Marketing Career Overview
Marketing, as the name implies, revolves around connecting products to the market. This encompasses both market research to measure demand for various goods and services as well as devising strategies to promote a product or company. Nearly every institution in the public eye requires the services of marketing professionals, including non-profit organizations.
Recent improvements in data collection thanks to the information revolution have made marketing a much more complex and precise field. Even before bringing a product to the market, marketers perform detailed market analyses, conduct focus groups, explore consumer psychology, examine cultural trends, and engage in other analytical work. Marketing strategies include traditional print and media advertising, product placement, and viral guerilla campaigns.
The increasing prominence of the internet as a locus for consumption has spurred the development of new strategies that adapt to the qualities of this new medium.
Marketing Training & Education
In recent years, many colleges have begun to offer degrees in Public Relations, Communications, and Marketing, allowing those interested in pursuing a marketing career to get the appropriate undergraduate degree. Nevertheless, many different degrees can prepare an individual for a career in marketing. Marketing professionals most often have academic backgrounds in:
As for graduate degrees, marketing executives frequently possess MBA’s, while non-professional graduate degrees in marketing tend to be held by academics.
Marketing Career & Salary Outlook
Marketing positions vary in competitiveness depending on seniority and industry—with salaries ranging accordingly. Job outlook is strong, as positions in marketing are expected to grow faster than the national average through 2014. In effect, as globalization collapses the uniqueness of manufacturing processes and local product distinctions, marketing gains an ever more important role in differentiating brands in the consumer mindset.
Marketing includes many specialties, and as such salaries vary greatly. Marketing managers with five to ten years of experience tend to earn in the vicinity of $79,000 a year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The median salary for market research analysts depends on experience and can range between $44,000 and $85,000 a year while public relations managers earn roughly $75,000 a year. Marketing copywriters earn the least amount of money in the field at around $44,000 a year, though they are usually better paid than freelance copywriters and copywriters in other sectors.
Career Fields/Specializations
Marketing Brand Manager Career
Marketing managers work in either a company or organization and direct the public image, sale, and development of a product. In some instances they also work with separate media outlets to plan advertising or press releases. Successful managers have extensive marketing experience as well as an ability to manage often complex campaigns successfully.
Advertising/ Marketing Account Manager Career
Advertising account managers form the bridge between a client and the marketing strategists and designers. This position often manages the administration and budget of a company’s advertising campaigns: managers coordinate between the creative team and the maker of the product to ensure that the campaign meets the financial requirements set by the client firm.
When a company works with an ad agency to promote their product, the relationship requires representatives from the company, designers, writers, advertising media buyers, and countless other individuals involved in creating and executing a marketing campaign. All of these individuals work under the authority of the account manager, who ensures the program runs smoothly and within budget.
Market Research Analyst Career
Market research analysts employ case-studies, focus groups, and demographic studies to study consumer psychology and behavior. After assessing the nuances of consumer demand, analysts then go about making proposals for successful marketing campaigns.
Market researchers collect data to enhance marketing strategies for existing products or explore new environments for expansion. Market researchers compile data based on:
- Past user behavior
- Focus groups
- Field test
- Interviews
Public Relations Manager Career
Public relations managers attempt to control their organization’s public image by maximizing positive exposure in the media and minimizing the damage of negative publicity. PR managers utilize a wide variety of media sources and tactics to maintain a positive image of their organization.
Public relations managers are often called upon to speak for a company in a time of instability, expansion, or re-branding. In order to best represent the company, PR managers must be persuasive and charismatic in addition to possessing field-contextual knowledge.
Marketing Copywriter Career
A copywriter’s job is to author effective advertising materials, and thus is a position that requires a fair amount of versatility. Copywriters must be skilled writers, able to clearly explain their subject, and create the correct tone for each assignment.
Different projects call for different styles of writing and a copywriter must be able to adapt to the different needs of their employer. Additionally, the materials produced by copywriters promote products, businesses, and ideas in a plethora of mediums: newspapers, magazines, radio, and television.
In terms of career paths, copywriters can work as either in-house writers or as freelancers. Each of these career paths can be equally lucrative depending on the preferences of the writer—some individuals work better in teams while others perform best as freelancers.
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