Marketing and Communications Careers to Consider

Successful marketing is about more than convincing people to make purchases – it’s meeting potential customers at the right time, in the right place, with the right information or products to help solve their problems. With the wealth of information available online, consumers have more purchasing power than ever before – and that impacts marketing strategies and tactics in profound ways.

While day-to-day strategies for reaching consumers have shifted since the “Mad Men” days, the necessity of marketing remains the same. Customers have problems, and marketers present ways to solve them.

Earning your undergraduate degree or certificate in marketing helps open doors to a wide variety of careers and will equip you with tools in communication, research, analytics, decision-making, and critical thinking to excel in this field.

Personality Traits of Successful Marketing Professionals

If you’re an effective communicator with natural curiosity, a creative mindset, and a willingness to try new things, consider a career in the field of marketing.

Marketers get excited about solving problems for clients and helping them reach their goals. Great marketers do all this while maintaining a flexible attitude, anticipating clients’ needs, and continuously seeking new and innovative ways to get the job done.

Marketing Job Opportunities are on the Rise

Jobs in this industry are projected to grow by 12 percent through 2022, which is higher than the all-occupation projected growth rate of seven percent. In the last ten years, the landscape of advertising and marketing has shifted from one of blanket promotions and generic tactics to more nuanced, digitally based techniques. Thus, organizations that desire to grow their market share and visibility must rely on marketers more than ever before.

Salary Insight

Marketing managers make an average salary of $119,000 while advertising managers and promotions managers earn a median salary of $89,000.

Nationally, the highest-paid marketing managers work in the professional, scientific, and technical services industries, followed closely by enterprise management, finance, insurance, and manufacturing.

The highest-paid advertising and promotions managers work in advertising and public relations followed by enterprise management, information, and wholesale trade.

Potential Careers for a Degree or Certificate in Marketing

Marketing Manager, Marketing Director

Professionals in these fields are tasked with leading the marketing and, sometimes, the products and sales teams in businesses. They identify new markets and business opportunities, craft messages to appropriately address those opportunities, and manage tactics such as social media presence and blog writing. They are also often charged with determining budgets, helping businesses maximize profits, and discovering new avenues for business growth in products or services.

Advertising Manager, Media Planner, Advertising Executive, Promotions Manager

Advertising managers, often under the direction of advertising executives, develop campaigns for their own businesses or, if they work in an agency setting, clients’ businesses. They help generate interest about products or services and work closely with finance and sales teams to determine the most effective way to promote new products.

Media planners help to determine the best media for spreading the message – social media, web, radio, print, and more. They use their knowledge of human behavior and communication skills to determine the most effective pathways for information to follow.

Promotions managers work with advertising managers to increase sales through the use of incentives like coupons, discount codes, sweepstakes, contests, in-store displays, and rebates.

Social Media Manager, Content Manager, Digital Marketing Manager

The social media manager is the guru of all things social media marketing. With direction from account managers, marketing managers, brand managers, creative directors, and/or advertising managers, they craft effective language for social media to drive traffic to websites and convert leads into customers.

Social media, content, and digital marketing professionals take a holistic look at the organization’s sales goals and determine how best to reach the right people at the right time on social media. They maintain the organization’s social media profiles, set objectives, develop the overall content strategy, plan the posting schedules, and sometimes handle community management. By tracking analytics and observing customer behavior, social media and content managers determine the best ways to engage with customers and drive conversions.

Brand Manager

Professionals in this field help develop messaging strategies and activities for their brand. Working closely with or directly under marketing managers and directors, they ensure that their brand-owned content and the activities the brand engages in are beneficial to improving its consumer perception and reach.

Copywriter

Copywriters are responsible for delivering business’ language strategies and crafting content for advertising, print, collateral, and web (in the form of blogs, landing pages, etc.). They use their exceptional written communication skills to ensure that brand messages are conveyed appropriately and effectively.

Campaign Manager

Campaign managers work with advertising and marketing teams to develop and carry out effective marketing campaigns. They track metrics such as clicks, contacts, and customer engagement as results of their campaigns. Using skills in critical thinking and communication, they ensure all messaging adheres to the company’s brand, and they work with finance departments to establish and follow an appropriate budget for each campaign.

Creative Director

Creative directors are typically some of the most skilled leaders and professionals on any marketing team. They oversee campaigns from infancy to launch, leading teams of employees to effectively carry out company goals and projects. They possess high-level skills in design, critical thinking, leadership, messaging, branding, advertising, and more. Generally, creative director positions require at least five to eight years of experience in the marketing industry.

Choosing a career in marketing and communications allows you to use your skills as a communicator and critical thinker in a growing industry. As the digital landscape continues to change, you’ll be equipped with the skills necessary to adapt and to solve problems for your clients, customers, and colleagues.