A career in marketing is challenging but, ultimately, incredibly rewarding. If you’re someone who works in marketing, or if you’re just considering a career in marketing, then you have to take a look at what media update’s Aisling McCarthy says the best parts of the job are.
Regardless of the crazy hours, endless meetings and hundreds of trendy buzzwords, a career in marketing is unparalleled.
Why, you ask? Well, being a marketer means that:
1. You are always learning
A career in the immense field of marketing means that there are endless opportunities to learn and grow. You can always learn a new skill or method of marketing – from consumer behaviour analytics to new advertising technology – that can give your current strategies a new edge.
Within the digital marketing space alone, there are so many branches of learning, including search engine optimsation, pay per click, conversion rate optimisation, social media and many more. Want to master them all? Well, it might take years to do that.
If you have an insatiable hunger for knowledge, a career in marketing will offer you a virtually limitless amount of learning material that will last you all throughout your career.
2. Your days are never boring
Marketing is one of those careers that is always changing, and that means that a day in the life of a marketer is never dull. As each new wave of technology comes, marketers need to adjust their strategies to ensure their brand is keeping up with the times.
Consider, for example, how the creation of ‘entertainment on demand’ has made it possible for viewers to avoid seeing TV commercials. And the Internet has disrupted just about every medium of advertising – from radio to magazines! With all these changes, marketers face the exciting challenge of creating new forms of advertising that fit in with the latest technological developments.
A career in marketing is nothing short of exciting – and anyone who works in ‘adland’ can tell you that you’ll rarely find yourself doing repetitive tasks or ‘boring’ work.
3. You can work in any industry
Marketing is a vital department in every industry, and the quality of work that a marketing team produces can often determine a business’s success or failure. Whether it’s a financial institution, a fashion retailer, a government department or a charity organisation, they all need good marketing to succeed.
This means that, as a marketer, your career options are virtually unlimited and you can use your marketing know-how in whichever industry suits you.
4. You always have opportunities for growth
Armed with 5% talent and 95% drive, you’ll have plenty of growth opportunities throughout your career as a marketer. There are two main areas for marketers to work in, namely the client side and the agency side.
The client side involves working in the marketing department of a company. You may start out as a marketing assistant, tasked with helping out with different entry-level assignments. The next step up for you might be to become a marketing coordinator, and if the company you work for sells a product, you’ve also got product designers and managers. Above that, you’ve generally got the department head honchos: marketing managers and directors.
Working in an agency, however, means working for a business that provides advertising and marketing services to other businesses. Your opportunities for growth include project management, public relations and market research, each with their own levels of progression.
5. Your whole life is about pushing creative boundaries
Marketing messages need to be constantly renewed, refreshed and reconfigured in order to cut through the noise of competitors’ messages. Your days are spent continually working on new ways to approach problems and thinking outside the box. In marketing, there is no place for complacency.
Few jobs hinge on innovation and creativity the way marketing does. And the ways you apply this creativity can range from developing big-picture marketing strategies to the finest details of what images and wording to use in content.
And when all your hard work comes together – and a campaign gets a huge response – ask any account manager how that feels. They’ll tell you. It’s awesome!
What are some of the other reasons you think marketing is the best career to be in? Let us know in the comments section below.
How well do you know your marketing lingo? Brush up on your vocabulary by checking out these 20 Buzzwords every marketer should know.
*Image courtesy of Vecteezy