The marketing industry evolves at a rapid pace. Best practices can change month to month and as a result, staying ahead in this industry can be extremely difficult. Researching emerging practices and reading about the latest trends is essential to staying relevant.
Ladders, a job search company, recently gathered information from professionals in the marketing space. The graphic focuses on staying up to date in the current landscape. Marketing professionals answered a series of questions, including what advice they would give to new marketers based on their career experiences. Along with a depiction of the results, is some supplemental reading every marketer should be familiar with!
The marketing space will only continue to evolve as time goes on. Use some of these tips and make sure to avoid extinction!
How to avoid becoming a marketing dinosaur
8 essential tips from marketers on breaking in and staying relevant.
2x Marketing salaries for great marketers will double over the next 5 years.
Dharmesh Shah, Founder and CTO at Hubspot and Co-creator of Inbound.org
Marketing’s changed so rapidly, more in the past five years than in the past 500 years.
Sanjay Dholakia, Marketo chief marketing officer
20 years also marketing meant buying tv ads and sending direct mail. Now the industry is flush with so many new channels and ways to digitally engage customers that it can be easy to get left behind. The marketing world never stops evolving. We spoke with some real-life marketing professionals to see how they stay afloat.
What is your educational background (majors and/or focus)? How do you feel your degree has aged as your career has progressed?
One of the advantages of having a liberal arts degree is that you are exposed to many ideas and usually have to write – a lot. Writing is probably one of the most marketable skills as almost everyone needs a copy. Says Alison Murdock, 6Sense.
To be perfectly honest, what I learned outside of the classroom was much more beneficial for my work within the marketing field.
Jason Parks, Media Captain Founder
The successful marketers that are really making waves in the industry are the ones that learned how to study and continue to do so throughout their career. The study, hypothesize and test aspects of the field every day. Says Michelle Stinson Ross, Authority Labs.
The management pieces of my degree have aged very well, and although I never think to myself, “Okay, time to apply concept A from textbook B” I know that I do passively use a lot of the skills I learned during my degree program. However, the marketing classes have definitely not held up well over time. Says Jen Salamandick, Kick Point.
The Marketers Field Guide
Top books to read and sites to follow recommended by professionals.
Top Websites
- Moz
- Hubspot
- Quicksprout
- Marketing Land
Top Books
- Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson
- His Entire Collection by Seth Godin
- The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
- Girl Boss by Sophia Amoruso
An estimated 131,500 new market research analyst jobs opening this year, and another 22,900 openings are anticipated for marketing managers. Says Dharmesh Shah, Founder, and CTO at Hubspot and Co-Creator of Inbound.org.
If you could give one piece of advice to a new marketer looking to stay on top of the ever-changing best practices what would it be?
Marketing is the type of field where you will learn the most by trial and error. That is why it is important to take jobs or internships where you can learn. Says Jason Parks, Media Captain Founder.
Do your job and take it a step further. If you have an idea, share it. Otherwise, someone else will come up with that idea and you won’t progress. Don’t be afraid to share your ideas, and don’t obsess over the “9 to 5” concept. Says Laura Ellner, Unracked Marketing.
I wish instructors and professors would push students to learn a holistic set of skills to actually do work for clients because that is what the industry is growing to be – actual work for clients that gets them the results they want. Says Jen Salamandick, Kick Point.
Don’t settle for an answer or method because that’s how it’s always been done – there is always another way. May not get used, but at least look at it.
Danny Brown, Dannybrown.me
Tactics without a strategy will fail to deliver and may fail entirely. Learn marketing strategy. Vision statements. Mission statements. These things mattered 20 years ago when I started out. They matter today. They will matter in 20 years’ time. Says Marcus Miller, Bowler Hat.
The unemployment rate for marketers with the right mix of skills is trending toward zero.
The marketing landscape has changed dramatically in the past 10 years and shows no signs of slowing. Never stop learning and exploring to meet the demands of the digital marketing world.
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