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Marketing Careers
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Promotion
And Advertising
| Marketing Research | Retailing
| Brand Management | Professional Selling
And Sales Management | Physical Distribution
| International Marketing
The marketing major
provides a strong educational background for a variety of career options in
marketing and in general management. Since customer satisfaction is the lifeblood
of an organization, marketing is one of the most sought-after majors in the
country. As a link between the organization and customers, marketing personnel
have many fascinating opportunities. A number of specific entry level positions
for marketing majors are described below. These call for both creativity and
analytical skills.
Beyond the above
descriptions, it merits note that the marketing major is well prepared for general
management possibilities. First, working with employees and others throughout
the organization represents marketing activities internal to the organization.
Second, the marketing courses build knowledge of management concepts by broadly
focusing on “managing ” promotion, sales, distribution, etc. Third, marketing
positions are highly visible to executives at higher levels in the organization
and serve as primary stepping stones to advancement.
As a final point,
marketing activities can be found in every organization including private, governmental,
and not-for-profit. As examples, consider opportunities for marketing positions
with museums, hospitals, sports arenas, fine arts groups, chambers of commerce,
charitable organizations, universities, political office holders, and others.
All provide you the chance to apply your skills in providing customer (buyer,
donor, attendee, patient, voter, etc.) satisfaction.
Why don’t you discuss
your interests and unique skills with your marketing advisor. He or she can
help you develop a curriculum that best prepares you for an exciting and rewarding
career. Then, your advisor can assist you in the job search process. For all
of the career options, it is important that you develop leadership skills and
gain business experience. Begin immediately to become involved in campus organizations
and volunteer for both service and leadership roles. Also, search for summer
jobs, internships, and summer abroad opportunities to broaden your perspective.
PROMOTION
AND ADVERTISING
To many, the
term marketing is synonymous with advertising and promotion since that is
what is most often seen by the consumer. There are approximately 3000 advertising
establishments in the United States employing about than 100,000 people. Many
more peopoe are involved in advertising as part of their jobs as product managers,
retail manager, or account managers. What are the kinds of professional careers
you might find in an advertising corporation? Although the degree of specialization
varies, there are four major types of advertising jobs. They are: 1. Planning
and coordination by client service people 2. Creative development and execution
of individual advertisements by writers and artists 3. Choosing of the channels
of communication or media that will carry or distribute the advertising messages
4. Research to supply the data to help carry out the functions in other areas
With the exception of creative work, most jobs in advertising can be filled
by marketing majors. Many large companies have advertising departments with
advertising managers who prepare strategy, advertising campaigns, or work
with their advertising agency. In many small companies advertising campaigns
are developed and implemented by marketing managers who have this knowledge
in addition to their other primary responsiblities. You may also want to note
the possiblity of taking electives in the Journalism Broadcast school. The
opportunities for a career in the advertising field are certainly there. Perseverance
and dedication on your part are all that are required to be successful in
this area.
MARKETING
RESEARCH
Marketing research
is the systematic gathering, recording, analyzing of data about problems relating
to the marketing of goods and services. Such research may be undertaken by
agencies, by business firms for their agents, or by the business organizations
for their own needs. Marketing research is becoming increasingly demanded
by companies today. As the requirements for timeliness and precision increase
due to competition, the need for quality marketing research to provide that
timeliness and precision grows. Various areas of marketing research include:
1. Market analysis, which is the study of the size, location, nature and characteristics
of markets 2. Site location, which is the analysis of potential places for
retail outlets 3. Consumer research, which is concerned with the discovery
and analysis of consumer attitudes, reactions and preferences 4. Advertising
research, which is carried on as an aid to management of advertising 5. Operations
research, which develops decision models for the marketing manager 6. Sales
analysis and forecasting for industrial firms Marketing research is an excellent
way to be trained for a marketing career in other phases of marketing. Exposure
to the problems of the sales, advertising, sales promotion, product and brand
management as well as direct contact with top marketing and other management
people in the organization gives you as a researcher insight into the types
of work involved in the specialized fields of marketing. Entry into the marketing
research field usually requires stronger statistical and research methodology
background than normally obtained as an undergraduate marketing major. However,
if you are interested in this area, special interest option classes can be
taken to better prepare you for a career in marketing research. The growth
in information systems and small business computers is causing more opportunities
in this area.
RETAILING
Retailing is
an exciting and dynamic field, offering a variety of positions in retail stores.
The very number and diversity of retail establishments throughout the country
allow for more opportunities for entry into this field than many other career
fields. Careers can follow either an operations (store management) track or
buying track. In today's retailing industry, new products are constantly entering
the market and consumers are more discriminating in their choices. Quality
retailers who can provide the appropriate products are in great demand. They
must be sensitive to the changes that are currently evolving and quick to
modify their assortments of products to match the current changes in the living
and thinking habits of consumers. In the small retail outlets, the individual
can quickly become the manager of a profit center (department) with sales
in the millions. One advantage for many retail executives is the opportunity
to travel. As a buyer in your retail department, you often take periodic trips
to the major market centers such as New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago,
or other fashion and product outlets. The excitement, the sense of accomplishment,
and the closeness to the consumer make the retailer feel in touch with the
very pulse of America.
BRAND
MANAGEMENT
The brand manager
has at times been described as a "general manager" with the broad responsibility
for the marketing success of the brand or brands assigned to him or her. While
this might seem a bit exaggerated, the brand manager, nevertheless, fulfills
a critical middle management function in the marketing structure of the company.
Consumer product manufacturers have been the most common adopters of the brand
management system. Their need to give each of their wide variety of products
individual marketing attention has led many of them to adopt this philosophy
of management. As a brand manager, you, in effect, serve as the marketing
specialist for one or more brands. Overall, it is your task to see that these
brands are profitable. Specifically, you have to carefully plan all activities
influencing the success of your brands, including advertising, sales promotion,
packaging, development of new products, and distribution. In doing this, you
must compete with other brand managers in the company for the budget dollars
controlled by the functional area specialists in advertising, retailing, distribution,
etc. There is no single road to brand management. Some brand managers come
from the sales department ranks, others have previous advertising or marketing
research experience. Experience in any of the marketing areas, however, helps
and this is where the MBA student is well qualified. The brand manager career
for an undergraduate student should be viewed as a long run objective rather
than as an entry-level position.
PROFESSIONAL
SELLING AND SALES MANAGEMENT
The majority
of personal selling positions are conducted on a business to business basis,
require a mastery of marketing skills, demand very little overnight travel
and necessitate the highest in business and professional standards. Many career
opportunities with many companies begin in a sales position. Such firms have
discovered that sales positions are the best place for future executives to
learn the company's products, applications, customers and competitors. Therefore,
many students find that accepting a management position with many companies
means taking a sales position, regardless of undergraduate training. Because
of this fact, marketing students often excel in these entry-level positions
and are rapidly advanced into sales management and then into corporate management.
In addition to being required to start in sales by management, many others
reasons exist to decide on a sales career. First, salaries for sales positions
are very high. Starting salaries are generally comparable to many other functional
areas of business and raises come very rapidly after training. While performance
driven (commission) salaries often terrify the novice, many seasoned salespeople
strongly prefer salaries with an incentive factor. The primary reason is that
compensation tends to be unlimited with such pay plans. Second, sales is an
important job. The old adage "nothing happens until the sale is made" is true.
The livelihood of many people depends directly on the performance of the salesperson.
In a sales position you will have more responsibility, authority and importance
than most other individuals at your level in your organization. Third, sales
people generally have a great deal of freedom and discretion in how they conduct
their jobs. Industrial salespeople, in particular, are often given a geographical
territory for which they have total profit responsibility. How the company's
products are promoted, distributed, and sold are the direct responsibility
of the salesperson. In fact, most sales positions are actually marketing positions,
as a salesperson's job requires far more skill than the ability to sell. Fourth,
salespeople generally have a great deal more mobility than individuals in
other professions. Well-trained, experienced salespeople are in tremendous
demand, allowing many sales people to be very selective where they work. Many
companies actively recruit sales and management personnel from inside another
firm's sales force. Also because a salesperson interacts with representatives
from many companies, many career opportunities are made available to salespeople
than would be to individuals who stay inside the organization. Turnover rates
in sales forces are high, not because sales is a lousy job (as if often thought),
but because the individuals are often in high demand, both inside and outside
the organization. Sales is such an important topic to marketing students that
two courses are offered. A professional selling course provides students with
"hands on" training in the process of selling. A sales management course addresses
the control and development of sales forces.
PHYSICAL DISTRIBUTION
Jobs in physical
distribution require somewhat more of an emphasis on detail operations of
the firms than other marketing areas. As a traffic manager in physical distribution,
your responsibility includes insuring that the right products are at the right
place at the right time while maintaining good control over costs. This means
balancing costs and goals in such areas as warehousing, transportation, inventory
management, and customer service. The need for people in this area is increasing
rapidly as companies try to minimize cost while at the same time maintain
objectives of customer service. Many recruiters have mentioned that they have
had difficulty finding qualified people for this career area. This is an area
where the computer revolution is making significant contributions. Many of
the functions of physical distribution are particularly amenable to computerization,
but it requires qualified people to oversee the operations. Marketing majors
with emphasis in Management Science or Computer Systems should be particularly
attractive to recruiters in this area.
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The Department of Marketing | 312A Spears School of Business | Oklahoma State University | Stillwater, OK 74078 USA
E-mail: mktg@okstate.edu | Telephone: (405) 744-5192 | Web: spears.okstate.edu/marketing | Copyright 2004. All rights reserved.
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