7/30/2014

Assessing a Career in
Business: Marketing
Specialist

Stephanie Gallegos
BUSINESS 1010: INTRO TO BUSINESS
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Marketing specialists, also known as marketing managers, work with sales, public relations,
and product development. They use a series of methods to determine the demand for the products
or services and then identify potential markets and the pros and cons of those markets. Marketing
managers also analyze and plan pricing strategies to help organizations boost their profits and
market share while ensuring that customers are still satisfied. Overall Marketing Managers
fulfill a ton of different work duties throughout their day-to-day activities and their entire career.
Most marketing managers work with department heads or staff to discuss topics such as budgets
and contracts, marketing plans, and the selection of advertising media. Thus they also oversee
projects and day-to-day duties of those individuals within advertising or related departments. A
majority of Marketing Managers plan promotional campaigns and advertising, including which
media to advertise in, such as radio, television, print, online media, and billboards. While doing
so they will typically negotiate advertising contracts and evaluate the look and feel of websites
used in campaigns or layouts, which are sketches or plans for an advertisement. After this
evaluation process they begin to initiate market research studies and analyze their findings to
understand customer and market opportunities for businesses. They then develop pricing
strategies for products or services marketed to the target customers of a firm. Some other duties
Marketing Specialist may fulfill is meeting with clients to provide marketing or technical advice
and directing the hiring of advertising, promotions, and marketing staff.
A bachelors degree in a related field is required for most marketing management positions.
However, an individual with a MBA or some other graduate degree with related study would be
more likely to obtain a decent managing positon rather than an undergraduate. According to
Wetfeet in Careers in Marketing
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If youre aiming to become a captain of industry or a nonprofit mover and shaker, a
marketing director position is one big step in the right direction. An MBA from a well-
regarded school could be helpful in getting in the doorparticularly if there are fellow
alumni in your target organizationbut its by no means a guarantee that youll be
seriously considered as a candidate for this position. To land this job, youll need at least
eight years of experience within a particular industry, with a solid track record of
successful launches and re-launches of products and service offeringsplus the numbers
to back up your claims.
Obviously the author lays down the real life fact that a marketing management job is definitely
not an easy one to land even if you are very high achieving and youve gone to graduate school.
The job isnt necessarily impossible, but the competition is most positively continual, even after
obtaining a position.
As for work experience, individuals who acquire any career in marketing usually have at
least some work experience in marketing related fields, typically about two years. However,
most management positions actually require about a five to seven year minimum of such work
experience. For example, many managers are former sales representatives; purchasing agents;
buyers; or product, advertising, promotions, or public relations specialists In addition to work
and education experience, an employer may also consider the specific course of study acquired
with a degree. Relevant courses of study might include classes in marketing, consumer behavior,
market research, sales, communication methods technology, visual arts, art history, and
photography. An understanding of business law, management, economics, finance, computer
science, mathematics, and statistics is also very beneficial, but not usually required to obtain a
marketing management position. For example, courses in computer science are helpful in
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developing an approach to maximize traffic through online search results, which is crucial for
digital advertisements and promotions, but is also a technical skill that can be gained through
company training. In addition, completing an internship while in school is highly recommended
because it gives employers a chance to evaluate how you work with the field at hand rather than
just with the books and knowledge of it.
Although education and work experience are very important and typically required, there are
also a number of skills that together create the perfect marketing manager regardless of education
and experience. As found in a study done that was noted in, what makes a marketer?
Development of 'marketing professional identity' among marketing graduates during early career
experiences, where the author found that management did not regard marketing skills and
knowledge to constitute an important criterion when recruiting graduates, the possession by job
applicants of personal transferable skills such as initiative, assertiveness, decisiveness, and so on
were seen as a paramount. I believe this idea can be applicable to almost all jobs because no
matter what kind of education or how much education an individual has received, there is always
a list of skills that specifically fit a candidate into a career way better than any book knowledge
ever will. Thus I have decided to list a few skills that are crucial for marketers and reasons why
they are crucial. First is analytical skills because the advertising industry changes with the rise of
digital media, marketing managers must be able to analyze industry trends to determine the most
promising strategies for their organization. Second is communication skills since managers must
be able to communicate effectively with a broad-based team made up of other managers or staff
members during the marketing process. They must also be able to communicate persuasively to
the public in order to obtain and maintain good public relations. Third is creativity, because
marketing managers must be able to generate new and imaginative ideas as well as oversee
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graphic designers working within the marketing department. Fourth is decision-making skills
since managers must often choose between competing advertising and marketing strategies put
forward by staff. Fifth is interpersonal skills because these managers must deal with a range of
people in different roles, both inside and outside the organization. Last, but not least, is
organizational skills because advertising managers must manage their time and budget most
efficiently. As Lawrence Cook, director of marketing at Thesis Asset Management, advised
marketing career seekers while being interviewed by Money Marketing, Develop a sense of
self-awareness and constantly think about whether you are delivering value. Professional
qualifications will be important but they just allow you to play the game, not to win it. If you
want to win, you need to develop your personal skills and that requires an open and positive
attitude. Basically, anyone can read a book about marketing and understand the concepts, but
the ability to apply them to real life and use them to your benefit is done through gaining the
personal skills that enable you to, not just getting through graduate school.
In order to portray the requirements and expectations for marketing managers I decided to do
a job search to show the real world expectations of the career at hand. I found a good example of
the career expectations on the job search section of the American Marketing Association for a
chief marketing officer position, which sounds much fancier than marketing manager, but its
quite similar. It was difficult finding high paying marketing jobs in Utah so I had to resort to this
one, which is in Farmington Hills, Michigan. The position requires seven to ten years of related
experience and it is not an entry level position. The expected salary is $121,300- $132,500
yearly. So this position pays a little bit more than average. Its a full-time position at a local
Michigan credit union and only requires a bachelors degree, but would obviously favor a
graduate degree in a related field. The requirements for this position are very similar to what Ive
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listed in the last paragraph, but to sum it up I just wanted to show what they had posted on the
listing, Wanted: the best strategic mastermind out there to develop and lead an unmatched
marketing strategy! I feel thats the perfect sentence to sum up the work of a marketing
manager.
Since most marketing manager positions are fairly tedious the pay is on the fair side.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for advertising and
promotions managers was $88,590 in May 2012. The median wage is the wage at which half the
workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10
percent earned less than $43,270, and the top 10 percent earned more than $187,200. Sounds
great, maybe I will have a chance to sneak myself up into the top ten percent. The median annual
wage for marketing managers was $119,480 in May 2012. The lowest 10 percent earned less
than $62,650, and the top 10 percent earned more than $187,200. The Bureau of Labor Statistics
also states that in 2012, about 2 in 5 advertising and promotions managers worked more than 40
hours per week. This statistic may sound bad to many, but it isnt a big deal for me because I like
to keep busy I really enjoy tackling difficult tasks. The U.S. News and World Report claims that
job satisfaction overall is average, with the stress level above average, average flexibility, and
above average upward mobility. Another claim that sounds fine and dandy by me because above
average stress level, to me, means that I wont be quietly sitting in a cubicle eight hours a day,
for five days a week, doing the same thing over and over again. I would much prefer a
challenging position that requires me to push myself past my limits in order to complete the task
most efficiently.
According to the Bureau of Labor statistics the career outlook employment of marketing
managers is expected to grow 13 percent from 2012 to 2022, which is about as fast as the
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average for all occupations. Promotional campaigns will continue to be essential for
organizations since most companies plan to maintain and expand their share of the market.
Newspaper publishers, one of the top-employing industries of advertising and promotions
managers, are projected to decline over the projection period. The continued rise of electronic
media will result in decreasing demand for print newspapers. However, promotions managers are
expected to see employment growth in other areas, which they will be needed to plan the digital
advertisements that replace print ads as consumers continue to spend more time online. Leslie
Stair emphasizes this in her book, Careers in Marketing, when she states marketers in the
twenty-first century had better know the state-of-art computer science and keep up with all forms
of electronic and digital communications if they want to be competitive and successful. This
statement really illustrates the importance to keep up with technological advances because of the
continual changes in technology and its importance in marketing. Leslie backs up her statement
with a few statistics such as, By 2005, the number of internet users in the United States was
estimated to be 1,018,057,389, according to the World Fact Book published by the United States
Intelligence agency With the given numbers it is quite obvious that marketers ought to be
able to efficiently use the internet to reach this grand amount of potential clients. However,
current marketing managers and marketing departments in general are important to an
organizations revenue, thus are less likely to be let go than other types of managers. Instead
most companies will attempt to train current employees in computer science rather than higher a
new marketing manager with pre-existing skills, but it is still important and beneficial to already
have the skills in order boost likelihood of decent future employment. Marketing manager
positions are highly desirable and are often sought by other managers and experienced
professionals. Therefore, strong competition is expected. With Internet-based advertising
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becoming more important, advertising managers who can navigate the digital world should have
the upper hand. With such competition it would be best to seek out extra education in order to
have a better chance at getting the job. A few certificates are offered to boost a marketing degree
and like suggested before, it would be a good idea to possibly minor in a digital or computer
science field to fit best into the new type of thriving media.
Overall I believe the job outlook is fairly good and nothing too necessarily to worry. I
plan on Getting my Associates of Arts in Business, a Bachelors in Marketing with a minor in
Psychology, and then either a Masters of Business Administration if I choose this career field or
a PhD in Marketing if I decide that I would prefer to be more involved in the research portion
rather than management. The pay may not be the highest, but I believe it is fairly above average,
especially if I land a position with a well-established company. The only downfall that I believe
could cause some future struggles is the competition to get a decent job in marketing
management. Although that can be easily over come since I plan to strive for the best in my
education and I have a passion for learning new things. I also hope to participate in the learning
abroad program that they have at the University of Utah. One of the programs is a two month
internship in Paris, specifically for marketing majors. I believe that along with my current and
future work experience in marketing should also boost my probability of landing a decent job.
Business has always appealed to me mainly because of its history in my family. My
grandmother was a saleswoman and a relator and my mother was a car saleswoman. Both my
mother and grandmother had to be very strong and persistent women in order to uphold a sales
position during their time when women werent necessarily seen as the working type. Strive,
organization, and persistence are just a few of the qualities that have been running in my family
from generation to generation and they are all qualities that enabled my relatives to gain such
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prestige in their careers. Thus these pragmatic characteristics have also been embedded in my
genetics and are the cause of my interest in the business field. In addition to my interest in
business I also have a creative side, whether it be drawing, writing, building, etc. I have decided
to combine my pragmatic qualities with my creative side to find a career thats fits me best;
marketing.

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References
Advertising, Promoting, and Marketing Managers. (2014, July 30). Retrieved from Bureau of Labor
Statistics: http://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/advertising-promotions-and-marketing-
managers.htm#tab-2
Bennett, R. (2011). What makes a marketer? Development of 'marketing professional identity' among
marketing graduates during early career experiences. Journal of Marketing Management, Pages
8-27.
Business Development and Maketing Manager. (2014, July 30). Retrieved from American Marketing
Association:
http://jobs.ama.org/jobseeker/job/19047634/Business%20Development%20and%20Marketing%2
0Manager/__company__/?vnet=0&max=25
Marketing Manager: Salary. (2014, July 30). Retrieved from U.S. News and World Report: Careers:
http://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/marketing-manager/salary
My Beautiful Career. (2014, July 30). Retrieved from EBSCOhost, Business Source Premier:
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.dbprox.slcc.edu/eds/detail/detail?sid=0574ed3b-b1a1-453a-9d51-
7ec6c1aef677%40sessionmgr111&vid=23&hid=109&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#d
b=buh&AN=95318728
Stair, L. (2002). Careers in Marketing. Chicago: VGM Career Books.
WetFeet. (2014, July 30). Careers in Marketing. San Fransisco, California: WetFeet Inc. .