Why Working In Marketing Is A Bad Career Option — Adrian Cruce
A little backstory. I first started working online when I was 17. Now, with over 20 years of experience in my belt, most of it spend in the marketing world, it is practically impossible for me to recommend this career to anyone. I mean…if I would want anyone to suffer until they finally figure out that they have to change careers, I would, but I am not that kind of person.
Marketing is seen from the exterior as a great opportunity. People think that marketers are paid well too. That is definitely not the case.
While at the company level it is true that marketing agencies charge huge amounts of money even for the simplest of tasks, the people who actually do the work are receiving pennies.
Let’s Start With Stress
A study showed that a whooping 80% of marketers are overloaded and understaffed. What happens when you are overworked? Your stress levels skyrocket. 1 in 4 professionals asked questions in the study said they face high stress daily. Just take a look at the rest of the study to see the findings.
When you deal with high stress, your entire work suffers. Your life suffers. Your decision-making ends up sucking and your creativity is affected. Because creativity is affected, your work deteriorates even more.
Practically, you start working. You are eager. You feel great. Then, after some time, you work more and more. And this grows. And stress grows. Eventually, you will most likely need a serious vacation. But, even during vacation you often need to be on the job to be able to deal with a “crisis”. And let’s get it right. A crisis is often something as simple as the CEO of the company you represent wants to change a word.
Let’s Continue With The Work You Do
It does not really matter what marketing department you work in. There will always be people who do a lot more work than others. And chances are you will be the one who does the most work.
One of my friends was in a marketing company and was the manager of practically 5 client accounts. Then, another manager just quit. The marketing agency did not hire another manager. Instead, the CEO made my friend responsible for 10 (or 11, I do not remember) client accounts.
Did she receive more money for the double work done? No! Instead, they ended up having to often stay overtime. Without extra pay. If you think overpay is common in marketing, well, it is not. In fact, it is expected that you stay overtime and that you work more and more. If you do not do this, you will not get a promotion. Well… you might not get it anyway and you might need to look for a new job for a better position.
Let’s Continue With The “Networking”
This is where things get really dirty in marketing. There is this belief that everything is ethical and that clients look for the best possible companies for them. This is not actually the case. In reality, in so many cases, clients are just referred. Or they are gained because someone knows someone.
But, the big problem appears when talking about networking. Marketing involves a lot of networking. From the first moment you get in the industry you are told that you have to network and build connections. What you are not told is that the vast majority of them will be fake and will rely on kissing butt. Yes, the ones who kiss butt the most or the best always get in front. Even if their work is a lot worse than of those who do not.
This is not networking. What happens in most of the marketing industry is not networking. What happens in the gaming industry is so much more networking.
Basically, if you want to work in marketing, you will need to talk in a specific way and you will have to interact with people who will claim to be friends, “like family”, and so on, when the truth is that they are just trying to get something for you, even if it is something as simple as a free backlink on a website.
Let’s Finish With The Money
I already touched on this a little but I would like to go a little different. The money you get when you are at the entry level is disgusting. Sure, for some people living in specific countries of the world it is ok and could be great. BUT, the big problem comes when working with the “good” clients, those who could pay you a lot.
The truth is the money you get is not going to be as much as you should receive.
Let’s take a simple example. Let’s say that you write some copy for a landing page. And you do it for like $25 since it is simple. Your employer might charge $100 for it. In fact, a 4X difference between what the employee gets and what the company makes is very common. And this is for the per-project payments.
When looking at the per hour rates, you can easily get to a ratio of 10x. Just think about the example of my friend who ended up having to work on 10 accounts for the company. She received a strict salary that would normally cover working with 4 clients. And the employer was making a whole lot more from the work she was doing. Do not expect to be given raises because of such situations. This rarely happens.
And I Could Go On!
Every single person who was close to me and worked in marketing either changed careers or is planning to do this as fast as possible. Please keep in mind that all of these people were really good professionals. They were among the best at the job they were doing. But the marketing industry takes advantage of such people. Always.
With globalization stronger than ever and the development of artificial intelligence as fast as it is right now, the truth is that the entire marketing industry is overcrowded. There are so many people willing and even capable of doing your job that companies do not even care about paying you the right price. They are going to find someone that will do it for cheaper.
And unfortunately, I have to highlight the fact that this will get worse and worse. If you want to get involved in marketing, it is not something that I could ever recommend.
Originally published at https://adriancruce.com on July 11, 2024.
