Marketing and digital marketing
What is marketing?
Marketing is the overall strategy and process behind raising awareness of and selling products and services. It involves:
- identifying something that people or businesses want
- developing a product or service that meets that need and then promoting it
- working out the details and making sure you're charging the right price for the product or service
(Source: Chartered Institute of Marketing)
Spotlight On: Marketing, Communications and PR
We invited four speakers to talk to you about their roles. They share details about their career paths and give you top tips on how to crack into this industry and what the essential skills are.
It's also your chance to hear about the latest industry trends, and what the emerging skills are for this sector
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Lucy Faulkner, PR Account Manager, BA English 2018
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Katie Moncur, Social Media Officer, BA English 2020
- Lilly Koranteng, Communications and Engagement Officer, BA Theology and Religious Studies 2021
- Lydia Hunter, Marketing Consultant, BA History 2008
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- Alumni: Email us to gain access to the webinar
What does marketing (and digital marketing) involve?
Marketing may also include advertising and PR. In smaller companies one department may be responsible for the whole marketing process alongside advertising and PR while in larger organisations they might be separate departments.
Digital marketing ensures that a brand, whether it be an organisation, service or product, can be found online. Digital marketing may exist as a specialist role, or be incorporated into the work of a marketing officer.
Digital marketers often work across multiple communication channels and key areas of work include social media, pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns and search engine optimisation (SEO).
Ensuring that a website attracts a lot of attention, or traffic, is essential in a tech-savvy economy, which means that roles in digital marketing are constantly expanding and can be highly lucrative
How do I find out about employers and job roles in this area?
The marketing industry is large and diverse. You might be working for:
- a global agency
- an in-house department
- a small independent agency
Many global agencies will engage in all aspects of marketing including PR and advertising, while smaller agencies may specialise in areas such as digital marketing.
Researching employers
Design Intellect’s top 50 advertising and marketing agencies
Digital Agency Network’s - pick of the best digital agencies in the UK
MediaCity UK (Manchester) - directory of companies is another good place to start when thinking about applying for jobs in this area
Top 15 cities to start your career in digital marketing
Exploring roles
Like many industries, marketing is now heavily focused on digital and online content. Job titles have changed immensely to reflect this.
Marketing-specific titles still exist, such as marketing assistant, marketing manager, and marketing executive.
However there has also been a rise in specialist roles such as SEO assistant, digital marketing executive and PPC executive which are all considered essential to digital marketing.
Typical salaries range from £18,000 to £23,000 for entry-level and graduate roles, but can rise to £70,000+ for very senior roles, dependent on location.
Prospects - explore marketing roles
Prospects - digital marketer profile
How do I get work experience?
Marketing is a competitive industry and work experience can give you a significant advantage.
Marketing agencies can be found in most large towns and cities across the UK and are usually open to being approached for internships and work experience.
Gaining experience at Nottingham
Enquiring about experience will work best if you can show that you developed some relevant skills, and have passion and curiosity about brands, culture and the digital world, along with a willingness to learn.
- We run a Digital Marketing Academy in the autumn term, to help you gain the skills and experience needed to get that vital 'foot in the door'.
- A large proportion of Nottingham Internship Scheme roles also require marketing skills. All are paid opportunities with local employers which fit around your studies.
- If you are postgraduate researcher, check out the Researcher Academy's placement programme.
- Unitemps advertise paid temporary roles, many of which are roles within the university and may allow you to become familiar with web content management systems.
Investigate opportunities with larger companies
If you're keen to learn more about the work of digital marketing in large organisations, consider applying for summer internships. Application deadlines for most corporate internship schemes will fall between November and March.
Find out where to look for internships
Online work experience
Forage is an online platform providing free access to virtual experience programmes with world leading companies. The virtual experience programmes let you sample ‘life-like’ tasks that provide a better understanding of what it’s like to be a junior employee at that company. They take five or so hours to complete and are self-paced.
Also check out the Data and Marketing Association's Talent Marketing Challenge. It gives aspiring marketers a taste of what it's like to work on a real-life marketing brief.
Unadvertised opportunities
Many agencies do offer work experience and if they don’t openly advertise it you can still contact them to ask about the possibility. Research which area(s) of marketing interest you, identify relevant employers in your location of interest, and draw up a shortlist to approach.
Check company websites first for work experience opportunities, and if they're not offering any send off a CV and covering letter.
Networking
Networking can be a great way to access hidden opportunities.
- Set up a professional profile on LinkedIn and Twitter and follow companies and campaigns that interest you
- Come along to one of our events to meet employers. Every year we run Advertising, Marketing and PR where you can meet a panel of industry professionals and ask them questions
Volunteering
Once you have taught yourself some basic skills, get in touch with local voluntary organisations and charities such as Skillsbank, who could do with help in creating web content, communicating with service users and some simple online marketing strategies.
Please be aware that study abroad, compulsory year abroad, optional placements/internships and integrated year in industry opportunities may change at any time for a number of reasons, including curriculum developments, changes to arrangements with partner universities or placement/industry hosts, travel restrictions or other circumstances outside of the university's control. Every effort will be made to update this information as quickly as possible should a change occur.
What other ways can I build my skills and experience?
Marketers work across several communication channels, so having a broad skill set is essential. As well as possessing excellent written skills in order to produce great content, strong verbal communication skills are needed in order to articulate your ideas to clients.
You'll also need to have analytical skills, be creative, highly organised and, particularly for specialist digital marketing roles, have at least a basic understanding of HTML, databases and SEO.
Join relevant groups in Nottingham
- The university's Digital Humanities Centre provides training, experience and networking opportunities for humanities students interested in digital media in the arts. You can choose an area of interest, one of which may include PR, marketing and social media.
- The Nottingham Writers' Studio, and other local organisations. Sometimes they offer courses around blogging and social media.
Sign up for a free online course
Sign up to free course through FutureLearn to enhance your existing knowledge, plug gaps on your CV and prepare you for job applications. Courses last from a few days to a few weeks and are offered by hundreds of universities around the world.
You can also learn more and boost your digital skills through Google courses including:
Develop a digital portfolio
Being able to demonstrate examples of writing for the web is essential. Use sites such as Creative Pool to showcase your work and make contacts. Also consider writing articles for student publications which have an online presence such as IMPACT or LeftLion, or write a blog.
You can enhance your digital portfolio by building a digital profile. Having a presence on Twitter and LinkedIn allows you to follow organisations you would like to work for, keep up-to-date with industry news and find out about local networking events, for example, Meetup groups.
You can also keep up with current trends by reading industry blogs and journals such as Creative Review, and The Drum.
Research local digital agencies
If there is a role that interests you, make contact with the person working in that role, and ask them lots of questions. You never know, a conversation like this could lead to the offer of work experience or mentoring.
Further study
You could consider taking a full-time or part-time masters in marketing or digital marketing. Find out more using our further study pages.
How can I find my first role? Includes UoN alumna video
Hidden opportunities
Many openings are not advertised so speculative applications are common – you’ll need to do plenty of research first into the companies that interest you.
A good starting point, especially if you are looking for opportunities in a particular town or city is to search the business directory yell.com. Enter ‘marketing’ into the search box and select your location of interest.
Perfect your CV and covering letter first
Graduate schemes
Graduate schemes do exist, usually with larger companies. TargetJobs has rounded up a list of them.
Campaign Jobs
Marketing Week
Onward Search
The Drum
The Guardian
Recruitment agencies
Recruitment agencies may be able to help you find marketing work. Most agencies will look for candidates with some experience and an up-to-date CV.
What are employers looking for?
Regardless of your degree background, organisations recruiting to marketing roles will be seeking:
- excellent communication skills
- creative thinking
- a genuine interest in marketing
- commercial awareness
- digital skills
- relevant work experience
Will I need a specialist qualification?
Graduates from a wide range of disciplines go into marketing. While there are postgraduate degrees in marketing and related areas which will enhance your knowledge and skills, you don’t necessarily need a specialised qualification to get into the industry.
The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) offers a range of professional qualifications, which may open up possibilities for career progression. You may be able to get employer sponsorship to complete these once in post.
Top tips for marketing applications
- Emphasise relevant experience whether paid or unpaid including membership of student societies
- Link to any social media channels you have set up for professional use such as Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn
- Show commercial awareness and knowledge of modern culture and brands. For example, you could practise critiquing how products and services around you have been marketed and prepare examples to discuss at interview.
- Come and talk to us about finessing your CV and cover letter to showcase your marketing skills