Your cover letter is the first impression most employers will have of you. Even before they look at your resume, they’ll read the accompanying email and make a quick decision about whether or not you’re worth their time to review. So your cover letter needs to be spot on for your next marketing job to get your foot in the door. Sometimes job seekers skip the cover letter, but that can be the wrong move. Here are tips for writing a marketing cover letter.
Show, Don’t Tell
For any job, but specifically in marketing, you need to paint a picture. You want your reader to understand that you’re not just a candidate, but you’re the candidate. For example, in your cover letter, tell a quick story about a time when you excelled in the marketing industry. How did you solve a specific problem? What was the outcome?
Be Specific
Some people think they should be non-specific in a cover letter, but that’s not true. A generic cover letter will come across as insincere. In your cover letter, feel free to elaborate on specific things that will help the employer see how you would be a fit for their job. You also need to make sure you’re writing a new cover letter for every job.
Name Drop
You may think it comes across as tacky, but a cover letter is exactly the place where you want to drop names. Maybe you have a mutual contact in common, be sure to state that. Or perhaps you’ve done some marketing work for an important member of the community, don’t be afraid to say who it is. If you don’t have a relevant name to drop, make sure you have a list of references available for when you get called in for an interview.
Quantify Your Experience
The other most crucial component of a killer marketing cover letter is data. This is the detailed information about what you’ve done and the outcome. For example, how did your marketing efforts increase sales for your last employer? By how much? This will be essential information, and by including it in the cover letter, you’ve piqued their interest.
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