In this digital age, entering the domain of e-commerce is unavoidable. Not only that, but any business which is not looking to capitalise on the extensive opportunities on offer in the electronic domain may as well be steering their Titanic operations straight for the nearest iceberg. In this day and age – it’s not just a matter of keeping up – it’s a case of staying in business.

In a nutshell, e-commerce or ‘electronic commerce’ is the method of doing business using the internet. Many would instantly think about buying and selling goods online, but the e-commerce opportunity goes much deeper than that. Selling services, receiving electronic payments and online marketing are all examples of e-commerce at work. Play the game right and you could be enjoying increased profits, boosted sales and a worldwide reputation.

As well as the ability to reach the world’s biggest market base 24/7, e-commerce offers businesses a range of other benefits, most notably in the reduced costs associated with marketing in this way. As an online retailer you are instantly cutting the cost of employing in-store staff, running a building and keeping the store’s image up to date. Indeed, while professionally producing an e-commerce website and keeping it maintained may cost a few thousand pounds each year, these costs pale into insignificance when compared to the cost of running and maintaining a customer facing store.

Now 2011 has drawn to a close, e-commerce marketers are beginning to look towards what the next 12 months will bring in terms of opportunities. Looking back over the last decade, online retailing has changed the face of the retail market and has seen companies like Amazon, eBay and Play.com appear from nowhere to become retail giants and household names in a very short space of time. However, even these internet monsters are beginning to feel the pinch, with Amazon reporting sales down in the second quarter of 2011 and other operators such as Overstock.com reporting drops in profits in the same period.

There may be a number of reasons for these reported drops in sales. With the current economic climate leading to pretty much stagnant incomes in most of the Western world, it is hardly surprising that this is starting to have an impact on online growth. In addition to this, with so many new businesses moving into e-commerce every day, online retailers are constantly battling with their peers for the lion’s share of the market. In order to stay afloat you not only need to miss that iceberg, you also need to do it at -50% RRP.

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Everything in marketing is changing at the moment, and no one is really sure which way it’s going, the only thing that we can be certain of is that it’s an exciting time.

In order to prepare you as best we can for the year ahead, we’re taking a look at some of the emerging trends that we believe will be big this year in the marketing world and whether the trends will have an impact on the hiring process.

Mobile
The digital marketing boom of 2012 has somewhat become a foregone conclusion. Businesses are already starting to move their marketing budgets away from ad and print channels and more to digital channels and we can expect to see this increase.
We spoke to Kathryn Gallan from marketing recruitment specialists 2nd City Recruitment, who reiterates this point, stating: “We’re expecting a continuation in the growth of skills surrounding digital channels.” It is therefore important for marketers to know the latest developments in this area – as well as develop specialised skills.

Mobile and tablet marketing is really set to take off this year. If you stop to think how many people now have one or both of these then it’s a key marketing area. It’s estimated that 44% of last-minute online shopping searches in 2011 came from smartphones and tablets. Whether you decide to connect with the audience via an app, QR codes, targeted offers (more on that later) or more simply, by making sure websites and landing pages are optimised for mobile screens, it’s definitely an area that marketers have to develop. This in turn, could see mobile marketing manager roles becoming key positions in companies.

Social
Engaging your customers has always been key to marketing but never more so than in this age where the customer has more flexibility to choose what they wish to read or view. This year will see greater interaction between marketers and customers in order to develop business brands.

As Kathryn Gallan goes on to say: “So many businesses have focused on strengthening their online acquisition activity; they will need to focus on online retention.” Developing customers who can act as brand ambassadors will be important. This can be through social media, which in 2012 will be about creating and sharing information with employees and influential customers to help define their brands from the ground up. This can also be through user-generated content which has more credibility with customers than anything marketers produce.

Data
Last year, was the year that businesses developed single and complete views of their customers, 2012 will see businesses trying to gain meaningful insights from that data, with more brands using econometric modelling.

Kathryn Gallan says; “Roles that combine IT systems, data and marketing will start to emerge in response to how quickly businesses are amassing data, and learning how to use this data to engage on a mass yet personal level.” Marketers will need to learn how to collect and interpret data, and no doubt specialist roles will develop in this area also.

Data enables marketers to become even more targeted with their marketing. This is especially the case when it comes to offers. New technology such as mobile phone tracking, WiFi, RFID, is allowing the growth of location based marketing (LBM). This means that business can deliver content to consumers based on their location such as targeted ads, specialised offers, or even directions to their nearest store.

Content
Content will return next year as more companies skip traditional media and publish consumer news and information themselves. Kathryn Gallan suggests that: “As more information can be found online and more individuals and organisations take to self-publication, we should expect to see a decline in copywriting roles. However, just because there’s lots of content available it doesn’t mean that it’s good.”

Content can come in a variety of formats from blogs and white papers, to infographics but it’s video that seems set to boom in 2012. Video already makes up 40% of consumer internet traffic and looks set to reach 62% by 2015 with the growth of smartphones and tablets. There are so many options to consider with video – from video brochures, video newsletters, and video training on products. This could mean the promotion of content strategists into senior positions where they can collect and authorise all the different strands of content from user-generated, to video, and infographics.

Next year seems set to have a growth in new types of marketing jobs and a decline in the more traditional roles. This is the year marketers need to retrain and retool – but don’t worry, key marketing skills will still apply.

Photo by Judy Breck

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Marketers are making the most of multichannel opportunities by enrolling on formal training courses designed to improve their digital skills, according to Marketing Week.

With the number of media channels that marketers oversee growing at an ever faster rate, there are few roles in the industry that do not demand online expertise, from social media and pay-per-click to search engine optimisation and content creation.

Read the full article on the Marketing Week website.

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Technology moves so quickly that it’s difficult to say what 2012 will hold for us – but there’s certainly one word that’s going to sum it up and that’s integration, according to Fourth Source.

Innovations within the online advertising industry have been rife for several years – retargeting, lead generation, mobile and video to name but a few.

Read the full article on the Fourth Source website.

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Marketers are amongst the most confident, ambitious and hardworking of the professional services, according to Marketing Week. It found that marketers are some of the most confident professionals, with 84% feeling that their work has a broader impact on the business success. Only 68% of bankers feel that their work impacts the businesses broader success.

Read the full article on the Marketing Week website.

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A significant number of organisations are struggling to find the right people to ensure the success of their marketing efforts. If you fall into this category, here are a few characteristics you should look for in future marketing employees to fill a potential skills gap, according to blogger Carlos Hidalgo.

Read the full article on the MarketingProfs website.

Photo by Jono Mueller

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As 2011 comes to a close and 2012 opens up a slew of new challenges and opportunities, it’s important to look back at how you handled your marketing to see what lessons can be learned. This will help you to move forward in the year ahead, according to the Globe and Mail.

Read the full article on the Globe and Mail website.

Photo by Valerie Everett

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In today’s climate it is more important than ever to ensure that you put the right people in the right jobs within your organisation. Having unqualified or unsuited personnel in key positions within your organisation is a mistake that no one can afford to make in the current economic landscape. It is vital that you are aware of the key characteristics required for the position you are trying to fill.

Nowhere in the organisation is this more important than in your marketing division – get this wrong and you may not be able to stay afloat throughout the economic downturn. Whether your marketing department is tasked with organising events, running communications campaigns, conducting market research, dealing with public relations or advertising, a misjudgement here could cost you your customers and future business.

Marketing professionals come from a variety of backgrounds but the basic choice you will have to make is whether you want to hire an experienced applicant or a graduate. Both have their advantages and disadvantages so it will depend on what you are requiring for the role. Experienced candidates have the advantage of being able to step into a struggling department with a clear strategy that can be discussed at interview. This type of candidate will usually have management experience and, if they have worked in your field previously, may come to the role with a wide range of useful contacts.

If, on the other hand, you are looking for staff to fill less senior roles but who are also up to date with current technologies and legislation, a graduate may be your preferred choice. Graduates are eager and still willing to learn and are generally easy to manage into your company ethos. Additionally, they require less compensation, which may be a critical consideration for many companies.

Regardless of which path you decide to go down, there are a number of qualities you will want to ensure your interview process can identify in your candidates. Good marketing professionals should possess excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, creativity, an understanding of various technologies and a sound ability to organise and plan both their time and resources.

Include a written assessment
The requirement for strong communication skills is predominantly self-explanatory but that doesn’t mean that all companies get it right. It is one thing for someone to list ‘good communication skills’ on their resume but it is quite another for people to be able to evidence these skills. A CV will provide you with some idea but it is important to remember that CVs are usually crafted over many months and are continually revised and therefore may not be an ideal indicator on written communication skills. If this aspect of your position is important, it may be prudent to include some sort of written assessment in the interview element of the process. This will allow you to critically assess the applicant’s capabilities before you continue the process.

Additionally, it is easy to believe that you will be able to ferret out verbal communication issues at interview but this is not always the case. Many interviewees rehearse continually in order to give themselves every advantage during this stressful process. An ideal way around this is to ask for an improvised pitch or speech during the process, which will give you the opportunity to monitor their skill. Another technique is to ask a fairly outlandish question, which will help you to judge communication skill and creativity as well as their ability to think on their feet.

Creativity and the ability to think outside the box are critical characteristics to look for in your applicants. Creative marketing professionals are the most successful and will be able to view problems and situations from an unusual perspective, often presenting uniquely perfect solutions to any issues. Additionally, if there is a PR element to the post, you will need to ensure that the candidate is creative enough to respond to potentially troublesome questions posed by the public and the press.

In this day and age it is also vital that any potential members of staff are fully up to date with current technologies. They should be proficient in everyday packages such as Office and any sector-specific programmes. They should also be aware of social networking media such as Facebook and Twitter and know how these sites can be used to your company’s advantage. Many new and established organisations have enjoyed success or suffered losses based on their use or misuse of these important tools.

Most importantly of all, your candidate must be able to organise their time and resources. Chances are they will be working to limited budgets and tight timescales and you need to be sure that they will be able to cope within these constraints. Applicants must be able to evidence this skill through either past employment or specific questioning designed to ascertain this information. Good communicators who are creative and know how to utilise social networking sites will be of no use to you if they are unable to put their plans in place due to poor organisational skills.

There are many skills that require being unearthed at the hiring stage in order to save your company time and money down the line. Careful screening and planning can ensure that you hire the right people for each post in order to secure your organisation’s future.

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84% of people with careers in marketing feel that their achievements have an impact on the broader success of businesses according to a survey by recruitment specialists Robert Walters.

The survey showed that marketers were second only to those in HR (86%) in terms of feeling that their achievements have an impact on the wider success of a business, and level with those in IT and the Public Sector.

The 2011 Career Insights Survey also showed that only 30% of those with careers in marketing believe they should change jobs every one to three years, compared to 50% of public sector workers.

According to the survey, 27% of marketers sometimes or always work weekends, and that 24% of marketing professionals work 50 hours + per week.

Nick Dunnett, Managing Director of London Contract Recruitment at Robert Walters, says: “The survey results are interesting and reflect the pressure teams and departments are currently under with rising workloads. Perhaps for this reason, we are finding that work-life balance is becoming an increasingly important factor for professionals looking to move jobs.

“While people are prepared to put up with isolated peaks in workload for the good of their career and generally accept it as part and parcel of the job requirement, few are willing to work all hours of the day for extended periods. Employers that recognise this when recruiting are currently able to secure extremely talented people.”

Marketers were also the most willing to use social networking sites when looking for a new job. The survey from Robert Walters showed that 73% of those with careers in marketing use social networks when looking for a new job, with those in the public sector being the least likely (21%).

Full results of the Robert Walters Career Insights Survey 2011.

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Today, in 2011, we know the Internet as a digital juggernaut that has revolutionised how we approach communications, media, marketing and even shopping. But whilst the Internet phenomenon has its earliest roots in the 19th century and has developed gradually since then, it was only as recently as 1977 when it first truly appeared in the form we know now and only 1989 when it first became commercial. The Internet’s expansion and transformation since then has been dramatic.

By 2008 for example, 1.4 billion users had logged on the Internet and the network had spread not only right around the world but also on to an array of platforms, such as mobile phones, for example. Connectivity has reached huge proportions too, as broadband speeds have increased and Wi-Fi has allowed the public expanded access. With so many users on the Internet, marketers have seen the potential to engage with consumers and have used everything from e-mail advertising to campaigns across social media websites to target their desired markets.

The Internet is still changing, however and when the Internet progresses, it does so pretty rapidly. It’s not possible to say exactly where the Internet will be in a few years’ time, but looking back on this year alone; a few current trends indicate some of the changes that are likely to be with us soon.

New media formats continue to proliferate across the Internet and some of these will be of use to marketers. For example, podcasts continue to grow in popularity and are easily accessible and not difficult to create. As a result, podcasts are produced by both individuals and companies for a whole bunch of subjects. Marketers can tap into this popularity by creating podcasts as well as targeting podcast listeners in campaigns.
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