Full Careers

Marketing as Career?

I am currently working as a lab technician in an university and getting salary of about 30k, but Scence is not my subject so i feel stuck in here. I did my Masters in Economics in India, and I want to give my career a meaningful direction. I was thinking of taking marketing as a career as i have some experience in sales, which I didn't like i was thinkig of this career option. What is the work in marketing? Is it exciting, fun? Or is it hectic , tiring? How is the salary?? What are the personality traits required in marketing field? Please help me to deside if I should do this job or look forward to marketing career??

Public Comments

1. Well, I have a Master degree in marketing and just got offered a job in Marketing. 1) Marketing is NOT just sales or advertising. Marketing is the overall plan which a company carries out from marketing research, analysis, marketing segmentation, ideation (value in terms of products and services), production, communication, implementation and value delivery. It's logical thinking and creative thinking blended in to one. It requires you to think "outside" it square, have superior problem solving skills and an ability to solver/provide greater "value" as defined through the eyes of your customers with a long term perspective. (I know it's a lot to take it but it is a very interesting business). So, positions in marketing is diverse. You can be in communications (media, advertising, media buying), Customer relationships management (PR, Direct marketing), Sales (cold sales, warm sales), Logistics (the planning of products/services/materials involved in your value chain), Research (primary/secondary research), Implementation (sales people management, services management, experiential retail) and many more. International Marketing demands deep cultural understandings and experience. Global experience and knowledge are both very important if you want to be extremely successful in the global marketing field. I like marketing because it's very diverse. It is demanding - BUT the satisfaction of you getting from developing a product to it being used/consumed and repurchased is so worth it. And yes, it is tiring and hectic. Marketing professionals very mostly very proactive and eager to learn - it is required by their job to know what's happening in the market to quickly adapt their thinking/skills to achieve their personal/professional goals and objectives. The degree of stress, of course, vary greatly depending on which area of marketing you want to specialise in. Database for example is pretty demanding but the pay is a lot higher than some others. Starting salaries can be lower than, say, a general business position in economics. However, it depends on the company and industry and your own skills. According to industry salary averages, Marketing and Sales professionals are amongst the highest paid workers in the business sector. (ps, sales is just a single strategy under the marketing umbrella. But starting with some sales experience is much appreciated in developing a career in marketing as it allows you to learn about your markets and what values/problems are important/apparent to your targeted/potential consumer segments)