Marketing and PR
Combine your strong communication skills and creativity with an understanding of data in a marketing role
What's it like: Marketing
Marketing relates closely to advertising and public relations (PR). The relationship is explained in this article:
What's the difference between marketing, advertising and PR? (TargetJobs)
To gain an insight into the marketing sector, have a look at the industry overview (University of Edinburgh login required):
Below, we list profiles of some roles specific to this sector. There are also other roles which are common to this and many other sectors.
Each of the profiles we list includes information about:
- typical responsibilities in the role
- average starting salary range for new entrants
- entry requirements
- career progression
- professional bodies
- typical employers
- where to look for vacancies.
Job profile: Marketing executive (Prospects)
Job profile: Digital marketer (Prospects)
Job profile: Social media manager (Prospects)
Job profile: Sales promotion account executive (Prospects)
Job profile: PPC (pay-per-click) specialist (Prospects)
Looking for inspiration?
Read this account from one of our alumni with advice on getting into this sector:
How I got started in marketing in a Bioinformatics company
Gain insight and keep up-to-date with news stories about the sector and about individual agencies, and analysis of campaigns, on these sites:
- The Drum (register free to see more content)
- Marketing Week
Building experience and getting started
Related experience will give you insight into marketing.
This could be from an active role in a student society, for example working to increase membership.
Also look for part-time jobs on MyCareerHub - for example, campus brand ambassador roles which are advertised by many employers (usually before the start of the new academic year), or social media jobs in which you will contribute to, or manage, an organisation's social media campaigns:
Look for summer internships which involve marketing. The Employ.ed on Campus annual programme often includes relevant internships in University departments (usually advertised in early spring):
Data and Marketing Association’s DMA Talent Creative Data Academy and Creative Data Labs are online events which offer real insight into marketing challenges and connect you with industry experts:
Creative Data Academy and Creative Data Labs
This article includes some tips on building experience that will make you a strong candidate for digital marketing roles in particular:
How to get started in digital marketing (Prospects)
Build relevant skills, such as copywriting, using the resources on LinkedIn Learning. This is available to you free of charge as a current student, through the Library:
What's it like: PR
To gain an insight into the PR sector, have a look at the Introduction to PR video (University of Edinburgh login required):
To find out more about roles in the PR, watch the video and have a look at the job profiles below:
Projects and roles in PR (University of Edinburgh login required)
Job profile: Public relations officer (Prospects)
Job profile: Public affairs consultant (Prospects)
Job profile: Talent agent (Prospects)
Five tips for starting a career in PR (Prospects)
Keep up to date with news stories and analysis of campaigns: