The world of advertising and marketing is vast, varied, and fast-paced. It spans from public relations to television and internet marketing to print and retails markets, and just about everything in between. Every commercial, advertisement, brand name, and business depends on a successful advertising team to achieve their goals and get their message out to the masses.
Why should you consider working in advertising? If you are creative and like different challenges and projects, and you want a career that is anything but dull, advertising might be the right industry for you. The industry offers plenty of career choices and opportunities for advancement. You can work for famous and recognisable companies in a highly creative field. Whether you like to lead projects, or you enjoy working behind the scenes, there is a place for you to blossom professionally in advertising.
As with any other field, there are practical skills you need to be successful in advertising and marketing. Flexibility, organisation, initiative, commercial awareness, and customer service skills are essential; however, other hard skills are valued highly by employers. Here are the top characteristics that advertising executives want to see from their employees:
Interpersonal and team-working skills require employees who have empathy and a willingness to listen to other people’s thoughts and feelings. Employee-level empathy means you can relate to your colleagues’ experiences and respect them as human beings. Being “people first” leads to higher morale in the workplace.
Because advertising campaigns are an appeal to a specific audience, understanding human psychology and mindsets is also a valued talent in an advertising employee.
The delicate balance between creativity and technical prowess is what many companies look for when hiring a website designer for their advertising firm. All businesses need a presence online, and even more so for marketing projects and advertising campaigns. Sometimes, the design of a site can be the difference between success and failure of a product or brand.
If you have website design skills, you will be an appealing candidate for advertising companies. Companies cannot do without online representation, and to do that right, they need the best web designers they can find.
Marketing skills, such as brand strategy, market analytics, sales, communication, and negotiation, are the types of traits that will get you noticed by advertising executives. Today, in-demand marketing skills also cover the realm of social media. Social media managers focus on marketing presentations and media marketing campaigns for services or products.
An awareness and flair for analysis of social and cultural trends and an understanding of social media is one aspect of marketing. You need to be able to manage community engagement and strategy analysis, as well. Marketing skills are varied, but the more experience you have in this area, the more likely you will get a position in this field.
Digital marketing calls for prototyping skills. Before a product is released on the market, it needs to be reviewed and tested. In particular, the item needs to be functional and user-friendly. Prototyping involves the ability to create a scaled-down version of the company product to test ideas before the company puts money and time into developing it. Any experience you have with prototyping makes you a valuable member of your advertising team.
Prototyping skills can intersect with user experience (UX) design, where an employee maps out the functionality and flow of each step, page, or screen that a user will interact with. The UX designer will take into account user feedback and testing results to improve the market before it is produced for the market.
Similar to web design, if you have abilities in graphic design and publishing, you will find yourself in-demand in the advertising sector. The graphic designer creates visual art concepts with the information provided by the art director. An emphasis is placed on the ability to choose the best way to deliver messages in multiple media through the use of format, imagery, type, and colour.
Publishing skills are another valued ability in the advertising field. Desktop publishing involves the use of computer software to design page layouts for print or to publish online. Editing abilities are critically important in this role as all text needs to be checked for errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Being highly detail-oriented is a plus in this advertising role.
Can you envision a career in advertising? If you are a creative type who wants daily challenges and a fast-paced working environment, consider this lucrative and in-demand field. Start your advertising career campaign by enrolling today in ICI’s advertising courses. With varied areas of focus, you’re sure to find an aspect of advertising that plays to your skills and strengths. Build your skill set and share your creative vision with the world in an advertising career.
Gladys Mae serves as the General Manager and Head of Student Services at the International Career Institute. Gladys holds a degree in Mass Communication - Broadcast Media from the University of San Jose-Recoletos. She joined ICI in 2010 and has over the past 12 years been instrumental in providing leadership and guidance to staff and students alike. Prior to joining ICI Gladys led a multifaceted career with key roles in the banking and business process outsourcing industries.
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