Marketing degrees give students a better understanding of business theories, trends, analytics and leadership that can be applied to a variety of work settings. Advanced degrees like MBAs and DBAs take these concepts to the next level, offering valuable and practical lessons in organizational operations and business structures.
Degrees in marketing, like many other business degrees, are worth the investment. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, marketers who advanced to the manager level earned a median pay of $136,850 in 2019.
What can you do with a marketing degree? In this article, we’ve included 11 common marketing degree jobs.
1. Community Engagement
Those who work in community engagement find creative ways to immerse their companies into the surrounding area. They identify people, businesses, causes and events that would mesh well with their company or brand. If you are a “people person” and like making connections, community engagement is a great option.
2. Content Marketing
Sales is obviously an important component for any business, but not every potential customer is ready to make a purchase. Enter content marketing. Anything published by a content marketer – whether it’s a blog post, an email newsletter or a how-to video – is first and foremost intended to be helpful. Content marketers help boost their brand’s awareness and affinity so that when a potential customer is ready to buy, they’ll buy from you. Content marketing is a good fit for writers and other creators who like producing pieces that truly help people.
3. Copywriting
Nearly every marketing material will include words, and those words come from a copywriter. A copywriter needs to be able to produce clear, compelling text for a variety of formats, and they also need to thoroughly understand the purpose of the piece they’re working on and its target audience. Here’s a list of some, but not all, materials a copywriter may produce:
- Blog posts
- Brochures
- Email newsletters
- Magazine ads
- Social media posts
- Video scripts
4. Fundraising
Do you love working around meaningful causes or nonprofit organizations? A job in fundraising can allow you to work for a cause that you believe in, and a foundation of marketing knowledge will help you when appealing to prospective donors. The tasks for fundraisers can change on a daily basis. One day you may be writing grants, and another day you may be planning a charitable event. This field allows you to contribute to organizations that make a positive impact in your community.
5. Graphic Design
There are many reasons why graphic design is important to an organization. If you have an artistic background, and you have experience with software like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, graphic design may be a good choice. Having the right skills is key, but the marketing knowledge gained from earning a degree will help you craft your designs to connect even better with your audience.
6. Journalism
The lines between marketing and journalism are blurring. A degree in marketing can absolutely be helpful for a journalist or news director, as media outlets are finding more creative ways to sustain themselves as businesses. Television and online news outlets are growing in popularity, and journalists with a marketing background can give their employers unique perspectives about connecting with their audience.
7. Media Buying
Media buyers bridge the gap between companies who want to advertise and the companies who sell advertising space. Media buyers work with magazines, digital publications, television shows, billboard owners and many other types of companies. Having the knowledge of trends and best practices in marketing and finding the best solutions for your clients makes media buying a viable and rewarding career.
8. Project Management
As you can tell by reading this article, many marketing departments have lots of moving parts. If organization is one of your strengths, project management may be a career worth considering. It’s a growing field, and project managers with marketing degrees can be a perfect fit for large departments.
9. Public Relations
A public relations professional is mostly concerned with managing an organization’s reputation, but they also need to be mindful of their organization’s goals as a business. Coupled with a marketing background, savvy PR practitioners can use their tactics to not only gain trust with customers, but to drive them to their business.
10. Search Engine Optimization
More than half of all website visits come from search engines like Google. Search engine optimization – commonly known as SEO – is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to a website by improving its rankings in search engine results. SEO professionals combine marketing knowledge and technical expertise to direct potential customers to their organization’s website.
11. Social Media
In 2019, people spent an average of 144 minutes per day on social media. How do you best reach potential customers on social media, and what are the best practices for getting the maximum amount of exposure? Social media experts are invaluable to the companies they represent. These specialists are able to reach the right people in the right way, which is a true art form.
Conclusion
At Columbia Southern University, our bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration with concentrations in marketing are great options for those who want to intersect their leadership and business knowledge with their creative side. Visit ColumbiaSouthern.edu/Business to learn more.
