Careers in Marketing: A Path for Creative and Driven Individuals

Udemy Editor

Marketing is a really fascinating industry – while it is defined as the “business of promoting and selling products or services,” most marketing jobs are specialized and relies on a professional’s ability to match perception of the market with achievable plans of action. Careers in marketing range widely from art directors to researchers, but what they have in common, is that they are spectacular middle-men and women putting an image to a product and making people want it. Businesses, small and large, need essential marketing strategic plans to succeed. Marketing is an ever-fluid way of getting a product or service to a consumer through trends, best practices, and sheer creativity in an ever-changing world. Best for self-starters who can manage multiple tasks, a career in marketing can be demanding, but the field is tremendously rewarding and great career path for creative and driven individuals.To reiterate the different personalities of different marketing fields, let’s take a general look at them. People that work in advertising and marketing are the most common blend because it mixes business and creativity. When it gets into managing a brand, brand managers and product managers are more business-oriented than copywriters and art directors, which are more creative. If creativity is what you’re great at, try this marketing course designed for creative professionals including graphic designers, photographers, and writers. These positions can be found at agencies that provide marketing and advertising services to multiple businesses or at a larger company that has its own department dedicated to this area.

Before we move on to the different career tracks in marketing, what exactly does a marketing professional do? Depending upon your chosen career path, people in marketing engage in a wide variety of job responsibilities, including:

Negotiating contracts with vendors and clients, advertising media, or products to be advertised.
Research, strategize, and plan out advertising campaigns.
Decide which media to advertise in, such as radio, television, print, online, and billboards, and then schedule these appearances.
Create and inspect creative elements and layouts.
Organize market research studies and analyze their findings.
Develop pricing strategies for products to be marketed within the client’s budget.
Meet with clients to present campaigns and offer advice and strategies.
Oversee staff and ensure deadlines are met.

Understand how to mix all these tasks with current trends and how to use your market position to create a successful marketing strategy with this course that breaks it down for you. Now let’s look more in-depth at five marketing tracks: advertising, brand management, market research, public relations, and digital marketing management.

Careers in Advertising

Advertising is the money beast of the marketing industry. In advertising, you will work with all aspects of marketing from strategy to concept to the execution of the strategy. This involves a wonderful blend of creative and business, as there are the groups that come up with creative concepts and interface with designers/film producers/creative agencies, and the groups that execute the business side of advertising that deal with the contracts, scheduling, and planning. Career tracks include advertising managers, sales directors, account executives, account coordinators, media directors, media coordinators, and media buyers.

Careers in Brand Management

If advertising is the King of marketing, brand management would most definitely be the sibling next-in-line to the throne. Brand management is the most important element of the consumer products industry. These people are often referred to as small business owners because they take on the responsibility for a brand or brand family and make it their own. They are always focused on the bigger picture of making that product grow into more markets and territories. They identify what sets their product apart, map out their competitors in their brand’s category, identify marketing opportunities, and be able to effectively communicate the unique benefits of that product or service. Positions include brand managers, product managers, and product development managers.

Careers in Market Research

Market researchers are pros are creating reports and industry analysis on products, markets, companies, industries, and countries worldwide. This involves researching the intended target group, whether that’s companies or individuals, and reporting back the findings in detailed reports. In order for a company to capture a market it must first be able to understand that market. Research involves the first process of understanding the consumer, what their needs are, what their purchasing habits are, and how they view themselves in relation to the rest of the world. Careers include market research directors, managers, supervisors, and analysts. Try your hand at market research today with this practical step by step guide to marketing information and research.

Careers in Public Relations

These are the people you usually see, hear, or read the releases of. Public relations individuals and departments manage the communication with the media, consumers, employees, investors, and the general public. They are considered the spokespeople for the company. They will often write press releases to promote new products or to keep the investment community informed of business partnerships, financial results, or other company news. If they are based out of media relations they will spend their time responding to information requests from journalist or pitch stories to the media. Careers in public relations include PR specialists, PR Directors, Corporate Communications managers, publicists for books/films/products, and press secretaries.

Careers in Digital Marketing Management

Digital Marketing is a relatively newer position that was born from a vast online consumer presence. Digital marketing managers manage the digital, online elements of the marketing mix, integrates with offline elements such as print and PR, to set a strategic plan for the company. They also work with other departments within a company such as sales, HR, and customer service to ensure the implementation of the marketing plan is coordinated, aligned, consistent and meets business objectives. A rapidly increasing field, try this guide to secrets of mastering the digital field to be an effective digital marketing manager.

If you’re a small business, you will need to incorporate all these roles together. Try this acclaimed course on small business marketing basics today to get your business flying off the ground!