If you’re a people person with strong communication skills, creative skills in photography or graphic design, or just a strong sense of what makes people tick, a career in marketing may be right up your alley. Like most careers, though, finding success in the world of marketing will require you to have a degree and relevant experience. Thus, starting your career might actually involve a good deal of time in a classroom.
Get an Education To launch their careers, marketing professionals tend to first earn a bachelor’s degree in journalism or advertising, suggests the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, though some colleges offer bachelor’s and master’s degrees in marketing as well. During your education, you’ll study the tenets of marketing, including how to conduct market research, how consumers behave and what prompts them to buy products, and how visual elements such as video, photography and graphics help to market products. In addition, you may learn the basics of sales techniques. Choose a Specialty Having a specialty within the marketing field is also advisable, suggests Investopedia, since the field of marketing is so broad. If you choose to focus on digital marketing — an increasingly relevant specialty in the world of digital communication — you might study computer languages such as HTML or CSS, or you might hone your skills in social media. If you’re interested in the visual element, you might pursue a minor in graphic design or photography. You might also specialize in creating memes, videos or other graphic images for websites and brand social media sites. Digital marketing firms also look for people who are skilled in writing website content and analyzing and aggregating data. Marketing professionals who are “people people” might be a good fit for the account management side, helping to attract and guide clients, while strategic thinkers might focus on crafting overall marketing strategies for clients. Seek Experience After college, finding an internship with a marketing firm, Digital Content Company or with the marketing department of a large company can help you gain the experience you’ll need to land a job. If you need guidance on where to look, get help from your college’s career services department. When you look for entry-level jobs after graduation, you might find the jobs out there are not directly in marketing, but in sales. In many companies, the marketing professionals are those who worked their way up from successful careers in sales, suggests the CareerCast website. Thus, don’t overlook gaining experience in sales or telemarketing, for example. Career Advancement According to BLS, the job prospects for Marketing majors are about as strong as other careers. From 2012 to 2022, BLS expects marketing manager jobs to grow by about 13 percent — the average for all jobs. That means job growth will be steady, but it also means there will be competition. To gain those entry-level jobs that can then lead to more advanced marketing jobs, take extra steps that highlight your skills. That can include volunteering with a non-profit organization’s marketing campaign, building your own personal brand on a website that shows your experience and work samples, or offering to do extra duties related to marketing while in your entry-level job.
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