In February this year, Co-op announced that they have dissolved their digital marketing team. Marketing Director, Alastair Pegg, stated “there’s no such thing as a digital marketing team now, all marketing is digital marketing”. Mark Ritson of Marketing Week states that this is a move “that should come as no surprise” as digital is integrated into every aspect of marketing, so it has become near impossible to separate out specific roles for a dedicated digital team – there is inevitable crossover everywhere.
Technology has moved forward apace and marketing has embraced this. The combining of digital into marketing teams shows how adoption has succeeded within the industry, and it’s reaping the rewards as a result. What does this mean for marketing recruitment?
Generalist versus specialist
Specialist digital marketers need to maintain focus on the wider marketing strategy of a business when looking for new roles, and show how their digital experience will fit and enhance this. “We are seeing fewer and fewer job roles with digital in the title, but that obviously doesn’t mean that digital skills aren’t in demand, quite the opposite” comments Simon Bassett, Managing Director of tml Partners.
Generalist marketers need to make sure they demonstrate their grasp of digital activities and again, show that they can merge this into their marketing plans and build a suitable team around them to deliver.
“The clients we speak to are looking for marketing professionals who can implement and execute truly integrated marketing strategies” said Charlie Green, Partner at tml Partners. With marketing automation becoming a key area of development for many marketing teams, the need for digital expertise is on the rise. In order to make automation projects successful, there needs to be deep technological experience within the marketing team which then filters into all activities.
Existing digital teams
As digital teams merge into marketing teams, existing digital professionals might feel slightly under threat – once teams are merged, surely there will be some element of duplication? This is not what we are seeing. As Mark Ritson highlights, “you want multiple channels in your mix”. “The challenge is for the organisation’s marketing leader to successfully bring together and utilise multiple disciplines – and this is a skillset we are seeing in high demand among clients hiring a Chief Marketing Officer or Marketing Director” highlights Simon Bassett.
What will the result of unification be?
For clients who have successfully merged their digital and marketing teams, we’ve seen impressive results. Where there used to be dual strategies and objectives, there are now unified goals. The benefits of this are clear. Digital is no better than traditional, and vice versa, but working together brings more scope for concentrating on the customer. Businesses which focus on the customer and put them at the centre of their strategy ultimately tend to win out over the competition.
