This content was created by Girlboss, in partnership with Semrush.
One of our favorite things to tell anyone who will listen is how smart, talented, and ambitious our Girlboss community is. And guess what? Our biggest cohort is women in marketing and PR a.k.a. professional brand hype women who are part strategists, part storytellers, part data junkies, and part trend predictors.
Women just get it. Women-led brand campaigns are the most successful—they drive higher engagement and ROI. There is also a demand for women-centered content. In 2024, searches in the US for “equality in the workplace” increased by 440%, “women’s rights” increased by 22.2%, and “international women’s day” had an average of 924,085 monthly searches, according to recent Semrush data. The proof is in the numbers, people!
But being a woman in marketing has its own set of challenges. Even though it's one of the few industries dominated by women (we hold 60% of marketing positions!), a glass ceiling still exists when it comes to climbing the corporate ladder. *Sigh*
Why? Well, for many reasons, as you vented about below: marketing—and thus, in turn, women marketers—are often not fully recognized at the C-suitel level, women mentors can be hard to find (even though women held 51% of all chief marketing officer jobs, according to a 2022 study by Spencer Stuart), and there’s an increasing demand for marketing skills but it doesn’t come with an increased budget or salary compensation to match.
Although we can’t solve all of these deep-seated issues overnight, we hope that this is a good place to start—with the help of you, our Girlboss readers, and Semrush, the all-in-one marketing platform. From data-driven insights to SEO mastery, competitive analysis, or social media trends, you can spend less time stressing about staying ahead of the curve and more time on what really matters: innovating, executing, and shattering ceilings. 🚀
What you have to say: “I’m expected to do the job of three people, which prevents me from diving deep into a few key skills.”
What we have to say: That’s where Semrush comes in. It’s the ultimate growth tool for women in marketing—helping you close the digital skills gap, advance your expertise, and accelerate into leadership roles. Semrush is like having a personal marketing sidekick at your fingertips.
Here are some of our favorite tools that will help you get time back in your calendar:
- Keyword Research Toolkit: Crack the code to viral marketing with the best keywords.
- AI Toolkit: See what LLMs like ChatGPT say about your brand and use it to your strategic marketing advantage.
- Website Competitor Analysis Tools: Track your competitors’ every online move to see what you could be doing differently.
- Social Media Management: It’s social media on autopilot—schedule, analyze, keep track of the competition, and lock down influencer campaigns, all in one place.
What you have to say: “Marketing changes at the speed of sound. It's exhausting to keep up, yet it's exciting to learn all the new marketing strategies!”
What we have to say: If only there were a handy tool so you could know what actually works and has the biggest (and profitable) impact. Forget about guessing what’s trending; start strategizing and take advantage of the most viral moments. Get instant market insights to uncover trends and capture new growth opportunities with the Semrush .Trends Portal. Our favorite feature? The Market Explorer that predicts emerging trends.
Another sure-fire way to stay on top of the latest marketing trends? “Follow great people, and you'll get great content every single day,” says Rita Cidre, Head of Academy at Semrush. “Often, my problem is not staying on top of industry trends and changes, but rather that I spend too much time on LinkedIn.”
Some of our favorite marketing thought leaders and brands to follow on LinkedIn are:
- Semrush (duh)
- Girls in Marketing, a learning provider and community for marketers
- Pretty Little Marketer, a social media community on a mission to simplify social media marketing
- Shama Hyder, founder and CEO of Zen Media
- Katelyn Bourgoin, a.k.a. The Buyer Psychologist
- Hailley Griffis, head of communications and content at Buffer
-
Joanna Wiebe, the creator of Copyhackers
What you have to say: "I struggle a lot finding an executive that looks like me or even has a last name like mine. Being a Hispanic woman working for a major corporation has me looking for women in high executive positions to look up to."
What we have to say:
Marilynn Joyner, the founder and CEO of Her Workplace
“Looking beyond your workplace for mentorship can expose you to diverse perspectives and expand your understanding of different industries. When reaching out to potential mentors outside of your company, emphasize shared interests or values. For example, highlight how your goals align with their experience. Online platforms like LinkedIn can be incredibly effective as most leaders are open to connecting with professionals who show genuine curiosity about their journey. Additionally, don’t overlook your own network. You may have a colleague or leader within your organization who could help introduce you to potential mentors who are within their network that could be of real value to you.”
What you have to say: “What is missing is the trust: top managers still think about marketing as the last step in a business, a bonus in our strategy. They don't understand how much you can achieve with marketing and how important it is to have a good image.”
What we have to say:
Rita Cidre, Head of Academy at Semrush
“Marketing is often very misunderstood within organizations. A recent study estimated that only 10% of Fortune 250 CEOs have marketing experience. To me, this means that gaining recognition as a marketing leader must start with the fundamentals: clarifying the role of marketing in the organization and the value it contributes. Everything springs from this. My best advice is to work for a company where senior leadership understands the value of brand building. You'll probably still need to build a case, but at least there will be a common understanding that building a brand is an investment, not a cost.”
Women in marketing already have enough barriers standing in their way. Keeping up with SEO, data, or trends shouldn’t be one of them. Discover Semrush’s 50+ online marketing tools today and turn the algorithm into your BFF.
