When many people think of marketing, they think of people who advertise and sell products. However, there is much more to marketing, and there are many career options open to people with marketing degrees. If you are working toward a degree in this field, this article will help you explore the job opportunities available to you.
Marketing Managers
Marketing managers have many responsibilities in businesses today. Some of the tasks that these professionals are responsible for include pinpointing target markets, analyzing market trends and ensuring marketing effectiveness. Marketing managers oversee several departments, including sales, brand management, advertising, public relations and market research.
Creative marketing campaigns do no good if they do not reach the right audience or convince that audience to buy. However, marketing managers know best how to implement various tools and skills to create effective marketing campaigns. These professionals must also know how to lead their teams effectively and act as liaisons between staff and clients. Finally, they need to recognize problems before they become damaging to the business.
Brand/Product Managers
The main tasks of brand and product managers are to determine what customers need and want and to make sure their products exceed the quality of competitors’ products. They must also make sure that their brand does not become tarnished in any way. Thus, they work hard to build and maintain an excellent reputation with their targeted consumer base.
For these professionals to reach their goals, they must spend much of their time communicating with potential and existing customers. They need to collect opinions pertaining to their products and use those opinions to develop or perfect their products. Some of the things they often focus on to build their companies’ reputations are green products, energy efficiency, waste and recycling.
Advertising Managers
The main job of advertising managers is to promote their products, services and/or brands. They accomplish this by launching various marketing campaigns using such channels as the Internet, television, magazines and radio. They often work closely with advertising agents, advertising agencies and targeted consumers. Some of their other responsibilities include shaping advertising policies, changing distribution methods and entering new markets or market segments.
Advertising managers must keep up with recent trends in advertising to stay on top of their competition. They will spend much of their time helping advertising teams develop and implement advertising campaigns. They also often help set up product testing to determine if a product or product line needs improvement or will be successful. Finally, they must help manage their companies’ finances and make sure that an appropriate amount is allocated for advertising.
Market Researchers
Market researchers are professionals who use statistics and surveys to determine if consumers like their products. For people to be market researchers, they must have excellent analytic, statistical and interpersonal skills. They spend much of their time researching, writing reports and delivering presentations. Therefore, they must also have excellent communication and presentation skills.
Advertising campaigns will be ineffective if consumers have no interest in the product or service in question. However, market researchers know how to find out if there is a demand for a certain product or service and how they can perfect a product or service to make it more marketable. The main way they accomplish this is by getting feedback from targeted audiences.
Buyers/Purchasers
Buyers and purchasers are responsible for locating products that their companies can resell. Most often, these professionals can be found working in such places as retail stores; however, some other businesses may employ them as well. It is essential to note that buyers do not purchase just any products they may find at affordable prices. There is a detailed process they go through to determine each product’s value to their consumer base.
They accomplish this by examining recent customer purchase histories and determining recent trends. This helps them to find out which products are selling and which ones are not. For people to succeed as buyers, they must have excellent analytic and mathematical skills, because they will be conducting a great deal of research and comparison shopping.
There is much more to marketing than just advertising and selling products. Marketing includes all the fields that help create products and advertising that will spark interest in consumers. While this can be quite a challenging field, it can be extremely exciting and rewarding as well. There are many different job opportunities available for people with marketing degrees, and the options listed here are the most popular today.