What Can You Do with a Marketing Degree? 11 Job Paths

Written by Coursera Staff • Updated on

Wondering what you can do with your marketing degree? Here are entry-level job titles and their associated career paths.

[Featured Image] Recent marketing degree graduate, smiling, with curly blonde hair, wearing a dotted work dress, and looking at the camera, leans over a desk with an open laptop, work papers all around, and two plants decorating the space.

Key takeaways

Marketing degree jobs span a range of career opportunities in social media, event management, business, advertising, and more.

  • Entry-level opportunities in marketing include marketing assistant, brand assistant, and social media coordinator. 

  • As you build experience, you can transition into mid-level roles, such as market research analyst, digital marketing manager, or e-commerce marketing manager.

  • You can broaden your job search outside of marketing, looking in related fields such as business, sales, or public relations.

Learn more about jobs you can land with a marketing degree and the average salaries and job responsibilities for each role. If you’re ready to start building your marketing skills, consider enrolling in the Adobe Marketing Specialist Professional Certificate. In as little as four months, you’ll have the chance to learn the fundamentals of digital marketing. By the end, you’ll have earned a career credential to share on your resume and LinkedIn profile.

What can you do with a marketing degree? 6 jobs to consider

Securing a job in marketing can offer some degree of career stability. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, advertising, promotions, and marketing managers in the US earned a median annual salary of $159,660 as of May 2024, and the industry is expected to grow at an average rate of 6 percent (faster than average) between 2024 and 2034 [1].

Of course, you may not expect to receive that salary immediately after receiving your bachelor's degree in marketing. More commonly, recent graduates will enter the field on the assistant or coordinator level, depending on internship or other job experience. Here are some common entry-level marketing degree jobs that can put you on the path toward growth.

Read more: What Is a Marketing Degree?

All salary information represents the median total pay from Glassdoor as of February 2026. These figures include base salary and additional pay, which may represent profit-sharing, commissions, bonuses, or other compensation.

Is a marketing degree worth it?

Yes, earning a marketing degree is worth it. With continued growth expected in the field, higher-than-average earning potential, and lots of room for growth, earning a marketing degree can give you a return on investment. 

1. Marketing assistant

Median total pay: $55,000 [2]

Common growth roles:

A marketing assistant is a common position for recent graduates looking to gain entry-level experience. It’s more of a general marketing position, allowing employees to interact with various aspects of a marketing department.

In this role, a person might help ensure a marketing department runs smoothly, working with upper management on tasks like maintaining schedules, conducting market research, organizing performance reports, and contributing to marketing campaigns led by other team members.

Marketing assistants draw heavily on communication, interpersonal, organizational, and time management skills. On the job, you can anticipate sharpening your creative and analytical skills as they relate to ideating, executing, and assessing campaigns.

2. Brand assistant

Median total pay: $72,000 [5]

Common growth roles:

A brand assistant, or assistant brand manager, will have a greater focus on a company’s overall positioning in the marketplace than on individual product launches or campaigns.

In this role, a person might work with upper management on the brand image with responsibilities such as monitoring market trends, analyzing competitors, assisting with brand strategies, assessing brand loyalty, and coordinating communications between the brand team and stakeholders.

Brand assistants often rely on their communication, research, organizational, and creative skills. They’ll further hone their strategic planning skills as they develop and bring to life a brand’s public image through campaigns, events, and communications geared toward the consumer.

3. Social media coordinator

Median total pay: $53,000 [8]

Common growth role:

Social media coordinators focus their marketing efforts on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, and LinkedIn. The specific social media platforms you work on will depend on the company, brand, or client you are working with and their specific target audience and business goals.

In this role, a person might help with tasks such as developing social media strategy, creating content and scheduling posts, monitoring analytics and tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) such as engagement and reach, conducting audience research, and staying current on social media trends. They may also work with influencers on campaigns or interact with consumers directly on their social media pages.

Social media coordinators regularly use their interpersonal, creative, and analytical skills and will become involved with more robust social media marketing campaigns as they get more comfortable speaking as a brand.

4. Event marketing assistant

Median total pay: $50,000 [11]

Common growth roles:

  • Event marketing coordinator: $69,000 [12]

  • Event marketing manager: $102,000 [13]

Event marketing assistants primarily work on showcasing a brand’s persona through promotional events such as launch parties, hosted panels, luncheons, or interactive experiences. Depending on the position, these events might be public-facing or client-facing and either in-person or virtual.

In this entry-level role, an event marketing assistant might help upper management with planning and coordinating various aspects of events, liaising with vendors, booking venues, and analyzing an event’s success.

Event marketing assistants benefit from strong communication and organizational skills, as well as a detail-oriented approach. As they grow in their career, they’ll rely on interpersonal skills and creativity to produce memorable branded moments.

5. Assistant media planner

Median total pay: $79,000 [14]

Common growth roles:

  • Media buyer: $96,000 [15]

  • Media planner: $128,000 [16]

Assistant media planners work with media planners and media buyers to help decide the media formats—for example, print, video, or audio—that feel most relevant to a brand’s target audience and how to use those formats to achieve business goals. They may also be called media assistants.

In this role, a person might have responsibilities such as conducting market research, monitoring media plans, coordinating with media partners, tracking campaign performance, and staying current on the latest media practices. On the marketing side, assistant media planners will typically focus on unpaid media; however, in working with media buyers, commonly in advertising, they may also gain exposure to paid campaigns.

Assistant media planners call upon research, communication, and organizational skills, and will hone interpersonal skills as they work with more business partners and clients.

6. Product marketing assistant

Median total pay: $86,000 [17]

Common growth roles:

Product marketing assistants specialize in marketing specific products or services to a consumer. They’ll often work with product managers (the people involved with a product’s development) and sales teams to optimize messaging. 

A person in this role might handle marketing assets, research target audiences, help write promotional copy, and track consumer interactions with and reactions to the product. They’ll focus on aligning the public reception of a product with the company’s intention in introducing it.

Product marketing assistants benefit from organizational and communication skills. As they progress through their careers, they may develop stronger analytical and creative skills.

6 mid-level marketing degree jobs

Once you start working in a marketing department, you may find yourself gravitating toward certain tasks or teams. Regardless of where you choose to begin your marketing career, you can always adjust your path as you see fit.

Many of the marketing skills and techniques you’ll be implementing in various roles are transferable to other areas of the field. Additionally, many entry-level positions can prepare you for higher-level roles in alternate lanes.

Here are six mid-level marketing degree jobs that you might consider after gaining initial experience:

  1. Market research analyst (or market researcher): $95,000 [20]

  2. Marketing analyst: $93,000 [21]

  3. Digital marketing manager: $130,000 [22]

  4. Email marketing manager: $102,000 [23]

  5. Search engine optimization (SEO) marketing manager: $126,000 [24]

  6. E-commerce marketing manager: $106,000 [25]

Other jobs you can get with a marketing degree 

Oftentimes, marketing degrees will require core classes that can help you get an entry-level position outside of marketing. If you earned a marketing degree, you may also find opportunities in adjacent fields, like business, sales, advertising, or public relations.

To help expand your career horizon, focus on skills rather than individual tasks. Read job descriptions carefully, highlight commonalities, and consider how you’ve demonstrated those applicable skills.

Here are a few non-marketing and marketing-adjacent positions you might want to explore:

Discover free resources for your marketing career

Browse our Career Resources Hub for career guidance, resume and interview tips, and skills assessments. Then, explore these resources to guide you in your marketing career:

Accelerate your career growth with a Coursera Plus subscription. When you enroll in either the monthly or annual option, you’ll get access to over 10,000 courses. 

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Article sources

1. 

US Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Advertising, Promotions, and Marketing Managers, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/advertising-promotions-and-marketing-managers.htm#tab-1." Accessed February 12, 2026.

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