Industry Profile: Marketing

A marketing degree is valuable because there are an infinite number of products on the market and in development that need to be appropriately packaged, promoted, and sold to consumers. However, determining that marketing is the right career path for you is only the first decision you'll have to make. Many people don't realize that there are several specialties within the marketing field to choose from.

Once you get your degree, you'll need to decide which aspect of marketing you want to focus on. Some of your options include:

ADVERTISING

• Involves planning, fact-gathering, and creativity
• Involves all aspects of marketing
• Opportunities for advancement are usually greater here than in other fields because age and level of experience is less important

NEED: people skills, presentation skills, self-motivation, creativity

BRAND MANAGEMENT

• In most consumer goods companies and some industrial goods companies, each brand or product within that company is operated as a separate business
• Within this type of company, the brand group members are the only ones who deal with all aspects of the company's business
• Involves planning, developing, and directing marketing efforts

NEED: result-orientation; creativity; strong interpersonal, communication, and analytical skills; entrepreneurial leanings

DIRECT RESPONSE MARKETING

• From marketer directly to consumer
• Fastest growing marketing channel in U.S.-it is expected to double in sales volume over the next four years

NEED: creativity, drive, perseverance, quantitative competence

BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETING

• Industrial marketing involves the planning, sale, and service of products used for commercial or business purposes
• Involves getting products for your client from one of several acceptable suppliers
• Based on customer requirements you will propose the purchase of the product that best fits the customer's needs, which means acting like a consultant to the buyers to help them determine the most suitable products

NEED: to develop and maintain continuing relationships between supplier, customer, and yourself; energy; self-motivation; an interest in products and customers; good basic work habits; human relations skills; ability to acquire product and industry knowledge

SALES & SALES MANAGEMENT

• Deal with market directly and personally since you actually see the consumers that you influence
• Deal with wide range of people in both employing and client organizations in an effort to understand client needs
• Personal selling involves persuasive two-way communication with potential buyers
• Involves understanding buyers' wants and desires, matching them with the organizations' products, and explaining advantages and disadvantages of a particular purchase by a given customer

NEED: to enjoy people, get along well with them, know products you represent, believe in those products, high motivation, good organizational skills

INTERNATIONAL MARKETING

• Opportunities in international marketing arise because of a wide variety of social, economic, and political conditions confronting the industry; they are based on the responsibility that decentralized decision-making and greater distances from headquarters usually entail
• Domestic sales position with international firm may be the best first step towards and international career
• Consists of research, planning, coordinating activities

NEED: fluency in appropriate language, long-term residence in another trading partner country (useful, not necessary)

MARKETING RESEARCH

• Provide management with information needed for decision-making about consumers, market environment, and competition
• Involves formulating problems and identifying information needed to solve it; designing research project and data collection methods; data tabulation; analysis; report preparation; presentation of findings to management

NEED: strong analytical, methodological, and communications skills

NEW PRODUCT PLANNING

• Determine how to plan and implement new products and services
• Opportunities in marketing consumer products, consumer services, hospital and medical services, and public service programs
• Involves understanding market research, sales forecasting, and promotional planning

NEED: combination of creative and analytical talents, ability to conceptualize new ideas, research new ideas, evaluate new ideas objectively for market and financial standpoint, high degree of tolerance for uncertainty (it's an ever-changing market)

SERVICES MARKETING

• Much of the economy's vigorous growth is occurring within the service sector (including banking and financial service institutions, health care organizations, leisure oriented businesses, etc.)
• Consists of coordinating the activities of specialists in sales management, advertising, promotion, and market research to sell intangible (compared to packaged goods) products

NEED: strong motivation, tenacity, a healthy competitiveness, strong analytical and communication skills, leadership ability, comfort in dealing with product attributes and issues that are hard to observe and classify

Source: http://www.calpoly.edu/ulib/mktg/public_html/career-ads.html