Recent conversations with network contacts brought up the topic of career progression for email marketers. This got me thinking about all the possible paths an email marketer can take over the course of his or her career.
It’s quite all right to be a lifelong email marketer, since demand is certainly high. Many, however, want to leverage their skills to advance down a different path.
If you’re an all-knowing specialist/generalist in email marketing, here are ideas on where you can take your career next:
If you’re strong in analytics:
Because data is the core of any good email program, many email marketers are inherently strong in using, interpreting and reporting on data. Analytics work is in high demand, especially with the uptick in the amount of data brands have to manage and make sense of. Machine learning will only make jobs in this area more in demand.
Jobs to search for: Marketing analyst (or even analysts in other functional areas like finance), data scientist, data modeler and various management levels relating to those roles.
If you’re highly technical:
Email marketers often have to code, manage/move data, and build out complex solutions that require a lot of technical expertise. It’s fairly easy to translate those skills into technology jobs that are in email or entirely different functional areas of business.
Jobs to search for: Database administrator (DBA), email developer, web developer, software engineer, solution consultant/architect, business analyst, content architect and various management levels relating to those roles.
If you’re highly creative:
Every email requires some level of creative thought process and production. Content in both images and words is a large factor in driving an email’s success. Take the portfolio of emails you’ve created and use that to springboard into a creative-focused role.
Jobs to search for: Email designer, Web designer, creative director, Web copywriter and various management levels relating to those roles.
If you love operational processes:
To get an email campaign out the door requires rigorous management of process and people. It also requires an understanding and implementation of privacy regulations and deliverability best practices.
Jobs to search for: Deliverability consultant, privacy officer, marketing operations manager, marketing project manager and various management levels relating to those roles.
If big-picture thinking is your strength:
Strategic thinking plays a big role in how effective an email program can be. It takes an understanding of the marketplace, consumers and a company’s abilities to deliver a good experience.
It’s easy to translate this into a more strategic business role within email and other areas of business.
Jobs to search for: Email strategy consultant, digital strategist, marketing strategist, business consultant, retention marketing manager, relationship marketing manager, brand manager and various management levels relating to those roles — all the way up to chief marketing officer or chief strategy officer.
If you can’t bear to lose “email” in your title, but want to progress:
If you’re an email specialist and you simply love thinking with both sides of your brain and managing all aspects of email marketing from start to finish, you should consider building people management skills and running a team. You can also make a case to take on other channels as part of your area of responsibility, such as SMS and push notifications, since they align well with email.
Jobs to search for: Email marketing manager and email marketing director.
Some of the aforementioned categories may overlap a bit. The point is, there are a lot of career options for email marketers.