Are you looking for an entry-level role in an industry with tons of room for growth and a great starting salary? Marketing is an ever-expanding field, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics projected a 6% average growth among advertising, promotions, and marketing manager positions between 2019 and 2029. That’s higher than the average rate of other occupations.
Of course, one can’t simply jump into a marketing manager position if they’re just starting out. Luckily, marketing has lucrative roles at every level of experience, including entry-level.
Niches get riches
Marketing is the process of communicating a business’s offerings and products to customers, partners, clients, and society with the aim of increasing sales, client relationships, and other factors necessary for a business’s survival. In fact, a business can’t survive without marketing, which is part of the reason why a career in this industry is such a great choice.
Within the marketing world, the best way to start down your career path is by selecting a field to specialize in. Working to be an expert in a niche area is a great strategy to make your skills invaluable, guaranteeing a speedy increase in your annual salary.
Marketing is now digital
Since 2020’s push towards remote work and eCommerce, the field of digital marketing accelerated as businesses worked to access the growing digital market. As a result, tons of digital marketing roles and jobs for creatives have been popping up, including entry-level positions like “SEO specialist” and “digital marketing assistant”. However, these roles tend to be highly competitive due to great digital marketing salaries and growth opportunities.
How can I get an entry-level role in marketing?
The fact of the matter is, a college degree will only take you so far in the marketing world. It’s up to you to make your resume stand out amidst a bevvy of other interested professionals, who also can’t find a job. Recruiters for digital marketing roles are especially picky because there’s a high risk with digital marketing given its more technical aspects. However, there are some easy ways to make yourself stand out, including:
- Taking online courses and getting certified in marketing skills
- Attending marketing conferences
- Networking with a marketing community group
- Working with a mentor or coach
A great way to start improving your skills is by signing up for In Demand Career’s online digital marketing classes. In-Demand Career offers a fantastic digital marketing skill development course and a personal coach to guide you through it.
Skills marketing departments are looking for
Other skills that are in high demand for marketing roles include:
- Public Speaking
- Communication Skills
- Customer Service
- Strong analytical skills
- Interpersonal skills and friendliness
- Creativity and imagination
- Teamwork
- Organizational skills
- IT skills
Average Entry-Level Marketing Salaries in the US
Indeed
Average Base Salary: $44,871 per year
Glassdoor
Average Base Salary: $61,883 per year
Talent.com
Average Base Salary: $40,000 per year
SimplyHired
Average Base Salary: $47,783 per year
Overall Average: $48,634.25
Highest Paying Cities in the US for Entry-Level Marketing
Salt Lake City, UT
Average Base Salary: $48,227 per year
Houston, TX:
Average Base Salary: $45,859 per year
Fort Wayne, IN:
Average Base Salary: $45,184 per year
Denver, CO
Average Base Salary: $44,677 per year
Richmond, WA
Average Base Salary: $44,677 per year
Atlanta, GA
Average Base Salary: $44,453 per year
Dallas, TX
Average Base Salary: $44,376 per year
St. Louis, MO
Average Base Salary: $43,915 per year
Popular Entry-Level Marketing Roles
Digital Marketing Assistant
A digital marketing assistant role is one of the best entry-level positions you could ask for–especially when considering the increase in digital marketing spending over the past several years. In this role, you’ll be working directly with a digital marketing specialist, manager, director, etc. to assist in developing and implementing digital marketing strategies. This could involve:
- Monitoring a business’s online data and performance metrics, like ROI, traffic, leads, etc.
- Managing a business’s online accounts, including social media accounts, email marketing, blogs, YouTube channels, and more.
- Creating analysis reports
- Communicating and collaborating with other marketing teams.
SEO Specialist
This is a role that will highly value candidates with some experience with its related responsibilities, like having taken an online class or performed other certification processes. These roles are in high demand, have great growth opportunities, and an awesome starting salary. Responsibilities include:
- Planning and executing SEO strategies
- Auditing websites
- Attaining backlinks
- Optimizing websites
- Improving technical SEO
- Studying analytics using SEO tools
- Monitoring SEO performance and creating progress reports
- Collaborating with other marketing teams and their members
Content Marketing Specialist
This is a highly specialized role wherein you’d only be working with content marketing. Content marketing specialists develop online content for a company to publish. Some duties you could perform include:
- Developing, executing, and monitoring content marketing strategies
- Identifying buyer personas for different content types
- Managing an editorial calendar
- Promoting content
- Tracking and monitoring performance
Marketing Coordinator
The position of marketing coordinator actually involves quite a bit of quantitative research to develop and execute marketing strategies. In this role, you’d be collaborating with a marketing manager or a senior marketing department executive, and you’d coordinate with them and the other marketing staff, clients, and suppliers on various projects, such as:
- Developing, planning, and managing marketing and advertising campaigns
- Assisting the marketing managers
- Developing, editing, publishing, and monitoring marketing content
- Creating marketing reports and conducting data analysis
- Monitoring the marketing budget
- Planning and arranging meetings
Marketing Analyst
This is another highly technical role that will be more likely to select a candidate with prior experience of some kind. A marketing analyst role is heavily involved in data analysis, market research, data collection and analysis, and data reporting. You’ll be responsible for managing the data of marketing campaigns, and other tasks like:
- Market research
- Customer data collection
- Data analysis
- Data reporting
- Competitor analysis
- Research into new products, tactics, and targets.
Marketing Intern
A marketing internship isn’t likely to pay you a salary, and if it does, it probably won’t be much. However, it’s a great way to get your foot in the door if you’re struggling to find another entry-level position that may require a little experience. Some tasks you may perform are:
- Research and analysis, such as market research for new trends
- Managing social media accounts
- Working with marketing campaigns
- Assisting the marketing department or team
- Conducting entry-level sales
- Preparing business development presentations
- Creating and scheduling social media content
Paid Search Specialist
Paid Search Specialist jobs are predicted to grow at an average rate higher than others, and their salary of $53K+ a year is nothing to shy away from. In this role you may find yourself performing the following duties:
- Manage pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns
- Help optimize a clients’ landing pages to meet ROI goals
- Analyze metrics related to spend, sales, cost per click, etc.
- Stay up-to-date on changes to the online marketing landscape
Takeaways
Marketing is an essential part of every business, making it a great choice for a long-term career. After the business world made a definitive, permanent turn towards the digital world in 2020, a specialized role in digital marketing may be the best choice for any party interested in a growing field and a high salary.
To help you stand out from the crowd, try taking an online course in digital marketing skills, such as In-Demand Career’s free course in digital marketing. We also offer a comprehensive masterclass on how to begin your digital marketing career, even with little to no professional experience!
