Introduction
Career choice will affect not only the income and lifestyle, but it will also have significant impact on happiness and self-expression. The labor market is characterized by stringent operating conditions, where there is intense competition between those who want to get the most “profitable” jobs along with the intensity of information flows and the large number of employers. In such circumstances, achieving career goals is impossible without timely developed strategic plan, which is particularly important at the initial stage of the search for “niche market” for the use of professional abilities.
Even if my career is not connected with Marketing, I still will benefit from marketing planning of a career, which is similar to the planning of marketing activities in the business: at first, goals and objectives are defined, and then – the characteristics of proposals, or “product” (professional knowledge and skills, work experience, and others). Then companies, attractive to the individual and which may need his abilities, should be examined. In other words, potential markets of professional knowledge and skills are defined. The study of “consumers” will help to learn more about the needs of employers and will set those markets, where the person can compete, etc. Then a “strategy for market penetration” should be elaborated and, in the end, a tactical action plan, which implementation is required to become a “prominent figure”, will be created, namely to develop and sell the “brand” and to negotiate and “bargain”.
Opinion about Career in Marketing
In modern world, skilled employees in the field of marketing are becoming more popular. But the career path of the marketer and functions that he/she performs largely define the scope of the employer’s activities. The greatest opportunities for building a career in marketing are offered by FMCG-companies.
Marketing research is incredibly interesting for professional life. Demand for marketers in the labor market is quite high. The demand for marketing professionals is constantly growing and soon the situation will not change. Marketer is a specialist, who always has to think about competitors, which stimulate the creative imagination and the business activity of a marketing specialist. Career prospects of getting into the top managers of the company or becoming a shareholder are opened for the marketer.
Career development usually starts from a position of assistant to marketer, then the person is applied for the position of a marketing researcher (or a marketing analyst), Head, and, finally, Marketing Director. Experience in the marketing department is priceless because the person will get universal knowledge of sales techniques and business practices. Thanks to the flexibility and open-mindedness the marketer has the potential to become the head of the company or start own business.
Speed career in marketing depends largely on personal characteristics, abilities and achievements of the employee. Excellent logical, communication and managerial skills, activity, initiative and creativity are important skills needed to build a successful career in marketing.
Marketing is characterized by the diversity of specializations. Therefore, this profession requires skills aimed at coping with the large amounts of abstract, symbolic (charts, tables, graphs), text information retrieval and analysis are necessary. Attentiveness, consistency and magnitude of thinking, the ability to use a computer and the Internet are also very important. Necessary competences depend on the particular field of marketing. For example, in advertising, PR and sales communication presentation skills play a very important role, while analytical and research marketing require technical skills. However, it is worth noting that people must have professional qualities inherent in a particular field of activity for any marketing business.
Main areas of responsibilities in marketing include:
1. Planning. The marketer participates in the process of short-term and long-term business planning, setting goals for distribution, as well as managing projects on market analysis in order to obtain the information necessary to make strategic business decisions.
2. Interaction with suppliers. He / she monitors the implementation of commitments to key partners in the field of market research, tracking actual costs associated with conducting market research in order to comply with the annual budget. Also the marketer is involved in the preparation of the budget for using costs next year.
3. Reporting. Based on the data the marketer prepares reports and analytical information about the development of the market, the company’s position on it, the possible ways of its development. He/she develops methods and formats of special internal and external investigations.
4. Studies of consumer preferences. As part of the annual plan and budget for marketing research the marketer conducts studies of consumer preferences.
5. Planning and analysis of promotions. Based on the data reports on the effectiveness of marketing activities in order to increase the effectiveness future promotions are prepared and submitted. This person takes part in their planning.
6. Monitoring of external sources of information, which means monitoring of public information sources, media and specialized websites, work with official sources to gather information on the alternative branch, activities of competitors.
Marketing for Career Development
The pattern of use of marketing tools for career planning includes the following main elements: marketing assessment of the individual potential, career SWOT-analysis, goal-setting and operational marketing.
Marketing assessment of the individual potential is the first and one of the most important steps toward building a career. It includes a study of own set of personal characteristics of the individual (personality type, cultural and behavioral attitudes, values and interests), which are determined on the basis of so-called “career anchors”, namely what and why a person wants to get in the end of the professional development of his/her careers. An analysis of one of the four “Ps” of the marketing mix – Product – is like an analogue with the development of a marketing plan in the business. Everyone has their own set of “anchors”, singling out priorities with one or two landmarks, which “set tone” of the overall strategy of building a career. When people are aware of the factors that influence or in this case “attach” them to a particular career path, it is possible to implement the most effective search for meaningful work for them. This process contributes to the mission statement of their professional activities.
The determination of specific goals while planning a career through marketing tools means the preparation of a detailed analysis of the internal and external components, namely the strengths and weaknesses of the individual as a professional, as well as opportunities and threats in the labor market. A SWOT-analysis is pooled analysis of these factors. This analysis includes the internal environment (identification of professional strengths and weaknesses, which a person has), competitive environment analysis and identification of key success factors (KSF) and analysis of the external environment (a study of the opportunities and threats that exist in the labor market; choice of target audience).
When making career decisions, it is important to take into account compliance with selected areas of professional development of the real conditions of life. Consideration of the external environment allows analyzing the current state of the labor market, employment trends at the local level and / or in the world, the dynamics of the development of certain areas of activity, as well as choosing specific potential employers, aiming at which it will be possible to implement further measures to “promote”.
Given the study of internal and external environment, it is possible to formulate specific career goals that will provide in the future with a high degree of job satisfaction. Goal-setting process begins with a review of the long term goals, since they determine the degree of satisfaction of a person throughout life’s journey. Obviously, it is impossible to uniquely pre-determine its future activities Nevertheless, professional orientation with a flexible approach to the intermediate stage career will allow more effective and targeted intervention in the implementation of the plans. In each of the above levels the establishment of career goals, as well as any other, must be based on the SMART principle.
Further plan of action to implement the goals is based on operational marketing. It is complex “marketing mix”, consisting in this case of the other three “Ps”: Price, Promotion and Place (distribution channels). This step is a selection of tasks for a certain period of time, the solution of which will result in achievement of short-term career goals. It should take into account the need to maintain a balance of time devoted to other spheres of human life (personal, social).
Thus, career planning for each person is a personal, unique process, and therefore it is impossible to describe the general scheme of the entire set of procedures carried out at the same time. In addition, the market “consumers’” skills so vary that each individual segment will match its modified form of planning.
Career in Marketing: Personal Opportunities
I have examined different qualities of the marketer and can say that I liked this profession. Concerning my skills I can name the following, which are very suitable for the career in marketing:
- Attentiveness. One inaccuracy can incorrectly reflect all data, which is why mis-constructed concept appears and the production will go to a loss.
- Sociability. Not only figures from the warehouses are important, but also from distributors and retail outlets. The person must be able to negotiate so as to always be aware of the level of sales as a product and brand competitors. This quality is necessary in the organization of interviewers’ work
- Compliance with the pressures. The work involves a lot of communication and a lot of responsibilities. Therefore, there should be no tears at the slightest increase in votes.
- Creativity and the ability to generate ideas. This is one of the most important qualities. Marketer, based on market trends, should provide recommendations for further promotion.
Also I enjoy studying the main factors shaping the dynamics of consumer demand for products, supply and demand for similar types of products, technical and other consumer qualities of competing products. Marketing research related to the study of market segmentation, analysis of pricing and consumer preferences, sales forecast and sales channels, the opening of new markets, assessing the effectiveness of advertising activities of competitors are very attractive activities for me, which help to understand the perspectives of the company in the market.
Useful about Marketing
The main objective of marketing is to create additional value of the product and the company itself on the basis of available resources because of their proper organization and through the use of marketing tools. The main resource is time. Lost time equals lost profits. Marketing reduces the time used to develop and implement the product.
Marketer estimates which products will be in demand and why, suggests ways to promote a new product or sales opportunity with existing, collects and analyzes statistical information, evaluates the actions of competitors, and so on. However, the functional responsibilities of marketers differ depending on industry and the company they work for.
In the era of Internet I would like to concentrate my efforts on mastering Internet-marketing skills. Effective use of Internet marketing tools provides a competitive advantage for any modern business. The fundamental principles of Internet marketing do not differ from traditional marketing – the product is at the head of all, it acts as a business entity, but as an object of Internet marketing serves an abstract concept to meet the needs. The whole point and purpose of Internet marketing are in three basic economic questions: Based on the level of demand and current market conditions what product or service should be sold (produced)? What strategy should be used to obtain the maximum profit in the segment? How to attract the maximum possible number of potential customers?
One of the features of Internet marketing is the fact that the site itself is the subject of marketing, that is, acts as a product. This is a somewhat abstract concept, but it is also very important to consider it. Website promotion, marketing, promotion of the network are also the promotion of the product. Popular site can be profitable even without any products or services sold. At its core, the site sells itself, or rather its high position in the search results.
Feature of Internet marketing is the use of specific business models. Specificity of the model is based on the specifics of the Internet space, which opens up opportunities for statistical generalization of information. The two top-selling marketing models are models of B2B and B2C. There are other models, but they are less popular than these two. The effectiveness of Internet marketing is directly dependent on the quality of the Internet connection for the visitors.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that marketers are tactics. Leaders see the big picture of the business. Specialists in advertising are able to present a good product on TV, for example. Marketers are those, who joined the overall development strategy of the company with the ability to present well goods. Often it turns out that the focus of consciousness of business executive is the product itself, which the company produces, the focus of the advertisement is a particular movie or layout of poster board. And only marketer in this whole system does not forget about the consumer, the customer, who brings a matter of fact, all business profits.
Marketer’s task is based on the market situation, the overall business strategy (which will prompt executives, strategists), needs and wishes of the client, the nature of the goods or services produced by the company to formulate precise problem for advertisers – that is to advertise, to whom, how and when.
Marketer is the one, who deploys company to face with the customer, as it should, in fact, be. And often it is not so. For example, when the big boss “born” out of production, it often happens that the decisions about the production of certain products are taken, not really paying attention at first on how they would later be sold.
References
Lake, L. (n. d.). Exploring Careers in Marketing: Is a Career in Marketing Right for You? Retrieved from http://marketing.about.com/cs/marketingjobs/a/careers.htm
Parker, T. (n. d.). A Career Guide For Marketing Majors. Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/articles/financialcareers/11/marketing-careers.asp
The Editors (2012). Career Overview: Marketing. Retrieved December 3, 2012, from http://www.wetfeet.com/articles/career-overview-marketing
