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Almost 50% of Gen Z considering marketing career

Almost 50 percent of Gen Zs (16-24-year-olds) say they are considering careers in the marketing industry, according to new research from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).

Over a fifth of the young people surveyed also perceive marketing as a safe career choice, signalling a surge of fresh talent is to hit the industry.

The survey of 1,000 16-24-year-olds undertaken by CIM revealed 46% we interested in marketing careers and that as a result there has been a rise in the number of students starting marketing courses.

The University of Liverpool Management School reported that demand for its BA Marketing course has been exceptionally high for the year 2021-2022. The establishment attributes this to a variety of factors including a shift in how marketingis perceived as a discipline by business leaders, which they say correlates with the rise in marketing roles being offered.

The qualitative survey also showed that many of the CIM-accredited study centres enrolled saw an increased number of self-funded marketing students while furlough schemes were in operation.

Maggie Jones, director of qualifications and partnerships at CIM said: “We’ve seen two things happening during the pandemic. The first is that young people have recognised the resilient and adaptive nature of marketing and want to pursue a career in this field.

“The second is that many marketing professionals have invested in their own development and have self-funded additional learning and qualifications while being furloughed. It’s clear that people want to thrive in marketing.”

While incumbent industry professionals may have been funding their own development, the research showed that over 70% of Gen Z newcomers to the industry expect their training to be funded by employers.

Jones added: “Students and young professionals are coming into the industry after a unique couple of years. To ensure they don’t fall behind through a lack of practical experience, Gen Z expects employers to invest in training opportunities to compensate for the loss of skills during the pandemic. This highlights the need for employers to reassess their training programmes.”

Out of the CIM accredited universities and Study Centres surveyed, they all reported that students value CIM accreditation and understand that it better prepares them for the world of work.

In response to an open question in the study, Dr Elvira Ismagilova, BSc (Hons) Marketing programme lead from The University of Bradford stated that students chose their Marketing and Management MSc as the CIM accreditation ‘reflected the high quality of the programme and post graduate employability along with access to resources and networking opportunities’.

CIM offers a range of professionally recognised marketing and digital marketingqualifications designed to develop the core skills needed to succeed within the marketing industry. Many of these courses are available through over 100 Accredited Study Centres (ASCs) across the UK and internationally.

In addition to qualifications, CIM works with UK and international universities to offer practical work experience for Gen Zs through real-life business project challenges, by delivering The Pitch competition. The competition, aimed at undergraduate students in their second or third year of university allows them to pitch their ideas to a panel of industry leaders in the marketing industry by responding to real life marketing challenge. CIM believes that not only having the right marketing skills, behaviours and technical abilities is key, but students need to gain transferable business capabilities to enhance their employability.

To find out more about CIM marketing qualifications, click here: https://www.cim.co.uk/qualifications/

Marketing directors ‘bullish’ about post-COVID outlook

The UK’s top 50 chief marketing officers are bullish about the growth of their organisations as the country emerges from lockdown, according to new research from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).

CIM’s latest report, ‘The CMO 50’, reveals that 71% of marketing leaders believe that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a positive impact on the perception of their brand, despite more than half (57%) having seen marketing budgets cut over the last year.

Whilst 52% believe that the marketing sector is stronger than five years ago. Only 20% believed it was weaker.

The research shows CMOs are optimistic about the post covid economy with levels of confidence rated at 81 out of 100. In comparison overall business optimism was rated at just 62 out of 100.

Marketing leaders identified four clear themes underpinning their future plans to adapt to the needs of the post-Covid economy:

  1. Adaptation to changes in technology and data;
  2. Motivating, retaining and managing people;
  3. Recruitment and development of the right skills;
  4. Demonstrating the value of marketing investment vs. expenditure.

The research also identified a desire to address regulatory issues affecting marketing. Just 26% of the CMOs believe the current regulatory regime for alcohol, gambling, HFSS (high fat, salt and sugar) products and environmentally damaging goods is fit for purpose, and the majority would back rules equivalent to those for cigarettes to restrict the marketing of potentially harmful goods and services.

  • 76% back marketing restrictions for products that damage the environment, keen to see limits similar to those for cigarettes.
  • 72% back restrictions for gambling, 58% for products aimed at children, 54% for unhealthy HFSS foods and 34% for alcohol.
  • More than half (54%) of marketing leaders think there is currently too little regulation of social media, and just 44% feel it is not the responsibility of marketers to protect the users of their social media channels. 

Chris Daly (pictured), chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Marketing said: “Marketing leaders calling for restrictions on marketing may seem counterintuitive, but it reflects a clear shift in our society towards purpose driven marketing. Marketers have been at the forefront of helping the nation adapt to the strictures of lockdown, and in doing so have built stronger relationships with consumers. That hard-won reputational boost has the potential to accelerate economic growth as we emerge from lockdown, and professional marketers are rightly wary of loose regulatory controls allowing a few bad apples to sour the trust of consumers.”

The acceleration of structural shifts in society’s use of technology is reflected in the views of marketers. 92% of those interviewed, believed that brands had a direct duty to pull advertising from social media platforms that failed to protect users. Just 44% felt that the protection of social media users lay outside the responsibility of marketers. In contrast, 86% agreed that professional marketers should encourage social media platforms to do more to protect users.

Daly added: “To prosper, a professional marketer needs clear parameters within which to work. Give them the rules and a level playing field and marketers will adapt and deliver. Having accommodated the necessary changes of GDPR, the UK’s most senior marketers are right to be wary of the dangers that poorly policed social media platforms pose to the long-term growth of their brands and the wider economy. The UK marketing community has an opportunity to build back better by targeting spend and training on marketing channels and products that deliver greater value to our society.”

Age divide in marketing training creating ‘significant’ digital skills deficit

Marking Learning at Work Week 2021 (17-23 May), the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) has revealed research which uncovers a significant age divide in the upskilling of UK marketing professionals.

CIM’s latest report ‘Digital Vision, living on the cutting edge’ found the majority of marketers over the age of 55 had received no training at all in the last two years, sparking concern that senior marketers may not be keeping up with the rapid digital pace of change in the sector.  

This comes after it emerged the number of unemployed people aged over 50 in the UK rose to 371,000 in 2020, a 33% rise compared to the previous year.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift towards digital, yet the CIM research reveals that as the pandemic hit, large swathes of marketers had not updated their skills for a number of years.

  • Training deficit – One in three marketers (35%) had not attended any internal or external training courses, events or conferences in the past two years.
  • Age divide – This lack of training and upskilling increases dramatically with age – 44% of 45-54 year olds, 62% of 55-64 year olds and 74% of those over 65. By contrast only 7% of those aged 16-24 had received no training.

Senior professionals overlooked for learning and development – Four in ten (41%) senior marketing professionals did not participate in training, a higher proportion than at all other levels of seniority. 

The low levels of training among older marketers are occurring despite an acknowledgement among 71% of marketers that young people are ahead of older generations in digital marketing skills.

Meanwhile nearly half of professionals (44%) say marketers who don’t have formal training could pose a risk to their organisations.

In some critical areas, such as data and analytics, social media and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), it is clear junior staff have focused on their development, improving their digital skills to address key customer requirements or to further their careers.

The specialists have become more expert, improving their knowledge but not breadth of digital skills, whilst managers and heads have spread their skills and, in some cases, fallen back.

The report is the latest in CIM’s Impact of Marketing series which surveyed more than 1,200 marketers, from across both private and public sectors. The report finds widespread concern about the dramatic changes in the skills required of modern marketing professionals:

  • Rapid change – Six in ten marketers (63%) say the pace of change in marketing is greater than ever.
  • A completely different skill set – Six in ten marketers (62%) agree that the marketing skill set has completely changed over the past ten years. Only 9% disagree.
  • Struggling to keep up – Almost half of marketers (44%) say that they find it difficult to keep up with the changing demands of marketing.

Chris Daly, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Marketing said: “The marketing sector has been through a huge transition in the past few years; adapting to new rules on data protection; evolving to incorporate an array of new digital channels; and responding to changing social attitudes. 

“It is worrying that so many of our peers, especially senior level marketers, have undertaken no training to help them adapt to these changes. We can understand why they might be prioritising the training of less experienced members of their team and feel they don’t have the time to fit training in, but keeping up to date in this fast paced industry should be a priority, especially when accessing learning and development is easier than it’s ever been. 

“In a sector that has faced such dramatic change in recent years, marketers who fail to upskill may be putting both their careers and their organisational growth at risk.” 

60% believed that a complete focus on digital skills can come at the expense of core marketing skills. This is felt significantly more keenly amongst 25-44 year olds. With content development at the heart of marketing it was surprising to see 59% felt good copywriting wasn’t common in the sector. Data analysis was also seen to be in decline with only 61% perceiving it as a common skills gap.

Public demands social networks combat ‘fake news’

85% of people agree that social media companies have a responsibility to remove fake news, according to new research by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).

The vast majority (79%) of people also believe that social media companies should be monitoring for fake news on their platforms. Only four in ten (39%) believe government shares this responsibility, running counter to points raised by former Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg now of Facebook, earlier this week.

The results of a nationwide survey of over 2,000 adults is being published ahead of the close of the Government’s consultation on online harms on 1 July and will feature in CIM’s submission to the consultation.

The results point to the fact that the Government’s White Paper doesn’t address the presence of fake news on social media unless it is causing a specific harm. Our research uncovered a widespread expectation that social media companies are responsible for removing fake news from their platforms.

Chris Daly, Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, said: “At CIM, we are concerned about the damage fake content has upon public trust. As marketers we spend £3.9bn on internet display advertising with the aim of bringing value to our customers.* Our professional members and the marketing industry as a whole needs confidence they are spending their marketing budgets wisely.

The public are unequivocal in their belief that it is the responsibility of social media companies to find and remove fake news from their platforms. Yet the Government’s proposals for regulating social media platforms will not require them to monitor and remove it. In other words, even after the introduction of regulation, fake news may continue unchecked.”

Half of adults (51%) with a social media account say that they have seen something they would consider to be fake news in the past three months, with a third of people (31%) saying they had seen fake news in the past week.

This prevalence of fake news on social media is the likely cause of declining confidence in the accuracy of social media content. In a similar survey in 2014, the Chartered Institute of Marketing found that 62% indicated that they trusted content on social media (giving a score of 6 out of ten or more). By 2019, this had fallen to 34%, with only 1% saying that they are very confident (a score of nine or ten out of ten) that information on social media is accurate or genuine.

The Government’s proposals also provide an exemption for private messaging. However, when asked as part of the survey most of the public believe that there should be some level of monitoring of private messages on platforms like WhatsApp.

  • Monitoring of messages made by people with a history of problematic behaviour online is backed by 41%
  • While 31% believe private messages should be monitored for “buzz words”
  • Only one in four (26%) said that they did not believe private messages should be monitored

Image by Pixelkult from Pixabay

Revealed: What school leavers want from a marketing career

A-Level results are in – and research from CIM has found that the next generation of marketers prioritise job security over working for a cutting-edge brand, and retain a gloomy outlook about today’s job market

The survey of 500 young people aged 17-19, who have left school or college in the past six months, found that four in 10 (41%) are interested in a career in marketing.

Around a quarter (28%) felt the best way to embark on that career was by going to university, a fifth (21%) said a trainee marketing job, and 14% thought the best route was through a marketing qualification.

The research also found that young women are more likely (45%) to want to work in marketing than men (34%). Of those going to university, 38% said they would consider a job in marketing, compared to 44% of those not going to university.

The findings also suggest that the next generation of young people may have a different outlook to millennials who, according to previous research, put a job with meaning above one with high pay.

Rather than cutting-edge start-ups, or businesses focusing on delivering social good, respondents reported that their preferred employers are likely to be large, successful companies – job security and good pay are their top priorities.

The survey of future marketers found:

  • Established firms vs innovative start-ups: 64% would choose to work in a multinational (36%) or established British firm (28%). Only a small proportion would prefer to work in an innovative start-up (11%), a small business (12%), or a charity or social enterprise (6%).
  • High salary over social value: A high salary (44%) was viewed as more important than a career that helps people (33%).
    Successful business vs cutting edge: 60% said it was very or extremely important to work in a business that is successful, compared to 35% who said that it was important to work in a business at the ‘cutting edge’ of its industry, and the 28% who wanted to work for a prestigious brand.

Chris Daly, CEO of CIM said: “This research sends an important message to businesses and marketing departments looking to attract the next generation of talent. We shouldn’t be surprised, in the current economic climate, that young people are prioritising job security in big established firms.

“These young people have grown up during an extended economic downturn, so it may be that the stability and job security of large successful firms is what appeals to them most.”

When asked what they would be prepared to give up to secure their dream job, the benefit most respondents were prepared to sacrifice was a company car (48%). Meanwhile, only 39% said they would be prepared to work at the weekend, and only 29% would be willing to give up training.

The research also reveals that these next-gen marketers have a gloomy outlook about today’s job market.

Just half of school leavers (53%) feel optimistic about landing a job that they really want, while others believe difficulty achieving the right qualifications (34%), and difficulty developing the right skills (27%) will prevent them from finding their dream job. A third (29%) of school leavers feel pessimistic about their career prospects, with young people living in London (49%) revealed as the most pessimistic in the UK.

Students opting to go to University are more optimistic (60%) about their job options compared to those not going to University (47%). The research also shows a gender split, with women more pessimistic (32%) about their job prospects than men (21%).

“It’s worrying that so many young people feel pessimistic about the job market – and that in many cases, what they are most concerned about is having the right skills or qualifications to find a job they love,” Daly added.

“Across all professions, access to training should be a business requirement rather than a nice-to-have. Marketing is a good example of a sector that has clear training and progression opportunities, not only for those looking to enter the job market for the first time, but at every stage to help support learning and development.”

CIM

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT: Chartered Institute of Marketing cites YouGov survey on ethical advertising

Pulling advertising from YouTube and other parts of Google might appear an extreme reaction by M&S and HSBC, but they could be just the tip of the iceberg, says Chris Daly, CEO of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

This year it will become increasingly common to see brands taking action to build an ethical company name, and ensure they are engaging in reputable marketing practices.

The CIM’s recent YouGov survey revealed almost nine out of ten (87%) of marketers feel there is now more pressure for their brand to act ethically and provide a role model for society.

This is not just because it’s a good thing to do so: 89% believe the internet, and particularly social media, is giving consumers more information on how brands behave and more power to affect change.

“It is no surprise, then, that 70% reported they were concerned about factors outside of marketing that could affect their ability to protect the brand,” said Daly. “To get a handle on this, marketing needs to have a much stronger influence throughout an organisation to shape ethical policies and protect brand reputation.”

www.cim.co.uk

Marketers and customers still not fully aware of data laws…

According to the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM)’s ‘Whose data is it anyway?’ report – which analysed the responses of 2,500 customers and marketers to gain further knowledge of how personal data is managed – almost one half of marketers (41 per cent) do not understand the laws surrounding use of customer data.

A startling 92 per cent of customer respondents admitted they are not fully aware of how companies are using their personal information; and marketers are commonly misusing this data. 68 per cent openly confessed to protecting their own data as if it was a customer’s due to the widely-known possibility of it being stored or used incorrectly.

View the ‘Whose data is it anyway?’ report here