As a graduate or being midway through your studies, you’re probably being asked which discipline or area of marketing you plan to enter. You might have even found your way into a job and find that you’re not getting what you expected from it.
Whether you’re at the start of your marketing career or simply looking for a change from the job or role you currently perform, it’s likely that there are other areas and prospects you haven’t considered.
The most obvious of marketing jobs, you’ll be working for an organization to improve sales, reputation and product knowledge. This role is likely to offer stability and, depending on the size or scope of the organisation, the opportunity to grow and develop your career as the company develops. This is a great place to start a career as they tend to favour training and career development.
You might find yourself starting in a company as a marketing executive or assistant and taking on basic tasks as you develop your skills and familiarity with the company and your colleagues. It may be within this role that you are handed an account or a particular skill which you will have total and sole responsibility for.
From this starting point, you might expect to be promoted to Marketing Officer or Manager and within this role you might be supervising the assistants, dealing directly with partner agencies or, in a particularly large company, managing a particular brand or “arm” of the company.
In contrast to client side marketing jobs, there are agency side marketing roles which involve, as is to be expected from the title, working with an agency who handles the marketing needs of a variety of companies. It might be that these businesses are not large enough to warrant their own marketing department or it might be that they are seeking expert assistance. Working for an agency also involves a number of roles.
Within an agency, you might expect to be an account handler or manager or if starting your career being under the supervision of a handler or manager. Within either of these roles, you’ll be working as a team with a specific account or a group of client accounts and performing a variety of tasks from working with your client to suggest and implement strategies, performing the actual marketing tasks and undertaking market research and analysis to assess the effectiveness of the campaigns you undertake.
Public Relations is a current favourite for graduates of marketing, especially as it seems to be one of the most glamorous of tasks in marketing jobs. PR usually involves representing the client and directly caring for their public image, from brand management to actually dealing with the media on their behalf.
The above are obviously “traditional marketing” but it’s well worth remembering that, as the internet dominates more lives and the business practices of more marketing clients, as do their requirements. Online marketing is a growing field, and if current beliefs prove to be true, will only continue to grow. Online marketing is a dynamic and exciting field to join and there has never been a better time.
Charles Reybreck is a freelance writer specialising in jobs in marketing.