Marketing Qualification

kelly_borntoshop

I recently left a position working partly as a marketing assistant for 18 months, I also have experience from other posts as I have always worked for small companies. I launched my own model agency back in 2002 which ran for 3 years until I had my first child.

My main area of work has been admin as there are a lot of jobs out there for this but I now find myself with a little bit of cash behind me and want to explore whether I can get myself an official job in marketing.

I would really like to get another post as an assistant or co-ordinator but would be happy to start at the bottom - I keep looking online but most companies are looking for the qualification which I dont have and I feel I would benefit from.

Does anyone know where or what I should be focusing on to move forward in marketing? What qualification I need or is useful? It could be a really good time for me to go back to education and perhaps take a part time job while i'm studying?

Any advice would be great. I'm based in Newcastle upon Tyne, there are some Uni courses but I dont know which and most are racking in at £9000 a year .

cmw1212

Best place to start will probably be the CIM website

dizzyrascal

Hi Kelly, glad you got sorted.
If I were you I would get online and register for a couple of months with lynda.com and get familiar with some of the current software by following some tutorials. You could also start to use Adobe via It's cloud programme. This means you pay a small monthly sum instead of paying thousands for the whole package.
You will need to be able to use InDesign to a high level and should also practice with Photoshop and or Illustrator. Follow some free online tutorials to get the idea, there's loads on the internet. (For instance you could Google "Photoshop text effects")
Start to develop a portfolio of work. See if you can do any design work or marketing for a charity. Start to think of ways you can use your skills to demonstrate this to an employer.
I work with graduates and marketing is very popular but although they have the brains, marketing jobs will always ask for experience.
CIM is the qualification that you should be thinking of gaining but it is usually achieved whilst working.

kelly_borntoshop

At my age (33), with no real qualifications I will probably always be in jobs where my skills are taken advantage of and never respected - I think I need to follow them through a bit further and now would be a good time.

Been looking into it today and I think I have 2 paths i could follow.

1) Business and Marketing
I have a background in Business and Admin. Have done Sage Accountancy, RSA 2 Typing and I have a NVQ level 3 in Business and Admin. I can use this to go onto a Foundation Degree in Business and Marketing.

2) Marketing and Design
This is where my passion lies - I have no Qualifictaions but I have 10yrs experience with Adobe Photoshop and have created adverts for the last 3 companies I have worked for.

I have a little bit of a portfolio going... I have kept hold of my best paper cuttings from my last job. I have 3 basic design adverts with some very, very good copy, mainly based on the old VW campaign for the Beetle. I have 1 full page advert which is visualy pleasing (I was always told that their market didnt go in for fancy graphics so never managed to push through anything impressive other than this 1 layout).

I would love to follow the creative/marketing route - guess I just have to find the course. I looked at the CIM courses which are certificates - are these better along side a current job other than a degree?

BargainGalore

shridevi731 marked as :spam:

dizzyrascal

kelly_borntoshop wrote: »

At my age (33), with no real qualifications I will probably always be in jobs where my skills are taken advantage of and never respected - I think I need to follow them through a bit further and now would be a good time.

2) Marketing and Design
This is where my passion lies - I have no Qualifictaions but I have 10yrs experience with Adobe Photoshop and have created adverts for the last 3 companies I have worked for.

I would love to follow the creative/marketing route - guess I just have to yy the course. I looked at the CIM courses which are certificates - are these better along side a current job other than a degree?

Hi Kelly, if you have as much experience as you say then I would be looking to get Adobe certified. This would get you a foot in the door and you might be able to freelance and work for print companies, that sort of thing.
You should teach yourself InDesign though as it is the most used medium in print and really useful for doing flyers, online magazines etc.
You can submit work to companies like printing.com and they will pay a commission. This would also help to build up a current portfolio. Maybe speak to any local print companies too. Freelance work might lead to an inhouse role.
You can search the internet for getting Adobe certified. As long as you're up to date with the latest software you should just be able to take the test somewhere fairly local.

I would follow your passion btw as it is what will keep going. Difficult to get passionate about admin.

kelly_borntoshop

Yes I have noticed most design posts are looking for InDesign and Quark - neither of which I have ever used.

My PhotoShop is not bad - I learned originally from a photographer i used to work for beauty re-touching, then after playing about started designing a bit. I have mostly gone off and adapted other peoples designs - playing until I can create the effect etc then made them my own. I'm not sure if it's good enough to sit a test though!!

Unfortunate really that I didnt come away with any copies of the product labels, stationary etc I did at my last job. The brochure I was doing was my best stuff yet (after 3 designs got poo poo'd) but didnt get finished.

Found an advertising course at college looks really fun, creative writing I get a real kick out of that, but it's full time and I need a refresher to get on it.

Looking at Art and Design now - took an A at school off my portfolio alone. Fashion looks fun... I'm all over the place tbh!!

Ho hum, what to do??

kelly_borntoshop

This Adobe Creative Cloud is excellent, so is the marketing cloud...

kelly_borntoshop

Think I need to invest in a bigger PC than a note book...

dizzyrascal

Yes if you are doing any kind of design you need a high resolution screen as you zoom in and out a lot to check the look of your work and small details.
Becoming certified just shows that you know your way around the programme. You don't need a portfolio for that bit. It's something to think about but you can be working on your skills all the time.
If I were you I would be looking at short courses to get your marketing skills up to speed. You don't need a full art and design degree but you might need elements of it. Certainly look at Digital design courses and get up to speed on social media platforms. Marketing is done online in a big way now. Lots of people work now by doing the social media for all sizes of companies. This is really marketing, but you need to be promoting on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest as a minimum.
You will need good marketing and creative skills to do this .
Lots of help on the internet to help with all the above.

kelly_borntoshop

I ran facebook and twitter for my last company - facebook alone doubled the website visitors, increased sales from 1 order every 3 months to 3 per month (I was getting there!!). The month I left I had my first offer running and that took 6 orders, I left 2 weeks in - wonder how it turned out. Facebook got the best responce aside all of the adverts I ran in media at £500 a pop (was told I had to).

Yep - really need to get up to speed with some of these design programmes and do a bit more into marketing. Looking at HD all in one pc's and all in one printers, got me graphics pen and a library of inspirational design, advertising and marketing books

Thought I might have a look for a book on adobe packages - I was only ever taught what was necessary so there are a few basics I need to do - self teach and see if I can get certified. Them have a look at CIM, I will need the introductory course first.

Not sure if it's totally out of reach to let on to my FM that i've set up at home - he was at my house the other day complaining how busy they are and that they have the software but no one who knows how to use it. Without me they are paying £45 per hour for design work - even just for edits.