Marketing is a great career path for anyone that values creativity and wants to earn money from that creative energy. Every business needs to be marketed in order to attract new clientele and so the opportunities are endless. That said, marketing is a very competitive field, and to get your foot in the door, you need to market yourself for the role.
Acquire a qualification
Having a marketing degree of some form is probably the best way to fast-track your way into this line of work. It’s possible nowadays to get an online marketing MBA without having to take three years off to study. Other degrees can help you get your foot in the door, depending on the role you’re looking at. You may be able to write press releases for a PR company with an English degree, or help with analytics if you have a Data Analysis degree. Talk with other people in the field to see how they got their start and what qualifications companies are looking for.
Learn some digital skills
A lot of modern marketing is online or computer-based in some shape or form. Getting to grips with social media and various marketing terms such as SEO and PPC could help you advance your career. Various other skills such as Photoshop, graphic design, coding and analytics can all make you a more attractive applicant as well. Look to see how the digital world is evolving and how new skills can be applied to marketing.
Network
Networking is essential in the world of marketing: for attracting new clients, finding new employers, outsourcing tasks, gathering new ideas or finding clients for your clients. Being able to offer new contacts – especially going into an area such as PR – could increase your chances of being hired. Try to build yourself a large network on social media sites such as Twitter and LinkedIn, go to marketing events such as business fairs and become a known figure within community groups. But never ever buy followers! It may take a while to build up your social network but it is worth it in the long run.
Networking also involves material that you send out too. So send out business stationery with a good letterhead template that would reflect your business or company’s branding. If you want to stand out, build credibility and you will eventually land more sales and/or clients. Choosing the best stationery design for your marketing campaign will make a great first impression!
Find your niche
Marketing covers such a broad spectrum of jobs for direct sales marketing to web design to blogging to printing off leaflets and business cards. While you should keep your options open, a specialization can help make you stand out. The key to good marketing is finding the ideal niche in the market and this should apply to finding the right job. You may find a field that you have a lot of passion for such as sports marketing or food marketing and where your expertise can be put to good use. Alternatively, you may find an ingenious money-making method that will make you an attractive employee (although you should probably freelance if this is the case and take home the profits yourself!).
Show your creativity within your job application
A good marketing campaign stands out by being creative. Therefore a good marketer has to be creative in some shape or form. Show that you have good left-brain capability by making your application stand out. Send a letter to a company instead of an email, create a YouTube video explaining why you should get hired or incorporate a gift into application (but don’t go overboard with a gift). Here are a few creative ways that people have previously applied to jobs.
