What it is Like Working in Marketing

Marketing as a career is always portrayed as a cool and glamorous job and in many aspects of the profession, this can be true. However, there are many different functions within the marketing profession and they are extremely different. Whether you aim to work at a Melbourne marketing company or one of the top marketing companies abroad, the principles are the same.

You may be a strategist or an analyst, a creative type or a numbers nerd and you will find a home within the marketing department. There are obvious plus sides to working in marketing, especially if you are working with clients who have significant budget to spend.

The offices are flashy, the events will be big and the people will be interesting, some who think they are more interesting than others but you will soon spot these for yourself.

There are stand-alone marketing agencies who are a hot bed of talent and this is where you will really learn your craft, but the same can be said for a marketing function within a company that is not an agency. Sometimes, you can learn a lot more in this type of environment as you will inevitably take on more than your own job specification duties and add to your skills.

The deadlines can be tough so you have to be as well. A marketer needs to be one step ahead of the trend setters and understand what is coming down the line. This is tough but if you can predict the next best thing, you are in the right business.

You will also need to be comfortable with technology in some capacity. Whether you are working in social media and dealing with social selling or engagement and listening tools, there will be an element of data and channel management and analysis. 

For some people, this is heaven, and for others, it is hell. There is a perception out there that working as a social media specialist is easy, but there is a lot of analytical and statistical work that goes into social media and it can be very time consuming and intense.

This is largely the case in all aspects of marketing, if you dip your toe in SEO or PPC, you need to get comfortable with being patient and very diligent. Clients may be paying top dollar for big results and your work in these marketing roles are crucial.

There is a great creative and exciting element with marketing that is nearly unique to its discipline. There is a great sense of achievement when you see a project through from start to finish, from brief to broadcast or advert. This is what it is all about, changing the way people see things and making them like it.