4 answers
Lilia
Student
Covina, California
3
Questions
Asked
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How can I become a marketing manager?
The marketing field just recently became an interest of mind and I am very good with displaying things on social media and talking about different things that would be in the market. My mom was a business major so I know that this is a good career. #marketing #career
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4 answers
Lisa Simpson
Marketing Director
6
Answers
Atlanta, Georgia
Updated
Lisa’s Answer
Great Question.
Internships are an excellent way to, not only, get experience across a broad range of interests within the marketing function, but it can also lead to a career opportunity post college. Don’t limit yourself by only wanting to do an internship for particular companies. Focus, instead, on the experience you can acquire. You are likely to have a more comprehensive marketing internship at a small-medium sized business as their marketing teams tend to be small, giving you a multitude of opportunities to learn.
There are many different facets to marketing, so a good internship can help you determine which piece(s) of the marketing puzzle most interest you:
• Social Media
• Copy Writing
• Graphic Design
• Brand Management
• Digital Marketing
• Advertising
• Account Based Marketing
• ...the list goes on!
Find out if your high school has partnerships with small local businesses. If so, offer your time as an unpaid social media intern.
Talk to your parents and their friends and ask them to help you schedule a shadow day with the marketing team at the companies where they work. Great exposure for you AND you will have access to people in the profession as you go along the journey.
Work on your writing skills. Marketers who have strong technical skills AND writing skills, will continue to be in high demand.
Be creative: Start a blog, publish your work on social media, volunteer to contribute to marketing efforts at your favorite local charity, etc.
Internships are an excellent way to, not only, get experience across a broad range of interests within the marketing function, but it can also lead to a career opportunity post college. Don’t limit yourself by only wanting to do an internship for particular companies. Focus, instead, on the experience you can acquire. You are likely to have a more comprehensive marketing internship at a small-medium sized business as their marketing teams tend to be small, giving you a multitude of opportunities to learn.
There are many different facets to marketing, so a good internship can help you determine which piece(s) of the marketing puzzle most interest you:
• Social Media
• Copy Writing
• Graphic Design
• Brand Management
• Digital Marketing
• Advertising
• Account Based Marketing
• ...the list goes on!
Lisa recommends the following next steps:
Riley Insko
Digital Marketing Strategist
16
Answers
Newport Beach, California
Updated
Riley’s Answer
Here is an exercise that really helped me as I started to chart my career growth in the field of marketing! You might find it helpful, too...
1. What is one of your favorite brands? (i.e. Nike, Spotify, etc.)
2. Look up the company page on Linkedin
3. Under the "employee search" start to look up keywords like "marketing" or "accounting" and you will find the employees at that company in those departments.
4. Start clicking away to those profiles. What titles stand out to you? What are their career paths? What did they major in? Your findings just might be surprising.
The path to "marketing manager" is definitely not a linear one, and you have so much freedom to explore what your passions are! This exercise not only helped me discover career paths but also mentors!
1. What is one of your favorite brands? (i.e. Nike, Spotify, etc.)
2. Look up the company page on Linkedin
3. Under the "employee search" start to look up keywords like "marketing" or "accounting" and you will find the employees at that company in those departments.
4. Start clicking away to those profiles. What titles stand out to you? What are their career paths? What did they major in? Your findings just might be surprising.
The path to "marketing manager" is definitely not a linear one, and you have so much freedom to explore what your passions are! This exercise not only helped me discover career paths but also mentors!
Carole Curtis
Career Couselor/ Certified Career Coachself employed
136
Answers
Rancho Palos Verdes, California
Updated
Carole’s Answer
Hi Lilia; Marketing is a very good major in business, because it allows you to go into different areas of the business major. I will be glad to give you some suggestions of what you might do before selecting your major. 1. If you have taken an interest assessment, such as SDS(self directed,
search, I would suggest that this would be the first way to help you define what basic major that you want for your career goal; 2. once you have chosen your area of interest and maybe other suggestions for our career you will be able to define what area will be good for what you want to do. Once you have defined an area like Marketing, Human resources, finance, design etc. 3. once you have defined the area of interest you can start your search with the information you have gathered about yourself. 4. If you are in school, such as college, then you should make
your appointment with a Career Counselor at your school to get on the right path, and then to reach your goal with the proper classes for what you want to do. These days your need to have a degree in your specialty since, but during your time in school, you might want to get an internship or a part time job in your area of choice (this is wear the information from the SDS is very valuable! I say this because when you get your degree and also have some experience in the business world you, would give you better chance to get hired over other candidates. You could even volunteer if you find a Place that is looking for a volunteer. Or sometimes there is an internship in the business area that the your school might know of in which you could get experience that way. In your situation The Career Counselor will be a real friend for you to talk with. I hope this helps with your career plan! Best of luck in your search
Please do the SDS Assessment or another assessment it will provide lots of information on what your career should be in!
Go to your school Career Counselor or someone who knows about Career Counseling. I can always help if you have other questions.
Try and get a part time job, volunteer, internship These will give you experience.
If you have a business club at your college or a friend in business area, these would be a great way to get information!
search, I would suggest that this would be the first way to help you define what basic major that you want for your career goal; 2. once you have chosen your area of interest and maybe other suggestions for our career you will be able to define what area will be good for what you want to do. Once you have defined an area like Marketing, Human resources, finance, design etc. 3. once you have defined the area of interest you can start your search with the information you have gathered about yourself. 4. If you are in school, such as college, then you should make
your appointment with a Career Counselor at your school to get on the right path, and then to reach your goal with the proper classes for what you want to do. These days your need to have a degree in your specialty since, but during your time in school, you might want to get an internship or a part time job in your area of choice (this is wear the information from the SDS is very valuable! I say this because when you get your degree and also have some experience in the business world you, would give you better chance to get hired over other candidates. You could even volunteer if you find a Place that is looking for a volunteer. Or sometimes there is an internship in the business area that the your school might know of in which you could get experience that way. In your situation The Career Counselor will be a real friend for you to talk with. I hope this helps with your career plan! Best of luck in your search
Carole recommends the following next steps:
Dustin Finkle, PMP
Marketing Program Manager
5
Answers
San Francisco, California
Updated
Dustin’s Answer
Lots of great responses here. Ultimately, there are many avenues of marketing.
Below are some of those avenues and my thoughts around them:
- Demand Gen: Do you like to strategize ways to generate interest for a product or service, nurture prospects to turn them into customers, and retain those customers for the long-term? Then this is the place!
- Creative & Brand: Are you creative at heart and want to be part of a team that drives the overall look and feel for the company? Then look here.
- Product Marketing: Do you like diving deep into a product and finding simple yet strong ways to talk about it to help sales and marketing teams? Then this is it!
- Content: Do you have a passion for copywriting and developing a content strategy that will make sure you're engaging with and your company's core audience to help bring them into the marketing funnel? Go here!
- Social Media: Do you like posting awesome, eye catching copy and creative to engage with your company's core audience, and then also understand the company well enough to respond appropriately? This is it then!
- Analytics: Do you like the nitty gritty details of what takes a prospect to a customer, and tracking all that data? Whether you're looking at optimizing SEO, gathering more leads on your website, etc - then I definitely recommend diving in here.
- Program/Project Management: Are you an organized beast by nature and want to develop workflows and processes for teams that allows them to focus on their work and easily track what to do next? Check out being a PM!
I know - you asked about being a Marketing Manager. But truly, there are many Marketing Managers. :) Just depends what type you want to be.
Here's a great guide on marketing teams and roles: https://blog.hubspot.com/insiders/marketing-department-roles
Below are some of those avenues and my thoughts around them:
- Demand Gen: Do you like to strategize ways to generate interest for a product or service, nurture prospects to turn them into customers, and retain those customers for the long-term? Then this is the place!
- Creative & Brand: Are you creative at heart and want to be part of a team that drives the overall look and feel for the company? Then look here.
- Product Marketing: Do you like diving deep into a product and finding simple yet strong ways to talk about it to help sales and marketing teams? Then this is it!
- Content: Do you have a passion for copywriting and developing a content strategy that will make sure you're engaging with and your company's core audience to help bring them into the marketing funnel? Go here!
- Social Media: Do you like posting awesome, eye catching copy and creative to engage with your company's core audience, and then also understand the company well enough to respond appropriately? This is it then!
- Analytics: Do you like the nitty gritty details of what takes a prospect to a customer, and tracking all that data? Whether you're looking at optimizing SEO, gathering more leads on your website, etc - then I definitely recommend diving in here.
- Program/Project Management: Are you an organized beast by nature and want to develop workflows and processes for teams that allows them to focus on their work and easily track what to do next? Check out being a PM!
I know - you asked about being a Marketing Manager. But truly, there are many Marketing Managers. :) Just depends what type you want to be.
Dustin recommends the following next steps: