The allure of sales jobs in terms of payment appears to be fading as marketing edges up, in a battle of two very related but equally popular professions.
According to a research by Fintech and online recruitment firm BighterMonday, while the number of people joining sales and marketing, which includes PR and communication, salaries for the latter remained higher.
This is perhaps because marketing jobs are paying higher compared to sales. The report by Fintech shows marketing jobs (Marketing, PR and Communication) offering better salaries, beating sales by over Ksh20,000. “Marketing jobs continued to widen the median salary gap with sales jobs in April 2017, at Ksh88,263 and Ksh65,596 respectively,” says the report.
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The study shows the creation of sales jobs decreased by 12.43% between March 2017 and April 2017, with a similar trend being realized in marketing jobs, which dropped by 21.74%.
The report by BrighterMonday and Data Fintech looked at the number of marketing, public relations (PR), communication and sales jobs created in Kenya’s economy in April this year. “April 2016 recorded a reduction in the jobs created for both marketing and sales positions. In April 2017, sales jobs decreased by 12.43% while marketing, PR and communication reduced by 21.74% compared to 11.90% increase in April 2016,” states the report.
In comparison to last year, over a similar period, sales job creations decreased by 16.13% while Marketing, Communication & PR job creations increased by 11.90%.
The higher salaries in marketing can be attributed to the growing role of marketing and Public Relations in many organisations, as well as the emergency of PR and communication agencies that are hiring more PR and communications experts. On the other hand, sales remains retainer and commission based, thus discouraging many younger people who do not want to toil to make a coin.
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The presence of two bodies lobbying for the welfare of PR practitioners gives them an upper hand in bargaining power. Public Relations Society of Kenya (PRSK) and the Marketing Society of Kenya (MSK) front the interests of the PR and marketing industries, while there is no established self-regulation body for sales representatives in Kenya.
“To keep abreast with the global dynamics of the profession and to create networking opportunities for the practitioner, PRSK affiliates to regional, continental, and global PR bodies,” states PRSK on their website.
MSK empowers and regulates the marketing industry by creating policy that governs the Marketing Industry (self-regulated), education and training of professionals, corporates and entrepreneurs, marketing and business mentorship and arbitration through the Advertising Standards Board.
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