When it comes to digital marketing, few things are as important as the tools digital marketers rely on to get their jobs done. These include everything from social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to analytics tools like Google Analytics. Allowing marketers to create, test and measure the performance of their campaigns, digital marketing tools ensure that marketers can launch and test campaigns quickly and effectively.

Here are the five common digital marketing tools.

1. Social media platforms

A common part of any integrated marketing strategy, social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat are a great way for marketers to engage with their audiences and generate buzz around their brand. In addition to the standard features these platforms offer, there are also some features that are designed specifically for marketing. These include Facebook Ads Manager, which allows marketers to run ads and track ad performance. As an added bonus, social media management tools like Buffer and Hootsuite also integrate well with these platforms, making it easy to schedule social posts and measure engagement.

2. Design tools

Another key part of digital marketing is design and this is especially common when it comes to creating ads and content like social media posts and blog posts. Because digital marketing is such a design heavy field, doing it effectively wouldn’t be possible without design tools like Canva and Photoshop, programs that allow those without extensive graphic design skills to add dynamic images to their content.

3. Analytics tools

Another set of helpful tools for digital marketers are analytics tools. These include everything from Google Analytics (designed to track stats for web traffic to a particular site) to social media analytics tools like Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics which provide metrics related to engagement and help marketers optimize their campaigns. For measuring stats on the backend of a site (particularly related to conversions, sales and user demographics), there are also tools like Periscope that track user data, site searches and conversion metrics.

4. Content marketing tools

For marketers who are more focused on content marketing, tools like CoSchedule and Hubspot are a big help when it comes to content creation and curation. They can help marketers identify content opportunities and craft engaging blog and social media posts that will resonate with their audience. And since Buffer also offers the ability to see what fans are talking about on social media, that content is almost guaranteed to be impactful and to generate attention for a specific event or news story.

5. Email marketing tools

The final set of tools in a digital marketer’s toolbox are email marketing marketing tools. These help marketers create email campaigns that amplify their content and encourage their users to become more engaged with their brand — taking additional steps like signing up for events and buying products. Common email marketing tools include email marketing platforms like MailChimp and Iterable which allow marketers to build email lists and automate their email campaigns. These platforms also provide analytics for every email campaign, making testing and optimization quick and easy.

Working in digital marketing involves a unique blend of passion, strategy and media savvy. In order to maximize the impact of your various campaigns, it helps to have the best tools at your disposal.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as Career Opportunities for Marketing Majors and find answers to common interview questions such as What Other Companies Are You Interviewing With?

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If you love everything about creating and selling a new product to the audience of your choice, becoming a marketing major might be right up your alley. Marketing majors study the art and science of figuring out what people want; armed with that knowledge, they create, optimize and promote products and services to sell to a target demographic.

What does marketing actually entail? Here’s what you need to consider.

What is a marketing major?

“Marketing” is an umbrella term for anything dealing with the creation of a product or service and its subsequent branding in the hopes of getting people to buy or interact with it. Because there are so many different parts to marketing, marketing majors spend a lot of time learning about various parts of the process before concentrating and honing in on a particular area of study.

Your classes as a marketing major can vary greatly depending on the program, but potential options include advertising and promotion, marketing communications, public relations, market research, consumer behavior, marketing strategy, management and sales.

Is it right for me?

If you’re still getting the hang of what a marketing major does, here are several key questions to ask yourself:

• Do I watch TV commercials and wonder why brands made their ads a certain way?
• Am I interested in sales? Do I like figuring out the best way to pitch and sell a product to consumers of any kind?
• Do I like communicating and working with others? Do I consider my interpersonal skills to be a strong suit?
• Am I able to handle criticism and feedback from peers, professors and professionals well?
• Do I look forward to interning and gaining valuable work experience during college?
• Am I able to think creatively as well as quantitatively? Am I as willing to brainstorm interesting campaign ideas as I am to analyze metrics?
• Am I good at thinking outside the box? Can I spin things in a way that’s different to what others are doing?

Is marketing the same as advertising?

You might also be wondering how a marketing major differs from an advertising major. While both fall under most schools’ communications departments, they’re typically treated as entirely different majors.

What’s the biggest difference? Marketing is about every part of the process of brainstorming and creating a product, including how it’s packaged, sold and improved for further promotion. Advertising is only a part of marketing, but it’s an extremely crucial one that shouldn’t be overlooked. This is why it’s almost always a separate major.

What can I do with a marketing degree?

The great thing about a marketing degree is that it can prepare you to enter any number of fields related to creating and promoting a product, and your major will teach you basic marketing principles that you can use regardless of the industry you’re targeting.

Entry-level marketing roles can include:

• marketing manager
• social media marketer
• public relations account executive
• product manager
• brand partnerships manager
• advertising associate
• design specialist
• …and much more!

Additionally, some marketing majors decide to specialize their studies by going to graduate school. For instance, you may go back to school to focus on learning more about brand strategy or international marketing.

What do people who majored in marketing earn?

Marketing managers and other entry-level marketing professionals typically have salaries starting in the $35,000-$45,000 range, though there’s lots of room for promotions and salary increases depending on your field and where you work. For instance, you may start off as a marketing manager making $40,000 a year, whereas a marketing director can tip the scales at over $100,00 per year. Of course, there are plenty of exceptions: at a big company like Google, and you can make as much as $80,000 for an entry-level marketing manager position!

Next, learn more about this college major such as Education and get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as How to Dress for a Job Interview at a Corporation.

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Being a marketing major is a great way to develop your knowledge of the marketing industry and to discover what’s involved in promoting brands and products. As a marketing major, you’ll be doing things like understanding the psychology behind consumer behavior, designing marketing campaigns and learning about social media trends. To accomplish these things successfully, you’ll need to develop a strong and diverse skill set.

Here are the five skills you’ll need to succeed as a marketing major:

Creativity

Since marketing campaigns often require unique approaches, creativity is a prerequisite for anyone thinking of taking on a marketing major. During your time in college, you’ll be able to put your creativity to use by coming up with ideas for marketing campaigns in your classes and then determining the best ways to test them out.

Communications skills

Being able to communicate effectively is a crucial part of any job and this is especially true when it comes to marketing since this field is all about making a particular message or idea engaging to an audience. Having strong verbal and written communication skills is extremely important for those who are thinking of taking on this major.

Analytical skills

Since marketing is heavily driven by data and metrics, having an analytical mindset is a key component of succeeding in this major. From understanding the science behind a particular marketing strategy to being able to quantify results and demonstrate the value of a particular campaign, putting your analytical skills to use will help you understand the true power of marketing and give you insights into how you can improve on each campaign.

Organization skills

Whether you end up working for a marketing agency or as part of an in-house marketing team, once you leave college you’ll likely be in a role that requires you to do several things at once such as managing social media accounts, coming up with new campaigns and creating reports to track the performance of those campaigns. To do these things effectively, you’ll need to be able to organize your time effectively and to prioritize new tasks as they come up.

Knowledge of media trends

Since marketing requires you to capitalize on media trends in order to develop successful campaigns, having a solid understanding of those trends (and why they matter) is an important aspect of being a marketing major. In addition to being interested in media trends and marketing campaigns, marketing majors will also benefit from having a sense of why certain strategies work when others don’t.

By knowing what to expect from a marketing major and developing the right skill set, you’ll be able to maximize the impact of your studies and to set yourself up for success after graduation.

Next, learn more about this college major such as the Career Opportunities for Marketing Majors and get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as the Top 10 Things You Should Look For In an Internship.

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A degree in marketing opens up a lot of exciting career opportunities in fields like public relations, consulting and sales. In fact, because of the broad range of the skills you’ll develop as a marketing major, you’ll be able to add value to almost any industry, a great position to be in when it comes to finding a career that’s right for you.

Some of the most common career fields for marketing majors include:

Marketing

From designing marketing campaigns focused on boosting the public profile of a certain brand to crafting engaging social media posts that will resonate with an audience, a career in marketing will give you a chance to apply the skills you learned during your major while simultaneously developing your knowledge of media trends and marketing strategies. And because there are many different kinds of marketing—such as brand marketing, content marketing and product marketing—you’ll be able to specialize in an area that really interests you.

Public Relations

Public relations is another popular field for marketing majors. Focused on helping a company or individual develop their brand identity while also generating buzz around that brand, public relations is all about storytelling and it’s a wonderful opportunity to combine your knowledge of marketing with your sense of creativity.

Sales

Working in sales will give you the opportunity to engage with customers directly, offering them the solutions they need to solve a particular problem while also making the most of the skills you developed as part of your major. A great way to apply your marketing knowledge in a hands-on way, sales is a natural fit for marketing majors who enjoy a client-facing role.

Consulting

From identifying a particular business problem to offering a creative solution, consulting offers marketing majors a chance to help companies approach their marketing challenges in an analytical and creative way. It’s also a wonderful opportunity to help clients create robust marketing campaigns that will increase their brand presence and their revenue.

Product Management

Another possible career path for marketing majors is product management. This involves managing the lifecycle of a particular product and being involved in key areas of development and marketing. As a product manager, you’ll be responsible for everything from creating a roadmap for the product to designing a marketing plan and forecasting the outcome of those efforts.

Whether it’s exploring exciting opportunities within the marketing or public relations industries or helping consulting clients design effective marketing campaigns, being a marketing major can open a lot of different doors when it comes to your career. The best way to find your unique career path is to take on an internship and get a hands-on feel for a role that interests you.

Next, learn more about this college major such as What is a Marketing Major and is it Right for Me? and get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as 6 Ways to Impress Your New Boss.

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If you’ve recently read an article about upcoming fashion trends or revolutionary technology products, then you’ve probably already come across the concept of trend forecasting. A popular component of the media and marketing industries, trend forecasting (also known as trend analysis) is designed to identify upcoming trends across a variety of different lifestyle areas such as fashion, technology and culture.

To find out more about trend forecasting and what it’s like to work in the field, we sat down with Sara Radin, a youth culture editor at WGSN, a trend forecasting company.

What does a trend forecaster do?

Although trend forecasting might seem a little bit like magic, it’s actually an analytical process that involves spotting patterns. In order to do this effectively, forecasters use consumer insights to predict what trends are most likely to have an impact on certain demographics. For Sara, who focuses on both fashion and culture trends, this means combining creativity and analysis to spot upcoming trends. Once she has an understanding of what those trends might be, Sara works with clients to develop strategies that will allow them to leverage those insights. “Our clients use us as a resource when they’re designing a fashion collection,” she explains, noting that the information her company provides helps clients optimize their products and develop their marketing strategies.

What are some of the most exciting aspects of a trend forecasting career?

Being on the cutting edge of new trends and technologies is one of the most exciting aspects of starting a career in this field. In fact, it comes with the potential of being an influencer, particularly if you’re an editor like Sara who is creating content that shapes how others see trends. Beyond the ability to shape public opinion and help companies define their consumer strategies, one of the other exciting aspects of this role is the exposure to new places and experiences. “Travel is a really big part of my job,” Sara says. “This year alone, I’ve gone to Montreal and Detroit and now I’m going to San Francisco, London and Miami. I would say that the best part of my job is that I get to have experiences that not only enrich the company but also enrich me.” By traveling to different areas of the country and the world, Sara has developed a great perspective on what’s trending in different places and she’s able to use that perspective when making recommendations to her clients.

What are some of the challenges trend forecasters face?

In our increasingly globalized world, trends come and go with lightning speed and staying ahead of them means that you’ll need to be knowledgeable about different trends and comfortable working in a constantly changing environment. Beyond the challenge of keeping up with the trends themselves, there are also other challenges such as those related to traveling extensively, working closely with a team and maintaining an unbiased and analytical perspective on what’s trending. For Sara, one of the biggest challenges is covering projects that are outside her key areas of interest. “A willingness to take one for the team and cover some things that may not be your passion is probably a big part of any job and I’m still grateful for those opportunities,” she says, emphasizing that those experiences add to her perspective while also making her a valuable asset to the company.

Trend forecasting is a great career option for those who are interested in staying ahead of the curve and passionate about helping others do the same. If you’re thinking about becoming a trend forecaster and want to learn more about the role, consider taking on an internship and getting some hands-on experience of what it’s like to work in this exciting field.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as 6 Things to Do in Your First Week at a New Job and find answers to common interview questions such as What’s Your Dream Job?

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Few things have had as big of an impact on business in recent years as the concept of trend forecasting. With its ability to analyze fashion, technology and cultural trends, this key area of the media and marketing industries is dedicated to spotting patterns in consumer behavior and leveraging those insights to help brands connect with their audiences. To find out more about the ins and outs of trend forecasting and get advice on how to land a job in the field, we sat down with Sara Radin, a youth culture editor at WGSN, a trend forecasting company.

What is a trend forecaster?

A trend forecaster is responsible for identifying new trends and predicting how those trends will shape a certain industry. Usually based at a trend forecasting agency such as WGSN, trend forecasters are responsible for analyzing consumer data and coming up with recommendations based those insights. They also often travel to different cities across the country and around the world to spot new trends and get a sense of the broader impact of a product or idea.

Equal parts creative and analytical, trend forecasting relies on data analysis to uncover consumer patterns and then synthesizes those findings into reports. For some trend forecasters, like Sara, the reports take the form of articles that her clients can use to adjust their strategies when marketing to specific audiences. “Our clients use our guides as a resource for inspiration and research when designing a fashion collection,” she explains, emphasizing that the information they glean from her content allows clients to make informed decisions about their work.

What skills do you need in order to become a trend forecaster?

Since trend forecasting is both an analytical and a creative process, having a broad skill set is important for anyone interested in working in this field. Some of the most common skills for trend forecasters are:

Analytical skills

Being able to analyze trends is a key part of this role and having strong analytical skills is the best way to ensure that you’re successful in this position.

Creativity

In addition to strong analytical skills, trend forecasting also requires a sense of creativity. This is because you’ll need to be able to think outside the box when predicting the next big thing.

Knowledge of one or more industries

Since most trend forecasters are focused on multiple industries, being an expert on those industries is an incredibly important part of this role. The best way to get this knowledge is by doing your research on a particular industry and finding out what trends are currently showing up in news coverage and on social media.

Media savvy

Media savviness is a key component of any media or marketing role and it’s especially important when it comes to this field. This is because so many trends are shaped through the use of traditional and social media, so knowing how to spot those patterns in media coverage is a crucial part of staying ahead of the game.

How do you get started in the industry?

Since trend forecasting is a fairly new field, there aren’t really any long-established strategies for getting involved in the industry. However, doing a media or marketing internship can go a long way toward helping you develop some of the key skills required for the role. Beyond that, it’s about the projects and research you pursue on your own. “There are ways to get experience in the role, even if it isn’t part of your major,” says Sara, explaining that they key is to identify your passions and find a way to make marketable. For example, if you’re interested in fashion and have your own fashion blog, you can use your content as a portfolio when applying for a trend forecasting position. This will show employers that you’re already a player in the field and that you’re knowledgeable and passionate about sharing your insights with others.

For those who are interested in staying on top of the latest trends, trend forecasting can be an exciting and challenging career path. If you want to learn more about this role, we recommend taking on an internship and getting some valuable hands-on experience in a trend forecasting role.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as 6 Things to Do in Your First Week at a New Job and find answers to common interview questions such as Are You Willing to Travel?

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