How Do I Get Started in a Sales and Marketing Career?

To get started in a sales and marketing career, you need the related education combined with the interpersonal and technical skills that best fit your specific area of interest. Working in sales and marketing provides many opportunities within a range of job roles, so it is important to examine your strengths and preferences to determine which job in sales or marketing may hold the most potential for you to be successful. A sales and marketing career typically begins with the completion of a four-year college business degree with emphases in advertising, marketing, or communication. Practical experience through an internship is also an important resume-builder.

Any job in sales requires solid communication skills, and the best time to build these may be during your education. Most business degree programs require courses in speech delivery and small group communication. The key to becoming confident with delivering verbal messages is to practice; consider adding elective classes in debate or advanced rhetoric. Understanding the process of communication is essential to a sales and marketing career because it is closely connected to analysis of consumer demands and behavior patterns.

A degree emphasis in advertising creates a good foundation for a sales and marketing career through in-depth study of direct selling procedures, consumer psychology, and effective brand creation. A working knowledge of advertising theories and practices will give you an edge as far as awareness of what potential buyers are seeking and what types of ads can potentially lead to increased profits. Coursework in design principles and copywriting will give you additional in-demand skills for an entry-level job in sales and marketing. Once you are nearly finished with your college classes, an internship at an advertising or marketing firm can potentially open many doors as far as beginning your sales and marketing career.

Marketing is a comprehensive and dynamic field that uses diverse business practices to connect consumers to the products and services they need and want. Completing a business degree with a marketing emphasis is a beneficial first step toward a job in this field. A solid education in marketing will give you the abilities to analyze existing supply and demand as well as price trends. It will also equip you with the skills to communicate product benefits to a diverse global audience.

In addition to completing the bachelor's degree that most sales and marketing jobs require, you can gain an advantage over the competition with the technical skills that more employers seek as more marketing and selling takes place online. Knowledge of e-commerce techniques and social media–based marketing can create additional opportunities for creative thinkers who are able to use these kinds of computer applications with effective results.