How to map your career path to the top

The research is taken from The B2B Marketing career acceleration guide, a brand new report aimed at understanding what sets high-flying marketers apart from the rest, and the areas every marketer can work on in order to succeed.

Unsurprisingly, it turns out there isn’t a typical career path in B2B marketing. While some might expect it to be well-trodden, the reality is that B2B marketing careers come in all shapes and sizes – and the speed of career progression varies hugely from one individual to another.

Some of the marketers we surveyed have moved into B2B marketing from a completely different career, while others have been steadfast B2B-ers for more than 20 years. Having said this, it is possible to draw out the average number of years that marketers tend to spend in each position as they move up the career ladder, as well as the age at which they reach this position.

Here’s a picture of the average marketer at different levels of their career:

Gender split: 64% female
Hours worked per week: 40 hours
Channels to promote professional profile: LinkedIn (95%), Twitter (34%), blog posts (35%)
Skills: Likely to possess specialist skills such as video, with weaker strategy/planning abilities.

Gender split: 69% female
Hours worked per week: 43 hours
Channels used to promote professional profile: LinkedIn (95%), Twitter (34%)
Skills: Stronger in areas including content marketing, communications and event marketing.

Gender split: 74% female
Hours worked per week: 45 hours
Channels used to promote professional profile: LinkedIn (100%), Twitter (39%)
Skills: More advanced than CMOs when it comes communications, account management, and brand.

Gender split: 59% male
Hours worked per week: 49 hours
Channels used to promote professional profile: LinkedIn (97%), Twitter (62%), speaking at events (56%), blog posts (50%)
Skills: Expert in strategy/planning and general marketing.