Experts say that younger generations of workers will be less loyal than their parents, moving from job to job and company to company in order to focus on developing their own careers. Whether this is true or not, with marketing being such a rapidly-changing industry it can be useful to know how to ensure your marketing career will stand the test of time.
Thankfully, a recent article on Business2Community offered some thoughts on the issue and suggested the trends that marketers will need to be aware of if they are to remain relevant over the next 5-10 years of business:
1. Immersion: the fourth marketing revolution
As the article explains, so far we have witnessed the three main digital epochs: Presence (thanks to the Internet); Discovery (thanks to search engines); and Utility and Service (thanks to mobile technology and social media).
However, the fourth epoch – driven by wearable tech and augmented reality – will be Immersion, focusing on getting people more physically involved in fun, virtual experiences. For marketers, it’s a good idea to start learning all about the subject now, as with Oculus Rift due to go on sale next year it’s likely that it will become a reality sooner than you might think.
2. Internet safety
Thanks to the complexity and therefore vulnerability of the Internet, the past 12 months or so have been filled with incidents of hacking and security breaches – and unfortunately, things are likely to get even worse.
So if you’re looking for a real USP to use in marketing campaigns, rather than just worrying about aesthetics and packaging, brands will also need to reassure consumers that they are in safe hands when doing business with them – ie. putting a ‘digital buffer’ around their company.
3. Content comeback
Content marketing has been big news over the past few years, but has now become a little stale and over-saturated, meaning that many of us no longer actively absorb it.
In the near future, content will still be important – but it will be everywhere, as technology develops to bring the Internet all around us, from wearable tech to displays on almost any surface. Another difference is that soon, the content that we read could even be generated by bots, not humans.
4. The end of Big Data?
…as we know it, at least. Big Data won’t exactly disappear, but it will evolve so that data scientists may perhaps have a lesser role than they do now. As more marketers and businesses learn how to make sense of data, and new services emerge that can help them find answers to even the most complex of questions, the enigma of Big Data will be broken.
5. Training and education
As previously stated, the marketing industry is one that’s developing faster than perhaps anyone could have anticipated. But unfortunately, education doesn’t always advance at the same rate, meaning that many graduates are leaving university without the most relevant knowledge and experience.
With that in mind, younger workers are likely to have just as much to learn about new technologies than their more experienced counterparts. As well as the basics, modern marketers will need a grasp of analytics, digital marketing, content creation and community management, to name just a few – and companies may need to invest in training to ensure these skills are obtained.
What other skills do you think are necessary to future-proof a career in marketing?
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