Marketing is an exciting industry made up of a huge number of people that perform various roles with different responsibilities. However, landing a job role in marketing can be difficult, especially if you’re lacking direct experience in the sphere. Fortunately, there are a number of entry level jobs that are available for ambitious candidates – you just need to know what to look for. If you’re studying a marketing degree course, or you’re trying to pursue a new career path, then this guide is for you. We’ll be discussing the most common entry level jobs in marketing, and breaking down what you can expect from each rewarding career path.
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What Are Entry Level Jobs In Marketing?
Simply put, entry level jobs are those designed to help candidates enter the marketing profession at the very earliest stage of their career. Often, they won’t require any specific job experience. However, having some study experience in the marketing sector can support your application – not only does this show a theoretical understanding of key industry concepts, but it also helps you to stand out against the competition. Plus, if you’re looking for entry level jobs with a marketing major, you might find yourself with some fantastic opportunities that aren’t typically offered to those without at least some academic experience.
Regardless of whether you do have marketing experience through academia, or you’re looking to change career from a different industry, there are some popular marketing roles pursued by candidates all over the world.
Our Top 10 Entry Level Marketing Jobs
While there are a range of career paths available in the industry, entry level marketing jobs can feel few and far between if you don’t know where to look. Here are our top 10 entry level marketing roles that you could consider.
- Marketing Analyst
- Marketing Assistant
- Sales Representative
- Public Relations Coordinator
- Account Coordinator
- Media Assistant
- SEO Specialist
- Marketing Copywriter
- Email Marketing Specialist
- Social Media Specialist
Read on to learn more about the details, prerequisites and salary information for each role.
1) Marketing Analyst
Marketing analysts are one of the more popular roles within the industry due to their all-encompassing approach to strategy success. As a marketing analyst, you’ll play a key role in the research and analysis of data, to craft reports on the receptiveness of a company’s target audience and the impact of its competition.
Because of the analytical nature of the role, an affinity for research and numerical skill can be a great benefit in an entry level position. You may also develop research proposals based on information you’ve gathered, and report on the success of previous campaigns, so writing skills are helpful.
Marketing analysts can expect to receive an average salary of $64,000 in the US, though this can be lower for entry level positions.
2) Marketing Assistant
If you’re less passionate about numbers, or you’d like to spend more time face to face with stakeholders, then a job as a marketing assistant might be more suitable for you. As part of this role, you’ll still conduct some research for the overall campaign, but you might also be involved with advertising content creation or communications with brand ambassadors to decide which steps are the best to take to drive the success of a campaign.
Often, marketing assistants work closely with managers or supervisors on important projects, so this is a great entry level role to get into if you want to enter the marketing world. In it, you’ll receive a high level of exposure at the early stages of your career, which can be a springboard into future opportunities.
The average salary for a marketing assistant is $43,848, and landing a senior role later down the line could land a figure closer to $60,000 a year.
3) Sales Representative
If you’ve done some research around the marketing industry, you might not instinctively picture a sales role when it comes to career opportunities. After all, marketing centers heavily around the research and analysis of different campaign strategies. However, sales representatives play a bigger role than you’d expect in a marketing team, so this is a good entry level role that can bring you an opportunity to break into marketing.
In this role, you’ll be responsible for reaching out to potential customers that could have emerged through hot or cold leads. You’ll need to be very charismatic, personable and efficient to land a sales representative job in marketing, but the good news is that these skills are likely transferable from work you’ve done in a previous industry or academic setting.
While sales representative jobs in marketing around the US carry an average annual base salary of around $31,000, many companies will offer commission bonuses or incentives that are based on your customer acquisition figures.
4) Public Relations Coordinator
Thanks to the extensive breadth of marketing as an industry, you can find a number of entry level roles that are more nuanced, if you’d like to specialize in a specific area. One of these jobs is a public relations coordinator. The responsibilities in this role typically include:
- Discussing your organization’s campaign with public bodies or media outlets.
- Writing and delivering press releases.
- Managing communications between press offices and your company.
- Researching the effect of your campaign on the wider target audience.
Like a sales representative, you might have a number of skills that aren’t specifically related to marketing, but that you can transfer to an entry level role in public relations, such as organization, communication, and strong public speaking abilities.
If you possess these skills and land a role in marketing public relations, you could earn an average salary of $44,572 per year.
5) Account Coordinator
A lot of individuals who pursue a marketing role have gained experience in customer service before switching career paths, so it’s no surprise that account coordinators make up an integral, well-respected group within the marketing workplace.
Account managers are responsible for the management of client accounts that are ran by a marketing team or agency. A lot of agencies will work alongside customers to promote their products and services, and the client will rely on the agencies’ expertise. This means that they place a lot of trust in their account coordinator, who can relay any feedback and suggest suitable changes.
If you have experience in a client facing role already, or you’d feel confident discussing strategy with external clients and stakeholders, then an entry level role as an account coordinator might serve as a brilliant opportunity to get your foot in the door of a marketing team.
On average, you’ll receive a yearly salary of $42,552 as an account coordinator.
6) Media Assistant
Media plays a big role in marketing campaigns of all kinds, and as a media assistant you’ll work closely with media managers and colleagues to analyse how effectively your company utilizes media tools. You’ll also support clients, both existing and potential, with managing their media use, by reviewing any contract details and checking that their billing is in order.
Because of this, a basic understanding of business finances, as well as the different media strategies that organizations can deploy will help you in an entry level media assistant role.
The average salary that you can expect in the US is $42,076.
7) SEO Specialist
An SEO, or Search Engine Optimization Specialist, is a skilled employee who provides businesses with a lot of value, which can be a great boost for job security. Search engines use a large amount of company data to decide which information they should show at the top of their search results, so effective SEO is very important for businesses, especially start-ups. If you know how to get a marketing strategy ranking higher, then this can be a lucrative career choice.
SEO specialists can be responsible for tasks that include:
- Identifying relevant and effective keywords to include in a company’s website content.
- Developing a strategy to enhance your organization’s ranking within search results.
- Monitoring the performance of an existing SEO strategy.
- Communicating this strategy with a range of other employees, including senior staff and content creators.
When applying for an entry level role, you likely won’t need to demonstrate any specific SEO-focused work experience, but showing a solid understanding of what it is and why it’s effective can make a big difference to your application.
As the skill is in high demand, you can also receive a salary that reflects this – on average, SEO specialists in the US take in $53,352 annually.
8) Marketing Copywriter
If your skills lie more in writing content than analyzing the technical side of marketing, then a role as a copywriter might be a more appropriate entry into a marketing career. Copywriters create valuable written content for businesses, including product descriptions, information articles and blog posts designed to increase customer engagement.
When applying for entry level marketing copywriting roles, you should prepare a portfolio of written content that showcases your ability as a writer. This doesn’t need to relate specifically to a certain business or organisation, but giving potential employers confidence in your work can show them that you’re serious about the role.
While many copywriters work as freelancers, marketing teams for businesses are increasingly seeking regular content creation and therefore hiring salaried writers. From entry to advanced level, your salary as a marketing copywriter will be around $38,000-$72,000 per year.
9) Email Marketing Specialist
Email marketers do much more than just send emails all day. Marketing strategies make a big impact on a product’s overall sales figures, and a company’s interaction with their target audience plays a central role in their success. Emails are an element of this that shouldn’t be underestimated.
As an email marketing specialist, you might:
- Create a short or long term email marketing plan.
- Test the design and messaging behind different emails.
- Authentically develop and build subscriber lists.
- Analyse the success of an email strategy, and make suggestions for future importance.
This is an exciting route into marketing that not only gives you the chance to learn more about your organization, but it also lets you develop meaningful relationships with your customers.
Based on data, the average salary for email marketing specialists in the US is $56,692.
10) Social Media Specialist
Successful marketing campaigns rely on the use of a range of different media platforms to understand and communicate with their target audience. As a social media specialist, you’ll be involved in multiple elements of these campaigns, and need to have an extensive awareness of how social media platforms work.
Not only this, but you’ll need to be skilled in analysing how effective your organization’s advertising is across these platforms, before reporting on your findings and recommending improvements.
On average, social media specialists earn $96,000 per year in the US, so this is a worthwhile endeavor as an entry level marketing team candidate.
How To Find An Entry Level Marketing Job
When you’re searching for jobs in marketing, especially at entry level, the competitive nature of the industry can be intimidating. If you’re trying to land your dream job, there are some things you can do to boost your chances.
- Build A Portfolio
Most marketing teams rely on creative content and customer engagement in at least some of their work, so having a comprehensive portfolio of previous work is a good way to display your skills. You can send your portfolio to potential employers along with your resume, to show them that you’re serious about the role you’ve applied for.
Even better, if you have the time to create some example pieces targeted at the specific company you’ll be interviewing with, you can truly stand out from the crowd and impress.
- Highlight Your Transferable Skills
As you’re applying for an entry level marketing position, you likely won’t have any direct experience in the industry. However, if you can highlight the transferrable skills that you’ve picked up from academic or alternative work settings, you can convince a recruiter that you’ll be capable of learning the nuances of marketing more easily than your competitors.
- Network
In the vast world of marketing, networking can afford you a lot of opportunities. Reaching out to professionals in the industry, especially those who are skilled in marketing specific niches, can put you on the radar for future roles even if there isn’t a job available for you right now.
Closing Thoughts
It’s no secret that marketing is a competitive industry, but with patience and determination you can land the perfect entry level role that can act as a stepping stone into your dream career. Take some time to go through the entry level marketing jobs we’ve listed in detail, and reach out to organizations that are advertising vacancies – your new role might be closer than you think!
