Marketing and creative industry continues to advertise more jobs as salaries rise – Reed Marketing
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Advertised roles in the marketing and creative sector increase by 4 per cent in 2018, following steady increases of 5.9 per cent in 2017 and 7 per cent in 2016
Advertised salaries also increased by 1.3 per cent in 2018 with fundraising managers increasing by fastest rate in industry (6.1 per cent)
Design roles experienced large increases in advertised salaries and jobs in 2018 – UX designer (2.7 per cent salary increase, 38 per cent increase in roles advertised) and UI designer (4.3 per cent salary increase, 37 per cent increase in roles advertised)
The number of design and social media roles advertised increased by up to 38 per cent in 2018, contributing to an overall rise of 4 per cent across the marketing and creative sector, according to new data from the 2019 Reed Marketing & Creative Salary Guides.
Analysis of more than 10 million jobs posted across sectors since 2015 found that there were significant increases for UX designer (38 per cent), UI designer (37 per cent), social media manager (35 per cent) and social media executive (33 per cent) in 2018. This was despite the total number of roles advertised within the sector being below the national average of 9 per cent year on year growth in number of jobs, following healthy job growth of 5.9 per cent during 2017 and 7 per cent during 2016.
For some of these design roles the increase was not just seen in numbers, but advertised salary too. UI designer (4.3 per cent), graphic designer (4.5 per cent) and UX designer (2.7 per cent) saw increases faster than the sector average of 1.3 per cent, demonstrating the value employers place on these skillsets.
With this focus on digital skillsets, the broader technology industry unsurprisingly saw one of the highest increases in the number of roles advertised across sectors with a 10 per cent rise in 2018 following a 12.2 per cent and 12 per cent increases in 2017 and 2016, respectively.
This demand for digital skillsets was reflected in the findings of the Reed Marketing & Creative State of Skills research, which revealed that interest in SEO managers had increased by 44 per cent in the last five years and the interest in social media manager is 84 times the amount it was in 2008.
Jody King, director of Reed Marketing & Creative, says: “A level of digital skill is now expected in every marketing role, and it is a need that is developing and expanding as the industry continues to evolve. This is clearly demonstrated in this year’s salary guides, with a growth in salaries across the full marketing and creative spectrum.
“However, as our State of Skills tool indicates, ‘human’ skills such as the ability to clearly explain ideas and information to others are still vital to the marketing and communications skill set, both to deliver effective marketing communications, and to work with stakeholders – whether that’s within your organisation or to clients and suppliers. Add creativity to the mix and a marketing professional will be fully equipped for the future of the industry.”
At management level, the 2019 Reed Marketing & Creative Salary Guides found that the need for specialist skills is being recognised across a variety of disciplines. In 2018, this was demonstrated by a 12 per cent increase in advertised salaries for communications manager, a 10 per cent increase for content marketing managers and a 12 per cent increase for digital marketing managers.
Jody King continues: “It’s not just senior roles that are receiving good news. We are also seeing a rise in salaries across assistant and exec level roles, which is a positive message to those wanting to enter the industry. This generation has a native understanding of digital tech – something which our guides and the State of Skills tool highlight as a pre-requisite for success in this sector. But a constant desire to learn is required as this fast-paced, exciting industry continues to evolve.
“Marketing remains a fluid industry, with opportunities to work in roles across varying disciplines throughout a typical career. We are seeing companies investing in their marketing teams and there is a lot of compelling innovation across the sector. Finally, we are finding that marketing professionals are driven by a desire to work for an organisation based on culture, ethics and objectives – businesses should build on this to be best equipped to attract the best talent in the coming years.”
