Step-by-Step Guide: How to become a Marketer

If you are both creative and business savvy, a marketing career may be a good fit for you.

“Marketing is career that is business-focused but offers creativity and self-expression,” ICMS Marketing Lecturer Georgina Gain says.

“Marketing is never boring! Every year brings a cool new media to experiment with, a new innovation to get excited about or new platform to try.

“Even though marketing has evolved over the years, the core skills remain the same – understanding the customer journey and fulfilling customer needs in a creative way.

“Marketing offers many transferable business skills that are valuable in just about any industry. I’ve had many exciting marketing jobs across different industries. One of the most fun was travelling around the country hiring and training marketing teams in the hotel sector. I got to live in the hotels and would become part of the team of each hotel, and then move onto the next one.”

Step-by-step guide: How do you become a Marketer?

Step 1: Establish what marketing is, and if you are a good fit.

Marketers raise the profile of a product, brand or service, and the role of a marketer covers a range of skills and specialisations.

Gain explains, “There are some key specialisation areas within marketing – so figure out which may suit you best. My own career has evolved through all these areas but right now my main focus is marketing communications.”

These key areas include:

• Communications
• Digital
• Content
• Brand
• Strategy

And if you work in a small business, you may find yourself working across all of these areas.

No matter which of the marketing specialisations you choose, you will be expected to work across social media, radio, print, TV and outdoor advertising to ensure potential customers can find the right information about your brand.

You need to be creative to make your campaign stand out, and be a good team player. You must be organised, an excellent communicator, and pretty driven as an individual.

With often tight timelines, you need to manage budgets and stakeholders to deliver campaigns that gain traction and entice customers away from the competition.

Step 2: Figure out what Marketers do, and if you want to do that for a living.

Depending on where you work and in what industry, your role as a marketer will reflect the needs of your organisation.

Here is a list of general tasks and duties you may be expected to perform within each of the key specialisation areas of marketing. Gain recommends, “As you are reading the list of tasks below, ask yourself which of these tasks resonate with you? Because if it lights you up that is where you will shine.”

Communications

• Write and create website content
• Write and create bulk emails include one-off blasts and eDM (electronic direct mail) nurture flows
• Write and create content such as blogs, social media posts, presentations, and advertising copy
• Write and send out Press Releases

Digital

• Conceive campaigns to reach your target market
• Monitor campaign performance, analyse data, and adjust strategies for optimal results
• Create landing pages, forms, and flows to generate new enquiries
• Manage social media accounts and digital adverts
• Set up strategies to boost SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

Content

• Storyboard, shoot and edit video content
• Create and post content for organic social media accounts
• Create and share adverts for paid social media platforms such as YouTube, YouTube Shorts, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, WeChat
• Create and edit written and image website content

Brand

• Define and maintain the brand identity and ensure consistent messaging and visual representation
• Design or commission print assets such as brochures
• Design or commission print and outdoor adverts
• Design or commission brand merchandise

Strategy

• Plan, develop and execute marketing strategies aligned with company goals and objectives
• Conduct market research, competitor analysis, and customer segmentation to identify opportunities and threats
• Create and manage marketing campaigns across various channels (digital, social media, email, etc.)
• Identify unique selling propositions (USPs) and create positioning strategies
• Provide leadership and guidance to the marketing team

Step 3: Establish whether there is a market for marketers.

“There will always be a market for marketers. Marketing is a career with so much opportunity – and it offers skills that are transferable across many diverse industries,” says Gain.

According to Seek, there are 3,954 marketing jobs in Australia right now

The positive Australian outlook for marketing professionals can be expanded to worldwide optimism for an industry that is increasingly important to businesses aiming to attract and retain customers.

Step 4: Get a marketing degree and pick your career path.

An undergraduate marketing qualification, such as the ICMS Bachelor of Business (Marketing), can give you the knowledge and acumen you need for a successful marketing career in any industry of this dynamic and diverse business sector.

The degree is underpinned by business subjects, together with specialised marketing subjects, and includes real-life work experience in the form of Work Integrated Learning (WIL) subjects.

WIL matches you up with one of ICMS’s 1,000-plus industry partners, for up to 600 hours industry training. This means you graduate with networks and connections. Many ICMS students graduate with a job in their field, with one in three graduates securing a job at their WIL placement company.

“A marketing degree, such as the one offered by ICMS, is what will separate you from other aspiring marketers as you will gain theoretical and practical knowledge of the industry. Marketing is a highly skilled profession, and a degree helps you rise swiftly through the ranks into management roles faster than learning on the job,” Gain says.

“Marketers are creative business professionals; they create a buzz and add value to any company of which they are a part. Harness your drive and use your business savvy to lead the conversation on a global or local level.”

Here are a few examples of the types of roles you could pursue as a marketer:

• Marketing Manager
• Business Development Manager
• Social Media Manager
• Business Analyst
• Digital Marketing Specialist
• Cross Channel Marketing Specialist
• Communications Director
• EDM Specialist
• Marketing Strategist
• Multimedia Specialist
• e-Commerce Specialist
• Engagement Specialist
• Brand Manager
• Content Manager
• Creative Director

Be inspired by this real life story of an ICMS Marketing graduate

ICMS graduate Michaela Mayes was offered a fulltime role at Nova Entertainment before graduating, and a promotion a year after that.

Michaela graduated from ICMS in 2022 with a Bachelor of Business (Marketing), and is currently a Nova Entertainment Senior Client Implementation Executive.

“You have to put 100% of yourself in to get 100% out,” Michaela says.

Read Michaela’s full story.

Find out more about the ICMS Bachelor of Business (Marketing).