What to include in a marketing cover letter

A cover letter is an important part of any job application, as it's a great opportunity to sell your best qualities and show your personality a little bit more than can be done on a marketing CV. 

Given this, it's crucial to know the kind of cover letter marketing recruiters are looking for. In this guide, we'll look at some examples of the best cover letter for marketing job applications, including some marketing cover letter samples for different disciplines and levels of seniority.

Marketing is a broad and varied profession, from outdoor marketing to digital communications, and from qualitative to quantitative market research. But the structure will remain the same as these basic cover letter templates. Once you’ve looked through these, you should have a strong starting point for your marketing cover letter template, and your application.

Marketing cover letter examples

If you haven't already, read our guide on writing a great CV and cover letter to understand more about how these two documents should complement one another, without repeating the same information.

You might also want to familiarise yourself with our 10 things to remember about cover letters, which will help you to set up your own marketing cover letter template without leaving out anything important.

With that in mind, here are some more notes to help you with writing marketing cover letters for specific disciplines.

General cover letter for marketing job applications

A general cover letter for marketing job descriptions should be structured as a letter, with sender and recipient's details, today's date, a polite greeting and a sign-off. The rest is all about you, your reasons for applying and what you hope will happen next.

Just like writing a marketing CV, you should try to include specifics and evidence in your cover letter. If you had a big win in a previous role, try to provide numbers, especially if you made significant money for your employer or exceeded your targets.

Business (with the exception of charity) is all about making money, and marketing is a fundamental role for that, so this is not the place to be modest.

Marketing executive cover letter

A marketing executive cover letter should include an indication of where you are in your career. Refer to the job advertisement and the recruiter's description of the role to make sure you are using the right words and phrases.

'Marketing executive' is a broad term and is often attached to entry-level roles too, so try to demonstrate that you understand the level of role you are applying for, and have the correct skills, experience and expertise for that level.

Marketing assistant cover letter

A marketing assistant cover letter can be easier to pitch, as the level of seniority is clearer. Again, check the job description in the advertisement thoroughly and make sure your cover letter addresses the duties and expectations of the role.

The duties assigned to assistants can vary a little between different companies, so tweak your cover letter template accordingly. If you feel you need to give more information, then do so - just try to keep it to one page of A4 paper, or the equivalent on-screen.

Digital marketing cover letter

If you're writing a cover letter for a specific discipline, such as a digital marketing cover letter, make sure you evidence your digital marketing skills. Digital marketing in particular has some very specific talents and is a rapidly changing specialism, so ensure your cover letter makes you sound up to date.

The hiring manager may want to see an indication that your interest in digital marketing extends into your own time, so try to give a sign that you follow the latest developments and trends, and name any well-known industry news sites and blogs you read regularly.

Cover letter for marketing internship

A marketing intern cover letter is likely to be a lot less specific in terms of industry experience and expertise. You may be making your first foray into the marketing sector and looking for a mentor who will train you up from fairly basic transferable skills and soft skills.

Again, make sure the tone of your cover letter is appropriate for the role. If possible, give examples of past experiences, or industry publications and websites that you follow. Adapt your marketing cover letter template as necessary to fit around your most relevant information.

Try not to duplicate too much from your CV to your cover letter, but if you're applying for an entry-level marketing internship with little experience, it may be worth highlighting the experience you do have on both documents, to guide the hiring manager towards asking you about it in a future interview.

If you're looking to start your career in marketing, or want to see what else is out there then check out all of our live marketing roles on the Michael Page website right here.

More marketing cover letter tips from our experts

The marketing cover letter advice and linked articles provided above should give you an excellent grounding when writing your cover letter. 

Our in-house marketing recruitment expert Will Pendlington also added: 

Your CV gives an overview of your experience, but a cover letter is where you can really shine a light on your achievements and showcase marketing skills and other attributes that you can bring to a new role. One of the key pieces of advice I give to the candidates I work with is to include evidence and stats that back up your main points. For example, if you are applying for an SEO writer role, reflect on a past achievements where you can pinpoint measurable impact, such as boosting traffic to a website by 30% in a year. It’s also important to keep it concise - hiring managers are scanning for key information so make sure you don’t lose their attention by writing excessive amounts. Finally, and this couldn’t be more important, proofread it thoroughly! Spelling and grammatical mistakes can put hiring managers off, so make sure you have a good check over your cover letter before hitting send.

If you have any questions or would like to speak to an expert about any aspect of your marketing job application, contact your Michael Page recruitment consultant today for one-to-one guidance and up-to-date insight into the marketing recruitment market.

Or if you are looking for new marketing roles, submit your CV today.