Career Options
General
Marketers or Brand Managers have the responsibility for the design and execution of marketing strategies for a particular product or service in order to create an awareness and differentiation with customers. A marketing strategy includes researching consumer demand, developing product positioning (value proposition), analyzing competitive activities, developing sales promotions, coordinating advertising development, creating new packaging strategies, developing sales forecasts, and analyzing and implementing pricing strategies based on internal manufacturing costs and the pricing strategy of competitors. Read on to see if JMO marketing jobs are a good match for you.
Key Connecting Points
Collaborative Leadership
Marketers are visionary leaders. They take control of a product strategically setting forth the vision for what a product should stand for in the eyes of the customer. More importantly, they use their leadership skills to motivate the organization to buy into a vision by communicating consistently, efficiently, and effectively. In essence, they are the “hub at the center of a wheel” in that they will interact with every group in the business, yet have no direct authority (sales, R&D, manufacturing, logistics, finance, and legal, as well as advertising agencies, market research firms, trade publications, etc.).
Idea Leadership
Marketers are always looking at new ways to get improved results. They go beyond the “status quo” and look at problems from a different perspective.
Analytical Skills
Marketers analyze market trends, competition, consumer buying habits, pricing, shipment reports, market research data and much more.
Strategic Thinking Skills/Initiative
Marketers are responsible for developing new ways to make a product more successful. With their analysis, they conceptualize, develop and implement new strategies that improve business results.
Communication Skills
Marketers are very good at presenting ideas in a clear and logical manner where they can be easily understood. They have to “sell” their ideas to a broad array of people, as well as to management.
Possible Job Titles
- Brand Management
- Product Manager
- Marketing Associate
Sample Job Description
Marketing: Please keep in mind the following job description is just one of many possible job descriptions for the career field of Marketing.
You will start your career assigned to a specific product team. The mission of your team is to maximize volume, market share, and profitability of the product to which you are assigned. In essence, you will be part of a team that runs a business within a business fully responsible for all business results for your product. You will conduct in-depth analysis to become an expert on your product and its consumers and develop (in collaboration with your team) an annual business plan for your product. This includes conducting analysis on industry trends, consumer dynamics, competitive activity, product segment, product positioning, advertising strategy, packaging, volume forecasts, and profitability. While you will spend a great deal of time analyzing numbers and information to understand your customers and the market, you will be expected to go beyond the numbers to contribute actively and constantly to the success of the product. Based on your knowledge of your consumers and the competition, you will get involved in developing and evaluating advertising, promotions, volume forecasts and promotion budgets directed toward attaining sales volume and profit objectives for your product. While you will provide a lot of analytical expertise to maintain a pulse on retail and competitive dynamics, you will also play a big role in developing initiatives to help position your product to win in this competitive industry. Marketing is highly interactive where you will collaborate across the organization with groups such as market area staff, channel partnerships, corporate management, market research, legal, field sales management, distributors, retailers and more. This position requires strong analytical skills (using numbers to solve problems), excellent leadership skills (ability to develop a vision for your product and implement it across functional lines), and a track record of producing results despite complexity and adversity. Excellent career opportunities in all areas of a company exist for the successful marketing candidate.
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