Marketing Careers: 6 Areas to Explore

A marketing career typically involves generating interest in a company’s brand and products, but marketers go about that work in various ways. If you choose to pursue this in-demand work, there’s more than one career path to explore—and lots of growth opportunities.  

Learn about the different types of marketing, the jobs you could get in each area, and how your interests may align with each one.  

Types of marketing careers 

• Brand managers oversee a brand’s persona, driving its interest and appreciation.

• Communications and public relations teams promote a brand through various external communications efforts. They often work closely with other units (social media, content) to foster conversation about a company.

• Content marketers create informative and valuable content for customers, like blog posts, podcasts, and videos. 

• Digital marketers reach out to customers to promote products through various digital channels, including social media and email. 

• Event marketers plan events and experiences that support a brand’s persona.

• Product marketers use data-backed strategies to launch new products—or product lines—in the marketplace.  

• Search engine marketers (SEM) use search engine optimization (SEO) strategies to increase a company’s visibility on search engine results pages (SERP) so customers can discover a brand more organically.  

Marketing careers: 6 areas of interest

Within these different marketing types, several career options are available for you to explore depending on your interests. Discover six areas to start:

1. Research

Marketing teams rely on data-driven research to tailor and target everything from campaign messaging to product launches. If you conduct research,  you’ll use various tools to help you figure out what customers need and want and then translate your findings so your team can develop more impactful marketing strategies, campaigns, and more. 

Skills: Data analysis, critical thinking, communication

Could be a fit if you like: Finding and parsing information and using those conclusions to make strategic recommendations that improve a marketing team’s efforts. 

• Entry-level roles: Marketing assistant, market research associate, business analyst

• Mid-level roles: Market research analyst, global marketing analyst, social media analyst 

2. Strategy 

No matter which type of marketing you work in—product, brand, content, or otherwise—developing a well-researched and brand-specific strategy is instrumental to success. If you work in strategy, you may be responsible for identifying new ways to reach customers and developing plans to ensure each campaign succeeds.

Skills: Planning, communication, creative thinking, analytical thinking

Could be a fit if you like: Thinking strategically about a company’s marketing needs and then developing and executing campaigns that generate greater awareness and sales 

• Entry-level roles: Digital marketing strategist, product marketing strategist, SEO specialist

• Mid-level roles: Brand content manager, product marketing manager, senior SEO manager

If you’d like to learn more about strategy but are unsure where to start, check out UC Davis’s course, The Strategy of Content Marketing.

3. Design 

From distinctive logos to eye-catching packaging, designers create visual assets that set a company apart from its competitors and feed into larger campaign narratives. If you work in design, you’ll be responsible for a number of creative tasks that may include producing original art and infographics, editing and retouching photos, designing web pages for ultimate user satisfaction, or using research to inform your creative choices.  

Skills: Creativity, attention to detail, project management, knowledge of design tools such as Adobe Creative Suite

Could be a fit if you like: Telling stories through visual mediums and creating assets that support a marketing team’s various visual needs 

• Entry-level roles: Graphic design specialist, visual information specialist, web design specialist

• Mid-level roles: Creative project manager, design researcher, graphic designer

4. Writing 

Much in the way that companies rely on visuals to help create a unified brand image and tell a story, they need writers to do that very thing with language. As a writer, you may be responsible for producing writing that exemplifies a brand’s voice, developing content for different digital channels, or even managing internal or external communications.

Skills: Writing, communication, audience and engagement strategy, project management

Could be a fit if you like: Reaching audiences—be they internal employees or external customers—through the written word.  

• Entry-level roles: Junior copywriter, communications specialist, content writer

• Mid-level roles: Brand copywriter, marketing content writer, communications manager

How to become a marketing manager

To become a marketing manager, you typically need a bachelor’s degree in marketing or a related field of study. Marketing managers need experience before advancing to this role, so you should start out in an entry-level marketing role and find opportunities for advancement. To stand out to employers and increase your chances, consider going back to school for a master’s degree in marketing to enhance your knowledge and marketing skills.

5. Events

Companies hold events and experiences to increase the visibility of their brand and products. If you work in events marketing, you’ll be responsible for ideating and executing in-person or virtual events that support larger campaigns and strategies.

Skills: Planning, organization, vendor management, budgets, multitasking, communication

Could be a fit if you like: Putting together experiences, either in-person or virtual, that result in greater brand visibility, media attention, and customer engagement.   

• Entry-level roles: Experiential marketing coordinator, events marketing specialist, field marketing coordinator

• Mid-level roles: Experiential marketing manager, events marketing manager, field marketing manager 

6. Social 

It’s imperative that companies communicate about their brand and products across a number of digital channels. Social fosters a different level of interaction thanks to its direct engagement with customers. If you work in social media marketing, you’ll be responsible for generating and publishing content—written posts, videos, graphics, and more—that garner attention and propel conversation.

Skills: Writing, communication, creativity, planning, social media strategy

Could be a fit if you like: Being both creative and strategic about how to reach and engage customers and producing multimedia content that supports larger brand and product strategies. 

• Entry-level roles: Marketing associate, social media marketing assistant, social media marketer

• Mid-level roles: Social media editor, social media manager, community manager

Marketing careers: flexibility 

A career in marketing offers a good degree of flexibility. You may apply your skill set to different types of marketing, moving where opportunities best suit your interests and needs. For example, if you start off writing blog posts for a content marketing team, you may be able to apply that experience to email marketing or search engine marketing.

You can also get started in one type of marketing and eventually move to another. For example, if you begin as a social media marketing assistant and learn you’re more interested in brand strategy, you may be able to move into that type of marketing. Having worked in social media, you may have done brand management to some extent.

Beginning in one area doesn’t mean you can’t jump to another, though it may take some additional experience—or time—to make that move.

How much can you make? Marketing degree salary

Marketing jobs are in high demand. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook for advertising, promotions, and marketing managers could rise as much as 8 percent between 2023 and 2033, with approximately 36,600 new job openings yearly [1]. 

While starting salaries for an entry-level marketing career can be lower, you can earn more over time and with more advanced roles.

Explore marketing careers with Coursera.

Marketing careers may range from areas such as strategy and development to writing copy for advertisements and social media channels.

Develop or strengthen your marketing skills with any of these top-rated products on Coursera:

For an introductory course, start with Wharton's Introduction to Marketing. In approximately 10 hours, discover the fundamentals of marketing, including how to develop and communicate a marketing strategy.

To prepare for a career in marketing, try the Google Digital Marketing and E-Commerce Professional Certificate, designed to teach you about email marketing and marketing analytics, among other topics, and get job-ready for an entry-level marketing role in less than six months.

To enhance your marketing skills, explore the Meta Marketing Analytics Professional Certificate, designed to teach you how to sort, clean, and visualize data that may inform key marketing strategies.

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