Senior Employees Have Greater Digital Marketing Knowledge: Study

If you had to guess who in your company had the better digital marketing skills and knowledge, would you guess yourself? Perhaps a colleague? Or what about your boss?

It might be a good idea to give your boss credit where credit is due, as a new study from Econsultancy reveals that senior level digital employees scored the highest on a test to uncover digital marketing expertise across the field.

The tests were scored across the levels of seniority. Employees at a junior level scored an average of 67 percent, mid-level employees scored an average of 72 percent, and senior respondents had an average score of 74 percent.

The test was split into ten different sections: content, advertising, customer experience, eCommerce, analytics and data, eCRM and email, search, mobile, operations and strategy, and social. Out of 1212 respondents, only 3 percent scored in the highest percentile (91-100 percent). Still, almost a quarter of senior level employees scored 80 percent or higher. That number compares with only 18 percent of juniors and 26 percent of mid-levels who scored an 80 percent or higher.

The most significant difference was shown in the advertising section of the exam. Those at a senior level scored an average of 71 percent, while those at a junior level scored an average of 57 percent – a 25 percent difference.

Senior-level employees ranked above 50 percent on each of the ten categories:

1. 85% on operations and strategy
2. 85%  on content
3. 84% on customer experience
4. 83% on ecommerce
5. 71% on advertising
6. 70% on social
7. 69% on analytics and data
8. 68% on mobile
9. 56% on eCRM and email
10. 52% on search

A higher-ranking official for the digital side of an automotive company summed up the study by commented on the Skills of the Modern Marketer report:

“With more ‘digital natives’ coming into the workforce, the temptation is to feel like they know a lot when actually they have a lot to learn in terms of traditional marketing skills[…].”

Sources:

“Senior level employees have greater digital knowledge: stats.” 2014. Econsultancy.com

“Digital Skills Index.” 2014. Econsultancy.com