies have seen success with taking traditional relationship marketers and teaching them about these new digital channels, or taking an employee who has experience in the digital channels and teaching them about the traditional marketing aspect,” he said.
Broadband and telephony provider TalkTalk is one of the companies that is struggling to recruit the right talent, according to its head of data strategy, Claire Pritchard.
“It has been hard for us to recruit campaign managers as many of them do not know how to programme SAS – it’s something that an analyst would do. As it’s a premium skill, they are expensive to hire,” she said.
