Globally, the marketing scene is reaching heights beyond what had been previously forecasted. Many more organizations in different sectors of the economy are increasingly allocating funds for advertising costs. Naturally, the demand and benefits of marketing have created a surge of career opportunities in the industry. Companies now have large marketing teams tasked with building awareness and helping achieve overall objectives.
The marketing industry is even more lucrative because it has many different layers, with different roles required in each one. The skilled professionals required range from content writers to brand managers and many more in between.
This blog explores the major career opportunities in marketing right now, as well as offering some insight into why this industry is so opportunity prone.
Making the most out of a marketing career
Marketing is concerned with stimulating interest in a brand’s products or services through various techniques and strategies. It starts with identifying potential customers and defining how much value a product or service offers. In addition, marketing involves finding out ways to reach these prospective customers and trigger patronage.
Getting a relevant degree can help you go further in your marketing career. While some marketing jobs may not lay huge emphasis on education and your experience level, getting a degree is always a good idea as it can help you stand out among fellow job seekers. For instance, marketing management is one of the most lucrative roles in the US but requires significant education and experience.
The good news is that marketers can further their education by taking online courses. A Bachelor of Science degree in marketing can be undertaken online to provide a good foundation in the field.
In such a consumer-driven society as the one we live in, marketing strategies and techniques are evolving at a rapid pace. This is why it’s important to stay up to date by enrolling in an online training program. Beyond marketing courses, these programs offer other courses that can help you develop and improve your skills to meet today’s marketing challenges. For example, an online master’s in communication can prove very useful when you’re working on a strategy to create brand awareness.
Top marketing career paths in 2022
Digital marketer
As the world of business continues to move toward digitalization, there is an ever-increasing need for digital marketers. Previously, this position was only a necessity for tech-inclined companies. However, the horizon of digital marketers has grown much bigger as more organizations look to tap into the huge potential offered by the internet. From established business franchises to retail outlets, every corporate identity is in search of professionals who can create the required exposure for their products or services within the online space.
It’s important to note that compared to traditional marketing, digital marketing is a different ball game. With the latter, it’s ultimately about the clicks, interactions and sales gathered from marketing campaigns.
Digital marketing is a highly competitive job and is often accompanied by high remuneration. However, in this career path, earnings are a function of how well the digital marketer performs.
Some of the significant areas of focus when it comes to digital marketing include:
- Pay-per-click or cost-per-click marketing
- Cost-per-impression marketing
- E-commerce
- Email marketing
- Content strategy
- SEO/SEM
Sales representative
Whether you realize it or not, some of the top marketers today started as sales representatives. Here, human psychology – one of the fundamental keys to successful marketing – comes to the fore. A sales representative’s role is to present the value of a product in the best light. The best sales representatives convince the customer of needing a product or service instead of just wanting it.
Although there isn’t much emphasis on education at this marketing level, learning marketing skills will prove beneficial. For instance, the ability to convert sales requires grounded knowledge of the product. Therefore, you’ll need to learn all you can about the product or service. In addition, pitching products or services to customers requires seasoned communication skills.
Sales representatives don’t walk away with the biggest salaries, but commissions can fill the gap. For marketers with high-end skills, commissions are even more handsome than the base salary. Sales representatives with excellent on-the-ground skills will find it easy to shine in the digital space with just a bit of training.
Media buyer
This is not the most popular marketing area, but it is arguably one of the most important. A media buyer is a professional who is responsible for finding the right advertisement slots for brands. Media buyers identify the advertisement channels that are most suitable for specific campaigns.
The core of this profession requires association and negotiation with media stakeholders such as media vendors, social media handlers, magazine directors, etc. These days, there are several advertisement channels that businesses can employ. The question is, which one would help stimulate the most sales or perform the best with regard to campaign goals?
This is where media buyers come in. They not only identify the best advertisement approach but also help procure advertising slots within a stipulated budget. The scope of a media buyer’s expertise ranges from traditional to digital media outlets. Therefore, a media buyer should be able to place ads in newspaper pages, radio shows sessions, TV commercials, etc.
Here is a breakdown of the relevant tasks for this role:
- Analyzing marketing trends and media data for better marketing strategies
- Identifying the best spot to place ads
- Recruiting ad creators and managing them
- Negotiating the best prices
- Working with other arms of the marketing team
A successful media buyer should have excellent critical thinking, negotiation, analysis and communication skills. As a result of the delicate nature of this role, most marketing firms require at least a bachelor’s degree in related courses. More so, staying in contact with important stakeholders in the media industry will come in handy. Beyond education, social networking should be part of your daily routine.
Market researcher
If you find statistics and data analysis interesting, you can actually make a career out of market research. Like every other industry, marketing requires market research to identify ways of triggering effective advertisements and campaigns. Market researchers have to make sense of all types of data like demographics, sales figures, locations and conversion rates.
The scope of this job involves finding out what a company is doing wrong in terms of marketing and the best ways to forge ahead. Fortunately, there is a wide array of tools that can help with analyzing data. On the other hand, drawing conclusions remains totally up to the analyst. Such analytic skills usually require some form of education or training.
After thorough analyses, market researchers must also present these findings to an organization in a way that’s easily understandable and practicable. Market trends and patterns change all the time, and it takes research to stay abreast of the dynamism of consumer demands. Therefore, the role of market researchers is very crucial not just in the US marketing industry but globally. This job also pays quite well, especially at senior management levels
Brand manager
The purview of a brand manager is similar to that of a sales representative but with a broader scope. This role also operates at a much higher level and comes with huge responsibilities. Primary ones include:
- Protecting the brand – Brand managers are the ‘protectors of the realm’ as far as a company’s brand is concerned. They must ensure the products or services of the brand are not only up to standard but also appeal to customers as much as possible.
- Complementing other company departments – While brand managers constitute a significant piece of the marketing puzzle, they must work in tandem with other departments to ensure the best execution of the brand strategy. Managers need to collaborate with the finance and sales departments, among others.
- Coordinating the execution of marketing strategies – While the media buyer procures the proper channels to use for advertisements, the brand manager must make sure these agencies preserve the essence of the brand. That way, all ads and promotions align with the company’s core vision.
- Making critical decisions – A brand manager is part of the team that decides on the way forward after getting feedback and results from marketing strategies. They are responsible for adjusting campaigns, promotional events, etc.
Beyond academic qualifications, being a brand manager requires a passion for the said brand and a desire to take the products and services to the highest level.
SEO specialist
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is an essential technique in digital marketing. When done efficiently, it can keep brands above their competitors by helping the company stay relevant on search engines.
The reason why a website pops up first when you make a search query on Google is that the online page has been optimized for relevant keywords. Note that when users make a search on any search engine, thousands of results often pop up. However, many people hardly go past the first page, which holds only 10 results, before opting for another query. As a result, only brands that make it to the first page get significant exposure from that keyword.
Here are some of the benefits of SEO:
- Attracts quality traffic – Optimization through search engines typically attracts quality traffic that contains users with a strong interest in the brand. It is easier to convert these interests into sales and retain customers. This also results in brand awareness as users get to know more about the brand.
- Optimizes content marketing – They say great content is the best form of marketing. In the digital space, creating quality content is the first crucial step in creating a recognizable brand. Most companies have realized that employing the best hands in content writing and creation goes hand in hand with scouting for the best SEO specialists.
- Provides a competitive advantage – Most leading brands invest heavily in SEO for a competitive advantage. Placing higher in search engine results literally puts your company above the competition.
A couple of years ago, it would’ve been difficult, perhaps impossible, to get a job as an SEO specialist, but the opposite is the case presently. SEO specialist is a skilled profession that requires education but, more importantly, adequate experience.
Search engines are constantly evolving, and there isn’t a clear formula to ranking high on search pages. Instead, the best SEO strategies apply intuition and the available SEO tools to bring the best results. There are different types of SEO in digital marketing, including On-page SEO, Off-page SEO and Technical SEO.
PR officer
In business, public image is a significant factor that affects sales. This is why top brands spend huge sums on hiring PR officers and consultants. You should know that this aspect of marketing is not just about the product or service offered but rather encompasses an organization’s image as a whole.
Maintaining positive customer sentiment is crucial for your brand. If customers have a negative impression of a brand, they typically will not want to associate with a product by that company. Sometimes, even the personal decisions of a company’s CEO can greatly impact customer sentiment and affect the bottom line.
The job of the PR officer is to sway these sentiments in favor of the company name. This usually involves resolving any controversies and creating favorable situations so that customers form positive impressions and associations with the brand. PR officers come up with candidates for beneficial partnerships, including celebrities and other famous brands. They plan press releases and suggest steps to take or avoid to put the company in the best light. Top specialists are willing to go outside the box to amplify the brand and earn a lot while doing so. A degree in communications or social sciences-related courses could come in handy. The job will also require creativity and time management skills.
Content writer
Content writing is one of the most vital parts of marketing as it can make all the difference in brand visibility and exposure. Content that implements brand consistency and SEO makes it easy for customers to find such brands from search engines. Note that content writing goes beyond creating articles to be published on websites; it can also include writing the script for a video ad, a podcast and much more.
To be successful in this field, great writing skill is a must. Having a communications-related degree affords better chances of winning job bids with top brands, but experience level is often the most crucial factor.
This job is very flexible because you can choose to work for a single company or freelance for multiple brands at a time. However, freelance writers are in more demand as these professionals get to work with different brands at the same time. Like other marketing careers, a content writer’s output should reflect in sales.
Some companies look for a single professional to handle SEO and content creation. Others hire separately for both roles. Nonetheless, it’s recommended that writers have a grounded knowledge of SEO and analysis tools. The use of Google Analytics and similar services can help you find the right keywords and subject matter to insert into the content and boost conversion.
Social media manager
While a lot of brand exposure comes from the use of search engines, social media can be just as powerful when adequately utilized. Nowadays, many smartphone users spend most of their time on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, making social media the perfect medium to find customers.
Established businesses have realized that staying ahead of the competition in the digital age requires a solid social media presence. To stay in the mind of its customers, these brands have joined the leading social media platforms and maintain active pages. These days, new businesses often jump into the fray at the outset and establish their social media presence as soon as possible, even before their business officially launches.
To best capitalize on the potential of social media, brands need a social media manager. The job description of these professionals includes updating feeds, engaging users and developing content strategies. The functions of this role go much deeper, but unlike other forms of marketing, digital marketing can fit into a small budget. This doesn’t mean that social media managers are underpaid. On the contrary, it’s a lucrative branch of marketing, but a significant benefit to the business is that operational costs are relatively inexpensive.
Conclusion
The need for marketing is increasing with the rising competitiveness across all industries. With many stakeholders on the market, raising brand awareness is crucial to business growth. This also means that marketers re a vital part of any business.
There are many different roles for marketers and lots of opportunities to take advantage of if you choose this career path. For most marketing careers, you’ll need a mix of education and experience.
