Podcast: Marketing Headcount Budgets for 2024

We’re fortunate to know and connect regularly with Greg Kihlström, founder of “The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström”, the leading and award-winning marketing technology and customer experience podcast. With over 400 episodes and counting, Greg brings together thought leadership and compelling discussions with leading experts in marketing.

We are thrilled to participate in these discussions. Recently our own Sue Keith sat down with Greg to talk through marketing headcounts and how companies can do more in 2024.

A few key points:

• While functional experience will always be important, an interesting trend we’re seeing is the growing importance of soft skills for hiring managers.
• With headcount budgets tight, marketing leaders are bringing on contractors to help fill gaps on their teams.
• The term “Fractional” is hot, but it’s not clearly defined. “Fractional” vs “Contractor” are being conflated; we believe they have very different definitions.
• The perception of the productivity of remote employees has shifted over the past six months. We’ve moved from “look how productive our people were during Covid” to a growing skepticism on the part of management that their employees are really working when they’re home.
• Marketing leaders should take a close look at their teams for burnout. Many marketing teams are really lean right now. Burned out employees are likely flight risks once the hiring market picks up.

Check out the full podcast below.

Special thanks to Greg Kihlström for inviting us to participate. In addition to hosting “The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström podcast”, Greg is a consultant and speaker on marketing technology, CX, and digital transformation, and publisher of books including the best-selling House of the Customer, the Agile Brand Guide series, and more.