Marketing careers are in demand and it is a great career choice for people with many different backgrounds.
Marketing professionals have the opportunity to work in almost every industry out there, marketing is a core element of any business, regardless of its nature.
They can be involved in advertising, branding, public relations and much more. The marketing field is constantly changing which means that there are always new opportunities available.
Marketing careers offer a lot of benefits such as the opportunity to grow professionally and make an impact on society. Marketing professionals also have a high earning potential which makes them a very popular choice among graduates of all disciplines.
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How to Get a Job in Marketing with an English Degree?
A lot of companies are looking for people interested in marketing that have an English degree. A good place to start when looking for work in marketing is to know what kind of work you are looking for and what you have to offer. From here you can begin to find companies that are searching for someone with your skills.
There are many different marketing jobs available for those who have an English degree, including copywriting, search engine optimisation (SEO), public relations, blogging, social media and more.
English degrees are valued in marketing because companies need people who can write compelling content to inform, attract, excite and sell their products and services to their target audience.
English graduates should appreciate the difference between writing academic pieces and writing compelling copy that engages with an audience.
How to Prepare Yourself for a Career in Marketing?
Marketing requires a lot of skills to be successful in the field. The first steps you should take is to identify your strengths and weaknesses and identify the areas you need to improve on.
Look for marketing jobs advertised online and read the criteria for what they are looking for in an ideal candidate. See how closely you match the criteria now and what you would feel confident demonstrating in a job interview. Create a plan to develop the other areas where you need to learn or experience more.
When you are browsing marketing jobs online you will no doubt realise the wide variety of jobs that exist in the field of marketing. Look through all different kinds of job descriptions and see which ones appeal to you most.
Marketing jobs best suited to an English graduate are ones that involve creating written content. This could be text for website blogs, social media posts or promotional literature such as leaflets and catalogues. English graduates may also enjoy the world of search engine optimisation and learning the craft of creating and optimising web content to rank high on the search engines.
Where to Learn Marketing?
In our article How To Get Into Marketing Without Any Experience, we discuss how to break into the marketing industry with no prior experience.
More experienced working professionals with an English degree might also find our article How to Become a Marketing Manager With No Marketing Experience useful.
As a quick reference, the below resources are great places to build your marketing knowledge:
YouTube (!)
Hubspot has even put together a great article – 50 Free Online Marketing Classes to Take This Year.
As someone looking to get into marketing with an English degree, the world of text-based content marketing shouldn’t throw too many surprises at you. However, if you are interested in “360” marketing job roles that encompass all elements of marketing, there are a lot of areas to cover and learn and it won’t be achieved overnight. Be patient with yourself and learn at a rate that is acceptable to you.
Getting Work Experience in Marketing as an English Graduate
The best way to learn how to work in marketing is by getting hands-on experience. There are many ways that you can get this experience, such as internships and volunteering.
Volunteering is a great way to gain valuable skills and experience while also giving back to the community. You could offer to volunteer with a local marketing agency or any local community groups or charities that would be thankful for the help.
An internship is another great way for someone who wants work experience in marketing. Internships provide an opportunity for students or recent graduates to learn about different aspects of the field and get exposure in their desired industry.
Look to use these experiences as an opportunity to learn what it takes to run marketing campaigns and the individual skills that are required to complete individual tasks.
Getting work experience in marketing is a great way to strengthen your resume/CV and shows prospective employers that you are passionate and motivated to work within marketing. However, unpaid work is not a luxury everyone can partake in.
If you are already in employment, see if there are volunteering opportunities you could do in the evenings or weekends, or even enquire about any marketing opportunities at your current employer.
Work experience will be highly desirable and essential for marketing roles that require a level of experience. But for entry-level positions, the right candidate could see success by combining their degree with their own learning around marketing and demonstrating a genuine passion, enthusiasm and understanding of the marketing industry during the job application process.
Applying for Marketing Jobs
Once you have chosen the area of marketing that appeals most to you and have understood the requirements of these job roles, you are now in a position to begin searching for jobs.
The first step in applying for a marketing job is to research the company. Once you have an idea of what they are looking for, you can tailor your resume and cover letter accordingly.
You should also make sure that your resume and cover letter are up-to-date and tailored specifically for the company that you are applying to work for.
As an English graduate you might have some fantastic qualities, experience and education to refer to in your job application, but don’t forget that it is a marketing job you are applying for, so look to highlight and demonstrate how you can meet the criteria laid out in the job description.
Top Tip: As an expert of the English language why not put together a digital portfolio of marketing content? This could be for fictional businesses or ones you have volunteered with. You could link to this portfolio on your resume or cover letter and it could include content tailored to what that job role is looking for.
English graduates should feel upbeat when applying for marketing roles that involve heavily around copywriting, email marketing, social media or blog post writing, as your skills are transferrable and combined with marketing industry experience will become very powerful.
Without developing any prior marketing experience, English graduates may find it a tougher challenge in acquiring work in more data-driven marketing roles such as e-commerce management and working with pay-per-click advertising.
Freelance in Marketing With Your English Skills
Going freelance with your English skills in the world of marketing can be a great way to earn extra money, develop your skills, offer flexibility in your life, and earn experience that you could then use later in attaining full-time employment.
Getting started with freelance marketing and utilising your English skills is easier than ever thanks to platforms such as Fiverr and Upwork.
These two platforms offer you a way into acquiring customers however they are very popular platforms with a lot of competition on there. Before joining check what services other people are offering in marketing, how they promote themselves and what they charge for their services.
Certain services on these platforms can be very price-driven, so people looking to start on there should be realistic about their potential earnings to begin with.
Freelance in Marketing Locally
Freelance marketing is a great way to make money in your local area. You can work for local businesses and people, which means you can stay close to home and work from the comfort of your own home.
It is important that you have the skills necessary for the type of marketing that you want to do. For example, if you want to be a copywriter you need to be confident and competent in producing text for a variety of purposes and a variety of industries. For more technical skills such as pay per click advertising or SEO, you need to have access to the right tools in order to achieve this.
To begin with, you might want to start with smaller clients in order to build your portfolio and confidence. You might consider starting with a lower pricing structure when starting out in order to build a portfolio, case studies and testimonials.
It is important that you know how to market yourself as a freelancer in order to win business and also how to identify potential clients and go about approaching them.
