A Guide to Marketing Jobs

If you’ve searched for a graduate job, the chances are you’ll have come across quite a few jobs in the marketing industry.

From ‘marketing assistant’ to ‘content coordinator’, there seems to be a huge number of jobs in this sector available, so it’s understandable why so many graduates end up applying for and working in marketing.

However, marketing can be a fuzzy area, which nobody quite sure what it means, what it entails and what sort of skills you need to succeed. If you’re considering a job in marketing, here is our guide to marketing jobs.

Define marketing

The Business Dictionary defines marketing as “The management process through which goods and services move from concept to the customer”.

Put more clearly, marketing is how to promote products, services or companies to the general public. This can include a lot of different things: improving customer service, creating new products, pushing advertising campaigns, posting on social media, increasing brand awareness and dealing with the press. In most cases, marketing will require you to be creative, innovative, good at communication and aware of what makes the public want to buy or like a certain product or company.

Of course, that’s quite a lot of things which can all be tackled in different ways, leading onto the next point…

Always read the job specification

One of the reasons why it’s so hard to explain what marketing means is because it can encompass so many different things. Social media, telesales, customer service, events organisation and internal journalism are just some of the tasks that can be placed under the umbrella of ‘marketing’, and, understandably, these all require quite different skills.

If you see a marketing role advertised, be sure to read the job specification carefully. You don’t want to apply for a job where you think you’ll be writing blog posts only to turn up and find out you’ll be on the phone all day.

By taking the time to read the role description, you’ll be able to see if it’s something you actually want to do. If the job specification is too vague or you’re still confused about what it is, get in touch with the advertiser – remember, it’s as important to find out if a job is right for you as it is for the company to see if you’re right for the job.

Unleash your creativity

Marketing may sound daunting, but in reality, it’s mainly focused on creativity – and creative thinking is something all of us do without really thinking about it.

We market ourselves on a daily basis (such as by putting posts on social media or writing a CV) and we are marketed towards everyday (like when you see a viral ad on Facebook), so the chances are you know more about marketing that you even know.

If you’re applying for a marketing role, this is the time to tap into your creativity – don’t be afraid to be bold or daring. Look at one of your favourite brands and think “what would I do if I was in charge of their social media?” or “how would I make people more aware of them?”.

All you have to do is step into the shoes of a customer (which we all are) and ask what would appeal to you. The best marketing campaigns are often the most simple: this list of last year’s best campaigns will show you how easy it is to be effective, and may even get your creative juices flowing.

Know your strengths

You may be asking yourself “am I right for marketing?”. The great thing about marketing being such a broad area is that you can really tailor it to your strengths, meaning most skills are welcome.

If you’re an artistic person, demonstrate how this can allow you to come up with creative campaigns and even create graphics and visuals as part of a campaign when applying for a marketing job.

If you’re never off Instagram, talk about all the social media trends you’ve noticed and how you could turn this into sales. Maybe you’re a people person, show how you can build external relationships to serve a brand.

Perhaps you’re numbers-minded, talk about tracking analytics and traffic to see what drives people towards your company. There’s a wide set of skills that marketing utilises, so it’s all about finding a role that’s right for you and your unique strengths.

Teach yourself

If you’re certain you want to try for a marketing job, but you’ve not got any experience, it’s really easy to learn. Because the skills needed for marketing are so accessible, there are infinite learning resources out there to give you experience.

Chances are you’ve used social media before – perhaps you do regularly. This is something you’re already using everyday – every time you post, you’re essentially building your skills.

There’s also plenty of other resources out there to improve your marketing repertoire. For example, SEO (e.g. making websites appear higher on search engines) is a highly sought-after skill in marketing, and guides for this can be found easily online for free, like this one  and this one.

Similarly, marketing courses can be taken digitally from sites like LinkedIn and cover a huge range of topics. So, even if you’ve never touched marketing before, it’s very easy to get into, which makes it an ideal graduate area.

Whether you choose marketing as a way of getting onto the job market or as a career, you’ll soon find it’s nowhere near as complicated as you might think: in fact, you might even be doing ‘marketing’ now!

Inspiring Interns is a recruitment agency specialising in all the internships and graduate jobs London has to offer.

Shannon is a copywriter and blogger, who enjoys writing about everything from feminism and fashion to Game of Thrones and fast food on her blog The Usual Shannanigans.