Enamoured By Marketing? Here’s How to Start Your Career in Marketing

There is a diverse set of skills that a successful marketing professional has. Well, curiosity is one of them. Besides that, an aspiring marketing professional needs an array of skills to get started in marketing, such as up-to-date knowledge about modern marketing tools, excellent communication skills, and others.

Here are four steps to help you have a career in marketing.

How to Start a Career in Marketing?

1. Choose your specialisation

There are many career options to explore in marketing. Here are some common alternatives to start your marketing career.

• Copywriting and content creation
  ● Social media
  ● Search engine optimisation (SEO) and Search engine marketing (SMM)
  ● Advertising
  ● Public relations (PR)
  ● Branding
  ● Email marketing
  ● Video marketing

Meanwhile, there are many career options in marketing to explore, depending on your interests. We’ve put together a few of them for you:

• Research

The marketing industry relies heavily on data-driven research to devise strategies. So, if you are passionate about research and have strong skills like data analysis, critical thinking, and excellent communication skills, research is best suited for you. Your roles and responsibilities as a marketing professional in this field will broadly include finding information to make data-driven marketing recommendations.

• Strategy

Strategy is essential at every marketing stage, be it product, brand, or content as it helps develop, plan, and execute successful campaigns that generate brand awareness and product sales. You need skills like planning, communication, creative thinking, and analytical thinking to pursue a career in strategy.

• Design

Designers tell a story through a visual medium. They support the marketing teamby creating distinctive logos and eye-catching packaging that helps in creating a unique brand image.

If you have skills like attention to detail, creativity, and knowledge of design tools, this field is best suited for you.

• Writing

This field amplifies the brand’s voice through content. If you take up a job position in this area, you would be responsible for writing engaging marketing messages.

• Events

Companies hold events to increase the visibility of their brand and products. So, if you have skills like planning, organising, budgeting, communication, and multitasking, you can pursue this field.

• Social media

The emergence of the internet has led to an increase in the use of social media apps.

To build a career in social media, you must understand how social media applications work and can create a solid online image of a brand.

2. Start applying for jobs

After choosing your specialisation, start finding jobs corresponding to it. Here are some typical marketing jobs you can take.

• Brand Managers

Average salary: INR 10,00,000 to INR 12,00,000 per annum (Source)

A brand manager works with a group of people to protect the brand’s reputation. Additionally, they need to ensure that the products, services, marketing, and promotional elements resonate with a brand’s current and potential customers.

• Communications and Public Relations Professional

Average salary: INR 3,00,000 to INR 4,00,000 annually (Source)

Communication and Public Relations professionals plan, develop, and implement PR strategies to promote products and services. They often work closely with other marketing departments, like social media and content, to reach customers.

• Content Marketing Professionals

Average salary: INR 5,00,000 to INR 6,00,000 per annum (Source)

The main aim of content marketing professionals is to communicate a brand’s message to its audience using words. They work closely with the design and research team to ideate new and innovative content marketing campaigns.

• Digital Marketing Professionals

Average salary: INR 2,00,000 to INR 7,50,000 per year (Source)

Digital marketing professionals use social media platforms and search engines to promote products and services. Email marketing and SMS marketing also come under this marketing type.

• Event Marketing Professionals

Average Salary: INR 3,00,000 to INR 5,00,000 per annum (Source)

These marketing professionals plan events and enhance a brand’s image through events. They help in building a solid relationship between a brand and its customer.

3. Build your portfolio

The next step is building a portfolio corresponding to the job role. A portfolio showcases your skills, work experience, qualifications, and capability as a marketing professional. Thus it must contain your previous employment details, hobbies, career objectives, qualification, details about the diploma or certificate courses, and more.

For instance, if you are keen on developing a career in copywriting. Then add samples from your previous work that demonstrate your skills.

Note: These are some in-demand skills that marketing professionals must possess:

• Excellent communication
  ● Knowledge of excel and great at organisation
  ● Up to date about new trends
  ● Problem solver
  ● Adaptive and collaborative

You can add them to your portfolio to enhance your chances of securing your dream job.

4. Take up certificate courses

A graduation degree isn’t enough to get a high-paying job. Therefore, consider taking up a certificate or diploma course matching your specialisation to attract exciting work opportunities. These courses offer in-depth knowledge about the field and prepare you for the real world.

Emeritus India offers some of the best courses in marketing. These programmes are designed to enhance career opportunities for fresh graduates and experienced professionals. We offer these courses in partnership with prestigious institutes like IIM, IIT, ISB, etc.

Joining our marketing programmes will give you in-depth insight into the industry and equip you with the advanced skills and knowledge required to excel in the industry.

Roles and Responsibilities of Marketing Professionals

• Develop marketing strategies that align company’s objective and customer requirement
• Collaborate with other departments to develop successful media campaigns.
• Analyse data collected from different sources to make data-driven decisions
• Conduct market research on the products of the competitors
• Conduct market research to identify the demands of the target audience
• Develop content for blogs and infographics for the different social media platforms
• Manage budgets of campaigns and advertisements
• Monitor the visibility of products

Marketing Jobs Available in India

Here are some of the popular marketing jobs in India:

• Digital marketing manager
• Content marketing manager
• Content writers
• Copywriters
• Inbound marketing manager
• Social media marketing managers
• SEO executives
• Search engine marketers

FAQs

1. How is the job market for marketing graduates?

Marketing is an important business activity that companies across every industry perform to increase their brand awareness and attract customers to their products. The job market for marketing professionals seems bright.

2. How much can a marketing graduate make?

A marketing professional’s salary depends on job position, company, location, qualification, work experience, etc. However, on average, a marketing graduate earns INR 6,70,000 per annum. (Source).

3. What are some of the highest-paid jobs in marketing?

• Digital Strategist
• Content Manager
• Marketing Analyst
• Digital Marketing Manager
• SEO Specialist

4. Is marketing a good career choice?

Yes, marketing is a good career choice with bright career prospects. So, if you enjoy being strategic, creative, exploring new technologies, and interacting with people, marketing is for you.