Has a role as a Marketer caught your attention? Are you wondering if your passions and interests lie within the broad field of marketing? Or maybe youâre simply wondering what a Marketer actually does.Â
Well, weâve got you covered! In this article weâve talked to Jannat, the Senior Marketing Manager at Insider, to look at the role of a Marketer, steps to becoming a Marketer, and more.Â
Letâs dive in!
Meet Jannat
What is a Marketer?
Steps to Becoming a Marketer
Future Outlook
Best Thing & Worst Thing
Advice for Aspiring Marketers
Meet Jannat
Jannat is the Senior Marketing Manager at a technology company called Insider.Â
As a Marketer, her role involves heaps of different tasks and skills to build a brand for the company.Â
âI work in business-to-business marketing which is a lot of event planning, public relations, digital marketing⊠itâs basically doing a lot of different things and wearing a lot of different hats to build a brand for a company,â said Jannat.Â
Studies and ExperienceÂ
Jannat studied a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Marketing with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Media and Communications at Macquarie University.Â
During her final year of uni, she decided to seek out some internships. âI called the companies I wanted to work at, and then one of the places I interned at offered me a full-time job, the day after my final exam!â said Jannat.Â
What made you want to work in this industry?
Something that really inspired her to work in marketing was that it was an environment and industry that allowed her to always learn! Working as a Marketer meant she could experiment, learn and explore at every stage in her career.Â
What is a Marketer?
Marketing covers a broad range of skills and tasks so thereâs no universal job description but basically, a Marketer is someone who works to build a brand for companies and businesses. Theyâre involved in spreading the word about the companyâs products or services.Â
Roles and ResponsibilitiesÂ
Jannatâs day as a Marketer typically consists of a lot of different roles and responsibilities that require her to be familiar with the business as a whole with experience in just about anything. Â
âMarketers essentially have to work across all the functions of a business â from understanding products to working with sales, working with existing clients to create case studies, and itâs all about making sure the company is well represented in every aspect of the buyerâs journey,â said Jannat.Â
As a Marketer, youâll find yourself wearing multiple hats and using heaps of different skill areas such as graphic design, writing, public relations, sales, digital marketing, and more!Â
Which industries can this career be found in?
Marketers are actually involved in just about every industry you can think of! Most companies and industries engage in marketing to some degree but there are some industries in particular, where marketing is becoming increasingly important.Â
Some of these industries are:Â
- Technology/softwareÂ
- Education
- Retail
- Financial and insurance services
Characteristics and QualitiesÂ
According to JobOutlook, some of the top skills required to enter a role as a Marketer include:
- Sales and marketing
- Customer and personal service
- Administration and management
- Mathematics
- Communications and media
- Education and training
Needless to say, strong sales and marketing skills such as marketing strategy, product demonstration and sales techniques are essential to succeed in your career as a Marketer!
At its core, working as a Marketer is about the human connection. This means that understanding your customer, empathising with them, responding to their needs and providing quality service and solutions is a major skill within marketing.Â
Donât stress if you donât think you possess all these skills! Theyâre all skills that youâll refine and learn along the way through study and experience.Â
Steps to Becoming a Marketer
What should you study?Â
If youâre thinking of becoming a marketer, a Bachelorâs degree in a relevant field is usually required. Some options include a degree in commerce, marketing, business management, or communications.
Jannat, for example, studied a double degree in Commerce (majoring in Marketing) and Arts (majoring in Media and Communications).Â
Here are some Bachelorâs degrees you could study to become a marketer:Â
- Bachelor of Marketing at Monash University
- Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Advanced Studies (Media Communications) at USYD
- Bachelor of Commerce at USYD
- Bachelor of Marketing and Media at Macquarie University
- Bachelor of Business at QUT
- Bachelor of Commerce at Melbourne University
- Bachelor of Business at UTS
However, a career in marketing doesnât always need a Bachelorâs degree to qualify for work opportunities â you’ve got another tertiary qualification option. You can also develop your skills and gain experience through a Vocational Education and Training (VET) qualification such as a Certificate IV in Marketing and Communications.Â
How long does it take to become a Marketer?
Assuming youâre starting with a full-time undergraduate degree in a marketing-related field, it usually won’t take too long to become a Marketer and find an entry-level role in particular.
However, it can usually take a few years of experience to progress in your career as a Marketer. According to JobOutlook, people aged 25-34 make up around 40% of the marketing and advertising industry.Â
Industry Knowledge
Jannat told us she uses a range of different softwares and programs as a Marketer. This includes pretty basic but still important programs such as Excel, as well as more marketing-specific programs such as HubSpot.Â
Marketing often requires Jannat to wear multiple hats and develop a range of different skills! This means she sometimes needs to use graphic design softwares such as Adobe and Canva to help her express her ideas and refine her vision.
âWe become designers sometimes as well because itâs very hard to create a vision if itâs only in your head,â she explained.Â
What will this career look like in the future?
How in-demand is this career?
A career in marketing is pretty in-demand right now and is expected to grow further in the next few years!Â
JobOutlook found that the marketing and advertising industry grew very strongly over a span of 5 years with 35,300 more people working in the industry in 2019 than in 2014. A career as a Marketer is expected to grow and become even more in-demand in the future. Â
Are there opportunities to grow or specialise?Â
We put this question to Jannat who told us that thereâs definitely heaps of opportunities for career growth and specialisation within a role as a Marketer!Â
As you start gaining some expertise and developing your skills, youâll have more chances to progress and grow. You can branch out from an entry-level role and move towards higher-skill jobs such as a marketing manager or chief marketing officer.Â
Once you establish a strong foundation, you can also start specialising and find roles that suit your interests. For example, you can choose to specialise in a design-focussed role, a copywriting role, and more.Â
âAt the start of your career, I would suggest trying everything. Do a project in every single field and then slowly by doing those projects, you start to eliminate the ones that arenât for you and the ones that you do like, and then things start to fall into place,â said Jannat.Â
Salary
According to JobOutlook, Marketers have a âvery highâ skill level and future growth is very strong over the next 5 years.Â
Annual Salary | Future Growth | Skill Level Rating |
---|---|---|
$90,000+ | Very strong over the next 5 years | Very high skill |
Influential Trends
Influential trends in marketing can often feel like they come and go quite quickly!Â
Like a lot of industries, technology is very influential in marketing careers. The rapid and always-on environment of new technologies and media shapes show Marketers create and implement strategies, engage audiences, and create and communicate content. Â
The Future of this Industry
Thinking about the future of the marketing industry, Jannat said, âWeâll be using data a lot more to create better customer experiences, but itâll also be important for us to remember that marketing is about human connection⊠People value authenticity above everything else.â
Best Thing & Worst Thing
What do you enjoy most about this job?
âI love being able to impact a lot of people and help them find the solutions they need, to make their businesses better, or make their jobs and lives easier,â said Jannat.
âI love the idea of helping people by understanding them and solving their problems in a real way,â she added.Â
What do you feel is the worst part of this job?
âI think Marketing can be overlooked as a business function sometimes, so itâs a bit of an uphill battle to prove the value of marketing. Good marketing is a slow burn, sometimes it doesnât have a dollar figure attached to it in terms of immediate profit,â said Jannat.
She said, âI think Marketers just need to keep fighting the good fight because at the end of the day, if you buy a product, you think of the brand first and you wouldnât be thinking about that if all this work hadnât gone in from Marketers to build that brand!â
Advice for Aspiring Marketers
What do you wish you had known before you started working in this career?
Jannatâs biggest advice would be âto stop stressing so much! If you believe in your abilities and believe that you can be good at what you do, then the only person getting in your way is yourself⊠just remember that everyoneâs trying to figure it out!â
She also added that when seeking out work as a Marketer, you need to find a role that you genuinely love and youâre actually interested in.Â
âOne piece of advice is that if you donât love it, find something that genuinely excites you. And thereâs a lot of things within marketing that you can love â so if youâre a writer, you can go into content, if youâre more of a data person you can go into digital, if youâre more of a creative person you can go into creative design. Thereâs just so many options,â she said.Â
Why should people consider taking on this career?
Jannat recommends a career in marketing for those who love learning and exploring new things.Â
âIf you want no 2 days to be the same, consider marketing! You can do anything with it, itâs up to you,â she said.Â
Job FlexibilityÂ
When it comes to things like taking a holiday, working flexible days and/or hours, or working from home, working as a Marketer is usually dependent on the company, so ask in your interview! Jannat said, âIt really depends on the company but itâs usually 9-5 Monday to Friday.âÂ
She also added that thereâs usually some flexibility about the types of tasks, roles and responsibilities you can choose to do as a Marketer.
âIâve found in my career that when I was in bigger companies, I felt kind of boxed-in but when I work in a small or medium-sized company, I got to try everything that I want to learn… because thereâs more agility in bringing an idea to life,â said Jannat.
What is the workplace culture like?
Jannat told us that the workplace culture almost always depends on your company and team. Â
âSome [companies] are good, some arenât. Iâm lucky because the company Iâm at, the workplace culture is amazing. Always check in with yourself â if you donât enjoy working somewhere, ask yourself why, and how you can deal with that situation because no one should dislike going to work, for any reason,â concluded Jannat.Â
Maitreyi Kulkarni is a Content Writer at Art of Smart Education and is currently studying a Bachelor of Media and Communications (Public Relations and Social Media) at Macquarie University. She loves writing just about anything from articles to poetry, and has also had one of her articles published with the ABC. When she’s not writing up a storm, she can be found reading, bingeing sitcoms, or playing the guitar.