Top 10 Entry Level Marketing Jobs

1. Content writer ($29k-$64k)

A content writer is one of the best entry level marketing jobs because it only requires one skill to get started: a strong writing background. Since virtually every type of business needs content writing, there are numerous content writing job opportunities.

As a content writer, you will primarily be writing content like:

  • blogs
  • case studies
  • whitepapers
  • ebooks

As a content writer, you will be working closely with other members of the marketing team like content managers, marketing coordinators and SEO specialists. You will be heavily involved in the content marketing efforts of the company you work for. The entire goal of writing content is to help rank on search engines and to bring traffic to your company’s website.

The vast majority of content you’ll be writing will likely be blog posts, but you’ll likely do other forms of content writing on top of that. When you apply for jobs, make sure to have several samples of work to show that you can do content writing. You can do this by reaching out to companies and asking to write free blog posts for them. Once you have 3-5 posts, you can use this as your portfolio.

Content writing is actually how I got into marketing. I previously had a science background from college and had a strong writing background. After reaching out to several companies, I began writing blog posts and that allowed me to get paid while I learned about different marketing roles.

2. Copywriter ($38k-$76k)

The copywriter is another entry level marketing job that involves writing. Instead of writing general content like a content writer, copywriters write content that converts. This helps turn visitors on a page to paying customers for a company.

There are different types of copywriting, some of them include:

  • Email copywriting: With email copywriting, the goal is to write email sequences for a company’s email list. An email copywriter helps engage an email list and entices the email list to buy products and services from the company
  • Web content: Copywriters may also write copy for web content like landing pages, blogs, etc. With this type of copywriting, the goal is to convince the visitors on the website to sign up to be on an email list or buy a product
  • Product descriptions: With product descriptions, copywriters aim to write copy that helps a buyer complete their purchase. Typical work that copywriters may do on product descriptions include optimizing titles, incorporating keywords and listing the features of a product.

3. Marketing Associate/Assistant ($35k-$68k)

A marketing associate/assistant is an entry level position where you wear several hats. You will basically be helping the marketing team with any administrative work they need. This can include helping with market research, generating reports, creating advertising material and more.

The majority of the marketing associate and assistant roles will require an Associate’s degree, but a Bachelor’s is preferred. There are some roles where you can start with a high school diploma and the company trains you on the job. This is more difficult to find,  but it can be a great path to start getting work experience early on.

4. Marketing Coordinator ($43k-$71k)

The marketing coordinator is one of the managers in a marketing team. They help coordinate team members, events and more. As a marketing coordinator, you will be a main point of contact within the company for all marketing related work.

Although the marketing coordinator does a lot of administrative work, they have to be familiar and competent with the technical aspects of marketing. The marketing coordinator should be able to conduct market research, identify target audiences and help improve marketing campaigns.

This role is a great role for any person who’s interested in management within the marketing team. Since the marketing coordinator works with a lot of administrative tasks within marketing, they are good candidates for senior management roles in the company.

5. Social media manager ($35k-$80k)

A social media manager is one of the more exciting roles in marketing. With younger audiences like millennials and Gen Z becoming primary consumers, companies have emphasized the role of social media in acquiring new customers and building their brand. Some of the most popular brands like Ben & Jerry’s use social media to capture millions of followers and tens of millions of dollars in revenue.

As the social media manager, your job will be to help build a company’s presence on social media and create content that will help turn social media followers into customers. Your role as a social media manager may vary depending on the social media platform you are using. For example, creating tweets on Twitter requires a vastly different skillset than creating TikToks.

This is a good role for someone who is adept with social media trends and it can be a good role to explore further careers within social media and brand building for companies.

6. SEO specialist ($44k-$92k)

SEO specialists have one of the most technical jobs within marketing. As an SEO specialist, you’ll be responsible for helping a company optimize their content to help it rank better on search engines like Google. This is extremely important for a company because it brings free, organic traffic to a company’s website.

The SEO specialist has to be well-versed in creating and analyzing a company’s content and link building strategy. Experienced SEO specialists can bring significant value to a company and help bring tens of thousands of visitors to company’s website.

The SEO specialist role gives someone the potential to move on to further positions within the marketing team. Many experienced SEO specialists increase their income dramatically with more years of experience on the job.

7. Affiliate marketing associate ($33k-$41k)

The affiliate marketing associate is a junior member on the affiliate marketing team. The affiliate marketing team focuses on optimizing how 3rd parties bring leads and traffic to a company. As the affiliate marketing associate, some of the roles you can play include:

  • Building relationships with affiliates: This helps ensure that affiliates keep promoting your company’s products and you can expand your affiliate network
  • Analyze affiliate marketing campaigns: You will work alongside members of the affiliate marketing team to optimize and make improvements to different campaigns
  • Reporting: As an affiliate marketing associate, you will likely be tasked with creating weekly reports that show how campaigns are performing. These will be used in meetings to create and implement new affiliate marketing strategies.

8. Public relations associate ($42k-$85k)

A public relations associate is a key member of the PR team of a company. The main role of PR in a company is to build the reputation of a business and manage key relationships that are vital to a business’ success. The public relations associate does a lot of administrative work that allows the PR team to reach its objectives.

Some of the duties you can expect from a public relations associate role include:

  • Screen phone and email requests from the media and the public
  • Helping write, edit and publish press releases
  • Manage the online presence and visibility of the company
  • Announce new corporate partnerships
  • Coordinate interview opportunities

A lot of the work that the public relations associate does revolves around helping senior members on the PR team. Public relations associates who work with a company for a few years generally have the opportunity to advance and pursue a senior role within the company.

9. Marketing research specialist (48k-$72k)

The marketing research specialist role is a broad entry level title and you will be required to wear several hats. The main purpose of this role is to use data to inform you on how well the marketing efforts for the business is performing. This can include examining your current marketing campaigns and looking at competitors and implementing any successful strategies that they are deploying.

You will work closely alongside different members of the marketing team to ensure goals are aligned and being met. The typical education requirement for this role is at least an Associate’s degree in marketing, but a Bachelor’s degree is recommended.

The majority of the work you do in this role will be trained on the job; the best way you can get experience prior to applying for the job is to do an internship. This will give you access to the tools and other resources you will likely come across as a marketing research specialist.

10. Freelance writer ($27k-$96k)

I’ve saved the best for last. It doesn’t get more entry level than having no college background and no job history.

Freelance writing is one of the best entry level marketing jobs for those that are entrepreneurial. This is how I broke into marketing.

As a freelance writer, you basically do everything a content writer would do, but on a contract basis. Your day to day work will include writing blog posts, case studies and similar content. On top of that, you’ll need to do all of the administrative work of running your freelance writing business.

This means you are fully responsible for getting clients, maintaining client relationships, processing payments and everything in between. As a freelance writer, your income is directly tied to how well you can get and keep clients.

Out of all the entry level marketing jobs, this is probably the hardest. Instead of being an employee, you’re a contractor that’s running a business and it can be very difficult for the first year. My income as a freelance writer has looked like this:

  • Year 1: $10,000
  • Year 2: $29,000
  • Year 3: $42,000-$50,000 (projected based on yearly earnings so far)

As you can see, I’ve slowly improved my business over the years and my income is now similar to what a full-time content writer makes. Although it was difficult, it was extremely worthwhile. I get to work remotely and with clients that I choose to work with.

I track my monthly progress and income here on my income reports, feel free to check out my latest income report.

Responsibilities

As a freelance writer, you have two main job requirements: find new clients and keep your current clients. Since your income is directly tied to how much work you can do for clients and your ability to get new clients, that should be your main focus.

As a freelance writer, the type of writing you do will be based on your client’s needs. The clients may ask you to do the following types of writing:

  • Blog writing
  • Case studies
  • Whitepaper
  • eBooks
  • Copywriting

The two most important types of writing is blog writing and copywriting because this is what you’ll mostly do. The vast majority of freelance writing work is blog writing. You’ll spend time researching topics, writing blogs, editing them, etc.

Copywriting work for a client may include helping them write emails, landing pages and similar work. The demands for copywriting will be different based on the client you’re working with.

Final thoughts

Getting an entry level marketing job can be simplified if you narrow your focus and decide what role you’re pursuing and build a portfolio around that. Even if you have a college degree in a marketing-related field, the key differentiator that will help you land a job is your experience. Unless you’ve done an internship, you’ll likely need to do a few samples of work for free to get experience.

If I started over right now and wanted to land an entry level marketing role, here’s what I’d do. First, I’d pick the role I’m looking to land. Let’s use content writing for example.

Now that I’ve decided to be a content writer, I’ll set up a website and write a few blogs on content writing topics. With this site, I’ll reach out to marketing companies and ask to write a few blogs for free for them.

By doing this alone, you’ll have a portfolio to show employers and a website showing your expertise in the subject. This will set you apart from 90% of applicants and help you land your desired role. Once you land your desired role, you can continue to build your portfolio and apply for better jobs are get additional clients on the side.

 

 

 

 

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