Overrated skills, networking woes, hybrid: 5 interesting stats from Salary Survey 2024

Marketing strategy still undervalued by business

Fundamental frustrations with the value placed on key skills continues to be an issue for marketers.

Over half (53.7%) of the more than 3,000 marketers responding to Marketing Week’s 2024 Career & Salary Survey identify strategy as the most undervalued skill in marketing. 

A further 46.1% say brand management is the most overlooked aspect of their work, with 32.7% describing data analysis as a major undervalued skill.

Interestingly, the top three most underrated skills listed by marketers in 2024 are the same as those identified in 2023, suggesting little progress has been made to change perceptions over the past 12 months.

Just under a quarter (23.9%) of respondents believe commercial acumen is undervalued by businesses, while 15.9% of marketers identify knowledge of advertising and marketing technology as the most undervalued skill.

Source: 2024 Marketing Week Career & Salary Survey

Undervalued: The importance of marketing strategy is being missed by businesses, marketers say

Social media singled out as overrated skill

Figures for the most overrated elements of marketing are more fragmented.

Nearly a quarter of marketers (22.5%) say social media marketing is the most overrated skill. This figure is down 0.4% on last year, but remains consistent regardless of the type of business marketers work in.

Slightly more B2C marketers (24.3%) consider social media to be overrated by businesses than their B2B counterparts (23.7%). For those working in firms with a mixture of B2B and B2C marketing, 20% say social media is overrated.

In 2024, digital marketing (15.7%) has overtaken performance marketing (12.9%) as the second-most overrated skill, according to the Career & Salary Survey sample. Last year, 16.1% of marketers suggested performance marketing was overrated, while 15% said the same of digital marketing.

The remaining 2024 list of overrated skills is rounded off by SEO (12.2%), advertising and marketing technology (9.6%) and content marketing (9%).

Source: 2024 Marketing Week Career & Salary Survey

Overrated: Social media viewed as overly important by businesses, marketers say

Two thirds of marketers in role under three years

More than two thirds (66.3%) of marketers have been in their current role for three years or less, down slightly on last year when the figure stood at 67.3%.

By contrast, just 15.9% of Career & Salary Survey respondents have been in the same role for more than seven years.

That said, the number of marketers in post for less than 12 months is the lowest it has been since 2020. Just over a fifth (22.4%) of marketers had only just started a new job – down on the 27.3% who said the same in 2023.

The data suggests a tough market for those seeking a new position, despite a real appetite for change. Almost three fifths (61.7%) of Gen Y marketers are considering changing job, alongside 58.9% of Gen Z and 58.4% of Gen X.

Source: 2024 Marketing Week Career & Salary Survey

Majority of marketers in role for less than three years

Networking in crisis?

Could the prevalence of remote working post-Covid be harming marketers’ chances of forming business relationships?

More than half (56.5%) of the Career & Salary Survey sample say networking and relationships have suffered due to the growth of remote working, compared to 37.1% who believe homeworking has not had a detrimental effect.

A drive for more face-to-face collaboration is behind the push for a return to office working, according to 71% of marketers. This is followed by the need to cultivate company culture (59.8%) and improve the social aspect of work (44.7%).

Over a third of marketers (35.9%) say their business believes working from the office will increase employee productivity, while 33.3% say the main motivation is to make use of office space.

Some 33.2% of respondents work for an employer who believes office working fosters networking and builds professional relationships.

Further down the list of reasons to return to the office are employee growth and career development (20.7%) and the desire to support staff mental health (13.9%).

Source: 2024 Marketing Week Career & Salary Survey

Over half of marketers say relationships harmed by remote working

Quarter of marketers favour fewer days in the office

The lingering impact of the Covid pandemic is seen in attitudes to how often office working should occur.

Three days in the office per week is the current situation for 25.2% of marketers, while 24.3% come in twice a week. A smaller group (9.5%) come to the office four days per week.

Marketers are more likely to work entirely remotely (14.7%) than to come into the office five days per week (12.9%).

The average hybrid week is welcomed by most marketers, with over two-thirds (68.7%) saying they believe the number of days they work in the office currently is the right amount.

That said, almost a quarter (24%) would like to do fewer days in the office and even fewer still (7.2%) want to work from the office more.

Source: 2024 Marketing Week Career & Salary Survey

A quarter of marketers want to do fewer days in the office