July 14, 2023
Earlier this year Gartner published the results of their annual CMO survey which captures the state of marketing budget and strategy in 2022. This survey indicates that budgets have recovered yet still lag pre-pandemic levels. The technology sector reported the largest increase in budget year over year, jumping from 5.0% of total revenue in 2021 to 10.1% in 2022. As enterprises work hard to focus on growth within a backdrop of financial and geopolitical uncertainty the marketing function needs to be more agile than ever before. It needs to be able to flex and adapt, as and when customer journeys inevitably change. Gartner’s report states that 61% of CMOs lack the in-house capabilities to deliver their strategy. In this article we will review the labour costs of hiring a comprehensive in-house marketing function, and touch on some of the top capability gaps that CMOs are currently experiencing.
The changing role of marketing in the digital age
The skills required to execute a comprehensive marketing strategy have always been diverse, ranging from creative professionals skilled in graphical and motion design to talented copywriters, and more recently, social media and digital experts, all guided by a strategy leader that must have deep industry expertise and a knowledge of customer personas. Marketing technology has moved forward at an incredible pace in recent years, shifting the role of marketing to that of a technologist foremost in order to navigate the tools available, and utilize paid channel algorithms for maximum return on investment (ROI).
What marketing skills are most lacking in 2022?
CMOs responding to the 2022 Gartner survey reported that they were confident in their capabilities to manage brands, but strategically important capabilities gaps persist. Not surprisingly, marketing technology featured highly, supporting our assertation that the role of marketing is now very much technology led.
- Marketing technology – 22% of CMOs placed in the top three.
- Marketing data and analytics – 26% of CMOs placed this as a top three capability gap.
- Customer understanding and Customer Experience (CX) management – 23% of CMOs placed in the top three.
Marketing is experiencing an unprecedented surge in talent demand in 2022 such that prioritizing the resource mix should be a top priority for all marketing leaders. A balance between in-house and outsourced marketing capabilities has for a long time been the norm within the technology sector, however, with changing skills-sets and the current talent shortages, this balance and the overall costs of a marketing function now needs careful consideration.
Safeguarding your marketing talent pool from staff attrition and turnover
Staff attrition and turnover is the departure of employees from the organization for any reason (voluntary or involuntary), including resignation, termination, illness, or retirement. The recent pandemic and shift to remote working for many industries has fueled The Great Reshuffle, with many people seeking to change roles or career path entirely. Marketing is no exception, with LinkedIn reporting 618,000 marketing job departures in 2021, plus a 31% growth in job changes among LinkedIn members year over year. Loss of talent pool through attrition and turnover is costly for any organization both from a recruitment and training perspective. With the Plexus Way model you are effectively safeguarding your talent pool since we cannot be headhunted, nor will we be looking to abandon you like a job hopper merely out for a better salary or benefits package.
Calculating the cost of your optimum marketing team
Hiring an internal marketing team that can cover EVERY function you require can be incredibly expensive. Very often companies start by hiring a marketing manager with great hopes that this individual can cover many bases, or hopefully build and guide a strong team. According to Glassdoor, adding a senior marketing manager to your staff in the UK will cost roughly £65K/yr. in salary, not including benefits.
Unfortunately, your perfect marketing team will require more than the skills of one person, hence establishing a strong team is critical for ensuring success. Let us explore in more detail the expected salary costs for a team consisting of roles such as social media managers, PPC managers, graphic designers, copy writers, web developers and more senior roles such as CMO or marketing directors that are required if you are a larger organization.
Chief Marketing Officer/Senior Marketing Director
Role: A CMO oversees the marketing management team guiding the creation of business plans and marketing strategies that will help the company reach its goals. CMOs are the company’s consumer voice throughout and must be outstanding leaders.
Glassdoor Average Salary: £117K/yr.
SEO Specialist
Role: A CMO oversees the marketing management team guiding the creation of business plans and marketing strategies that will help the company reach its goals. CMOs are the company’s consumer voice throughout and must be outstanding leaders.
Glassdoor Average Salary: £117K/yr.
Web Developer
Role: The development of Internet applications using a client-server model is the responsibility of a web developer. HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are among the common coding languages used. Since most developers will specialize in a particular type of coding, multiple developers may be required to accomplish a single organization’s objectives.
Glassdoor Average Salary: £36K/yr.
Web Designer
Role: A web designer oversees organizing and styling all web page content. Web designers need to be aware of how to create websites that are both aesthetically pleasing and functional from a Customer Experience perspective.
Glassdoor Average Salary: £30K/yr.
Graphic Designer
Role: A graphic designer is a visual communicator who can either manually or digitally develop ideas. Their core function is to inform, captivate and inspire customers while guaranteeing their output precisely mirrors the organizations brand style and brand objectives.
Glassdoor Average Salary: £30K/yr.
Copywriter
Role: A copywriter specializes in creating pertinent text for websites, such as articles and page content. To maximize marketing efforts, a great content writer will also be familiar with keyword-based SEO. Additionally, copywriters will support other departments in producing text for press releases, social media, graphics and possibly data sheets and user manuals.
Glassdoor Average Salary: £31K/yr.
Social Media Manager
Role: The upkeep of an organization’s social media strategy falls under the control of a Social Media Manager. Most of the time, social media managers will oversee development of growth strategies for an organization, communicating with target audiences, and creating a stream of content that is engaging
Glassdoor Average Salary: £35K/yr.
Database Administrator
Role: An organizations database security and upkeep will be overseen by a Database Administrator, or DBA. This member of the team will frequently be involved in the creation, troubleshooting, and planning of databases to meet the requirements of the business and to ensure the smooth operation of information throughout the entire organization.
Glassdoor Average Salary: £39K/yr
Full-Stack Developer
Role: A Full-Stack Developer must combine front-end and back-end development skills, frequently taking on multiple projects to deploy a digital solution. App development and website development are two examples of the work done, with this role being particularly important for organizations that host an ecommerce website.
Glassdoor Average Salary: £50K/yr.
Software Architect
Role: Software Architects have extensive technical expertise. This role often serves as a liaison to assist business operations staff and any necessary technical teams in working toward a shared vision for both back office and customer facing applications.
Glassdoor Average Salary: £79K/yr.
The staggering cost of a 360° marketing team
If we now accompany our initially lonely marketing manager with a full team based on the current Glassdoor reported average salaries listed above, we reach a grand total of £545K/yr. (£45k/pm), not including benefits, and not including the huge array of software tools and monthly platform subscriptions they need to perform their day-to-day roles.
Luckily there is a better way to secure a marketing team
A monthly cost of this level is beyond the reach of many smaller companies and start-ups trying to enter the market. The team at Plexus knew there had to be a better way to make marketing more accessible for the technology sector. That is why we developed The Plexus Way model of outsourcing which provides the skills of an entire team for the cost of a single senior hire. The model relies on the fact that skills requirements constantly change during the execution of any marketing strategy. For instance, graphics, motion design and copywriting have heavy requirements before the launch of a brand or new product, whereas digital social and PPC management skills will be required at launch, followed by PPC refinement and account-based marketing (ABM) as the campaign progresses, moving customers through the journey of brand awareness, solution consideration and ultimately sales conversion.
Within any organization there are periods where certain elements of the marketing team are under-utilized. This results in inefficiency which cannot easily be rectified. By using the Plexus Way model, organizations can enjoy continuous marketing efficiency at a fraction of the cost of an internal team.
The Plexus Way – taking the risk out of marketing outsourcing
The beauty of The Plexus Way model is that clients can choose exactly how much or how little of our services they need to meet their current goals or objectives. Our service can be scaled up or down depending on requirements, and what types of services are needed at any given time.
The average monthly cost for the Plexus team to deliver all the functions listed above is around £5K, instead of the £45K you would expect to pay monthly if you hired a full in-house marketing team. Your monthly costs may be even more if you hire a marketing manager who then must outsource to multiple agencies to cover various skills gaps. The £40K monthly saving is a significant amount of money that could fund PPC media spend and business development to supercharge your sales pipeline.
With The Plexus Way you can be assured that we will never be looking to leave you, neither can we be poached from you, all that will happen as more clients adopt our model is that our team will grow, further diversifying the range of skills that will be at your disposal.