Online marketing is pretty clearly the future of the industry, in a lot of ways. While this isn’t necessary to say that other forms of marketing and media are dead or dying, it does mean that it’s become pretty unavoidable that if a business wishes to truly compete on any kind of significant scale, it’s going to need a legitimate online marketing campaign. Something like this usually involves a lot of moving parts, and as such, there are a lot of career options available to you if you’re thinking about getting yourself involved in something like online marketing. Especially if you’re a creative type, there’s a spot for you in the marketing world, as some of the most talented writers and artists have created the most effective marketing campaigns the world has ever seen. We’ll talk about some of the different options you might pursue if marketing & advertising are things that appeal to you in a serious way.

1. Sales & Account Management. Arguably, marketing is equal parts art and science. Words, images, pictures, and videos are the things that will tap into the emotions and psyches of that target audience, but without the numbers being run behind the scenes, there won’t be anything to make it all happen. That’s where sales and account management come in. Without a sales team, all those creative geniuses won’t have any clients upon which they can use their talents. An account manager occupies an even more intensive role, sitting in between sales and the people who will actually make the marketing happen — they have to know about the business and the art of marketing at the same time.

2. Copywriting. Marketing isn’t anything without writing, and any good marketer will agree that storytelling is at the heart of all great marketing. Some of the best marketers in the world are writers, and vice versa. Having a talent with words, whether it’s coming up with catchy one-liners or writing magnetic product descriptions that make readers unable to avoid clicking that “Add to Cart” button, means that you’ll enjoy a successful career in online marketing.

3. Creative Direction. Maybe you feel like you’ve got a real great eye for what works and what doesn’t, but don’t fancy yourself a writer or aren’t really great with a pencil or paintbrush. As a creative director, you’ll get to shape and guide the direction of the marketing campaigns you oversee, not unlike the director of a film or the producer of an album. You’re not personally responsible for the work itself, but you’re in charge of making sure it all coalesces and is as effective as possible.

4. Market Research. Again, as there is as much science as there is art that goes into marketing (whether it’s online or not), you can still have a great career in online marketing if you’re a total numbers person. Market research is important in a ton of different ways, and the information that you’ll come up with will help your co workers to better understand their audiences, so that everyone gets to do their job better.

5. Search Engine Optimization. SEO is a pretty unavoidable part of any online marketing campaign — if your website doesn’t come up in the search results when the right keywords are entered, nobody’s going to know you’re even online. From SEO resellers to firms that offer complete and comprehensive marketing campaigns, there are a ton of different ways that you can get started with a career in search engine optimization.