Careers in marketing

Marketing is a constantly evolving field which responds directly to the media and platforms that consumers engage with one a daily basis and our academic staff are actively researching this level of consumer behaviour and bringing their cutting-edge research into the classroom. Therefore, our marketing graduates leave us with a contemporary insight into modern marketing principles as well as the ability to identify new opportunities on new and emerging platforms.

A marketing degree from Essex Business School equips you with the skills that you need to succeed in marketing across a wide variety of industries.

Common marketing roles after graduating include:

• Marketing Account Manager
• Marketing Graduate Scheme
• Content Marketing Executive
• Marketing and Sales Trainee
• Graduate Marketing Assistant

Marketing graduates from Essex Business School have gone on to work for:

• Footprint Digital
• John Lewis Partnership
• KidStart
• Carlsberg
• Lidl

Common careers for marketing graduates include:

• Marketing Director
• Creative Director
• Marketing Consultant
• Marketing Analyst
• Head of Marketing 
• Product Marketing Specialist

Throughout your studies in marketing at Essex Business School you will be exposed to a range of skills development embedded throughout our curriculum.

Although we teach you far more skills than are listed below (see the Essex Business School Careers page for more about embedded skills) we have pulled out the list below from our marketing skills map which we think will be most useful for a career in marketing:

Marketing skills

• Analysing qualitative data
  The ability to analyse all kinds of data is key to any level of career success in modern business settings as you will be working with multiple data streams on a daily basis.
• Teamwork and showing leadership
  Good teamwork combined with leadership skills are dually important to a successful career in marketing as you will often have to work as a team to achieve goals while also demonstrating leadership.
• Adaptability to changing circumstances
  Business landscapes are constantly changing so the ability to adapt is key to success, our degrees will allow you to develop this skill through role-play situations.
• Showing own initiative
  Marketers must show initiative in order to get their ideas off the ground, always looking for new ways to innovate and engage. We will nurture your ability to innovate and encourage you to show initiative wherever possible in your studies.
• Critical thinking
  You will need to have a thorough grasp on being able to think critically about your work for the benefit of your clients and your campaign success. We encourage you to think critically about business from day one.
• Creative problem solving
  Much of the work you will do as a marketer will centre around problem solving, so the ability to solve problems creatively will give you the edge against your competition.
• Recognition of rival conceptual ideas
  Understanding what your competitors are doing in the market is a key measure which will help you develop ways to differentiate your product and market it in a more targeted way. We will encourage you to recognise ideas and concepts and analyse their effectiveness.
• Working with data interactively
  You will work with a variety of data streams as a marketer, including trending data sources, consumer feedback and campaign KPIs. We will teach you skills in how to manage different data sources and present them so that they make sense and allow you to present your own feedback and analysis.
• Writing a business report and expressing ideas for business purposes
  We will teach you how to write a business report which is analytical, data driven and solution orientated to help you develop this lifelong career skill. It is a skill to be able to express ideas but to be able to express them for business purposes requires attention to detail, the ability to research and present your findings in an engaging way. We will encourage you to develop your ideas in a coherent way while also teaching you presentation skills and how to use modern presentation platforms and technology.
• Social media analysis and social media marketing
  Social media plays a dominant role in modern marketing, therefore our marketing curriculum teaches you how to analyse social media campaign performance and develop skills in how to approach social media marketing.
• Skills of different media and technology platforms
  Digital and media skills are central to your career as a marketer and you will rely on media knowledge, software and technology to be able to manage your day to day jobs. We ensure that you graduate with a good, practical understanding of IT packages and programmes such as Office, Outlook, Excel and Word, on top of training in sector specific software, technology and tools.
• Market research skills
  The ability to research both competitors and consumer trends is a key marketing skill, we provide you with methodologies and techniques which will see you through your degree and out into the world of work.
• Data visualisation and media analysis skills
  Data visualisation is key to client engagement, regardless of which industry you end up in so we focus on teaching you how to present data in easy to digest and attractive manners while also being able to interpret media and campaign results.
• Innovation in marketing and management
  As the fields of management and marketing are constantly evolving with the launch of new technologies and platforms almost daily, so does the need to innovate in our methods of approaching management and marketing to meet the needs of our clients, consumers and stakeholders. Our curriculum embeds innovation skills through practical and theoretical approaches to handling business and marketing situations.

Marketing is one of our five core subject groups and is led by our Management and Marketing Group which is based at Essex Business School Colchester. Some marketing courses are also delivered by our Strategy, Operations and Entrepreneurship Group which is based at Essex Business School Southend.

This means that we offer further study in marketing at Masters level and you can explore your own research into Marketing with a PhD in Management or Management Studies across two campuses.

Masters study

We offer three Masters degrees in marketing which allow you to either explore marketing further beyond your undergraduate studies, or combine marketing studies with other elements of business and management:

• MSc Marketing
• MSc International Marketing and Entrepreneurship
• MSc Management (Marketing)

Postgraduate research

Our research groups explore marketing in the context of its relationship with business management, business operations and entrepreneurship. The Management and Marketing Group aims to understand the role of the consumer better in an intersectional and ethical context. Our Strategy, Operations and Entrepreneurship Group frames marketing within the context of an entrepreneurial landscape and explores the sustainable growth of business, society and the economy.

If your thesis explores issues such as marketing and brand management; consumer studies; gender and intersectionality; marketing technologies; then our supervisors would be interested in speaking with you about exploring it here within our management and marketing research groups:

• PhD Management
• Integrated PhD Management
• PhD Management Studies
• Integrated PhD Management Studies