The Most In-Demand Digital Marketing Skills In Canada

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Last updated September 20, 2024

If there’s one thing digital marketers know, it’s that the industry is constantly changing. In the last five years, marketing professionals have had to become vertical video producers, generative AI prompters, and amateur graphic designers as platforms and tools such as TikTok, ChatGPT and Canva were adopted widely.

We’ve also seen a tighter job market this year, with increased competition for the roles that are available, and fewer promotions to go around. Vivian Tam, a creative and marketing recruiter at Robert Half, and Laura Chan, a senior associate at the company, confirmed that “companies are very focused on the bottom line right now, and budgets are tighter” – but the good news is that the skills digital marketers possess remain in-demand.

“Our research does show that more than half of marketing and creative managers are planning to fill new permanent positions before the end of 2024 – yet 93 percent say they face challenges finding the skilled talent they need,” Tam and Chan shared.

“This may be one of the reasons that many managers are planning to hire more contract professionals in the second half of this year, particularly in areas related to brand, product and event marketing, digital marketing like email, SEO and social media, and marketing automation,” they said.

It’s imperative that digital marketers – and similarly skilled professionals – continue upskilling to stay competitive in their evolving industry. Continuing professional development can include learning new skills or updating your existing abilities in the areas that are most in-demand.

But where do you start?

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Top Skills For a Digital Marketer To Develop

Want a hack for identifying in-demand skills, even when you’re employed? Look at what is listed in recent job postings. “We’d recommend keeping an eye on what kind of skills you’re seeing advertised in job postings repeatedly and upskill in those areas,” said Tam and Chan.

“Adaptability, problem-solving, and communication are sought-after soft skills in the current market,” they said. “Hiring managers are looking for professionals who can articulate what needs doing, and be solution-oriented and take initiative.”

Jacqueline Loganathan, a marketing consultant and instructor for Humber Polytechnic’s social media certificate, is also seeing increasing demand for strategic analysis and business savvy in digital marketing roles.

“What employers look for the most is someone who is analytical, can think critically and can jump on new things quickly,” said Loganathan, who has over a decade of experience in this industry. “You have to understand what is worth doing – and what is not. That’s the kind of person I want.”

Hand-in-hand with this, Loganathan said that employers are looking for someone who is proactively educating themselves.

“When I started in marketing, SEO wasn’t a thing. As soon as I knew I needed it, along with learning on the job, I took a course to brush up on my skills,” she said. “It’s having the self-awareness to know what your company needs, how you can be better, how you can do the new things.”

Acquiring micro-credentials in relevant areas of digital marketing, such as those offered by Humber Polytechnic’s Faculty of Media, Creative Arts, and Design, effectively signal to employers your desire to actively grow by developing skills that will keep you – and the company – competitive.

In this industry, Loganathan added, she’s less interested about what someone has done in the past, and more about how they think about the future, and how “forward-thinking you are.”

Beyond cultivating these key soft skills, today’s forward-thinking professionals are developing competency in social media, AI, and design.

1. Social Media Content Creation

Social media content creation is one area where Robert Half’s recruiters are seeing opportunities right now, particularly among brands hiring for in-house roles.

“Employers are looking for candidates who can support with developing the content strategy, content calendar, and storyboards, to filming and editing the content, and managing the campaign,” said Tam and Chan. “With the influence of TikTok and social media reels, the way stories are being told are often in a quick [visual] format.”

And while there are technical skills at play here, they’re underpinned by the kind of storytelling abilities that Tam and Chan said are always in-demand in marketing, across industries.

“Storytelling is a central component of successful marketing,” they said. “Storytellers help the organization develop their voice and become thought leaders in their industry. These skills also ultimately help consumers relate back to the brand’s mission, through increasing brand affinity.”

This bucket of skills – which includes everything from writing copy to ensuring people can actually find it – requires a strong grasp on the marketing 101 “why” of it all, said Loganathan. “You need to really know what product you’re selling and to what customer.”

Loganathan has observed that the days of leaving social media to the intern are largely behind us. Today, companies are hiring for senior-level social media positions and building out larger teams with specialists, with separate roles for “organic social”– which is all about harnessing the brand voice and creating content of your own – and for “paid social,” which is focused on paid advertising on social media platforms and data-driven buying decisions. (Learn more about this important distinction here.) Humber Polytechnic’s Social Media part-time certificate program, for example, covers both organic and paid social across its curriculum.

When we think of social media marketing, we often think of brands’ organic presence on platforms – but there is a lot of opportunity in the paid social space. “There are very few people who know how to use the Facebook ads platform well,” said Loganathan. “TikTok ads are a big one right now, too. Pinterest is also growing in Canada. It’s one of the top search tools for Gen Z. There’s probably something there that’s going to grow in the next six to twelve months.”

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2. AI for Digital Marketing and SEO

Artificial Intelligence (AI) – and more specifically, generative AI, which powers tools like ChatGPT – is the area Loganathan suggests you master as a digital marketer focused on upskilling.

“Know how to use the right prompts to help you work better,” she said, referring to the cues that you input into generative AI tools that determine their output. “If I was interviewing someone right now, I wouldn’t ask how they use AI, I’d ask what prompts they use. I really want to know: Are you asking it to help you write, or are you letting it do the thing for you?”

Using generative AI for SEO – developing content ideas that are optimized for search – is a great example of a practical use case, Loganathan said.

“I would want someone to know how to use ChatGPT to [do] some of that SEO research,” she said. “If you’re writing an article on spring fashion, I might ask ChatGPT what the top ten questions people are asking Google about fashion, and then use those as my upcoming blog posts.”

Taking an AI marketing course or prompt writing course, Loganathan said, will give you the ability to harness the power of these tools to enhance what you’re capable of. “It’s going to be key to understanding: What’s the next Canva that’s going to help me to go from text to image?” she said.

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3. UI/UX Design and Graphic Design Skills

While it can be easy to assume that marketing is mostly strategy or copywriting, having strong design skills is essential in our visual-heavy digital world. This doesn’t mean all marketers need to be graphic designers, but it helps to be conversant in basic design terms and concepts that will help increase engagement, revenue or other key marketing goals – if you aren’t developing ads themselves in Canva on the fly.

Loganathan is noticing that many developers, for example, are starting to hone their UX (User Experience) and UI (User Interface) design skills, mastering the technical and the visual at the same time.

“There’s this blend of this developer-designer that’s happening,” she said. “I see roles now that are asking for that. If you’re developing a website, it is extremely beneficial for you to know where a button should go, what colour it should be.”

On the flip side, Loganathan said that even if you want to be a UX or UI designer – an in-demand skill right now – it’s helpful to know a bit about development, too. If you’re looking for a specific skill to pick up, consider learning a coding language, like Python, CSS or HTML.

In addition to UI, motion graphics and video editing are two design-related skills that are worth brushing up on.

Even if you’re not a designer by trade, but a content writer who wants to know their way around Canva and CapCut, understanding the basics of design can be a proactive way to set yourself apart. You could also formalize this skill development by taking a fundamentals-focused graphic design course, resulting in a micro-credential like those offered by Humber Polytechnic.

That’s echoed by Tam and Chan at Robert Half, who said: “We have also been seeing increased demand for marketing talent to have some creative capabilities, whether it is working with Canva or Adobe Creative Cloud, or the ability to support on basic HTML or CSS code” for your company’s website.

Explore UI/UX design courses and graphic design courses in Canada

Successful digital marketers today clearly wear many hats. From mastering data analysis to understanding the intricacies of SEO, excelling in email marketing, and producing engaging video content, the opportunities to learn and apply new skills and technologies within this field have never been greater. One upshot: top digital marketers will enjoy a level of flexibility other professions only dream of, with opportunities to experiment and grow in a variety of roles, in virtually any industry.

Jessica Robinson Content Marketing Manager

As Content Marketing Manager, Jessica oversees storytelling on CourseCompare, from top school rankings to specialty subject deep dives. Leading an experienced team of expert contributors, she shapes the strategic direction of content creation for the site, as well as the content strategy for school partners. Prior to this role, Jessica was the Content Manager at Globe Content Studio, The Globe and Mail’s content marketing division; previously, she worked in branded content for magazines including Maclean’s, Canadian Business and Chatelaine.

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