A Career in Marketing

Marketing is one of the most popular career destinations for newly qualified graduates...

It is easy to see why. Marketers are the people who make us "Just do it", entice us to get the "London look" and "Turn it to 30°".

Marketing is concerned with identifying consumer demand relative to a product or service and developing ways in which consumers can purchase these in the optimum amounts to make your company profitable. This involves analysing market research, distribution, design of the product, place (i.e. where to sell it), pricing and promotion – also known as the 4 ‘Ps’.

By tapping into your market’s buying habits, your job is to develop new products, design the packaging to make your product stand apart from its competition, public relations, develop advertising strategies such for TV or newspapers and various other media, and after-sales service.

Prestige

Of course one of the biggest reasons why so many people are drawn into the marketing industry each year is the prestige that is often associated with working on some of the biggest, most recognisable brands, such as Coca-Cola, Virgin or L’Oreal. But it’s not all glitz and glamour.

There is marketing that attempts to persuade people to buy car insurance, eat more greens or use less energy. Then there’s business-to-business marketing promoting industrial and office equipment, direct marketing via telephone or mail, websites and TV.

One of the beauties of working in marketing is the innumerable opportunities to specialise in certain areas such as market research and direct marketing or diversify into other related disciplines such as public relations and advertising.