Sales & Marketing Market Insights H1 2018

The year in 2017 has seen an optimistic hiring trend for sales and marketing talent across financial organisations, professional services and other corporates, as well as digital and online businesses in Singapore.

Financial institutions were seeking digital marketing expertise

In the second half of 2017, banks and financial firms continued an upward hiring trend for marketing and marketing-related professionals, especially those with digital marketing expertise. As these firms continued to focus on acquiring new customers as well as engaging their existing customers, digital marketing professionals remained in demand to make this transformational impact.

Demand for business development and sales professionals within financial and professional services, as well as fintech, has remained consistent in 2017.

Ongoing demand for digital marketing talent in 2017

Digital marketers, those whose skills revolve around content marketing, performance marketing, video marketing, and e-commerce transformation continued to be desirable by employers.

Retail boom in emerging markets

The ongoing trend of retail expansion into emerging markets such as Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia continued in 2017.

Along with this trend, there has been an accompanying demand for experienced sales and marketing professionals at the senior to management levels to drive business growth.

For digital businesses, strategic roles were in demand

In 2017, Singapore’s digital business landscape continued to exhibit complexity. We continued to see business models grow geographically and across product verticals. Companies were hiring talent who were new to the business and the market.

We also saw a trend of high-growth companies scaling up their businesses and looking into an overarching growth strategy. This trend demanded talent who could aid business growth, particularly for business development, marketing, and strategic sales professionals. These people had responsibilities that could include helping firms through vertical expansions, strengthening internal capabilities, and specifically building up B2B business models.

Throughout 2017, we saw an industry-agnostic emergence of the B2B business model among online and digital businesses. This emerging trend was largely due to recurring and more stable revenues that the B2B models could bring. This surge in B2B demanded account-based marketing expertise.

Great opportunities lie ahead in 2018

In 2018, we foresee that financial and professional services firms will continue showing an increased demand for sales and marketing talent. These professionals, even as they hail from various industries, will be greeted by tons of opportunities as long as they are open to making a career move to financial or professional services. We will continue seeing a great deal of buzz around fintech, hiring in this space will rise.

Demand for professionals specialised in content marketing strategy and execution, especially in the areas of social and mobile, will continue to be robust, along with a healthy demand for SEO experts.

Online and digital businesses will continue seeking talent

Across online and digital companies, professionals with sales experience and who have moved into a marketing position will continue to be in demand.

Companies will also seek professionals who can grow the business and brand by creating marketing partnerships across retail, travel and banks. These professionals will be those who have the ability to broker negotiations whilst being hands-on with online paid media campaigns. 

In 2018, along with a higher volume of replacement hires, we expect to see online and digital businesses continuing to seek these exceptional professionals.

Sales & Marketing 
Salary Report for H1 2018*

*Notes about salary table:

1. Titles and levels vary from organisation to organisation.

2. The salary ranges given are only approximate guides. For tailored salary advice, please contact us directly.

3. 12-month base salaries are assumed.

4. All other benefits and bonuses are in addition to these figures.

5. Bonus ranges can vary significantly from company to company and will be influenced by market conditions, business and individual performances. Bonus ranges from 1 month at the low end to 100%+ at the upper.

6. Holiday entitlements range from 12– 25 days with senior executives not usually receiving less than 18 days. Less than 15 is very rare and 20 days is becoming the norm.

7. Healthcare policies are standard.

8. Pension plans vary with some companies offering greater than the standard contribution. Top up schemes can increase employer contribution levels as much as 15–20% of the base salary for senior executives.