Companies in the UK are struggling to compete with their global rivals because of a lack of digital marketing skills, according to new research. 

The study, commissioned by the Digital Marketing Institute in Ireland, found that the UK's marketing professionals scored an average of just 37% in an international digital marketing competency test, in line with the US (38%) and Ireland (38%). Just 7% of those tested achieve the 60% score needed to achieve entry-level competency in digital marketing.

Older workers fare better

Overall, UK marketing professionals scored the highest across the three countries in the category of strategy (42%), while its weakest skills were email marketing (33%) and display advertising (30%).

Older participants aged 50+ (38%) and aged 34-49 (37%) performed better than their younger counterparts, aged 18-34 (31%). This gap was most pronounced in mobile skills with those aged 50+ and 35-49 scoring 42% and 40% respectively, versus 29% for 18-34 year olds. The average score for mobile skills was 39%.

Mismatch in perception

A survey of test participants revealed a mismatch in perception versus reality with 47% believing themselves to be very or fairly competent in digital skills.

The new report, ‘Missing the Mark: The digital marketing skills gap in Ireland, UK and USA’, was conducted on behalf of the Digital Marketing Institute by independent market research firm Behaviour & Attitudes.

Respondents for the report were assessed by answering a basic competency test using a 54 question diagnostic tool. 20 questions on average were answered correctly to give a score of 38%.

Lowest organisational engagement

The UK also has the lowest recorded organisational engagement levels with digital marketing, according to the survey. Just one in four (25%) UK workers viewed their organisations as being ‘very or fairly’ engaged in digital marketing, compared to the US (31%) and Ireland (40%).

Only one in five workers (20%) in the UK said their organisations had offered training support in the area of digital marketing, which was similar to the Ireland (25%) and the US (18%).

Ian Dodson, founder and director of the Digital Marketing Institute said: “The UK boasts one of the largest internet-based economies in the world so the findings in this report are disappointing. People are at the heart of the digital economy globally, but if their basic skills sets are not keeping pace with digital developments, the economy may be storing up problems for the future. It raises question marks over the sturdiness of the UK’s digital economy and its ability to maintain its current growth rates over the medium term.

“In the post-Brexit era, it will be imperative that the UK is able to hold its own fiscally. Addressing the skills deficit in the area of digital marketing is an obvious challenge for the UK in this regard.”

Future prospects

Six out of ten UK marketing professionals believe they need to improve their digital marketing skills to progress their career compared to 80% in Ireland and 67% in the US. UK employees are most pessimistic about their jobs with 40% believing their role would not exist in its current form in 30 years.

Almost half of UK marketers surveyed (46%) believed the pace of technology change in their organisations is too slow. A lack of resources (50%) followed by a lack of organisational commitment (37%) to embracing digital transformation were cited as the greatest challenges for digital marketing.

 

By Jonathan Davied, editor, Digital Marketing Magazine

 

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