Top trends in digital marketing for 2025: expert insights for the year ahead | Robert Half

Top trends in digital marketing for 2025: expert insights for the year ahead

Marketing and creative Salary and hiring trends Career tips Career development Labour market Salaries and roles Article
Top trends in digital marketing for 2025
  1. Trends in digital marketing: industry-wide overview
  2. Top sectors and hiring trends
  3. In demand roles
  4. Trending skills and qualifications
Are you equipped with the top talent needed to seize commercial opportunities while they’re hot? According to new data collected for Robert Half's 2025 Salary Guide, emerging trends in digital marketing for the year ahead signal a changing tide. Our Senior Marketing Manager, Ryan Lall, shares key trends in digital marketing, collected for the upcoming Salary Guide, including in-demand roles, skills, and qualifications. They'll also give predictions for the core industries driving hiring for creative and marketing roles and how things are expected to trend over the coming months. Read more: Finding a role in digital marketing
Hiring in the marketing and creative sector looks bright for 2025. According to data collected for the 2024 Salary Guide, 30% of marketing and creative hiring managers plan to expand their permanent headcount before the end of 2024. This is supported by a further 24% who plan to add temporary headcount to assist with project work. Our experts predict that innovation will be front of mind for digital marketing teams in 2025. Data shows that 70% of marketing leaders already encourage teams to use generative AI tools to support routine tasks and boost productivity. The shift towards innovation is also reflected in training and development plans for 2025 — 59% of marketing leaders say they're planning structured internal training programmes on generative AI tools for their teams. Employers hoping to attract top digital marketing talent for 2025 can gain a competitive edge by revising the perks and benefits offered with their vacancies. Gen Z talent has heightened expectations from employers, with 69% of hiring managers reporting that they've become more demanding over the last year. Overall, we've seen a shift in the benefits and perks requested with digital marketing roles, with stress reduction programmes (41%) and financial allowance for working from home (52%) coming out at the top of the list.  Read more: 4 key trends shaping the future of marketing and creative teams
According to our data, financial services and insurance, eCommerce, consulting, and digital media agencies will have the highest demand for marketing and creative talent going into 2025. Job seekers looking for new roles should target these sectors to increase their chances of finding a competitive opportunity.
Most top permanent roles in demand for marketing and creative are managerial, with digital marketing managers, content managers, and social media managers at the top of the list. Graphic and digital designers are in high demand for contract roles, followed by social media content managers, marketing executives, and event managers. These hiring trends paint a picture of businesses wanting permanent managerial talent, which they can supplement with contract subject matter experts, like graphic designers and marketing executives. In theory, this allows businesses to scale resources up and down to suit projects and requirements during this period of slow economic growth while keeping a solid managerial unit. Read more: Entry level marketing jobs: how to pick your dream role and land it
The trending skills for digital marketing in 2025 show a definite split between digital and interpersonal skills. Experience with artificial intelligence (AI) tools is one of the most in-demand technical skills for the coming year. Data analysis is also a highly sought-after skill as businesses increasingly require marketers to be able to use data to identify commercial opportunities and show the impact of their work. Project management and customer relationship management (CRM) are also in high demand, showing an increased need for multi-tasking, organisation, and interpersonal skills. Employers will also be looking for digital marketers with excellent commercial acumen as they come to rely on them and their digital skills to uncover new opportunities and market gaps. In a similar vein, talent with problem solving, skills, critical thinking skills, and creative thinking skills will also be highly sought after. Employers will be looking for talent with Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) and Institute of Data and Marketing (IDM) qualifications as standard. PPC experts and marketers will be expected to have Google Ads certifications to align with best practices, and Adobe qualifications will also be in high demand for 2025.

For more digital marketing insights and hiring trends, download your free copy of the 2025 Salary Guide or visit our blog. Browse open roles to find your next digital marketing opportunity, or upload a vacancy to find your perfect hire.

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