Marketing services covers a broad church — print management, marketing procurement, campaign fulfilment, digital asset management, multichannel operations — and the talent market for each is correspondingly nuanced. After placing candidates across the sector for many years, the pattern of avoidable hiring errors is consistent. Here are the five that cost businesses the most.
1. Conflating Sector Knowledge with Commercial Capability
The most common brief we receive in marketing services is some variant of “we need someone who knows the sector.” It’s a reasonable starting point, but it often translates into a search for sector experience rather than for the specific commercial capabilities the role actually requires. Someone who has worked in marketing print management for 20 years knows the sector — but that doesn’t tell you whether they can build client relationships at Director level, manage a P&L, or lead a team through a technology transition.
Define the specific commercial capabilities you need, not just the sector experience, and you’ll broaden your candidate pool and improve your hire quality simultaneously.
2. Underestimating the Importance of Technology Literacy
Marketing services is increasingly a technology-enabled business. From DAM platforms and MRM systems to programmatic production tooling and AI-assisted content creation, the technology landscape is complex and evolving. Senior commercial leaders who can engage credibly with that technology landscape — who understand it well enough to discuss it intelligently with clients and to drive its adoption internally — are worth significantly more than those who can’t.
3. Pricing the Role at Agency Rates
Marketing services salaries have moved significantly over the past three years. Businesses that are benchmarking against agency salary structures or against what they paid for the previous incumbent five years ago are systematically underpricing their roles and missing the best candidates. Get a current market benchmark from a specialist recruiter before you brief the role.
4. Hiring for Cultural Fit Over Commercial Capability
Culture matters — but in marketing services, where the business model depends on the commercial relationships senior people bring and build, hiring for likability over commercial capability is a common and expensive mistake. The best hire is someone who is both commercially exceptional and a credible cultural fit. If the process is optimising for the latter at the expense of the former, it will consistently underdeliver.
5. Running the Process Sequentially Instead of In Parallel
The best marketing services candidates are sought-after and in multiple processes simultaneously. A sequential approach — brief the role, run a first stage, pick shortlist, run second stage, decide, make offer — takes three months and loses the best people at every stage to businesses that are moving faster. Compress the process, run stages closer together, and make decisions quickly once you have the information you need.
We’re happy to provide a confidential market view before you brief any senior marketing services appointment.
