How to become a marketer?

Nowadays, the buyer is demanding and capricious because he chooses a product from various offers on the market. When choosing, he is guided by personal preferences, price, quality, and prestige, so it is increasingly difficult for the seller to win the buyer’s attention. It is especially difficult for new brands just entering the market and have not yet achieved consumer recognition.

A marketer is just a specialist who helps establish a mutually beneficial dialogue between the manufacturer and the buyer. Let’s talk about the tasks and responsibilities of an advertising and promotion specialist, his places of work, and ways to get a profession.

Who is a marketer, and what are his tasks?

A marketer is a specialist responsible for successfully introducing a product to the market, its marketing and its demand. The product can be a product or service, a person (for example, during an election campaign), or an idea (for example, promoting a healthy lifestyle) – in a word, any object that needs to be presented or sold profitably. The main tasks of the marketer will be:

• implementation of a comprehensive evaluation of the product;
• suggestion of implementation ways;
• planning and organization of advertising (with the help of PR and stimulation of the consumer audience).

Simply put, a marketer must introduce a new product to the market, interest the buyer and create a steady demand. The profit and success of the business will depend on a specialist’s professional actions.

What are the job responsibilities of a marketer?

The specific responsibilities of a marketer meet the company’s goals and are prescribed in the job description. Typically, a specialist works with clients in three main areas at once:

• attracts;
• holds;
• returns.

For sustainable growth of the client base, the marketer:

• predicts possible fluctuations in supply and demand;
• monitors the quality and properties of the goods;
• works with pricing policy using markups and discounts;
• studies the target audience;
• plans and implements methods to promote the product;
• organizes promotional events;
• determines points of increased sale;
• finds logistics channels;
• coordinates the activities of all marketing specialists.

What types of marketers are there?

Marketers are classified into:

1. Corporate, which provide the necessary commercial KPI for large corporations and, in turn, are divided into brand managers (in addition to the development and implementation of brands, they determine the range and positioning of the product) and trade marketers (more focused on the level of sales and organization of discount promotions, contests, and sweepstakes);
2. Internet marketers whose duties include studying, analyzing, and promoting a product on web resources (for example, on a company website or social networks) using Internet technologies;
3. analysts and research managers who carefully collect and analyze data to create an advertising strategy;
4. marketers-economists working directly with pricing;
5. Product managers, whose duties include conducting market analysis and studying similar competitive products;
6. Event managers who plan, prepare, and conduct pleasant and interesting events to promote the product (exhibitions, lectures, drawings);
7. BTL managers – organizers of indirect promotions to interact with a narrow audience (a gift for a purchase, a flash mob, a tasting, a presentation, an open day, advertising directly at points of sale).

Pros and cons of being a marketer

The advantages of working as a marketer will be the ability to work remotely without visiting the office, rapid career growth, creative development, and high wages. In addition, now this profession is incredibly common and popular in both large and small companies, so there is no shortage of jobs.

The disadvantages include the monotony of work at first and the lack of guarantees that the actions will give a quick and lasting result (the product does not always become popular due to the coordinated actions of a specialist, it happens that demand is created by a case and a combination of circumstances).

Who is eligible for a career in marketing?

If you are not afraid of analytical work with a large amount of information, you are active, reckless, and creative, able to come up with non-standard moves, then the work of a marketer will suit you. Also, being friendly, listening to the other person, and negotiating and finding a middle ground will not get in the way.

A high level of stress resistance is no less necessary for a marketer than high-quality knowledge because you have to work in a multitasking mode with different people and financial risks.

Suppose you will not stay as long as ordinary employees but aspire to lead the marketing department. In that case, you will need leadership qualities, the flexibility of thinking, and a willingness to take responsibility for your decisions.

What should a marketer know and be able to do?

To cope with their tasks, the marketer needs to:

• have an idea about the company in which he works, its goals and features;
• be able to analyze the market;
• understand current trends to build an actual promotion strategy;
• understand advertising innovations and apply them in work;
• know the basics of psychology and social psychology;
• Fully proficient in MS Office;
• know the methods of research, data processing, and analysis;
• to study the concepts of branding, naming;
• be able to plan and launch advertising campaigns;
• know the basics of copywriting;
• understand competitive moments in the service sector;
• master the methods of PR and communication;
• build sales funnels;
• be able to work with reviews and feedback;
• know the ethics of business communication.

A marketer also needs to feel the spirit of modernity and know which trends are popular and in demand so that the promotion strategies he proposes will hit the target and attract many customers.

Average marketer salary

The marketer’s income will depend on:

1. From experience (vacant offers for young professionals start at 400$, while an experienced marketer is offered income from 40,000 to 2800$);
2. From the region of activity (provincial specialists earn an average of 650$, and in large cities, the salary varies from 750 to 2800$, depending on the specific position, the skills of the specialist, and the status of the company).

Where to study marketing?

Often, marketers are university graduates in the areas of “Economics” or “Marketing.” Still, employers do not set strict education requirements when hiring advertising and promotion specialists, considering the most important advantage of a candidate to be the availability of high-quality knowledge and the ability to apply it.

Therefore, you can master professional marketing skills in special courses; the main thing is to pay serious attention to practice. Teachers teach students how to promote a product and conduct marketing research for active product or service sales. You will not only master the marketing theory but also consolidate it on experience, making it possible to feel confident when looking for a job.

Do not forget that a marketer must constantly improve their knowledge. Therefore, even current professionals regularly:

• read specialized literature;
• attend refresher courses;
• attend themed events;
• learn from more mature colleagues at seminars, webinars, and lectures;
• take the time to study real examples and case studies.

Demand for the profession

An increasing number of entrepreneurs understand that it is more profitable to bring and sell their goods and build brands that will have popularity and value. Therefore, today a marketer is in demand in any company that needs a competent advertising strategy for business development and product promotion. 

Of course, there is reason to believe that the profession will continue to gain popularity, supplemented by new directions and methods for analyzing the activity of buyers and their desires, developing and changing. Despite the high demands and emotional risks, a marketer’s profession will hold high positions in the ranking of desirable and promising professions for a long time to come, and the most active specialists are waiting for leadership positions and decent earnings.