Looking to start a marketing career?
Employment of marketing managers in the US is projected to grow 7% from 2019 to 2029, faster than the average for all occupations:
But is marketing the right career for you? And if so, how do you get started?
Look no further, as the Loomly Team answers all your burning questions in this marketing career FAQ.
Table of contents
According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
HubSpot adds that marketing is the process of getting people interested in your company’s product or service. This happens through market research, analysis, and understanding your ideal customer’s interests. Marketing pertains to all aspects of a business, including product development, distribution methods, sales, and advertising.
There are three primary purposes of marketing:
Credit: The Balance Small Business
A career in marketing can include several different roles, from online marketing positions to more traditional marketing jobs like television, radio, or billboard marketing.
Your role can vary based on the business requirements and your skillset. Some might work within social media communities, while others might run online ads. The job description and responsibilities can vary significantly from one company to another.
Depending on the role, marketing careers can require specific industry knowledge such as consumer behavior, sales, market research, and competitor analysis. Experience is important in this field, but some employers might not hire people without degrees.
Because of the diversity, there is no set career path in marketing. You could start in one area and move into another as you gain more experience and new technologies emerge.
There are many different marketing jobs and careers. Any given marketing department has a variety of positions, projects, and goals. The difference between these roles can be minute or major — it all depends on what medium they’re working with, what they’re promoting, and who they’re promoting to.
Here are some of the marketing functions and positions you might pursue in a marketing career.
Refers to marketing through digital channels like search engines, websites, email, and mobile apps.
Content marketing, since it’s mainly executed online, could be considered a segment of digital marketing. But it’s often spoken about separately.
Product marketing is all about setting the tone for how, where, when, and why a company’s products and services are promoted.
Consumer behavior has paved the way for roles in brand management and public relations.
Company-run events are a popular way to interact with and entertain potential customers and clients.
In the marketing world, numbers and data is king.
Marketers work across all industries, including banking, insurance, accountancy, management consulting firms, startups, education, and leisure and tourism.
Like all jobs, there are pros and cons to a marketing career.
Pros:
Cons:
The consensus from the marketing subreddit is that it’s not hard to get a job in marketing.
Here are a few comments from the thread:
“No, it’s not. But it’s the 100k a year jobs everyone seems to think is the norm that is hard to get.”
“It’s not hard, but it’s not what you’d expect either. Marketing is very broad, so find your niche and get good at it. I went to school for advertising, and I use my education daily at work. I thought my niche would be marketing research, but my full-time career includes everything from graphic design to magazine editing to web design, which I never expected. However, on the side, I’ve found my niche freelancing in the realm of family-owned restaurant branding. You’ll gain your footing as you go.”
“I’d advise being selective about your first job in marketing, though. Many many companies use “marketing” as a buzzword to mean whatever they want it to mean. Often this includes sales, call centers, and standing in Walmart, getting people to sign up for cable. Instead, look at non-profit orgs and those random associations that nobody thinks about, like the Fencing Association. Places like that are always looking for talent, and they are great first-jobs in marketing because it’s low stress (sometimes), you’re rarely generating leads as these orgs have a membership base not controlled by the marketing dept. AND you can try stuff out and make mistakes without creating a pr crisis with every tweet.”
“Or just go work at an agency as your first job. If you’re fine not leaving the office for two years, agency work is often the best way to start a career.”
“I wouldn’t say that it’s hard, but in terms of money and career advancement, you would probably (from what I’ve seen) get better value by entering the field with a degree in some specific subfield of marketing: design, videography, creative writing… even something related to math or data.
There is no such job as just “I’m a marketer.” That’s where many people screw up. They think about the field in generalities and think the entry-level role is going to be Don Draper.”
“It’s not hard to get a job in marketing, but if you want to get a good one and work your way up to a high paying position or director role somewhere, it’s probably better to specialize in one specific area. For example, PPC, SEO, Social Media, Email Marketing, etc. You’ll be able to command more salary, and you can always do a CIM course or something later on to learn the skills needed to step into management.”
Creative Boom has put together the following list of the 25 best (FREE) resources to help you learn marketing:
Johannes Kanter from Getting Growth shares the following steps to starting a career in marketing:
According to the Wandering Educators, marketing is among the most difficult majors. It’s all about data collection and analysis, learning how to develop effective communication and marketing strategies, the four P’s (place, price, promotion, product), and so much more.
A marketing career is hard not only because of all the information and strategies that you have to learn during college but also because it is a process that includes lifelong, continuous development due to new products and emerging technologies.
Other opinions on Quora suggest that marketing is no harder to study than other disciplines. But perhaps the most important aspect is turning your marketing studies into practice — that’s when things can get more challenging.
According to Eric Hui, CEO of Single Grain, you can succeed in marketing with a bachelor’s degree in several fields, but a marketing degree makes it easier to land an entry-level job and rise in your field faster.
Here are the pros and cons of obtaining an undergraduate degree in marketing.
Pros:
Cons:
Even if you miss out on a marketing undergraduate degree, a graduate program offers the knowledge and credentials you need to rise in your career. With so many options to choose from, a degree in marketing is a good idea.
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), most marketing managers need a bachelor’s degree. Courses in business law, management, economics, finance, computer science, mathematics, and statistics are advantageous.
For example, computer science courses help develop an approach to maximize online traffic, by utilizing online search results, which is critical to the success of digital advertisements and promotions. Also, completing an internship while in school can be useful.
Depending upon your level of dedication, marketing majors can take the following time to complete:
Marketing professionals identify the strategies and techniques used to attract customers to a business. They determine pricing based on product demand and supply, help maximize a firm’s profits, and grow market share for a business. They also aid in new product development and critique market trends.
Within the profession, there are a variety of job titles, including:
The day-to-day tasks of a marketing professional could include research, market analysis, and strategy development, as well as budget management.
According to Clickthrough Marketing, the most in-demand skills for digital marketers in 2020 are:
Did you know that marketing consistently tops the lists of “The Most Stressful Careers” or “The Most Hated Jobs In The World”?
Here’s what Cubicle Ninjas discovered:
The variation among actual marketing salaries can be significant. Different specialties can have such vast salary differences that one marketing career can pay almost double another.
Specialization significantly boosts marketing degree salary ranges at the mid-level of a marketing career path. For instance, a general brand manager will make about $5,000 less than a package design manager, even though package design is only one part of a brand manager’s responsibilities.
Marketing salaries at the highest levels of a marketing professional’s career only tell part of the story. Stock options, bonuses, benefits, and other company perks can increase the base salary by 10% or more.
Here are some of the median salaries for popular careers in marketing:
A career in marketing is a reasonably safe-option to pursue as demand continues to grow for marketers across all industries.
You’ll find it easier to get started in your marketing career if you have a degree, but it’s not essential. Sure, it can be stressful at times, but as new technologies emerge, you can always move into a new marketing field.