Harris KhanThere are many reasons why a person would like to pursue a career in marketing. Maybe you’ve always felt that it’s the right field for you. Or perhaps you’ve just finished watching Mad Men and want to feel like a real marketing guru.
No matter what your reasons are, you should know one thing. Career change is not a walk in the park. It doesn’t matter if you want to rebrand yourself to marketing or finance. You have to know what you’re doing. You can’t just quit your current job, send a resume, and update your LinkedIn profile.
What’s more, if you lack work experience in the trade, making a career switch will be even more challenging. It’s not impossible, though. Many people switch to new industries throughout their careers, some even more than once. You simply have to know how to do it.
And that’s what we’re going to focus on in the article below. Here are seven steps you have to make when switching your career to marketing.
Build Your Brand
Marketing is a specific industry, and if you want to kickstart your career in it, you have to understand one thing. What you need to sell first is yourself. It’s even more crucial nowadays when every client and employee can quickly check you out on social media.
With that in mind, building your brand is vital not only before entering the marketing field but also during your adventure in the industry.
Fortunately, there are many tools you can use to help improve your image. You can visit https://dripdigital.com/ to learn more about that.
Do Your Research
Since you want to enter a completely different industry, you need to know a thing or two about it before applying for a job. Take your time to find out as much as you can about marketing, required skills, and the profiles of companies you’d like to work for.
Improve Your Communication Skills
Marketing is all about communication. It doesn’t matter whether it’s traditional, content, digital, B2B, or B2C marketing. You have to know how to communicate with your clients to sell your product or service.
If you think that your skills in this field require improvement, don’t hesitate to participate in special classes. Again, the first thing is to know how to sell yourself, and without communication skills, you won’t be able to make a positive impression.
Get Creative
Imagination and creativity are the core of marketing. You have to create something out of nothing, and if you lack creativity, you should even consider entering the industry.
And it doesn’t matter whether it’s an article, slogan, commercial script, or drawing. It all requires you to think outside the box and use your imagination to create a piece of marketing.
Prepare for Extra-Work
One of the things you should know before entering the marketing field is that you need to be flexible about your working hours. In content marketing, for example, it’s incredibly challenging to frame your work in a detailed schedule.
One day you may write an article or create content in 3 hours, whereas on the other, the same activity will take you 5 hours. It means that if you’re ready to start your new career, you have to prepare yourself for many long hours spent at work.
Open Your Mind
The ability to think outside the box is an absolute necessity if you wish to pursue a career in marketing. You need to open your mind to new information sources and understand how people think and what they want.
Also, keep in mind that you’ll meet many various people in the industry, and only by opening your mind to new experiences, you’ll be able to build your brand. Which, as we mentioned before, is absolutely crucial in marketing.
Embrace the New Industry
And last but not least, if you wish to get the job, you have to live and breathe marketing. Moreover, even when you find yourself in the position you wanted, you must stay up to date with the newest trends. It’s a crucial part of every marketer’s life, and there’s nothing you can do about it.
Bottom Line
Changing your job is always challenging, but changing the industry is even more difficult. It doesn’t mean that it’s impossible, though. If you’re looking for a job in marketing, you should know one thing — it’s a unique industry.
What makes it so special is that it requires much more than just being book-smart. To pursue a career in marketing, you need to have a specific set of skills, especially when it comes to communication and open-mindedness.
Lack of these two factors automatically disqualifies you from entering the industry. That’s why before sending out your resume and quitting your current job, make sure you have what it takes to start the adventure in marketing.
