Marketing is one of the most popular industries out there, with one third of grads who have signed up with GradTouch stating they’d like to work within the field.
It’s not hard to see why that is. Being able to embrace your creativity, communicate with different audiences and influence how others feel about or act towards a product, issue or service is empowering and exciting.
Yet, with so many careers falling under the umbrella of ‘Marketing’, it can be confusing to know which route to take.
To help, below you’ll find a brief overview of six common Marketing roles you’ll see advertised. Scroll down and learn more about what is out there.
1. Assistant Social Media Manager
Typical starting salary: £19,000 to £23,000, rising to £25,000 to £40,000 with experience
Fully immerse yourself in the digital world, spending your days sharing messages across different social media platforms – from Facebook to LinkedIn – on behalf of your employer or client. Day-to-day, you’ll be crafting posts, tweets and more to build a buzz amongst online audiences, then monitor and report back on their success. There may also be the chance to get stuck into blog writing, multimedia content creation and to educate other people about how to use social media effectively.
Key skills: an understanding of social platforms, good editing and writing skills, data analysis skills and the organisation to juggle multiple projects at once will help you succeed here.
2. Digital Marketing Assistant
Typical starting salary: £18,000 to £22,000, rising to £30,000 at Officer level
Depending on the size and nature of the business, digital marketers get to work across a number of digital arenas or specialise in just a few. It’s a vast industry, providing a number of different paths for grads to explore, with some of the most common being: social media marketing (see above), SEO (shorthand for Search Engine Optimisation - you’ll be increasing visitors to your website by boosting its visibility on search engines), PPC (Pay-Per-Click advertising involves sponsoring your brand’s adverts to appear on search engines alongside organic results), and mobile marketing (includes in-app, SMS and in-game marketing, to name a few).
Key skills: creativity, the ability to articulate ideas to others verbally and in writing, attention to detail, and very strong IT and analytical skills are all important for a role in Digital Marketing.
3. Junior Copywriter
Typical starting salary: £22,000 to £20,000, rising to £25,000 to £45,000 with experience
Often based within the creative department of a business and working alongside an art director, a copywriter’s job is to deliver the words and verbal content that appear alongside the visual ones. Depending on where you are working, you could be writing slogans, audio scripts, webpages, blogs or something else entirely. But, whatever it is you’re crafting, your aim will be to educate and engage your target audience in such a way that it motivates them to act.
Key skills: you must be a powerful and persuasive communicator with top-notch grammar, the resilience to accept criticism of your work, an active imagination, and excellent proof-reading and editing skills.
4. Advertising Account Executive
Typical starting salary: £19,000 to £24,000, rising to £30,000 to £40,000 with experience
Found in agencies, Advertising Account Executives act as a link between clients and the creative companies they work within. In this role, you’d be responsible for the coordination and management of ad campaigns, liaising directly with clients to ensure: their objectives are met within time and budget; they approve the creative ideas and strategies the agency devises; they’re kept informed about the effectiveness of campaigns and they’re invoiced efficiently.
Key skills: you’ll be managing a number of accounts simultaneously, plus communicating with clients and agency colleagues alike, so it’s perfect for organised individuals with a knack for building solid professional relationships.
5. Market Researcher
Typical starting salaries: £20,000 to £25,000, rising to £25,00 to £35,00 with experience
If you love numbers as much as you do communicating information, then read on… A position within market research will allow you to collect and analyse data, then feedback your findings to clients, helping them make those all-important big decisions. Usually choosing between either Quantitative (working with stats and percentages) or Qualitative (working with opinions to help explain the figures) research, it’s likely that you’ll be trusted to work on a number of projects at once – spanning the worlds of politics, society and economics – so you’ll always be learning something new.
Key skills: good interpersonal skills must go hand-in-hand with analytical and numerical ones in this role, while business awareness, an interest in psychology and behaviour, and accuracy will also help.
6. Communications and Public Relations Assistant
Typical starting salary: £18,000 to £20,000, rising to £22,000 to £28,000 at Officer level
This highly competitive field is centred around reputation management. Utilising an array of media and communication channels to promote the reputation of your client or employer, you’ll be busy communicating key messages to target audiences, then measuring the success of the work you do. This is one of the most varied roles out there, with responsibilities including: writing and implementing PR strategies; writing press releases; analysing media coverage; writing speeches, case studies, publicity brochures, campaign leaflets and more; organising photo opportunities, events and press conferences; managing social media sites; managing PR during periods of crisis… the list goes on and on…
Key skills: as with all of the above, it’s crucial your writing and communication abilities are first-class, while drive, strong time management and the ability to work under pressure are also vital. Teamwork and a knowledge of current affairs are also important.