Marketing in the tech sector is different. It’s unlike marketing in most other industries. For the most part, the tech world is more dynamic, less predictable, and growing much faster. Tech marketers need hyper- focus on customer acquisition and revenue growth, which is very different than in traditional industries. That means there’s tons of opportunity to build a lucrative career for yourself, but you’ll also need to make sure you have the right skills. And, of course, it’s imperative to know what tech marketing role (or roles) will suit you best.
That’s where we come in. OnRamp’s 18-week Growth Marketing Bootcamp provides participants with specialized marketing skills for the tech industry at large, as well as in-depth training for specific careers. Below, we’ll explain some of the main areas tech marketers work in, and give examples of the type of work each area involves so you can start exploring your potential future.
Note: the same job can go by many different names in the tech sector, and smaller businesses often bundle several key responsibilities into a single role. But most marketing jobs for any given tech business fall into at least one of the following categories:
Growth marketing
Growth marketing is a fairly new branch of marketing that is more commonly found in tech than other industries. It’s critical for early-stage growth, especially for companies who place a higher value on experimentation or who don’t have specific channel teams.
Common growth marketing responsibilities include:
- Acquiring and converting new leads
- Retaining and reactivating existing users
- Testing different content and channels to find new growth strategies for the business
Because of this, successful growth marketers are normally experts with specific channels (SEO, email, etc.) or jacks-of-all-trades who are skilled enough with various tools to experiment with how to use them best.
Salary range: $50k – $147k per year (according to Glassdoor)
Product Marketing
Product marketing jobs focus on launching new products or features. They’re also responsible for keeping customers aware of these updates and making them interested in using them (adoption and retention).
Product marketing responsibilities include:
- Collecting insights from market research
- Defining customer segments
- Working closely with product managers to establish product needs
- Creating messaging that gets a product’s benefits across to potential customers
- Developing strategies and plans for launching new products to the market
- Collaborating with other marketing team members to support launch roll-out
Types of work that might involve product marketing at a tech company could include digital advertising, social media, influencer marketing, writing, and analytics. Product marketers need to be effective storytellers in addition to having strong analysis skills.
Salary range: $67k – $150k per year (according to Glassdoor)
Brand Marketing
Brand marketers focus on the public’s attitude towards the entire business, rather than specific products (like product marketers). They work with channel marketing teams to create campaigns.
Brand marketing duties typically include:
- Establishing value propositions for the company as a whole
- Using numerous channels to reach the widest possible audience
- Working closely with channel marketers
Successful brand marketers should be experienced with traditional channels like print media, TV ads, and event marketing—as well as social media and online advertising. They might also have creative skills like graphic design or video production (or work closely with professionals who produce this kind of content).
Salary range: $50k – $121k per year (according to Glassdoor)
Channel marketing
Channel marketers are subject matter experts with in-depth knowledge of specific channels. Their job is to make these channels more effective by refining the way they are used by brand, product, and growth marketing teams.
Channel marketers might work specifically with:
- Social media
- Blogs and websites
- Apps
- Events
- Paid search
… and more. They’ll be familiar with the tools that make each of these channels most effective, and will create new strategies to help their companies make the best use of them.
Salary range: $65k – $120k per year (according to Glassdoor)
Demand & lead generation
Jobs in demand and lead generation are focused on acquiring new users or customers. Professionals in this marketing area often work closely with a company’s sales team to collect data from as many people as possible and determine whether they’re a potential lead.
Tasks in this area usually include:
- Driving traffic to lead forms or sign-up pages on apps and websites
- Designing marketing experiments
- Creating effective lead-generating content (copy, multimedia, graphic design)
- Data analytics
Working in demand and lead generation requires a balance between creative and analytical skills. The goal is to understand and leverage how specific technologies and content work to move leads through the company’s sales funnel.
Salary range: $65k – $110k per year (according to Glassdoor)
How will you start your tech marketing career?
Whether you’re jumping into marketing for the first time or are an experienced marketer looking for a way into the tech industry, the possibilities for career development are many and varied. In fact, there are over 300+ open marketing positions* in Alberta tech companies with some amazing career opportunities. Learn more about the skills you’ll need by contacting OnRamp and speaking to one of our program advisors about your aspirations today
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