Too many experts – or the fragmentation of online marketing

The life of online marketing experts has not become and will not become easier. In the article, I will demonstrate why through the relationship of 39 digital hard skills.

To quickly understand the situation, let's look at an example when a newly launched business/startup/sub-brand/webshop would start and begin its online life. If an organization wants to achieve success in the digital space while just starting out, it may find itself in the following situation:

1. I know what I want to sell. I need a brand. Required: Brand expert
2. The brand is established and, ideally, the positioning is set. I need a service. Required: Service Design expert
3. The flow is established. I need an online sales strategy. Required: Online Marketing strategist (Real)
4. Finally, I know how to sell our product. I need a stable platform. Required: Developer or Tech PM or tech consultant. Ideally, this is a Senior Web Developer
5. The technology is in place. I need user experience. Required: UX/UI/GUI expert
6. The wireframe is ready, the prototype is ready. I need an all-platform, responsive design. Required: Web designer (Real)
7. The designs are ready. I need the site/shop code. Required: Backend and frontend developer
8. The decision about the code is made. I need a server. Required: Webmaster
9. The server is ready, and finally, the code comes. I need someone to test. Required: someone who understands web quality assurance. With a little goodwill, let it be a Tester.
10. The platform is ready, the site is up, and it works well. I need a campaign. Required: Media Planner (at least)
11. We have our media plan. We need a creative idea. Required: Some kind of creative being.
12. We have the creative idea. We need someone to implement it. If you're unlucky, you need someone who understands HTML. Required: Web designer and/or frontend developer
13. We have the creative. We need social presence. Required: Social Marketing expert
14. The campaign would slowly start, which wisely includes SEO elements. Required: SEO expert
15. On-site SEO solutions are coming, and if you're unlucky? We need: A Content Marketing expert
16. The site is ready, the content is up, the first SEO steps are underway, and the campaign would start. We need someone to plan the complete measurement and reporting. Required: Analyst
17. I wouldn't continue now. The campaign is starting on your site.

It's worth counting how many types of experts are needed to launch your project in a way that you can be proud of as a digital marketer and that it is professional as well. (Then of course two weeks later comes the re-evaluation; and lo and behold, the numbers still don't come.) I'll help: 16 experts. But let's say 12 if you consolidate some areas.

 

But what is the problem with the above situation:

1. A startup cannot handle that many experts. The costs mentioned above will not only cover the first month but may cover the first half year (if not more) financially.
2. A startup team does not know that many experts. To know that many credible experts, an extensive network is required. This is generally – especially in the case of a startup – not available. It's good if 2-3 areas are covered by experts.
3. Whose responsibility is it? Everyone's. In other words, no one's. Let me show you: „The campaign is not good. Because the site is bad. The site is good, but the source code is bad. But the code works, but the server is slow. The server is good, but the visitors are not coming. Is it because the campaign is not good? Because the site is bad?? „
4. We understood that sales are not going well, but someone tell me why the numbers are not coming in? But who will say? The situation is better here because the Analyst is coming and will likely tell us what is wrong. Perhaps the Online Marketing Strategist. But they cannot say what will make it go well, only what probably needs to be improved.

Much fewer experts are needed – but what kind?

• In terms of developments, there is the concept of a Full Stack Developer, which simply put is an experienced developer who can perform in many areas because they are proficient in a wide range of technologies at a certain level. But in Hungary, the Full Stack Online Marketer is not yet present, although the topic has already emerged abroad. also in terms of training.
• Then there is the so-called T Shape Marketer, characterized by having very good knowledge in two out of 20-40 digital marketing expertise areas (some), but the rest they have „only seen up close,” meaning their knowledge is strongly limited and moderate.

Since then, it has appeared in the IT field:

• I Shaped – An expert with deep knowledge in one area (There will be more on this later)
• M Shaped – An expert in several IT areas – this, in my opinion, is closer to real expectations
• pi Shaped – I don't even understand this myself; so I can't explain it to you
• Comb Shaped – This really exists, and it appears as an expert in four specialized areas

However, I have not yet seen an advertisement for a T Shape (M, pi, Comb, etc.) Marketing Manager. I have seen one for a Senior Digital Lead. So for me, this XYZ Shaped thing does not seem to be a solution, but the trend is clearly visible that the number of „legs” of the Shapes is increasing in the IT field – therefore, we can strongly assume that soon it will also be a requirement in digital marketing.

• A Webbyskillidentifies digital marketing skills between 20-40 (!) depending on the perspective. Unfortunately, you cannot be an expert in every area because:
  • Each segment would require 2-5 years of routine. A minimum of 40 years of routine would be needed, which is obviously not expected.
  • But if we calculate more conservatively, even then 20 years of routine would be necessary, which means 1 year per specialty, and we know that one year is not yet the level of strategic knowledge.

 

Why is it not possible to combine all knowledge at an expert level?

Therefore:

„The developer is not a copywriter. The copywriter is not a UX expert. The UX expert is not a media planner. The media planner is not a system administrator.”

It follows that there are at least 5-8 areas in Online Marketing where, with some overlap, independent knowledge appears with unique, irreplaceable hard skills, so specialized experts will remain – or lifelong learning will be realized, and we will learn digital marketing until retirement.

Let's put digital knowledge on a heat map!

 

I will show the differences with a skill map of three areas:

• Red: Indispensable knowledge without which you cannot be an expert in the given field
• Orange: Essential knowledge that are border areas and their understanding is necessary
• Yellow: Important but not core knowledge, their absence is not blameworthy, but they will be needed

 

 

 

From the above, it is clear that the mentioned 20-40 current digital marketing expertise is actually not a deep knowledge of two areas (T Shaped) and an overview of four to six larger areas -> but significantly more confident handling of online marketing areas. The situation is complicated by the fact that their number will continue to increase.

In the future, experts with broad knowledge will be valued, who:

1. can know in as many areas as possible integrated digital expertise They cannot be polymaths ? but they will try, because this segment is proud to have an extremely broad digital insight into the industry and provides a competitive advantage with the high-level and provable knowledge delivered by one person
2. Those who can build and retain a marketable team (!), who can present high-level expertise in the most important sub-segments in an understandable and applicable way, even participating in the development of a complete digital product
3. Those who, in certain online marketing areas are more than experts, much more prominent as industry-defining experts, for whom it is not possible (or seemingly not possible) to acquire a higher level of expertise than they possess in the market? within a foreseeable time and risk.

The solutions that lose their weight are those that:

• In the complex process of digital marketing, they provide services in such a way that their performance and responsibility cannot be proven. For this reason, they can simply be replaced or omitted from digital communication processes.
• Those with generic digital marketing knowledge have limited or low expertise in every area, which can automatically put them at a disadvantage compared to verifiable, measurable expert knowledge.