What can you do with a marketing major?

A marketing major sets students up with various skills that span business, social science, and psychology. You learn how to drive a business forward by harnessing your creativity, thinking strategically, and analyzing consumer behavior – all while studying a never-ending list of theory and terminology.

It’s a solid foundation for an expansive range of careers, so you may be left wondering what’s next. The good news is that a marketing major sets you up with a career for life. It’s just a question of finding the right career path for you.

Here is a look at the many different careers open to those with a marketing major. We’ll also detail the next steps to take to get there.

Skills gained from a marketing major

Before choosing any career path, taking stock of your skills is always a good idea. Evaluating your hard and soft skills can help you identify where you will best fit in the job market. Luckily, skills are one thing that marketing majors have in spades.

Typical soft skills learned by a marketing major include:

  • Communication
  • Problem-solving
  • Creativity
  • Interpersonal skills
  • Leadership skills
  • Attention to detail

Some of the hard skills you might take away from a marketing major include:

  • Project management
  • Data analysis
  • Writing
  • Research
  • Search engine marketing
  • Social media marketing
  • Email marketing
  • Design

When deciding on a career path, we recommend compiling a list of your skills, including any other skills you might have learned outside of your major. This list will help you get a better picture of the right career path for you and also help you write your resume.

Common areas of employment

Here is a look at some common areas of employment for marketing majors.

Sales

As a marketing major, you will have a breadth of knowledge on consumer wants and needs, sales solutions and strategies, and delivering results on a deadline. All of these skills are desirable for the sales industry. Sales also offer more job opportunities than any other career path featured on this list.

Entry-level positions typically involve actively producing sales on a person-to-person basis. In this case, undergraduates could benefit from a professional sales course to gain the sales skills and mentality necessary to meet the industry’s requirements.

Another position in sales is the sales manager, which involves managing a team of sales reps, devising a strategy to meet regional targets, and taking the necessary steps to ensure the reps meet their targets.

Customer Relations

Customer relations jobs are available in various industries as they involve working with a company’s clientele to ensure they remain content. Common job titles for this career path include customer relationship manager, customer service representative, and account manager.

An entry-level job in this position can involve providing phone support or working under an account manager to improve partnerships and relations with high-level clients. Marketing majors may find that they progress through the ranks quickly thanks to their specialized interpersonal and project management skills. It is also common for employers to pay employees to enroll in higher education to advance to a higher-paying role.

Retail

For marketing majors who prefer the product side of selling, retail marketing careers are one of the most creative and design-focused jobs available.

Retail marketing encompasses the presentation of a product and entails tasks such as designing packaging concepts. It also involves strategic elements such as pricing, ensuring the product is available at a price point that suits the target consumer.

Brand Management

Like retail marketing, brand management is another career path that will suit marketing majors with a product-focused interest. However, this vertical looks at the more holistic elements of a brand, including its look, values, and product range.

Market Research

If you are not interested in design, visuals and branding, consider market research. A career in market research is best suited to marketing majors all about strategy, data, and analytics. This job involves collecting, analyzing, and presenting research. This research may be qualitative (opinion and reason-based) or quantitative (statistics and percentages).

Advertising

Careers in advertising involve creating, managing, and executing communications based in print, television, or digital forms. Entry-level positions include being a junior copywriter, an assistant role to an account executive, or a junior media buyer. Options for progression include account executive and management supervisor.

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is a booming industry as the internet continues to expand its influence. Therefore, it is also one of the most popular and common career paths for marketing majors. It’s an area of marketing that includes search engines, web design, social media, video production, email, and content.

Digital marketing agencies are always looking to recruit recent graduates with an up-to-date insight into youth-focused social media channels. Entry-level roles typically include social media coordinator, content creator, and account assistant.

Public Relations

In a communication and strategy-focused career, public relations involves crafting key communications that will promote a positive image for a company. These roles may be in-house at an individual company or a PR agency that works for various clients. Entry-level roles include PR officer, account manager assistant, communications officer, and marketing associate.

Starting your career

Your career path begins when your college degree ends, but this doesn’t mean you will walk right into your dream job. The most common next steps after college are enrolling in an internship, securing an entry-level job, or enhancing your knowledge and skills with a master’s degree. Which option is right for you?

Pursue a master’s degree

Marketing professionals are in exceptionally high demand, but the field can also be competitive. A master’s degree is the key to gaining a competitive edge, especially if you have your eye on a top role as a marketing executive in the future. These days, gaining a valuable marketing master’s doesn’t mean returning to school. You can fit your education around your life with an Online Master’s in Marketing.

Getting an internship

If you are making a beeline toward a top role in marketing but don’t want to pursue further education, interning is the key to getting your foot in the door. This is the best option for the most competitive industries, such as advertising and public relations, where industry experience is required to obtain an entry-level role. Internships may be low-paying, but they help you enhance your resume and gain on-the-job skills.

Get an entry-level job

Entry-level jobs typically require less than two years of experience. Attainable entry-level roles in top industries are hard for undergraduates, so many people pursue internships and master’s degrees instead. However, you may be able to find a scalable entry-level role in sales, customer relations, or digital marketing. Typical roles include social media coordinator and customer service agent.

The bottom line

Choosing the right career path is a major decision, but it’s important to remember that careers are not always linear. The journey to your dream role in marketing doesn’t have to go from marketing assistant to chief marketing officer; sometimes it might go from customer service representative to marketing director. Whether you get your foot in the door with an unpaid internship or a master’s degree, your marketing major will  help you get where you want to be.