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Marketing Today

Marketing is perhaps the most important activity in a business because it has a direct effect on profitability and sales. Larger businesses will dedicate specific staff and departments for the purpose of marketing.
It is important to realise that marketing cannot be carried out in isolation from the rest of the business. For example:
The marketing section of a business needs to work closely with operations, research and development, finance and human resources to check their plans are possible.
Operations will need to use sales forecasts produced by the marketing department to plan their production schedules.
Sales forecasts will also be an important part of the budgets produced by the finance department, as well as the deployment of labour for the human resources department.
A research and development department will need to work very closely with the marketing department to understand the needs of the customers and to test outputs of the R&D section.
Careers in Marketing
Market Research
Market Analyst
Product Manager
Product Development Manager
Advertising Manager
Media Director/Coordinator

Mentor Interview

Discussion with: Carolyn Martin
Date: October 26, 2010
Job Title: VP marketing in new product development


Marketplace
What are your projections for this type of work or industry? Is it stable, growing, declining?

I would say that it is stable.  It is a facet of a companies product.  A lot of retailers are developing their own product development.

What are the key trends or issues? New developments? Key challenges?
Economic challenges I think are affecting everybody.  They are training down on the products.  Another thing that is challenging, now that retailers have their own in house developments, national retailers aren’t very big anymore.  A lot of the products come from the retailer and not the maunfactuer 

What and where are the opportunities?
For us in as a company, we look at growth we look internationally   WE have a large market in domestic share, and we are going into new markets with the same product line.  We are also focusing on trying to bring innovations 
We are a marketer product company and also the manufacturer.  So for us we are where people go is to us for everything.

What are typical salaries in this type of job, entry-level to experienced? What are the opportunities for career growth?
Right out of college probably about 40,000 - 45,000. I run the product development teams and the engineering.  As you get more of a product manager probably around 60-80 and as a senior -100 and a director level you would max out at 120,000.  There is a huge spectrum there and how much experience is dependant.  It also depends on how successful they are also.

Entry into Position
When and how did you get involved in this work?

I have been doing this for 15 years.  After I got out of college I started in sales with Black and Decker.  After a few years of sales, I got pulled into the marketing side of things.

What was your training and background? Is this typical for people in your position and in similar positions?
My background, I studied marketing at University of Maryland.  I got a business degree wiht an emphasis in marketing.  Over time I continued taking additional classes.  Those were either with the company or other classes that I would seek out myself.  I think it comes with the bigger companies.  I am in a smaller and more private company.  It is more limited here.  More training becomes more inherent as you are in a bigger company.

How important are specific credentials for entry or success?
As I look at it, if you go into marketing with a business degree.  I would say that you need a college degree and if you don’t have that, you probably won’t get past the gatekeepers.  For more private companies, you might not need that but it is a much slower path.  The education also gives you a better foundation for more success overtime.

Job Specifics
What’s a typical day like for you or someone in a similar position?

Its different all the time.  I could be doing anything from reviewing pricing for a customer, working with a brainstorming session, putting planning in place and showing that to my team to see where we want to go, recruiting.  Its a pretty broad range of what I am able to do each day..  I think that is what I enjoy so much.  Its not the same.  Today I am working on legal aspect putting patents on products.  I also get to travel.  I make at least 2 trips to china each year.

What do you like most about your work?
I like that every day is different.  It doesn’t get boring.  I don’t know what is going to necessarily happen when I go into the office.  How you can also bring a competitive advantage to other companies.  I also have my hands kind of in everything.

What do you like least?
Doing expense reports.  More of the administration things.  It is a very small portion of what I do.  Its a lot harder in a smaller company to recruit talent.  

What talents or skills do you think are the most crucial to success in this work?
Definitely a strong financial background.  Understanding how to run the financial aspect of a business and know how to do a P and L.  Also the fundamentals.  Everything is changing every day, you have to be organized.

What attitudes or values are important?
Leadership and team work are two critical traits of a worker.  You have to be open and apart of everything.  The closer you can work with your team, you will be more successful over time.  Also having the attitude that it is possible

Who doesn’t do well in this type of work?
You can’t be told what you need to do.  You can’t be task driven.  You  need to be proactive and how you can bring different practices to your company.

How do you advance or get promoted in this type of work?
As far as promotions are concerned, it is based on results.  How do you manage your business to bring more productivity.  If you are able to do that, that is definitely the thing that takes you to the next level.

Recommendations
Would my background be appropriate for this type of work?

Yeah I have definitely hired people with Finance background.  A business aspect is the important.  The concentration in the computer might not help you too much, but anything that you have is something that you can build on.

What would you recommend I do if I want to go into this type of work?
Having a Marketing background would be a quicker enterance in.  Another way is through sales and if you went and did sales you can make it into marketing faster also.

Knowing what you do now, would you approach this career (or job) in the same way? If not, what would you do differently, and why?
Absolutely.  I have 0 regrets.  I have thought about getting my MBA and found that it doesn’t require that.  My experience has gotten me to where I am and where I want to go.
Key Marketing Terms:

Target Market - Particular market segment at which a marketing campaign is focused.

Product Mix - Range of associated products which yield larger sales revenue when marketed together than if they are marketed individually or in isolation of others.

Promotion Mix - Specific combination of promotional methods such as print or broadcast advertising, direct marketing, personal selling, point of sale display, merchandising, etc., used for one product or a family of products.

Segmentation - Subdivision of a population into segments with similar characteristics, such as age, education, income.

Positioning - Marketing strategy that aims to make a brand occupy a distinct 'position,' relative to the competing brands, in the mind of the customer. 

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) - Synergistic approach to achieving the objectives of a marketing campaign, through a well coordinated use of different promotional methods.

Price Skimming - Approach under which a producer sets a high price for a new high-end product (such as an expensive perfume) or a uniquely differentiated technical product (such as one-of-a-kind software or a very advanced computer). Its objective is to 'skim' maximum revenue from the market before substitutes products appear. 

Brand Equity - Brand's power derived from the goodwill and name recognition it has earned over time, and which translates into higher sales volume and higher profit margins against competing brands.

References:
http://marketing.about.com/od/exploremarketingcareers/l/aa052103a.htm
http://www.businessdictionary.com/