The Growclass guide to building your own marketing career path

Marketing, in most companies, is considered the do-it-all department. 

It goes to reason, then, that it takes a little creativity and a lot of imagination to pursue a career in this field.

Marketing career paths aren’t messy by design—but because so many of the skills are transferable and able to be developed once you’ve waded into the chaos, they just turn out that way.

As Dave Gerhardt of ExitFive wisely says, “nobody goes to school to become a B2B marketer”... and yet somehow, so many of us end up here. 

This level of ambiguity makes marketing careers fun, but can also make them frustrating. There’s very few clear paths, like those for Software Engineers with clear bands and expectations, where you go from entry level engineer to either A) become a manager, or B) continue as a senior-level individual contributor (I.e. staff engineers).

Marketing on the other hand experiences a lot more variability and changes. With new marketing avenues making things more ambiguous. In fact, if you ask five product or growth marketers what their responsibilities are, you’re likely to get five different answers back.

So why are we writing this article? 

Because your marketing career path most likely won’t be a straight arrow—it’ll be a squiggly line. And we want to show you how successful marketers have ridden those curves, pivoted over time, and built satisfying careers through it all.

Deep generalists > everything else

Despite seasons of sour news (layoffs, AI, etc), marketing isn’t going anywhere.

Not only because AI still has nothing on human brains, but because in order to sell, businesses need marketers. All types of them:

• Specialists and generalists. 
• Numbers, ops, and analytics experts—and copywriters and designers.
• Strategists and creators. 
• Organizers and doers.

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But our favorite (and often the most in-demand) marketers consider themselves deep generalists or T-shaped marketers.

Where specialists have a narrow focus of expertise, and generalists know a little about a lot—deep generalists look at an area of knowledge across channels and functions and deeply understand how all the strategies and tactics intersect.

This puts deep generalists in demand not only because they’re able to work more cohesively with others, but also because they can plug into different types of teams and companies and quickly adapt and understand how to work within the org. They’re scrappy, adaptable, and eager to learn. 

And that gives them power.

We want you to have power, so consider whether it’s more powerful to…

• Only know how to write a powerful sales email—or know how to leverage email, SMS, pop-ups, and mobile reminders to drive conversions and revenue from every marketing initiative your company tackles
• Only know how to run PPC ads—or know how to balance them in an orchestra of organic, email, and evergreen campaigns
• Only know how to run affiliate programs—or know how to leverage your influence for PR, sponsorship, event, and podcast opportunities

There’s very few people who would choose the former—because it doesn’t open career opportunities. It doesn’t grow your skills or knowledge. 

So when you get an option to learn in marketing: our suggestion is to take it. Because it's the difference between being pigeonholed, and out-earning your parents by your 30s. 

Stages in a marketing career

We could summarize entry-level, mid-level, and senior marketing positions for you—but that’s something you can Google. 

What we can tell you is that the stages of your marketing career change in length and duration depending on what kind of company you join—and what kind of work-life balance you’re looking for.

For example, if you join a tiny startup, you could be the only marketer on the team and learn 10 different things on-the-job within months (like Hiba did, below). You could be the Head of Content, SEO, demand gen, and events, and land a leadership position within years. That being said, marketing playbooks at startups can often look like throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. 

But in bigger companies, while your experience with different functions may be limited—you might get the opportunity to see what a well-oiled marketing machine really looks like from the inside out. So not only would you learn from a place that has playbooks and best practices, but be able to apply that to the next role you land. 

We also want to break the assumption that the only way to grow in your career is as a people manager.

Not everyone wants to manage, and truthfully, not everyone should manage people (ahem). Lots of companies are now making room for senior individual contributors (ICs) and a few positions in-between that provide lots of working opportunities that don’t involve managing other people.

Real people, real marketing career paths

Let’s talk squiggly lines and all those who love and live them.

Growth Marketing—Brent Stirling

Brent studied history in university, taught English in Japan, sold cell phones at a mall, and built expat communities on Facebook before it became “a thing”—all before he transitioned into multiple social media and performance marketing roles at places like Toronto Metropolitan University and Shopify. After leaving Shopify (where he helped manage about ~$500 million in ad spend 😵), he took on Marketing Director roles at various agencies, and eventually launched his growth marketing business for a second time (where he now regularly hits $50-60k months). 

“Overall, I think that I unwittingly or unknowingly stumbled into a bunch of roles that would help me later on. But, I just did the shit that I liked doing. Everything that I did, I was like, I'm going to try and do this the best I possibly can. So I got good at stuff without realizing that it would help me later on.

But it's all experimentation. It's all test, measure, adapt, rinse, repeat, right?

So experiment with different paths to growth: to personal growth and to career growth. There's no set path. Anytime you stick to a specific formula, you're not gonna hit that exponential level.” 

- Brent Stirling, Growth Marketing Consultant and Founder at Growth Crew

Content Marketing—Hiba Amin

Hiba started off her career as a marketing generalist making her way through a couple small Toronto tech startups. Through working on a wide range of marketing projects, she learned that content was what she was most passionate about (and ads were not). 

From there, Hiba joined Hypercontext to build their content program with a focus on SEO. As the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Hiba found herself as a marketing team of one post-layoffs.

“Honestly, it was so stressful at the start. One day I have an incredible marketing leader and team to learn from, and the next… I’m in charge of marketing AND execution. It was an adjustment for sure. But, throughout my career, I’ve found that I’ve grown most—in my confidence and skills—when I was challenged most. 

So, while it was a devastating time, it was also a moment in my career that I’m most thankful for because it’s truly shaped me into the marketer I am today. .”

- Hiba Amin, Founder of Sandia Inc

In this past year she made the switch to consulting full time, starting up her company Sandia Inc.

“Once I learned that management wasn’t the only way forward, it really opened up a lot of doors for me!” 

- Hiba Amin, Founder of Sandia Inc

Social Media Marketing—Ines Andersen

Ines has been working in marketing for a decade—first as a coordinator in a design house, then as a social media specialist at Article, and then as a social media manager at some smaller brands. After running headfirst into the “burnout I had heard other social media managers talk about”, she decided to enroll in the Growth Marketing Certification at Growclass. That inspired her to go freelance—first with social, and finally in copywriting and ghostwriting, which felt like a much more natural fit for this storyteller. 

“While I was in Growclass, I met with a lot of people who worked for themselves. I had been curious about freelancing for a long time, but it felt way too intimidating to do it on my own. I just knew that in order to find out what I wanted to do, I'd have to expose myself to people and paths that were much different than my own.” 

- Ines Andersen, Social Content Strategist and Director of Content

SEO/SEM—Brendan Hufford

Brendan started his career as a teacher… then a principal… and ended up building an award-winning SEO and growth marketing agency once he put his side-hustle experience into play full-time and committed to switching careers. 

“That day I applied for 50 marketing jobs. I used my side hustle experience, and finally I got an offer. The school year ended on a Friday and I started my new job at a marketing agency on Monday. I went from making 50k to 75k overnight.” 

- Brendan Hufford, Founder of Growth Sprints, All In, and Growing Up

Marketing skills you’ll want to brush up on

Great managers will always hire for soft skills, because hard skills (in marketing) can always be taught. But, hard skills can definitely help you land certain roles or progress into more senior positions. 

For example, on a resume, you’ll want to say things like: communication, people management, copywriting, creativity, project management, emotional intelligence, analytics, digital technologies, data, strategies, business acumen, organizational skills, strategic thinking, and more. 

But what that means in reality is:

• Communication: Learning how to manage up and also manage peers, holding people accountable, organizing yourself and projects before you’re asked to, proactively communicating, and collaborating on solutions with cross-functional teams
• Creativity: Knowing how to get started with a blank page and very little direction, take cues, do your own research, ideate alone or with colleagues, bounce ideas off of the right people, and steal ideas from other industries or verticals
• Project management: The ability to pick a date on a calendar to work towards and organize people towards in an effective but not overbearing way
• Emotional intelligence: Having a deep understanding of how people around you like to work and how they prefer to receive feedback, criticism, or ideas, knowing when to explain and when to be quiet, when to tag in a slack channel vs. a private message, how to build relationships with the right team members, and more
• Analytics: Knowing how to look at bar graphs and pie charts and decipher acronyms you’ve never seen or heard of before (and quietly ask people about it until you understand how they impact your work)
• Adaptability: Understanding that most things are completely outside of your control, and that the best thing for your mental health is understanding what’s a dumpster fire and what’s a sparkler gone wrong, and reacting accordingly. 

Of course, there are certain advanced skills that are valuable for higher-level positions, like people and partner management, deeper understanding of the business functions and units within the company, as well as marketing frameworks and a history of experimentation that you just can’t short-cut your way to.  

Do you need a marketing certification?

No, you don’t. But the suits like it. 

And, unfortunately, there is some science to this marketing thing.

A little bit of business. A little bit of psychology. A little bit of tactics, processes, and best practices passed down through the generations of marketers, like broken telephone on an enterprise scale. 

Here are your educational options:

• Official bachelor’s degrees: Arts, Science, Business, take your pick. It literally won’t matter—you just have to be curious about the world, about how business works, and how you can catch people’s attention. 
• Post graduate certificates: More targeted and (sometimes) practical than a broad degree, and generously supportive of career pivots. Like sharply turning off the highway if you see the exit too late. 
• Online certifications: Marketing’s bread and butter. You can get these technically, anywhere, but we suggest doing a little future-focused research first. Try to find people you admire who are 5-10 years ahead of you, and what kind of degrees they have.
  
  (Although you’re already in the right place if you’re looking to get certifiably pro in growth marketing.) 

“But what’s the point of getting certified for marketing?” You may be asking yourself.

• You’ll feel pretty legit with a certification. Enough to at least give yourself a +10 boost of confidence to apply to roles you may have not held before. 
• A nice logo on LinkedIn that puts you in the upper echelons of People Who Care About Their Careers.
• An “in” to introductions with people you may not know yet. “Hey, looks like we took the same program. Neat.”
• Just like businesses use social proof to showcase how great they are to potential customers, certifications can offer the same to marketers.

Tips for landing your first (or next) marketing job

(Psst — the tips are the same for both.)

First, you’ll want to work your network. 

What does that mean in 2024? Less handing out business cards at awkward meetups, and more making friends in different places. Even though cold-outreach often gets a bad rap, there’s a way to do cold messaging authentically and organically. 

Then, you’ll want to join marketing communities: specific marketing ones, educational ones, and anything else that strikes your fancy. Some of us are Slack addicts, but you could do the in-person thing if you’re still vibing pre-2020.

If you’re stuck creating your resume and cover letter, don’t stress. Firstly, the internet is a trove of treasure and a wonderland of AI suggestions. Secondly, you’re already in the treasure trove. (The Growclass Certification now comes with real examples of marketing resumes and cover letters that have landed people jobs.) 

TLDR: The resume is your trophy-shelf, customized to consider which medal each job would be most impressed by. The cover letter is your chance to tell your in-between-the-job story: what you care about, why you’re the best fit for this job, and why they should hire you, now, specifically. 

Then, practice interviews with friendly friends to get rid of nerves, follow up with recruiters and talent teams, and don’t spray and pray.

Marketing careers are squiggly AF

The less you stress, the more you grow. 

Our top tips and takeaways from befriending marketers here and all over the world—when it comes to career paths?

1. Stay curious about other disciplines, brush up on skills you may not have, and ask all the questions from friends in other areas.
2. Make bold moves if you know you’re in the wrong place. There are certain times, markets, or downturns when big changes are harder to make, but people change careers drastically all the time. Experimenting with different marketing roles isn’t drastic. It’s fun.
3. The smaller the team, the bigger the opportunity. 
4. Becoming a deep generalist pays dividends—one of which is you don’t get bored. 

If you want to explore growth marketing? Hoo-boy, do we have the growth marketing certification for you.