Is Marketing the Right Career Path For You? A Student’s Guide

Are you looking to pivot into marketing? Whether you’re looking to enhance your knowledge of consumer behaviour, or are looking to understand the technological innovations in the marketing space, a graduate certificate in marketing may be a career path that opens doors.

Marketing can often be a broad space – in fact, depending on a range of factors, the day-to-day roles of one marketing professional can be vastly different that that of their peers.

What skills do you learn in marketing?

A marketing course can provide you with the skills needed to dive into the strategies and techniques used to enhance businesses in today’s advertising-heavy world. For example, a graduate course may allow you to develop a firm foundational understanding of how marketing is managed, what technologies are used, and how these skills can be applied to many other conventional problems.

More than just watching advertising, a marketing qualification will empower you with valuable insights that allow you to understand how consumer behaviour, communication, and research form a key tenet of the development of all products, from the initial concept to the final launch. By understanding these important marketing values, you can then apply them to understand and work through marketing problems in graduate roles such as marketing specialist.

How can a course in marketing benefit you?

A course in marketing can be of great benefit if you’re looking to leap into the competitive marketing industry. Having a qualification and some practical industry experience allows you to pitch to prospective employers that you have the skills and knowledge necessary to get the most out of any potential marketing role.

Having a qualification is essential if you want employers to take you seriously when applying for a marketing position. More than just a social media profile, marketing is about making a difference with meaningful and useful strategies.

Many different hats – career options in marketing

Once you’ve successfully graduated from your marketing course, it’s time to put your marketing prowess to the test. Understanding what job opportunities may be available can be a bit difficult, however – with some position titles sounding quite odd, it can be difficult to find where your qualifications intersect with potential opportunities.

Luckily, there’s a wide range of data available, identifying some of the possible careers that you can get with a marketing career. In fact, the prominent job site Indeed lists just some of the roles you can get with a marketing degree, such as:

• Marketing research Analyst – using research skills to analyse and assess consumer feedback to improve the quality of products and services.
  
• Media or Public Relations Specialist – these marketing professionals communicate with the general public and act as the face of an organisation during major events, in a way that spreads a message.
  
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Manager – these professionals work on a customer’s digital strategy. This can involve a variety of tasks, such as web-based marketing and link building, with the intent of increasing web visibility.

These are just some of the opportunities available for marketers. Depending on your interest and domain expertise, there may be opportunities available in your preferred field, or you may just wish to start your own marketing business. Regardless of your desired marketing career, a qualification in marketing can assist in getting your product or service out there.

It’s more than just selling products!

Ultimately, marketing’s about more than selling products. In fact, product sales are just one part of marketing. As a student, you’ll learn about the different ways customers interact with products, in fields such as consumer behaviour and marketing research.

These skills can then enable you to understand how customers may behave during major events that impact the products you sell, such as floods, pandemics, or crises. Understanding can then lead to adapting your strategy in a way that’s appropriate for current contexts – and demonstrates how a marketing course is really more than just getting your product into someone else’s pocket.

If you’re looking to make the leap into marketing, you should just online and explore what’s available. It’s a great way to see if a marketing course might be right for you, and can be professionally rewarding in the long term.