What is marketing?
Marketing encompasses all the activities and processes that meet customers' needs, at the right price, time and place. The official definition from The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) is 'Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.'
Marketing is implemented through a marketing plan, which starts with the setting of objectives. These will support the overall aims of the business. Next, a company needs to decide how the objectives will be achieved - the strategy. CIM's official definition of Marketing Strategy is 'The set of objectives which an organisation allocates to its marketing function in order to support the overall corporate strategy, together with the broad methods chosen to achieve these objectives.
The strategy takes into account any research, product or service development, how the product or service will reach the market (channels) and how the customers will find out (communication). It will also attempt to define a unique positioning for the product or business to differentiate from competitors.
The strategy is implemented through the Marketing Mix. This traditionally includes the four Ps:
- Product (or service): getting the product right is essential. Product development and management involve design, testing with potential customers and product launching.
- Price: pricing must be in line with how customers value your product or service.
- Place: getting distribution right means fulfilling customer expectations at the right profit margin.
- Promotion: communicating with customers includes corporate identity, branding, advertising, public relations (PR), direct marketing, sales promotion or merchandising, sales and exhibitions.
As the service economy has opened up, three further P's have been added:
- Physical Evidence: service sector 'products' are intangible (e.g. qualifications), so presentation of the physical evidence is vital to the brand identity (e.g. certificate, graduation ceremony).
- People: understanding customers by researching their personal, cultural, social and psychological profiles is essential in order to meet their needs.
- Process: how a service is delivered communicates the brand identity. For example, providing tutorials and study resources via the Internet shows the brand to be leading edge, immediate and practical.
Where are the jobs?
There is a role for marketing in almost every sector, with new opportunities opening up in the service sector such as law, finance and architecture. Posts can be found:
- In-house in organisations that provide products or services
- In agencies - integrated or specialist advertising, PR, marketing, direct marketing, web design or research agencies.
You may want a job covering all aspects of marketing, or you may want to work in a specific area: advertising, public relations, direct marketing, web design, market research.
In your first marketing role, you may gain skills in:
- Planning and using market research
- Developing communications to customers
- Developing new products and services
- Managing customer relationships and using databases
- Delivering effective customer service to achieve marketing goals
- Developing effective channels to market
Marketing as a career is competitive so the more knowledge and experience you have, the more chance you have of getting into marketing. You do not have to have a degree to get into marketing but you do need to show that you have the basic skills. You can study for a professional marketing qualification with the Chartered Institute of Marketing and some employers may sponsor you to do this. However, it is important to remember that the more qualified you are, the higher up the career ladder you can start. Therefore, most people starting a career in marketing will have a business or marketing-related degree. University prospectuses and the UCAS website will have more information about how and where you can study. If this isn't for you, you could study for a qualification such as the CIM Introductory Certificate in Marketing which is a short course for anyone who wants to acquire basic skills and knowledge in marketing.
Gaining a competitive advantage
To begin a successful career in marketing relevant work experience is extremely attractive to prospective employers. If your degree course does not include a work placement in a relevant company or position, you could approach local companies for holiday work in marketing functions.
The Chartered Institute of Marketing offers a Career Partner Scheme package for those in full-time education, school leavers and new graduates to help develop their marketing skills and knowledge. To improve knowledge further, marketing press and online resources should be taken advantage of to discover the marketing opportunities available to this market.
