This article aims to guide you on what you can with a marketing degree/skill in 2020.
“Studying marketing is a waste of time because people who study marketing end up as marketers, walking about, looking for customers and when they don’t meet targets, they get fired”. “Marketing is a very stressful job with low pay”. These are the notions in the minds and hearts of individuals, especially among prospective undergraduates. This article is structured to enlighten you on the greater good of the marketing field and how much it has really evolved from what most of us picture marketing as.
Marketing is known to be the way of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising. But you see, there’s more to marketing than just advertising products.
Marketing in another dimension involves studying and managing customers; identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer’s needs and wants.
Marketing is a degree that encapsulates business, social science, humanities, communication, digital and technology. It offers an amazing job market for potential graduates with strategic skills, excellent creativity and ability to deliver great results.
Talking about the digital aspect of marketing known as digital marketing; it’s a broad field for more marketing career innovations than just any other.
Years ago, marketers had no idea of social media platforms, in the days of Nokia 3310, land-lines and the rest. There was no Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram,
Google-my-business and the rest of them. Marketing was boring then and restricted to face-to-face engagements. But today, marketing continues to evolve rapidly.
Are you aware that with the rise in technology advancement and need to advertise goods and services on various marketing platforms, savvy marketers are on high demand with mouth-watering pay?
In today’s high-tech world, the next suitable offer is just right in front of you. Small and large companies, internet marketers and e-commerce retailers are in need of well-informed university graduates who are capable of creating and building community, generating traffic and followers in order to make sales and convert visiting clients to reliable customers.
Having a bachelor’s degree in marketing is one good thing that could ever happen to you in this era.
Six (6) Areas You Can Develop Your Marketing Skills:
1. Content Marketing
This form of marketing involves creating, publishing and distributing rich content for a targeted audience in the online space. Content marketing is a strategic marketing pattern that’s based on creating and disseminating valuable and consistent contents through videos, blogs and social media posts.
This method of marketing is usually used to:
- Expand customer
- Generate and increase online
- Gain attention and generate leads. How to Develop Content Marketing Skills:
- Begin by building your writing skills.
- Learn from experts or enrol for a content marketing class/program.
- Work on your creative skills such as your writing and
- Improve your research skills.
2. Digital Marketing Strategy
Anyone who acquires this skill is definitely going to be adept at developing plans that can help businesses achieve specific digital goals via carefully chosen online marketing channels.
Basic Digital Marketing Strategies Include:
- Publishing a blog
- Advertising on specific social media platforms such as Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads.
- Offering educational resources at no
- Optimizing your digital contents through a search engine
- Creating a giveaway contest.
- Exploring various campaign types and evaluating which works best for your
- Creating email campaigns.
3. Search Engines Marketing
Gaining search engine marketing skills as a marketer in this era keeps you ahead. This form of internet marketing involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages, primarily through paid advertising. This marketing pattern may also involve search engine optimization which helps adjust website content rank higher in search engine results pages. The first is a paid advert and the other isn’t.
Search engines marketing is one of the most effective methods of growing your business’s online presence.
4. Market Research and Analytics
Marketing in this field has to do with strong quantitative, analytical, and research skills. You’ll need these skills to excel in this role. Market research analysts design and carry out assessments of client reactions to new products/services, modified products, packaging, and advertising themes. These experts gather, organize, and interpret data by using software and statistical tools.
The act of collating information about a target market or audience is known as market research. The major reason for undergoing market research analysis is to collate information about the potential customers in order to give better and satisfying services.
Methods of Market Research Involve:
- Primary Research: Such research is done by an organization in its own accord from the beginning level so as to collate information in order to improve product and
- Secondary Research: At this level, an organization depends on the information that is already available from various information sources.
- Qualitative Research: Here, an organization tries to get insight into the opinions of consumers with respect to their products and services they render, usually done by face-to-face interview.
- Quantitative Research: Lastly, the organization places more emphasis on the facts and
All of these processes are keen on improving and giving satisfactory services to consumers. And as a marketer who is skilled in market research and analytics, this could be a good marketing field to explore.
5. Social Media Marketing
Marketing processes such as this started with publishing. Businesses shared their content on social platforms for the sake of generating traffic to their websites and making sales. The social media platform has obviously grown beyond just an online space to disseminate content. These days, organisations both small and big, use social media for marketing in diverse ways. You can market goods and services on social media platforms using engaging content and paid adverts for reaching more potential targeted audiences.
These days, companies are in high demand for savvy social media marketing experts; one who can professionally handle social media marketing pages, help drive traffic to websites and generate sales. Therefore, if you have a degree in marketing and got skills in social media marketing, then you should consider a marketing career as a Social Media Marketer.
Social media marketing managers use the teamwork skills of the marketing field to work together with staff from other operating units at their organisations. You must have the persuasive ability and competency to roll with people in order to foster cooperation from colleagues over which they have no formal authority.
6. Search Engine Optimization
Being a search engine optimization expert is a goldmine as it’s a technical skill that’s in high demands. Search engine optimization involves the process of enhancing web pages for easy web crawling, access and indexing; ranking web contents on search engine results pages (SERP). Companies are in need of experts in this field who can help them grow the website and its contents visibility.
You may be wondering if studying marketing in university will make you or break you. But the truth is, marketing is everywhere and in every organisation, be it small or big field, as long as it involves buying, selling, ensuring excellent customer service and satisfaction then marketing is involved.
Also, in this technological advancements era, you wouldn’t want to lag behind in the goodies digital marketers are gaining. Marketing is fun, amazing, interesting and lucrative.
Other Marketing Careers:
Those with a degree in marketing are well-positioned to work as a marketing trainee in a small or big advertising company, or in the marketing department of a business or some other organizations. Other marketing positions available in the marketing field: assistant marketer, consultant, coordinator, marketing executive, marketing director, manager, planner, specialist and chief marketing officer. In these positions, you’ll be able to apply your skills and knowledge in marketing and get to implement all the marketing principles learnt in the university into the real world.
Media Officers and Public Relations positions help promote marketing campaigns and introduce a company’s brand and clients to the public, while an account executive, manager or representative, assists in managing client relations. Also, a manufacturing and production manager role had to do with overseeing product development which is a good source of marketing information, while the sales manager assists in carrying-out marketing plans.
There’s more to marketing and diverse positions in the field of marketing.
Conclusion
Erase the notion of “marketing is a terrible career-path”. In fact, marketers are the real deal and the pillars of every organisation because, without marketers, there would be no organizational growth. Marketers are the ones who make things happen for every organization — from brand awareness to increase in sales and the rest of the organizational operations.
Acquiring a marketing degree in 2020 is the real deal as it exposes you to a broad field of opportunities to explore and become the best at it. Do not be deceived, marketers who know their onus earn really well and are living their dreams.
Hopefully, this article has been able to enlighten you on the greater good of the marketing field and its broad scope, and also how you can excel in any of the marketing fields so as to become a professional and live well.
