Brook
What kind of skills do you need to do well in majoring marketing/advertisment?
I want to know if I have what it takes and if it's for me. #college #career #marketing #job #advertising
5 answers
Brittany Kouris
Brittany’s Answer
Hi Brook! Creativity, communication skills, passion are all things that help in your endeavors to be in marketing/advertising. Marketing and advertising is a fast paced, ever changing and demanding world - with a lot of money associated with it. With that being said the things you are doing are directly related to the overall success of a company which is super fun. You can help see through a concept from it's birth to it's implementation. There is something so invigorating about seeing your ideas or something that you were a part of on TV or on a website or even a billboard. I think if you have passion about the industry you are a part of you can be successful in it!
Hope this is helpful - best of luck!
Charlie Forbes
Charlie’s Answer
Well Brook, advertising and marketing is an industry that encompasses people with a wide range of skills. At its core are creative thinkers who have excellent written and communication skills.
We need analytical people to analyze demographic data to see which companies and products best fit what audiences and what platforms those people watch.
We need business and sales minded people to deal with the needs of clients, find new business, manage multi-million dollar campaigns, and handle day to day business. This includes media planners/buyers who buy commercial content space for clients and figure out what ads air where and what time. Their job also entails negotiating rates.
We need creative people to come up with fresh and creative approaches to sell and relate to people. Many of these creative people need to have print, audio, video, and digital online skills to create content on many platforms including social media.
They also need technical minded people to handle the systems used to create all this content. Whether it's IT people to manage computer networks, production people who produce and edit content. Some maybe coders who develop apps or websites for clients.
Regardless of what interests you, learn to be a great creative writer and critical thinker. Certain careers I would say get a good math background.
Gloria Ortiz
Gloria’s Answer
There are a variety of jobs in marketing. What you need to do is consider what you want to do in Marketing. For some people, it is writing copy or taking images to support copy. For others it is creating the look and feel of websites, emails, print ads, billboards, or social media posts. Still others have the job of getting clients for a company or designing all of the above for clients who hire them. So there are a variety of roles from writer, photographer, website developer to sales person. Marketing is an exciting, creative, and competitive field.
What you need to consider is what attracted you to marketing? After seeing the various fields that support marketing, which one already fits in with the skills and talents that you already have? What sounds exciting? You have to start with something of interest to you, because like any career, if you don't like what you do, it can be really hard to do it. Liking what you do can get you through some of the hard times or through tasks that you don't like to do. In my job, I like to be creative. However, there are tasks that I have to complete, like creating project plans, meeting with clients, and tracking billable hours which are boring and sometimes stressful to me.
Gloria
Allen Hillery
Allen’s Answer
Hi Brook - I think one of the key skills you need to do well in marketing and advertisement is creativity and thinking outside of the box. A couple of examples I have about that is how companies are leveraging Instagram. One company for example, Red Bull, has a very exciting Instagram presence. They have found a way to capture images of adventure and exciting location that express the energy they are getting from Red Bull instead of just showing images of people drinking an energy drink. Here are some other companies that have been cited as having unique Instagram experiences - http://www.inc.com/larry-kim/7-crazy-successful-instagram-business-accounts-you-need-to-follow-right-now.html
Hope this helps convey the notion that creativity and thinking outside of the box is key in anything we do but especially in marketing and advertising.
