Entry-Level Positions For Aspiring Marketers
Deb, Lookout's Chief Marketing Officer, highlights entry-level roles like "digital marketing, PR communications, and field marketing," emphasizing that understanding "your customer" is paramount regardless of the specific position. A strong recommendation is to consider roles in customer success or sales to gain crucial customer-centric experience, avoiding getting "lost in marketing gobbledygook."
Digital Marketing, Customer Understanding, Sales and Marketing, Communications, Technology
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Deb Wolf
Chief Marketing Officer
Lookout
Cal Poly
English, Writing & Education
Technology
Communication and Marketing
None Applicable
Video Highlights
1. Entry-level marketing roles such as digital marketing, PR communications, and field marketing are available.
2. Understanding the customer is crucial; even if you are skilled in specific marketing tasks, understanding customer needs and problems will make your job more impactful.
3. Consider roles in customer success or sales to gain valuable customer exposure and understand what problems you are solving for them, which is especially important in the tech industry.
Transcript
What entry-level positions are there in this field that an undergraduate college student might consider?
I hire people out of school all the time, in all different disciplines like digital marketing, PR, communications, and field marketing. There are a million roles.
Oftentimes, people will start in a sales role, connected between sales and marketing. But the most important thing I would emphasize, even if you're in any of the roles I just mentioned, and they are all very different, is to understand your customer.
A PR person is very different from a web developer. But the commonality I would encourage a college student to have is to understand your customer. If you're just focused on writing a press release or doing social media posts, but you don't understand what you're trying to solve for the customer, then you're doing a job without understanding its impact.
It doesn't really matter what role you start in. I think in any of those organizations, and often even for people who want to work in marketing, I say take a job in customer success or sales. You'll get exposure to the customer and understand what you're solving for them.
In tech, this is super important. We can get lost in our own marketing jargon that doesn't mean anything to the person you're actually writing the press release or social media post for.
Advizer Personal Links
LinkedIn.com/debwolf