At Start Me Up, we offer advice on everything from nailing job interviews and applications to upskilling, as part of our Career Kickstarter Program.
Would you like a career with plenty of opportunities across a range of industries?
People can be snobby about marketing. But it’s an incredibly handy skill that can make or break an organization. It’s also increasingly sophisticated.
As a marketer, you might be doing anything from crunching numbers in spreadsheets, to producing viral videos, to writing, to devising creative ideas for campaigns or undertaking market research.
Every single company you’ve ever heard of will have used marketing to get their brand in front of you.
From Search Engine Optimization, to Instagram advertising, to listicles, you’re consuming marketing content every single day.
Marketing is powered by sophisticated technology like machine learning. It’s the special sauce behind some of the world’s most valuable companies, like Facebook, for example.
As Seth Godin, marketer and entrepreneur, says:
“Marketing is about spreading ideas, and spreading ideas is the single most important output of our civilization.”
Accordingly, accomplished marketers can have their pick of roles.
A wide range of career options
Marketing is a growing industry and developments in technology are leading to new and exciting marketing techniques every day.
Such a wide range of businesses in all industries use marketing, making it possible to find a role you’re really passionate about.
Love animals? An animal charity will have a marketing team.
Passionate about social justice? The same.
A career in marketing provides you with valuable transferable skills, including creativity, teamwork, commercial awareness and critical thinking.
It’s fast paced and calls for consistent new ideas and innovative ways of doing things, usually with the goal of out-doing the competition.
Career paths within marketing can include traditional marketing, digital marketing, or public relations and communications.
Career Progression and Salaries
A job in marketing can offer you great career progression, allowing you to move up the industry as you gain experience into better paid positions with more power.
Below is a table showing how a traditional marketing career can progress.
Remember, this is just one example and there are many more routes you can take in marketing.
Role
Average annual salary ($) Source: TrackMaven and Glassdoor
Chief Marketing Officer ($80,253-$253,036)
Head of Analytics $195,000)
Demand Generation Director: $130,000
Creative Director ($85,000)
Marketing Is Applicable to (Almost) All Businesses
“Build it and they will come,” is a line often cited in the startup world. But it’s not true.
At a recent Career Kickstarter event, investor Ivan Gowan highlighted how “It’s not often that the product sells itself” and companies need marketing specialists to inform customers what they have to offer and boost their sales.
You need marketing to show why the new technologies are able to disrupt the market and why they’re interesting.
What’s so great about working in marketing?
Marketing can be sociable. Working in marketing means constant communication with people and continuously finding new ways of engaging with audiences.
You can see the impact of your work clearly, which at the beginning of your career can be extra gratifying.
Teamwork is essential to the success of any marketing campaign. So, if you’re a sucker for team-spirit and you love making an impact, this career might just be the one for you,
Marketing requires creativity. You need to be able to design creative solutions to problems as well as constantly providing refreshed and renewed communicative messages to keep audiences informed and engaged. If you’re creative, a career in marketing can be a great way to use this talent.
It doesn’t matter what you study. We know marketers who studied everything from engineering to history. Unlike careers such as Law and Accountancy, you don’t necessarily have to have a related degree to enter the industry.
You can land entry-level jobs in marketing without a related degree, usually through internships and work experience which can demonstrate your passion and commitment to the field of work.
You can also take online courses to increase your knowledge of marketing and specific sectors within the field, for example, email or digital marketing.
Are you ready to delve into the world of marketing, or do you need a bit more convincing?
Find out more about marketing internships here.