What the Great Resignation Means for the Marketing Profession (And Your Career)

With what’s being dubbed The Great Resignation permeating mainstream news coverage, you may wonder what the implications are for the marketing industry. Maybe you’ve seen a mass exodus at the agency where you work and wonder if marketing is still a promising career.

Or perhaps you haven’t really seen any turnover at all. But with all of the uncertainty in the air, you may find yourself curious about the long-term prospects for the profession and what you can do to keep your job secure.

Marketing and The Great Resignation

Whether you’ve seen high or low turnover at your agency or in-house marketing department, marketers have left their jobs in droves over the past year. Some are retiring, along with other senior employees in a wide range of industries. Others are jumping ship from their current jobs to pursue greater opportunities at other employers.

Still, others are going to work for themselves. Workers filed four million applications to start their own businesses in 2021 – one million more than they filed in the previous year. And with the continued growth of the freelance market ($1.3 trillion in 2021, up to $100 million from the year before), marketing professionals have reason to be optimistic about their self-employment prospects.

Though marketing professionals have recently left their jobs en masse, this trend doesn’t change prospects for the profession. If the Great Resignation has you asking yourself, “Is marketing a good career choice?” fear not. Despite the turnover, the field is still growing steadily.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the field will grow ten percent between 2020 and 2030, which is about as fast as average for all fields.

And while the profession’s reputation may have had its highs and lows over time, there’s no question it’s proved its mettle over the past few years. Marketing has perhaps never been so crucial in modern times as during the pandemic.

Since the advent of the Internet, marketers have grappled with attracting and engaging increasingly fragmented customer segments. Since 2020, that fragmentation has continued apace, driven by emerging channels like augmented and virtual reality. It’s also veritably splintered under the weight of a dynamic public health environment.

Consider that people are buying cars and homes completely online, in some cases sight unseen. That prospect was unheard of just a couple of years ago. And marketing hasn’t just been transformed by online fulfillment. Everything from data management strategy to marketing workflows and processes has changed out of necessity, often radically.

The Evolution of the Marketing Profession

While the growth of marketing jobs may not be slowing, the nature of the work may change. Already, many employers have adopted AI and machine learning-powered technologies that assist in:

• Personalized customer communication
• Marketing research and data analysis
• Marketing measurement
• Programmatic media buying
• Chatbots
• Predictive analytics
• Dynamic pricing

As these platforms become more sophisticated and learn more about customers, marketing professionals will see their jobs involve more content curation, data analysis, branding, cross-platform marketing, and marketing systems development and engineering. Moreover, overreliance on these programs will undoubtedly result in some bad and wasteful marketing recommendations, which actual people will need to sort through.

But beyond the continued marriage of marketing and AI-powered marketing technologies, it isn’t easy to make other predictions. Over the past three decades, technology has profoundly impacted the profession in surprising ways. Thirty years ago, marketing agencies and departments weren’t hiring bloggers, social media influencers, or online ad buyers.

Ten years from now, you may find yourself on hiring committees for positions like Programmatic Advergame Buyer, ARShopping UX Manager, or even more unexpected roles. But regardless of how the profession evolves or where you choose to use your marketing talent, you’ll want to consistently update and refresh these skills to maximize your chances for professional success.

You might want to consider reading this blog since we are on the topic of AI and Marketing:
AI challenges For Marketers. Can AI replace Marketers?

The Skills Employers Want from Marketing Professionals

Among the future-proof marketing skills, employers will want to see is the ability to keep learning and mastering the new technologies, channels, and platforms. Moreover, marketing professionals will be expected to assess and identify those which are relevant to their employer’s strategic goals and help facilitate organizational adoption in furtherance of those goals.

Tech skills will continue to be in demand. Though the programs you use day-to-day will change, you’ll need to be adept at those most aligned with your marketing specialty. And you’ll need to be able to master new ones as they emerge.

Like superior written and verbal communication skills, Staples will not fall out of fashion, even as technology continues to make its presence felt. In fact, these skills have become even more important as content marketing has grown. Creating and conveying brand, ad, and marketing concepts are fundamental to marketing work and will stand you in good stead no matter how advanced your CRM is.

Data analysis skills will continue to be vital, and while AI will help you easily identify many insights, there’ll be just as many puzzles in the data that require a human touch. Moreover, people will be needed to ensure that AI tools are configured and work correctly over time for optimal results.

Marketing professionals and executives will also need to be able to understand and assess the Big Picture. Understanding the complex tapestry of market, regional and national economic, political, and social factors that impact their business in the short-term and the long-term is crucial to determining the most effective marketing growth strategies. And it’s this Big Picture thinking that can help a marketing professional future-proof their organization.

Understanding What’s Around the Corner

Whether you’re working at an agency, in-house, freelance, or looking for a new position, regularly refreshing your skills will help you maximize your value as a marketing professional.
But you don’t want to be great at just implementing strategies. The big bucks and senior titles are rewards for those who develop and drive them. Those who clearly see a thriving company five years from now and what it takes to get there. Those who see what’s coming around the corner and prepare their organization for a brighter future.

If you’re aspiring to sit in the C-suite someday, you need to be ahead of the curve. Knowing what’s next in your industry and the marketing profession is critical. And while you may be awash in marketing and industry newsletters and unsure of where to start, there’s a better way to stay on top of what’s coming.

TheExpertCafé provides the perfect way to keep current with marketing trends. We’re a leading B2B marketing research company that focuses on digital marketing. Marketers like you sign up to participate in surveys and studies about the latest industry developments.

Not only will you learn what’s next by participating, but you can also earn real rewards- up to $100 per survey. So sign up for TheExpertCafé today and gain the insights you need to stay ahead of the game.