What Qualifications Are Important in Marketing?

Whether you want to break into the marketing industry or you want to grow your team with people who have the right skills, you need to understand what qualifications really matter in digital marketing.

Here’s some of the different qualifications available in the UK, how much of an impact they could have on a marketing CV and what employers should look out for.

An Industry Overview

With an industry as vast as marketing, there’s a huge number of courses and opportunities available. This can make it difficult to narrow down the relevant qualifications for your career or your project.

It also raises an important question: is it better to specialise in your skills or to broaden your horizons and build a variety of skills?

There isn’t necessarily a right or wrong answer to this; it depends on how you learn, what you’re better at, and what the job needs.

If you’re trying to hire marketers, for example, you might want to build a team that has a varied skillset, which might also include some people who are very specialised. However, while your marketers will be more skilled in one field, you might need to hire more people to deliver different tactics.

On the other hand, people who have a more well-rounded skillset could be great all-rounders. They might still specialise in a certain skill, but they have the ability to be more flexible. This is invaluable for employers, because it means that different people can have different roles depending on what the current marketing strategy needs.

As well as specific qualifications, experience looks great on any CV. So, look for relevant skills that help you use what you learn. If you are hiring and want to be sure that you find experts in the field, it might be worth using a digital marketing agency for certain tasks and projects so you know you get the best result.

Do You Need a Marketing Degree?

One thing to consider when looking into what qualifications are most important is whether or not you need a marketing degree.

The short answer is “no”, you can find work in the marketing industry without a degree. However, some degrees can help you to get much better job opportunities and, for specific roles, they can be necessary.

Some of these degrees are available at over 140 universities in the UK and you can also access marketing degrees at the London Business School.

Another option is to get a marketing degree that combines your studies with other fields, such as a marketing and design degree or a marketing and psychology degree. This provides a more well-rounded education, allowing you to expand your skills and combine well with other qualifications.

There is also postgraduate marketing courses which aren’t necessary, but they can make a CV stand out from the rest and open you up for more networking opportunities.

Chartered Institute of Marketing

Plenty of other qualifications in the marketing field can make a massive difference to a CV. These might include smaller certifications that round out a CV and show some extra experience or talent in a field.

So, if you got a marketing degree, it might be a good idea to also add some other qualifications in other related fields, such as SEO, AI analytics, and/or graphic design.
When looking into other certifications, it pays to look into the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing, or CIM, is the marketing industry’s professional body, which is accredited by the European Marketing Confederation (EMC). In short, these qualifications are recognised in the UK and around the world, helping people to find work with qualifications that people respect.

There are four levels of CIM courses in the UK. These are:

• Foundation Certificate in Professional & Digital Marketing (foundation, Level 3)
• Certificate in Professional Marketing/Professional Digital Marketing (Intermediate, Level 4)
• Diploma in Professional and Digital Marketing (Intermediate, Level 6)
• CIM Marketing Leadership Programme (Advanced, Level 7)

In order to get a career in marketing, you don’t necessarily have to have all of these qualifications. However, it’s good to at least have the foundation certificate if you want to get your foot in the door. If you want to move up the ladder to management positions, you should consider taking on the more advanced certifications and qualifications.

If you want access to learning resources, webinars, and events, as well as discounted courses, it could be worth considering becoming a CIM member.

Other Marketing Courses

As well as diplomas and CIM courses, there are plenty of other courses and qualifications that could benefit someone in the marketing industry.

Online courses are a great way to round out your certifications and build your skills, especially if you want your career to go in a certain direction.

For example, the Institute of Data and Marketing (IDM) offers several programmes including some online digital marketing courses. You can get an online Professional Certificate in Social Media, which includes different awards that prove that you’ve developed different skills like email marketing strategy, digital copywriting, content marketing strategy, and others.

Professional diplomas are often much shorter than postgraduate diplomas, lasting only about 30 hours in total. These shorter courses can be great to help you keep up to date with modern marketing techniques and strategies, like SEO and social media marketing.

Creative Marketing Qualifications

Creative writing skills, such as content marketing, copywriting, editing and proofreading, can be incredibly useful for marketing strategies. A lot of marketing comes down to being able to craft a story, whether it’s in the written word or as a script.

Speaking of scripts, graphic designers, animators, video editors, and similar roles might show up in the digital marketing world. People respond to videos, images, and other multimedia forms of advertising.

These types of qualifications might not technically come under the marketing umbrella, but they are skills that definitely play a role in marketing in real life. So, whether you want to go for a dual degree, or you want to take some smaller courses to add these extra skills, it’s definitely worth it to prove your relevant skills in these fields.

Technical Qualifications

Much like the creative skills and qualifications mentioned above, it’s also beneficial to consider more technical skills.

Data analysis qualifications, for example, are incredibly useful in the marketing field, as well as any qualifications that prove that you’re able to work with data or AI. These are tools that help marketers create strategies that will work.

Website design is also an important part of marketing, and an understanding of the technical side of how SEO and different platforms work can help you to create more effective content.

How Much do Marketing Qualifications Cost?

When looking into getting more qualifications, it pays to count the costs.

As you might expect, the fees for these courses can vary wildly depending on the format of the course, the length of the course, and how detailed it is. A short online course that teaches someone the basics of SEO is going to be a lot cheaper than a master’s degree in marketing.

Another thing to consider is the institution that offers the course and whether it requires a membership. The CIM qualifications mentioned earlier involve tuition fees, and other institutes might charge more for different courses.

This is why it’s a good idea to work out earlier what marketing qualifications are “must-haves”, and which are “nice-to-haves”. Start with bigger courses to get your foot in the door, then work on smaller ones to round out your CV while you’re also working on your career.

Finding Employees in the Marketing Field

When looking for employees in the marketing field, you want people who are properly qualified and who ideally have a lot of experience. One way to find good entry-level candidates is to offer an apprenticeship programme, so as people learn and gain practical experience, you also get to know them.

The team at Logic includes a huge range of marketing specialists who can help you curate your marketing projects and campaigns, without any skill gaps.

Do you want to find out what we can do for you? If so, take a look at our case studies to learn more about what we’ve done for past clients. You can also get in touch today by calling 01473 934050, emailing [email protected], or leaving us a message on our contact page.

Written by Ross Lewis Marketing Executive

Ross Lewis is one of our Marketing Executives with years of agency experience in digital marketing. Specialising in Google Ads and with skills in copywriting, graphic design and social media, he collaborates in all areas of marketing. When he’s not working on campaigns, you’ll see Ross running in his local area, taking trips to the coast and socialising with his friends.

All Articles by Ross Lewis