Most marketers and industry recruiters will recognize the following hybrid roles of the past decade:

• Front-End Developer / Designer (HTML/CSS  & Javascript + design using Photoshop)

• Content Publisher (content & messaging…perhaps some layout + HTML coding & CMS navigation)

• Account Executive (existing client service + ‘hunter’ of new business)

Take your average marketing generalist job posting these days – most commonly Marketing Specialist or Marketing Manager – and chances are it will be half digital-based marketing, at minimum. If the word ‘Digital’ or ‘Interactive’ comes at the beginning of that job title, nowadays said role will call for Content and SEO strategy, ExactTarget or Constant Contact experience, marketing automation, Google Analytics and HTML proficiency. But wait, many companies have dedicated SEOs, Email Marketers and Front-End Devs!

Before, it was the mid-sized corporations and agencies going the route of the hybrid, while the larger corporations separated marketing from technical; SEO from a Social Management, etc. Now, Fortune 100s with massive marketing teams are integrating and boarding the USS Hybrid, and sailors, talent is still tight.

Here’s our advice:  

Generalists, broaden your skills. And if you want to potentially launch your career into the stratosphere, know more than enough to be dangerous when it comes to today’s standards of digital: social, personalized content, email, analytics, development. If you can acquire these multiple areas as your actual deliverables – particularly the analytics and coding (by hand) – you’ll have a strong advantage.

Hiring Managers and HR, obviously cross-utilization is a favorable move, but there’s a catch: if you are seeking more than ‘basic proficiency’ (e.g. ‘proficient’ to ‘expert’) in that outlier skillset, be prepared to pay extra for it. We don’t mean “two peoples’ worth” here, but you will find the market driving higher salaries than a typical generalist when you have a strategic marketer who can also fully hand-code, for example. That, and you will want to make them feel valued or they will likely leave for a better-paying opportunity with their progressive skillset. How much more? We’re observing somewhere around 15-30% above a generalist midpoint.

We will be watching just how far the hybrid ship will sail. For how long will it keep charting new waters? When will the marketing industry revert generalists back into true specialists? In our opinion…much of that depends on the eveloution of the customer. They’re the real captains here. Aye-aye!