Creative marketing: graduate area of work

The term creative marketing seems self-explanatory – it is the ideas side of marketing. However, it is much more complex than that. If you work in creative marketing, you need to really understand your client’s business and market to come up with the best idea for marketing their product or brand. Get it wrong, and a product could be perceived in the wrong way or not be targeting the right audience.

Creative marketing agencies work closely with the companies that employ them to work out the issues facing them, whether it is customer retention or how their brand is seen in the marketplace. They make recommendations as to how they can change the image of a product or market it more effectively. Agencies can then help their clients achieve their objectives by a variety of means, from providing brochures and catalogues to creating websites and new media campaigns.

What’s required

It goes without saying that you need to be creative to work in this area. You also need to have good listening and lateral thinking skills to really understand what a client wants and how best to deliver it. Knowing the principles behind effective marketing and advertising is vital so a marketing-related degree is an important asset. Coming up with ideas for marketing student events or running a campaign to get more people into your student union could be ways of gaining valuable work experience.

Where to find out more

Publications in this area include Creative Review, which covers new trends in graphic design, advertising and new media. Recruitment agencies and sector-specific publications such as Marketing Week are where jobs can be found.

It’s also worth checking out your careers service for further information about careers in marketing. Organisations such as The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, The Chartered Institute of Marketing and The Communication Advertising and Marketing Education Foundation could all be useful in your career hunt.