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Internet marketing pros in short supply
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Published: December 2, 2007
Shorthanded companies are hiring programmers and database and networking pros as fast as they can find them. But we don't hear much about the dearth of Internet or digital marketing people.
In 1998, Internet marketing was a new, unproven and risky field. At the time, Jeff Heath, president of New York search firm The Landstone Group/MRI, predicted that by the year 2000, 40 percent of all companies would be selling online. "Virtually every brick-and-mortar company must deal with the Internet as a competitive force," he said.
Heath was on the money — big money, to be exact.
This year online advertising in the United States is projected to reach $7.5 billion in sales — 31.6 percent over 2006 levels, according to media research firm Borrell Associates' "What Local Media Web Sites Earn: 2007 Survey."
About 25 percent of the local media Web sites in the Borrell survey expect to generate more than $1 million in gross revenues for 2007, and 6.6 percent of them forecast revenues exceeding $10 million.
The obvious message of the Borrell report is that pursuing nontraditional advertisers is the only way to go. Here are a few of Borrell's findings:
- Newspapers account for the dominant share of all locally spent online advertising: 35.9 percent
- Pure-play Internet companies (Google, Yahoo, Monster, etc.) are right behind with 33.2 percent
- Yellow pages operators control 11.7 percent
- Other print outlets (e.g. Homes & Land and other local magazines), 9.2 percent
- TV stations, 7.7 percent
- Radio stations, 2.2 percent.
By 2011, advertisers will spend more money on the Internet than on newspapers, according to a study conducted by private equity and investment firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson.
Internet marketing has become a mega-business. So, it's no surprise that the demand for experienced Internet marketing candidates has skyrocketed. Yet recruiters report that finding qualified candidates is getting harder every year. It's tough enough filling all the entry-level jobs, but it's even harder staffing the managerial and executive ranks. It's largely because companies are looking for a marketing person who understands classic marketing principles but also has a working knowledge of the new media and the technical nuances of digital marketing.
Internet marketing encompasses pay-per-click advertising, banner ads, e-mail marketing, interactive advertising, search engine marketing, blog marketing, social network marketing and traditional press release marketing.
Check the job Web sites and you'll find plenty of ads for digital and online marketing managers.
One reason explaining the scarcity of qualified Internet marketing people is that there is no one place where you can acquire such skills. Most of the veteran Internet marketing people are in their early 40s and learned on the job.
What does it take to be a digital marketing professional? For openers, knowledge of marketing basics, demographics and audience segmentation, along with knowing how Web sites and browsers work. Equally important, Web sites build their business two ways: direct sales to customers and indirect sales through strategic alliances and reseller agreements. The digital marketer's goal is to communicate persuasively with both communities, despite their differences. The daily challenge is making the technological complexities of the Web understandable to customers. That's no simple feat when you consider that most Web sites are hard to navigate and provide poor customer support.
The ongoing marketing obstacle is coping with the speed at which the Internet operates. It's difficult enough grabbing someone's attention with an enticing print, radio or TV ad, but it's twice as difficult on the Internet.
What makes Internet marketing so exciting is finding creative strategies to overcome all these problems.
Though the field is growing aggressively, it's still new and changing, and there are plenty of ground floor opportunities.
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