Do Marketing jobs outside of London exist? Imogen’s take…

Ah, yes! Between Bristol and Southampton alone we have….

Agencies: A thriving world made up of all kinds of agencies from performance marketers, product builders, social and content specialists, integrated marketing agencies through to those that work at the front end of brand and design.

The primary career routes within agency environments include client services, planners, creatives, production people and technologists. Within digital specialists the need for SEO, PPC, media, content and social expertise is high.

Client side:It’s a fast moving world for those looking to take their careers client side. On one hand there are numerous corporate brands with sizeable creative and marketing operations, regional examples include Lloyds, Nationwide, Clarks and Dyson. Within those there also sit internal agencies.

However there’s a whole new world that is developing at pace. In 2018 Bristol was acknowledged as home to 700 start up or scale up businesses.

Many of these businesses have been made possible by advancements in technology, in turn opening up all manner of opportunities that didn’t exist as little as 10 years ago. Opportunities vary significantly depending on the business model, from marketing support to launch products and services through to those with significant investment pots set on world domination.

The competition to attract the best talent into agency and client side businesses is fierce.

Our take – What Marketing skills are in demand?

Marketing is an ever progressive discipline. There will always be an underlying need to develop brand and deliver more traditional communications however the technology will continue to open up and influence how customers (be they b2c or b2b) engage and respond to marketing activity.

The demand for content, social, media specialists, performance marketers and mobile expertise alongside multi-disciplined all-rounders remains high.

Data, insight and analytics

It’s not all about being a maths genius, far from it! Increasingly insight and analytics is being driven by creative thinkers who can analyse and set out the channel strategies that get results.

Data is huge and it’s only going to get bigger. The intake of data professionals is significant as businesses get to grips with the potential they are sat on. Couple this with rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning and you’ll be joining one of the hottest career routes available today.

Cutting to the chase – If money is your motivator then data, insight, machine learning and AI is the place to be. Getting on-board now and you’re likely to an increase salary year on year for the foreseeable future.

UX, UI and Design

Again technology has changed the face of careers within the Design world. Whilst there will always be the need for great conceptualists and creatives a wealth of opportunity now exists to those who are all about creating the customer journey, how we experience a product and how we maximise the success of an interface.

5 tips to land yourself a Marketing job in a competitive market

1. Work placements and internships – Put yourself out there and get hands on experience, CV’s are read in seconds, getting a company name on the CV generates intrigue and interest, if only a short tenure it shows you’re committed and that you mean business.
2. Network – Get out and show potential employers what you’re about, your enthusiasm, put a face to your CV, educate yourself through industry discussions and presentations that will support your knowledge at interview.
3. Social Media – Beware what you post! What you put out in the public is likely to get checkout as part of the screening process. Use B2B social channels to build your profile, connect, follow and engage with your target audiences.
4. Research – If you can land yourself an interview, do your research and arm yourself with questions. Know who you are meeting, what the business does, who their audience is and it will go a long way. Taking control of the meeting with questions will quickly turn things into a conversation and away from a question and answer session.
5. Present your CV professionally – There’s being creative for the sake of it (please don’t do this) and there’s being creative to visualise something in a compelling manner (feel free to do this!). Ultimately you’re marketing yourself and if you’re working going to be working in a creative or marketing industry, it’s the first impression that you deliver.