How marketing compensation and roles are changing

Although we hesitate to use the term post-pandemic with any confidence, marketing takes place today in a space changed — perhaps irrevocably — by COVID-19. Yes, marketers are making their way back to the workplace; many conferences and expos are back in person; it’s possible to meet and greet prospects face-to-face instead of face-to-video.

But the importance of digital marketing looks unlikely to recede. With it comes increased emphasis on digital content and digital experience, the expansion of ecommerce across almost every vertical and the interest in virtual events.

What does that mean? You guessed it: the growing importance of the digital martech stack.

The “great marketing reboot.” We’re also seeing big changes on the human side of marketing. Many marketing professionals have left the space; others have switched from regular positions to freelance or contract work. There are big opportunities — as well as challenges — for people in the early stages of their careers, whether as marketers or marketing operations professionals.

Data scientist and MarTech contributor Chris Penn calls this the “great marketing reboot.” We’ve introduced a new question into this edition of the survey asking if you’re witnessing the same phenomenon, whether in your own marketing organization or others.

Follow the money. We’re also asking, as always, whether circumstances are impacting salaries, in positive or negative ways, as well as your career trajectories.

As before, we’re partnering with Scott Brinker and chiefmartec.com to field the survey. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to complete, and we look forward to sharing the results soon.

Take the MarTech Salary and Career Survey

About the author

Kim Davis is the Editorial Director of MarTech Today. Born in London, but a New Yorker for over two decades, Kim started covering enterprise software ten years ago. His experience encompasses SaaS for the enterprise, digital- ad data-driven urban planning, and applications of SaaS, digital technology, and data in the marketing space.

He first wrote about marketing technology as editor of Haymarket’s The Hub, a dedicated marketing tech website, which subsequently became a channel on the established direct marketing brand DMN. Kim joined DMN proper in 2016, as a senior editor, becoming Executive Editor, then Editor-in-Chief a position he held until January 2020.

Prior to working in tech journalism, Kim was Associate Editor at a New York Times hyper-local news site, The Local: East Village, and has previously worked as an editor of an academic publication, and as a music journalist. He has written hundreds of New York restaurant reviews for a personal blog, and has been an occasional guest contributor to Eater.