Careers in Marketing
| Author | Randy Joyner |
| Pages | 99-102 |
Page 99
Is a career in marketing for you? To be successful in a marketing career, an individual must have good communication, critical thinking, and people skills. In addition to these skills, a majority of individuals employed in marketing-related occupations possess excellent time-management skills, the ability to work with a wide variety of people, and a capacity for self-motivation. These individuals must be able to establish timelines, goals, and objectives and adhere to them.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of individuals who earn a living in marketing related careers: advertising, sales, or public relations has increased rapidly. In 2005 almost one-third of all U.S. workers were employed in marketing-related positions, and marketing principles were being applied to more and more business and nonbusiness organizations—service firms, nonprofit institutions, political candidates, and so forth. Therefore, a high demand for individuals with marketing training was emerging as a critical criterion for employment in the twenty-first century. Two major explanations have been offered for the continuously increasing demand for marketing skills: deregulation of major industries (banking, telecommunications, and transportation) and increased foreign competition.
Considering the increased role of marketing in the U.S. economy, members of the twenty-first-century workforce need to be familiar with the major marketing-related occupations. According to Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong, in 2006, the major marketing occupations are: (1) advertising, (2) brand and product management, (3) industrial marketing, (4) international marketing, (5) marketing research, (6) new-product planning, (7) physical distribution/distribution management, (8) public relations, (9) retail marketing, and (10) sales and sales promotion marketing. A discussion of each of these major marketing occupations follows.
Advertising is a vital business activity that requires planning skills, fact-gathering ability, creativity, artistic talent, and written and oral communication skills. Individuals who are employed in advertising typically perform the following tasks:
Search for factual information
Read avidly
Borrow ideas
Talk to customers
Develop print layouts, package designs, storyboards, corporate logotypes, trademarks, and symbols
Specify style and size of typography
Arrange advertisement details for reproduction
Thus, advertising involves all components of marketing—product, price, promotion, and place. Because all the above tasks require working with people who are clients or potential clients, an individual must be personable, diplomatic, and sincere. Further, to succeed in advertising, a person needs to be self-motivated and able to present information about a product to varying audiences.
Individuals involved in brand and product management (BPM) are planners, directors, and controllers of the positioning of consumer packaged goods for sale in a dramatically
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Table 1
Career opportunities for which a marketing background is well suited
| Career opportunities for which a marketing background is well suited |
| Advertising Specialist Brand Manager Business to Business Sales Customer Service Distribution Specialist Industrial Sales International Sales Marketing Manager Marketing Research Analyst Merchandise Manager Product Manager Product Planning Promotion Manager Public Relations Manager Public Relations Specialist Purchasing Agent Purchasing Manager Receiving Specialist |
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