In January, the Upwork Research Institute released a report on in-demand skills for job opportunities in 2025. With 18 million skilled freelancers and 5 million clients in over 180 nations, Upwork is the number one talent marketplace globally connecting businesses with freelancers and contractors..
With such a status in the industry, Upwork is an authority when it comes to sourcing information about what skills are in-demand across industries. The Upwork Research Institute studies the fundamental shifts in the workforce using its proprietary platform data, global survey research, partnerships, and academic collaborations to produce evidence-based insights on the world of work. “The Most In-Demand Skills” report is released yearly to provide skilled professionals and business leaders with insights on the new way to work and what the most sought-after skills are.
Why This In-Demand Skills Report Is Important
As a skilled professional or someone looking for opportunities, you need to be fully aware of new trends in work and what skills businesses are requiring the most to get their work done. The knowledge of this will help you to refine your skills or learn new skills and position yourself to take advantage of the moving trend. With hundreds of possible skills to learn out there, here are the ones you should consider giving your time and attention to based on credible data.
Sales & Marketing Skills
No, we are not being biased because we are a marketing firm; the data speaks for itself. Of the 11 skills in the forward half of sought-after skills highlighted by Upwork in the image above, 5 are from sales and marketing, and it is the category with the highest representation in that box.
- Campaign Management
- Email Marketing
- Content Strategy
- Marketing Strategy
- Data Analytics
These skills are not just in high demand but in growing demand. The reason is not far-fetched. Businesses depend largely on some form of marketing for lead generation, customer acquisition, sales, and growth in revenue. Therefore, anyone with appreciable skills, proficiency and experience in marketing will always get their hands busy and most likely, their pockets nourished. So let’s look at these top ranking skills and learn a thing or two about them.
Campaign Management
This has to do with managing paid and organic campaigns for the purposes of brand awareness, traffic, lead generation, and conversion. Campaign management includes paid per-click advertising (Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Bing Ads, etc) for businesses and companies. The professional here will need to excel at competitive analysis, keyword planning, bidding strategies, audience targeting, and campaign optimization. For organic campaigns, search engine optimization skills are required and that includes keyword research, On-Page and Off-Page SEO, content marketing, and more. Results are the evidence of proficiency in campaign management. If you can show interesting results from your previous campaigns, then you will always get busy.
Email Marketing
The main skills required for email marketing are tied to proficiency in handling different email marketing software. That means being able to easily navigate around any new email software you may come across. You’ll also need the ability to set up automated welcome emails, lead-nurturing sequences and campaigns to re-engage leads and customers. You also need some email design and copywriting skills, and the ability to create engaging and mobile friendly emails. Lastly, some skills in data analysis and reporting, and the ability to track key email metrics such as open rates, click-through rates and conversions will also come hands-on.
Content Strategy
This is the way to reach out to your target audience to convert them to leads and customers without making it obvious. It’s based on keyword research, answering popular questions through blog content and articles, and getting a site ranked at the top in search engines. Organic traffic is the most sustainable traffic for any business, therefore, the need for an ongoing content strategy provides opportunities for many skilled professionals in this regard.
Marketing Strategy
This brings everything together under one umbrella. The ability to craft and implement a successful marketing strategy will require a deep knowledge of a business’s needs, its target market, competitive landscape, and the best ways to reach its target audience. A marketing strategist is a top-level professional who has participated in different types of marketing campaigns and understands how to bring a mix of different marketing channels together to achieve significant results.
Data Analytics
Data is the backbone of marketing. Without data, what you’ll have left are mere activities, intuition, and guesswork. Performance tracking and analytics involve the deployment of tools to measure important data from campaigns and user interaction and to understand customer behaviour and preferences. This is a major part of any campaign. A data analytics professional must be able to understand what data are important to a business, carry out the implementation of custom data collection, and analyze data to uncover actionable insights for the business
Design & Creative
Apart from sales and marketing, the other skills category that is also prominent in the most sought after skills are design and creative skills. Some of these skills include:
- Video Production and
- Brand Identity Design
The presence of these two skills in the top tier is not surprising as visual content are now in top demand, especially when it comes to marketing a product or service. 72% of customers prefer video content over text and 80% of marketers use images in social media posts. Unique logos and other brand assets helps businesses to stand out among the competition and get that creative appeal to their target audience. Creation of visuals has become more interesting and easy to learn, especially with the advent of AI tools and other SAAS products that are now readily available in the market.
Conclusion
Sales and marketing skills are unarguably the most sought after skills in 2025. Many businesses depend on these skills to grow revenue. If you are considering skills options where you can easily find opportunities, digital marketing skills are some of your best bet. You can consider learning skills in search engine optimization, PPC advertising, content strategy, email marketing, marketing strategy, or data analytics.
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