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It has been a tumultuous few years for

industries and organizations across all

sectors, and the marketing sector has

been forced to pivot to using digital

technologies and strategies to engage

with customers.

For businesses, it has tested their readiness,

their ability to change and adapt to respond

to dramatic changes in the marketplace. For

consumers, it has shifted people’s mindsets to

one where they want purpose in their lives —to

be bolder, more adventurous, and empowered.

Plus, customers are no longer in the places

they used to be as people go online to seek out

information, make connections, and purchase.

This shift has accelerated the digital

transformation of many organizations and, as a

result, created a huge demand for skilled digital

marketing professionals, On the flip side, this

change in the way people work has prompted

workers to reassess their jobs and lives with

many choosing to resign or change careers in a

By changing the way businesses operate,

trends are emerging in the digital marketing

sector. Aspects of marketing that were once

important are moving down the list of priorities

for businesses, and new technologies and

approaches are coming into their own.

As the Digital Marketing Institute always wants

to keep on top of new digital marketing trends

they see in 2022 and beyond and how these will

impact digital skills. What emerges is a sense of

this being an exciting and challenging time for

the industry as new trends offer opportunities to

connect with customers in a meaningful way.

But, new developments also offer a challenge

to businesses as they look for the skills required

to harness the power of these trends due to the

ever-growing demand for skilled marketers, with

employees becoming more discerning about

who they work for. Plus, do marketers across the

globe have the skills required to help transform

organizations in a digital world?

According to Pew Research1, 90 percent of U.S adults say that the

internet has been essential or important during the coronavirus

pandemic, while 40 percent say they used technology in new

or different ways. Just think about the increase in video calls and

messaging apps during that time to see the growth and impact

of digital technologies.

This growth has changed the landscape of three major things in

marketing: the marketing industry, digital technologies, and marketing

skills. Let’s look at each of these in greater detail to see what to

expect and plan for in the coming years.

90% digitalmarketinginstitute.com

40% 4

of U.S adults say that the internet has

been essential or important during the

coronavirus pandemic

used technology in new

or different ways

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Customers want more from brands

in a post-pandemic world. The

pandemic has changed the habits

and behaviors of people across the

globe and while many are happy to

get a feeling of normality back, it’s

hard to say what this new ‘normal’ is.

Let’s look at three of the biggest disruptors that

the marketing industry will face this year and

beyond as revealed by our industry champions.

1. The Customer Journey is Going

Omnichannel

With so many entry and exit points for

customers on their journey to purchase, it’s

getting harder to ensure every touchpoint is

covered.

Aperto Partnership warns that it’s easy to think

customer journeys are linear or sit in a physical

silo, but that’s definitely not the case.

“Customer journeys may start in digital, move

into physical, come back to digital—a purchase

may then complete in one or other channel. So,

we need to think a bit more about omnichannel

and the implications it has for marketing

strategy,” Mortimer says.

Omnichannel marketing combines lead

nurturing and user engagement across multiple

channels, platforms, and devices in a seamless

way. This approach can connect in-store to a

website to enable in-app purchases as done

by beauty brand Sephora, or we can see

Amazon’s approach of syncing carts between

app and website so no items are lost. When

it’s executed well, omnichannel offers a brand

greater reach, happier customers, and higher

revenue.

Despite millions of people going online to shop

during the pandemic, many customers still

prefer in-person shopping. Raydiant’s report,

‘The State of Consumer Behavior 2021’2, found

that nearly half of consumers prefer to shop

in-store rather than online. This is because

consumers want to touch and see products

“Customer journeys may start in digital,

move into physical, come back to digital—a

purchase may then complete in one or other

channel. So, we need to think a bit more about

omnichannel and the implications it has for

marketing strategy,” Mortimer says.

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before buying while a quarter of them enjoy the

experience of in-store shopping.

Association says: “The customer experience piece

is something I think that gets lost as we get hung

up on the strategy of how we execute. But you need

to remember what it is you’re trying to do and keep

perspective on how things hang together for an end-

to-end customer experience.”

For marketers, an omnichannel approach allows

them to look at the bigger picture. Customers have

different behaviors and like to review and purchase

in different ways. What this means is that brands

need to optimize multiple touchpoints in a journey to

ensure they are connected and the route from one to

the other is uninterrupted.

After all, this is exactly what today’s consumer

expects from an online experience. Fall below that,

and you risk losing them to another brand.

Digital marketing skills required: customer

experience, content marketing, digital strategy,

ecommerce, website optimization, and social media

marketing.

2. ‘Home’ Presents Exciting Opportunities

Since the coronavirus pandemic began, people have

been forced to change their lifestyles and habits.

Staying at home made people used to, and more

comfortable with, their environment. This resulted in a

new relationship with the home.

While the end of lockdowns means people started

to go back to their old routines, many have found

their new way of life —alongside remote and hybrid

working—attractive. In addition, many people have

now made their homes more comfortable and

practical to fit in with this new way of living ( just

search for all the #sheshed home offices!)

“Home is one of the fastest growth channels so

we’re going to see more commerce taking place

there. For example, a refrigerator will become a smart

technology where you can order, watch movies or

see inside remotely. The next decade will see more

Internet of Things through sensors while ecommerce

will become faster and more local,” says Mischa

Marketing Institute (DMI).

This rise can be seen in the prevalence of voice-

enabled technology such as Alexa and Amazon

Echo.

McKinsey3 predicts that by 2024, AI-generated

speech will make up 50 percent of people’s

interactions with computers while the smart speaker

industry could be worth $35.5 billion by 2025.

As a result, marketers need to figure out how to

target customers in their home environment. For

example, ‘smart home’ devices will allow brands to

build awareness and add value.

Take Hewlett Packard (HP) as an example. Their

‘HP Instant Ink’ program monitors the amount of ink

in cartridges so that when it runs low, they send a

replacement cartridge straight to the home, meaning

a customer never runs out of ink and it’s hassle-free

ordering.

Digital marketing skills required: digital strategy,

customer experience. search marketing, AI, paid

advertising (PPC), and SEO.

Association says: “The customer experience piece

is something I think that gets lost as we get hung

up on the strategy of how we execute. But you need

to remember what it is you’re trying to do and keep

perspective on how things hang together for an end-

to-end customer experience.”

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3) Sales & Marketing Departments Must

Modernize

For many years, there have been discussions across

organizations about the need for sales and marketing

teams to be more aligned in order to drive leads and

revenue.

When we dig deeper into the reasons for

misalignment between marketers and sellers it’s

down to a few simple things:

Ɉ The teams consult different sets of data:

marketers rely on a CRM, but sellers may be

using an unconnected sales database.

Ɉ Marketers have different goals and metrics to

sellers: marketers focus on Cost Per Lead (CPL)

while sellers report on number of sales.

Ɉ Buyers are seen in different ways: a

salesperson may focus on location, while

a marketer looks at broad demographic

information.

Ɉ Teams do not meet or communicate often

enough: a monthly meeting may pay lip service,

but it will not help drive information sharing and

alignment.

Ɉ They speak different languages: while sales

reps talk about pipelines, marketers talk about

funnels.

But this misalignment may be changing. In 2021,

70 percent of marketers used Account-Based

Marketing4 (a collaborative growth strategy) in

their organization to connect marketing and sales

departments while 67 percent of brands leveraged

ABM to create personalized experiences for

customers.

sees a positive shift in marketing having an impact

on the sales department. “What I see in my role is

creating more of a connected sales and marketing

organization. That can only be good.”

Kearney believes that this shift requires a new

approach by companies in their training. “Digital skills

are required for marketers, but it’s changing just

as quickly in sales. A lot of traditional organizations

have to think not about the in-person or the field-

based, but how do they create the omnichannel of

connecting with the market? So, I think there’s a real

opportunity to float all boats and upskill marketing

and sales.”

Digital marketing skills required: ABM, social selling,

digital strategy, data analysis, content marketing,

social media marketing.

sees a positive shift in marketing having an impact

on the sales department. “What I see in my role is

creating more of a connected sales and marketing

organization. That can only be good.”

Marketing technology (martech) has

seen a huge growth in recent years.

Between 2019 and 2020, marketing

technology tools saw the fastest growth

of all technologies at over 25 percent,

followed by management solutions at 15

percent (according to Statista).

As an industry worth nearly $345 billion

worldwide⁵, martech is a sector that keeps

growing due to the demand from businesses

wanting to find ever easier and more effective

ways to attract and retain customers.

Gartner’s ‘The State of Marketing Budgets 2021’6

found that CMOs are recognizing that martech

growth by allocating over 72 percent of their

budgets to pure digital channels. This includes

websites, email marketing, digital ads, and social

media marketing.

With so many technologies to improve marketing

performance, which ones will make an impact

when it comes to engagement and brand

awareness?

Let’s look at three of the most important for the

future and their impact on digital skills.

1. The Metaverse Will Change Things

It’s no coincidence that Facebook’s parent

company decided to reinvent itself as Meta. The

goal of the rebrand according to its CEO, Mark

Zuckerberg is to reflect its focus on the metaverse

- an immersive, online world where people are

represented by avatars.

This virtual world uses holograms, augmented and

virtual reality along with video, and already has

millions of users inhabiting these spaces through

games like Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox.

Brands have tapped into the popularity of these

immersive games, particularly amongst the

Millennial, Gen X, and even Gen Alpha markets

through personalized and creative advertising.

A collaboration between Fortnite and the

‘Jumpman’ for Nike’s Air Jordan saw players

exchange their V-bucks for two outfits called

Clutch and Grind wearing red versions of the

famous Air Jordan sneakers. Roblox launched

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Mean Percentage of Budget Shown

n = 384 marketing leaders. Excludes don’t knows Q. How is your total marketing expense budget for the current fiscal year being allocated to or spent on each of the following marketing channels? Source: Gartner CMO Spend Survey 2021

Offline Ads

Partner / Affiliate

Events

Earned Digital

Paid Digital

Owned Digital

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‘Vans world’ with skateboard brand Vans to allow

players to try out new tricks in return for virtual points

to spend on their avatar. The skate park has seen

over 48 million visitors7 at the end of 2021.

What the metaverse offers marketers is a new

domain to engage and promote to prospects. Just

think of how the real estate industry could use the

metaverse to host virtual viewings or the automotive

industry could put on car shows to offer people an

immersive experience of their newest model.

However, Adara Bowen, CP of Growth at the

American Marketing Association warns it’s best

to always keep the customer in mind when you

delve into new technologies. “In the midst of getting

excited about a new technology or you’re trying to

figure out how to get into the metaverse, have you

lost sight of the customer?”

Digital skills required: SEO, content and social media

marketing (Facebook & Snapchat particularly), paid

search, digital strategy, customer experience, AR &

VR knowledge.

2. Marketers Need to Understand

Algorithms

While it’s crucial to market to humans, marketers

today also need to take algorithms into account in

their strategy. Ultimately, algorithms decide where

your content is seen and who sees it on search

engines and social media.

Unfortunately, algorithms are tricky things as the

way they work is not fully transparent and they are

changed regularly to keep pace with customer

experience. Recent updates have seen Google

and user experience while the BERT update was

aimed at improving search queries.

These algorithms pose a challenge for brands

wanting to get the attention of customers. How do

you get your content onto the first page of Google,

for example, or feature on someone’s TikTok feed?

According to Mischa McInerney, Director of

out how to market to algorithms. There’s a lot of

commerce that happens out of sight, and more

decisions in marketing are being made by

What’s the solution for brands and marketing teams?

Include a human touch when you talk to customers,

but keep a close eye on any algorithm changes to

see if you need to fine tune your strategy.

Remember that algorithms are fallible and can miss

out by not understanding the context of your content.

Ultimately, it’s about having relevant, high-quality, and

SEO-optimized content across channels.

Digital marketing skills required: social media

marketing, search engine marketing, SEO, website

optimization, content marketing, and customer

experience.

3. There’s Life After the Third-Party Cookie

The third-party cookie has been a valuable tool for

marketers. It has allowed brands to track web visitors,

collect data to aid targeting, and improve user

experience according to user behavior. However,

due to data privacy and regulatory issues, 2023 sees

out how to market to algorithms. There’s a lot of

commerce that happens out of sight, and more

decisions in marketing are being made

by algorithms.”

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So while you can no longer rely on data from

other sites or data marts, you will still have the

capability to track data from your own assets

that can provide insights for your marketing

strategy and campaigns.

“If you’re looking at the death of the third-party

cookie, then the two streams of a marketing

and technology strategy should be tightly

interlinked,” says Brian Lavery, Manager of

“Everything should feed into a Customer Data

Platform (CDP) or data warehouse to inform

intelligent, customer-facing decisions that will

enable externally-facing stuff as cookies go

away. Because companies will be scrounging

for more sources of intelligence on their

users as third-party sources are more fully

deprecated,” Lavery states.

For brands, it means that any website or

landing pages need to be able to track data

effectively. It’s no good having great UX and

messaging if there’s no way to see what people

are doing when they navigate and click on your

assets.

addresses will become invaluable as a way to

connect and nurture, so businesses must build

and refine their databases and collect data

from alternative sources.

Digital skills required: data analysis, email

marketing, customer experience, and digital

strategy.

“If you’re looking at the death of the third-party

cookie, then the two streams of a marketing

and technology strategy should be tightly

interlinked,” says Brian Lavery, Manager of

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You’ve learned about the developments facing the

marketing industry, and the most important digital

technologies. But neither of these alone will realize

success for a company unless they have the skills

available to use them effectively.

Across countries and industries, companies are

looking for digital talent. They want to fill the skills

gaps in their companies in order to succeed in an

online world. There are many ways to engage and

convert customers, but it’s about choosing the right

strategies and channels that will work for a product

or service.

Let’s look at four important developments in the

digital marketing skills and job sector to see what’s

next.

1. The Great Resignation Will Create

Skill Gaps

In a phenomenon known as ‘The Great Resignation’,

the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics8 reported that

between April and November 2021 more than 24

million Americans left their jobs - an all-time high.

There were also 10.6 million job openings and 6.9

million unemployed people in November 2021.

After digging through workplace and Glassdoor

review data, a team at MIT9 discovered that ‘The

Great Resignation’ is not just about pay, but a

multitude of factors.

Ɉ Job insecurity and company restructure

Ɉ A toxic workplace culture

Ɉ Lack of recognition around job performance

Ɉ A poor response to the coronavirus pandemic

Ɉ Workers needing to drive innovation

This research shows that a person’s decision to work

and stay with a company is down to a lot more than

salary.

They want to feel valued and part of a company,

rather than just a number. Interestingly, while

innovation is what brands strive to accomplish, many

employees can find it daunting and feel that a lot of

the work required to succeed is down to them.

“There’s an interesting trend emerging where people

have changed careers and resigned from their jobs.

What does that mean for potential skills gaps? How

do you retain people and make sure that they have

a purpose?” asks Mischa McInerney, Director

of Marketing at DMI.

The answer may lie in a new type of employee

engagement. Many people that chose to resign

were in the mid-stages of their career—a 20 percent

increase—with the technology and healthcare

industries experiencing high turnover rates. Both

of these cohorts dealt with high workloads due to

the pandemic and may have seen more cases of

burnout.

This mass exodus will leave key digital marketing

skills gaps in organizations that will impact the

bottom line. What’s the answer?

Examine and quantify the reasons people are

quitting. By understanding their motivation to leave

you can develop targeted interventions and tailored

retention programs. Could performance reviews help

identify issues earlier? Would a personalized training

program help in upskilling and retention?

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2. Who is the Ultimate Marketer:

Generalist or Specialist?

This question has been raised many times over

the past few years, particularly as digital channels

and technologies have become more popular

and integral to business success. As a marketing

professional, is it best to have generalist and

all-round skills or become a specialist in a certain

discipline?

There’s no simple answer. In many cases, the

decision is up to the individual and depends

on the roles that are of interest and the goals

someone has in their career. However, members

of our GIAC believe that a balance needs to be

found between the two extremes.

“We teach marketers to have a very broad

generalist set of skills, and historically we’ve

taught digital people to be absolute subject

matter experts. Those two have got to

meet somewhere in the middle for digital

transformations to actually succeed,” says

What marketers need to be wary of is being too

complacent when it comes to digital marketing.

New skills and knowledge are required

to compete for consumer attention in an

increasingly busy space and some marketers are

slow to catch up.

says: “There are a whole bunch of marketeers

out there that are still (working) in the ‘90s that

you can’t forget to bring them into the present

and educate them that the world is changing

really quickly.”

It’s not necessarily about specialization, but skills.

Marketers and businesses need to look at the

capabilities they want to have in the digital space

and find talent that can help them to achieve that,

whether it’s a digital marketer with a range of

skills or a specialist in Artificial Intelligence, SEO,

or content marketing.

“We teach marketers to have a very broad

generalist set of skills, and historically we’ve

taught digital people to be absolute subject

matter experts. Those two have go to

m et somewhere in the mi dle for digital

transformations to actually su c ed,” says

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3. Soft Skills are More Important

While specialized digital skills can help

distinguish a digital marketer, employers today

are looking for something extra. What many

brands want is marketers with innate ability or

experience and knowledge cultivated over years

of working in the industry. These qualities are

known as soft skills.

“Soft skills keep rising to the top as the most

important skills. So, whether you need to

influence internally and have the soft skills for

that, or try to help marketers remember that

there’s a human being

Examples of soft skills that companies are now

looking for in a hire include:

Ɉ Intuition

Ɉ Creativity

Ɉ Persuasion

Ɉ Curiosity

Ɉ Analysis

Ɉ Adaptability

“I think that some of those soft skills are why

you’re doing what you’re doing. What are you

trying to accomplish? Is this making sense for

the business? I think that’s important. And that’s

the thing I find often gets lost,” states Bowen.

Upskilling is Crucial

It’s obvious that there’s a huge amount of

change in the digital marketing space, and

keeping up with it is going to be crucial for

marketers that want to succeed. As the need

to be digital has accelerated, companies need

to provide training support to ensure that

employees have the skills they need.

Partnership believes that it’s about companies

knowing how to manage change in digital that

doesn’t just focus on technology. “There’s

a McKinsey statistic that 7 out of 10 digital

transformations fail. So, if you want to be in the 3

out of 10 that’s succeeding, how are we training

marketers? Because marketers should be driving

a lot of this to lead change this transformation.”

pe to Partnership believes th t it’s about

companies knowing how to manage change

in digital that d esn’t just focus on technology.

“There’s a McKinsey statistic that 7 out of 10

digital transforma ions fail. So, if you want to

be in the 3 out of 10 that’s s cceeding, how

are we training marketers? Becaus marketers

should be driving a lot of this to lead change

this transformation.”

TOP SKILLS GAPS IN THIS COMPETENCY

ɉ Digital Strategy ɉ Omniture ɉ Link Building ɉ Search Advertising ɉ Off-Page SEO

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at the center?” states

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New LinkedIn research10 based on their

job listings discovered that in 2021, digital

marketing and social media jobs are trending.

Half of the top 10 jobs posted on the platform

are in the digital or media space with the top

skills being social media, search, and SEO.

It also found that as demand for digital

marketing has increased, skills in search

advertising, off-page SEO, digital strategy,

omniture, and link building will help marketers

stand out.

Managers also need training when it comes

to managing digital marketing professionals.

at Google says that it’s a different type of

toolkit for a manager to run a team and track

performance. “It’s a very different mindset

and a different set of skills. It’s almost like the

manager’s transition, if you haven’t managed

an all-digital team before and then you move

over in that space, how do you get used to

the roles and numbers you need to get up to

speed with?”

For companies looking to keep ahead of the

curve, it’s key to look at your planned or future

digital marketing activities and see what skills

you require—and that includes management.

If you don’t have the skills in-house, look at

offering training that can fill the gaps to upskill

and empower your workforce.

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Advertising

Social Media

Digital Marketing

Relative supply to demand index*

*weighted supply to demand ratio of skills - supply is the number of members with a skill, demand is based off the number of hires of members with that skill in the time period between 2020-05 and 2021-05. Furthermore, only full-time positions are considered.

The great mismatch surfaces in the ‘Digital Marketing’ skills

Data Science

Graphic Design

Product Marketing

Corporate Communications

Sales Operations

Web Development

Writing

As an industry, digital marketing is constantly

moving. New developments and technologies

mean that brands need to adapt quickly

to harness the power of digital to engage

prospects, drive leads, and boost revenue.

Customers are now even more comfortable

operating in an online space and want to

understand the ethos and meaning behind a

brand. Transparency is crucial and companies

need to create a synergy between what their

consumers care about and what their product

or service offers to stay competitive.

Not only that, but customers want a lot

more from their journey. It needs to be

seamless across multiple touchpoints with

the opportunity to purchase where they feel

comfortable, whether that’s through a social

media app, website, refrigerator, or chatbot.

This evolving customer-led landscape puts

more demand on companies to have the digital

skills required to devise strategies and execute

campaigns. It’s up to companies to sit back,

analyze and figure out what skills they require

to move forward in this new world.

Does your team need a PPC specialist, a

social media marketing guru, an SEO nerd

or is a skilled email marketer now crucial in

the absence of third-party cookies? Will a

marketing generalist or specialist be a better fit

in the company for what’s required?

Whichever route a brand takes, the competition

for digital marketing talent is fierce. And that’s

great news for marketers that take the time to

learn new skills and hone existing ones. In 2022

and beyond, it will be about keeping up with

the developments and trends that matter to

businesses and consumers.

Ultimately, there’s no getting away from the fact

that new skills are always required to compete.

Plus, the pace of change means that existing

knowledge can become redundant quickly. To

ensure continued success, the industry needs

to actively seek out skilled digital marketers

and offer relevant and cutting-edge training to

existing marketers and managers to fill any skill

gaps.

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1. ‘The Internet and the Pandemic’, Pew Research Center

2. ‘The State of Consumer Behavior 2021’, Raydiant

3. ‘The top trends in tech’, McKinsey & Company

4. ‘38 Account-Based Marketing Stats to Know in 2021’, Hubspot

5. ‘Global Martech Industry Worth $344.8bn in 2021’, Martech Alliance

6. ‘The State of Marketing Budgets 2021’, Gartner

7. ‘Brands No Longer See Metaverse-Like Worlds as Abstract Gimmicks’, The Wall Street Journal

8. ‘Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey’, U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics

9. ‘Toxic Culture Is Driving the Great Resignation’, MIT Sloan Management Review

10. ‘The Most Valuable Digital Marketing Skills to Have on Your LinkedIn Profile This Year’, Tequia Burt, Editor in Chief, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions Blog

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