'Inflated salaries' for digital marketing expected as online spend continues

Investment in online and digital is unlikely to slow down in 2020 resulting a higher amount of investment being poured into the medium, said Grant Torrens, regional director of Hays, to A+M. As such, this will likely lead to "inflated salaries for digital marketing professionals in the year to come", Torrens explained.

Torrens added more companies are realising the importance of collecting data, and that their ability to drive market growth hinges on the depth of their ability to translate consumer insights and branding initiatives into effective action. These insights will impact budgets allocated for a variety of marketing roles, increasing the overall range on salaries based on how they now value these professionals as compared to previous years.

This comes as business leaders in the marketing industry are expected to significantly grow their teams and strategically position their hiring to remain ahead of competition from other regions. Meanwhile, the top skills in demand for next year fall within the areas of content creation, branding strategies and consumer data marketing.

Torrens added that there has been positive growth in marketing hires within Malaysia's retail, FMCG, telecommunication, and manufacturing industries. The growth is focused on candidates with knowledge in content strategising, creative campaigns and search engine optimisation. These skills will allow marketing professionals to leverage on digital channels and improve traffic, alongside a host of data related activities that are gaining mounting importance, he added.

On a separate note, if you are a digital marketer looking to switch jobs within the FMCG industry, here is a salary scale by Michael Page for you to refer to:

Read also:
Michael Page: How much money will CMOs in Malaysia make in 2020?
MY 2020 salary scale: Brand management and programmatic folks in demand