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The Distinct guide to career progression in marketing

Marketing is an exciting industry with a lot to offer. Incorporating various disciplines (from IT to design) and a range of roles (from creatives to sales), there are countless opportunities for career progression. Marketing is all about creating, managing, and enhancing a product, service, or company. Fast-paced and challenging, this industry is great for individuals who want to make a name for themselves by developing brands and improving bottom lines.

What skills do I need for Marketing?

If you’re already in marketing (or just intrigued by career progression in marketing) there are several critical skills that can help you succeed.
These basic skills don’t take into account other specialist skills for roles (i.e. specific programming languages or design tools) but are great all-rounders for every member of the marketing team.

  • Good communication skills
  • Strategic vision
  • Creative problem solving
  • Good research and analysis skills
  • Ability to present findings
  • A go-getter attitude to use your initiative

These soft skills combined with the relevant experience and training can stand you in good stead and allow you to apply for that dream marketing job with confidence. If you find you’re lacking any skills, then finding volunteer or freelance work (or asking to take on different projects in your current role) can help you grow and add strings to your bow.

If you need a hand with your digital marketing career progression pathway or traditional marketing role – contact us today. As a leading recruitment agency; we pride ourselves on going the extra mile by understanding not just the position or pay scale, but also the type of work, team, and other long-term goals you may have. This approach to marketing recruitment allows us to find the perfect role for the perfect candidate – and ensure both parties get off to a great start.

Types of roles in Marketing

When working in marketing, there are different digital marketing career progression pathways that you can take. It’s a varied industry that has opportunities for all types of skills. It’s also an industry that covers different fields, as many businesses need marketers to help them attract customers. Marketing is about creating, managing and enhancing brands and products, with the goal of gaining more customers. 

A key part of a marketer’s role is to understand the needs of their customer. Marketing regularly adapts to changing customer and market needs, so being adaptable is critical to all marketing career paths. 

Marketers might work with new technologies and collaborate with different areas of the business. For example, you may find yourself working with the finance team to create a budget for a social campaign for a client or working with the technical teams to show off artificial intelligence. 

No job is the same, which makes this one of the most exciting industries around. Still interested? Get in touch with our experienced marketing recruitment team to find a role that’s right for you.

Marketing career progression: agency or in-house

There are different benefits to working agency side, or in-house for a specific brand: 

Bigger companies often have their own marketing departments where you can learn, progress, and develop your career with a single product or service to focus on. These companies, by having everything in-house, can sometimes make it easier for you to communicate with stakeholders and get the information you need.

Agency work, by comparison, is much more varied in the type of work you get. Every project means working with different personalities, interests, and requirements. However, given the team makeup and specialised skills needed in agency work, you may find yourself specialising in a particular role rather than experimenting with other roles. This allows you to develop stronger skills in one area and become an expert.

Find your own way

 Now that you understand the roles and industries available, it’s time to think about your digital marketing career progression. Consider the parts of your job that you enjoy and try to tailor your development to these areas. 

Perhaps you like the creative side of branding, or maybe you thrive on data and technical information? Whatever you enjoy, try to focus your career on it, as this is where you will most likely thrive. You can do this through additional training, requesting specific types of work, or showing off your skills. Whatever it may be, don’t be afraid to be confident in your abilities.

Work with Distinct

As leaders in the field, at Distinct we take the time to understand both your organisation and our candidates, in order to ensure the right match. Contact us today.

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