A Complete Guide to Marketing Careers

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Whether you've got a knack for storytelling or a love of numbers, marketing could be the perfect path for you. This diverse field offers many opportunities for you to make an impact, blending data analysis, strategy, and creativity to shape the ways people perceive and interact with products and services.

In this guide, we cover everything you need to know about marketing careers, including the different kinds of marketing jobs available, typical salaries, and the degrees you can earn to launch your career.

What Do Marketing Careers Entail?

A career in marketing usually centers on creating interest in a company's offerings and building lasting relationships with customers. It might sound simple, but there's a huge variety of marketing jobs you can pursue.

I have worked in SEO, SEM, digital advertising, web design, landing page optimization, email marketing, marketing automation, social media, and content, said Scott Beckman, senior digital marketing manager at EverCommerce. Beckman earned his master's degree in marketing from the University of Colorado, Denver, and has over 14 years of experience in the marketing space.

[Marketing] remains interesting because there is always more to learn, explained Beckman.

Most marketing jobs involve some or all of the following skills and/or duties:

• Market Research: Understanding your company's market, competition, and target audience is crucial. Marketers often employ various research methods to gather this information and align their strategies with market trends and customer preferences.
• Strategic Planning: Marketers develop marketing plans and strategies to effectively reach potential customers. They decide on the marketing mix — the right combination of product, price, place, and promotion to achieve their company's objectives.
• Campaign Management: Marketers manage marketing campaigns across various channels from conceptualization to execution. These could include traditional media like TV and print and digital platforms like social media and email.
• Performance Analysis: Part of a marketer's role is to evaluate the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. Typically, this involves analyzing campaign performance data to gauge success and inform future strategies.
• Team Collaboration: Most marketing professionals work in teams, brainstorming innovative ideas and implementing strategies to meet certain objectives.
• Customer Relationship Management: Building and maintaining relationships with customers is key. Marketers must work to ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty, fostering long-term relationships that benefit both the customers and the business.
• Brand Development: Marketers play a key role in shaping a brand's identity and image. They may work on branding strategies to improve brand awareness and perception.

Types of Marketing Careers

Marketing is a broad field with many career paths. Here are some popular roles you might consider.

Digital Marketing

Digital marketers use online platforms to advertise products, services, and brands. They create content, manage social media, run online ads, analyze data, and stay updated with the latest digital trends.

Their primary aim is to engage with their target audience, foster interaction, and achieve business goals using search engine marketing (SEM), pay-per-click (PPC) marketing, and other online strategies.

Content Marketing

Content marketers strategize, research, create, share, and analyze content to attract and engage potential customers. They create content such as blog posts, instructional guides, emails, videos, infographics, and in-depth reports.

These marketers work closely with other marketing professionals to ensure the content aligns with the company's goals and resonates with the target audience.

Product Marketing

Product marketers are responsible for the success of a product. They create user and buyer personas, research market landscapes, collaborate with the marketing team to produce resources highlighting the product's benefits and features, and train sales teams.

They also work closely with product management to establish launch goals and evaluation metrics.

Event Marketing

Event marketers use face-to-face interactions to promote a product, service, or cause. They plan, organize, and host events to engage their audience and create lasting impressions.

Tasks may include coordinating with vendors, managing logistics, developing promotional materials, and measuring event success.

Brand Management

Brand managers are responsible for managing the overall image of a brand. They work on marketing strategies to improve brand awareness, market position, and profitability.

Their duties may include conducting market research, analyzing brand performance, coordinating with other marketing and sales teams, and managing marketing campaigns and initiatives.

Marketing Analysis

Marketing analysts sift through data to guide a company's marketing strategies. They conduct market research, analyze data, identify potential for new products and markets, determine appropriate pricing, and forecast sales.

Using their findings, these marketers work to help companies understand their customers, market conditions, and marketing campaign effectiveness.

Marketing Salary: How Much Can You Make?

Salaries for marketing professionals typically fall in the range of $75,000-$158,000.

Marketing salaries can vary greatly based on company size, location, industry, and experience. For example, marketing managers in California earned a median salary of $192,730 in 2023, whereas those in Florida earned a median salary of $155,990, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

In terms of field, some of the highest-paid marketing managers work in industries like information services, oil and gas extraction, and natural gas transportation.

How to Start a Career in Marketing

Starting a career in marketing often means getting the right credentials, whether that's an undergraduate or graduate degree.

It also means being willing to push through the hard times.

One thing that has helped me throughout my career is an ability to bounce back from failure, said Beckman. A lot of your marketing campaigns will not produce the results you hope they will ... it is really important to be able to chalk it up as a learning experience and move on.

Here are the various marketing degrees you can get and the potential roles each can lead to.

Advance Your Marketing Career With Certifications

Earning a professional certification can set you apart from other marketing professionals and qualify you for higher-paying roles.

That said, certifications alone will not necessarily secure you a good marketing job.

In my experience, certifications have not been particularly important when looking for a job in marketing, explained Beckman. They tend to present themselves as opportunities to dig deeper into the technology you are already using once you are in a role.

Whether you want to find a new marketing job or upskill in your current role, here are some popular certifications you can get.

Professional Certified Marketer

The American Marketing Association (AMA) offers the Professional Certified Marketer (PCM) credential in three areas:

• Digital marketing
• Marketing management
• Content marketing

Earning PCM certification requires completing 15-120 hours of self-paced online learning and a passing score on an AMA-administered exam.

Interactive Advertising Bureau

IAB offers certifications in digital media sales, digital media buying and planning, and digital ad operations. Unique among credentialing programs in the marketing industry, IAB offers group training to marketing employees of large corporations and organizations.

Frequently Asked Questions About Marketing Careers