If you're interested in a fast-paced, constantly evolving field that allows for creativity, you should consider a career in advertising. Advertising is a broad field encompassing different professions, and there are several interesting choices for anyone looking to build a career in the industry.

However, you need to understand how these fields work, the required skills, and the typical responsibilities professionals in the roles handle. This article will provide insight into several advertising careers, what they entail, and the skills you'll need to excel in them.

1. Copywriting

Silver Laptop, a glass of water, writing materials, and a smartphone on a wooden table.

Copywriting focuses on creating content for effective advertising. It involves brainstorming creative ideas, producing scripts and verbal and visual concepts, and writing compelling stories to accompany advertisement visuals.

Your major aim as a copywriter is to advertise content that must be appealing and eye catchy. Consequently, you must be on top of new advertising trends and concepts to draw people's attention and create brand awareness. Additionally, you must possess excellent communication skills, commercial awareness, and creative enthusiasm to promote awareness actively.

Furthermore, knowledge of productivity tools like Microsoft Office Suite is valuable, and you should incorporate some of these copywriting tools into your work if you freelance. According to Glassdoor, a copywriter earns about $51,998 in annual income.

2. Brand Management

This field focuses on analyzing, studying, and improving a brand's market perception among consumers and other stakeholders. Effective brand management involves using techniques to boost product image, create brand awareness, and increase the brand's value.

Your major aim as a brand manager is to build equity, that is, create an emotional connection between customers and a product to the extent that they are willing to pay a higher price than the product's value to acquire that brand. This way, the brand becomes a popular choice among consumers over other brands in the same segment.

As a brand manager, your work typically involves improving a product's image through its packaging, associated color, and price. You'll need to understand the brand, vision, and target audience to succeed in this field. Thus, you can strategically deploy brand management techniques to position a brand in the market and build a loyal customer base. According to Glassdoor, a brand manager can earn $78,259 annually.

3. Social Media Marketing

A notebook, pen, and highlighter on a table

Social media has tremendously evolved over the last decade and has become a powerful tool in influencing buyers' decisions. It now serves as a marketing tool and is incredibly useful in building a strong audience. Social media marketing involves using social media networks to engage old customers and connect with new ones while actively influencing or promoting the brand.

With a brilliant social media strategy, a marketer can influence customer behavior and promote content to drive engagement and increase sales. As a social media marketer, you will need to learn social media marketing basics to connect with customers, learn their interests and what resonates with them, and derive data from tracking your performance. According to Glassdoor, a social media manager earns around $52,624 per annum.

4. Market Research Analysis

Market research analysis entails collating and analyzing data and trends from your target market and competitors, and it plays a critical role in advertising campaigns. The research is useful in gathering data to understand your target market, create effective advertising campaigns, and target your adverts accordingly.

Conversely, comprehensive market research helps evaluate the marketability of a new product or service, understand the market associated with it, and make informed business decisions. According to PayScale, a market researcher earns about $59,591 yearly.

5. Graphics Design

Man sitting on the floor using technology to sketch cartoons on an iPad while watching a laptop.

Graphics play a vital role in traditional and digital advertising. Graphic designers create visually appealing graphics to convey a message and promote a product. These professionals strategically use illustrations, images, animation, colors, and other techniques to design eye-catching ads to attract consumers and improve sales.

Hence, an impressive graphics design should be memorable, convey a message effectively, and communicate with the target market to create brand recognition. For instance, when people see a half-eaten apple on any product, they can immediately associate it with Apple, the company that makes the iPhone.

That is because the brand's graphic effectively creates a relationship between its products and the company. As estimated by PayScale, a graphic designer earns about $48,022 yearly.

6. Advertising Sales Representative

A sales representative is responsible for convincing potential clients to purchase advertising space and airtime from media platforms. Responsibilities in this role typically include identifying potential clients and their needs, and understanding the client's product or service.

As a representative, getting brands to place adverts with your company depends on your knowledge of effective advertising techniques and how your platform can help these brands achieve more exposure. Additionally, you must be an effective communicator and excel at building excellent client relationships. According to PayScale, an advertising sales representative earns about $39,404 yearly.

7. Accounts Planning

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Account planners oversee the financial and research aspects of an advertising campaign. Thus, they must be financial experts with knowledge of budgeting and accounting principles. Also, they must know about the advertised products or services and how to use research data to drive efficient advertising campaigns.

If you pursue this career path, knowing how to communicate with your clients and understand their needs is crucial to success. Additionally, you must know how to guide your team to work alongside the IDs, adequately research important product info, and ensure alignment between the campaign and brand. According to an estimate by Glassdoor, an account planner earns about $78,967 yearly.

8. Marketing Communications

Marketing communications involves using communication tools to convey important messages to a business's target market. These tools include branding, direct and indirect advertisement, packaging, social media, interactive marketing, word-of-mouth marketing, and sales presentation.

Marketing communications can help to create brand awareness in the market, establish a positive brand image, build trust, and encourage customers to purchase a product. A marketing communications specialist answers questions like why, how, who, where, and when a product can be used. Glassdoor estimates that a marketing communications manager earns about $92,459 yearly.

9. Advertising Management

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A career in advertising management includes overseeing all advertising campaign activities. Effective advertising management entails deploying essential advertising tools, market research, and media campaigns to market a product or service.

Additionally, compiling and analyzing data is crucial to determining how to plan an advertisement campaign strategically and ultimately influence customers' purchase decision. According to Glassdoor, an advertising manager earns about $88,684 yearly.

10. Web Design

Web design involves the production, design, and maintenance of websites. The first step towards building a career in this field is learning how to make a website. This includes the different areas of web design, including user interface design, web graphic design, authoring, user experience design, and search engine optimization.

A standard web design must be aesthetically pleasing, simple, easy to use, responsive, and suitable for users. A web designer must also pay extra attention to the appearance, layout, and type of content displayed on the website to keep the audience. According to PayScale, a web designer earns about $52,757 yearly.

Choose Your Next Advertising Job

Advertising is a rapidly evolving industry, and the skills required to thrive in it are varied. As such, choosing a career in the industry that allows you to harness your skills is not difficult.

However, you must consider each profession's financial perks and dynamics when choosing a career in advertising. Your decision should be driven by interest, passion, the responsibilities involved, and how well the profession suits your creative ability.