Naukri Bazar : A Pioneer Human Resource Company.

Career in marketing & sales demands an understanding of consumer's needs and an ability to work under pressure to achieve set targets. Consider a common example of the marketing process. If an Exhibition/Tradefair is coming to your town, and you paint a signboard saying, 'Exhibition coming to the town on saturday', that's advertising. If you put the signboard on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that's promotion. If the elephant walks through the mayor's flowerbed, that's publicity. And if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that's public relations. If the town's citzens go to the Exhibition/Tradefair, visit the booths, while you explain how much knowledge & entertainment they can have, and ultimately, they splurge money at the booths, that's sales. The whole range of activities, ranging from the overall strategy to the closing of the sale? That's marketing.

Marketing and sales are often clubbed together as a singular activity, which in fact they are not.
Marketing includes a whole gamut of activities-conducting market research to determine what products or services the consumers want, producing a product with the appropriate features and quality, pricing the product accordingly, and then promotion of the product, through promotion tactics, like advertising, public relations, direct marketing, and of course, sales. These tactics make up the marketing mix and marketing managers can choose to use all, some, or even one of these tactics. The terms marketing and sales are used together (or interchangeably by some) because they are, at the end of the day, focused on one goal - bringing the money in.

Career opportunities in this field can be divided into two categories:
One section is brand management and marketing, and the other section deals with sales and distribution. Brand management deals with strategic decisions and planning, whereas sales and distribution encompasses the implementation of those plans.

Marketing
Career opportunities in marketing are available across sectors, industries, and companies. In fact, you'll be hard pressed to find an organisation that does not need marketing in some from or the other. Even non-profit organisations make use of social marketing to ensure visibility with their audience. A common assumption is that marketing means tactics, but marketing involves a lot more. Strategic marketing deals with a through analysis of market forces, like competition, customer's needs and wants, as well as the company's strength's weaknesses, opportunities and Threats (SWOT analysis). Moreover, it involves creating a product based on this research , and positioning the product with the correct USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Operational marketing includes promotional tactics like sales, advertising, public relations and direct marketing.

Market Research:
Market research is the basis of creating a sound marketing strategy. There are opportunities available for market research directors, market research managers, market research supervisors and market analysts. In the area of market research, you could work with qualitative or quantitative research, where you attempt to understand consumer behavior.

Brand Management:
Brand management is strategy-related, and includes product portfolio management, new product development, positioning, segmentation and consumer behaviour, sales and distribution strategies are also part of the deal",clarifies kapoor. opportunities are available for brand managers, product managers and product development managers.

Advertising:
You can opt for a career in advertising as an account executive or coordinator, a media planner or buyer, or any other managerial positions. Additionally, there is scope for the creatively inclined in advertising. In the creative sphere, there are opportunities for visualisers, copywriters, or people who can coordinate production on ad films. You are expected to understand the brand of a client from the consumers' perspective & advise the client accordingly. If these areas aren't your forte, then you can consider public relations as well as event management. You could also work in the area of promotions, where you actually have to execute promotions, or work as a professional, researching unconventional emerging media, like the internet, or cellular services.

Sales:
Sales involves most or many of the following activities, including cultivating prospective buyers in a market segment, conveying the features, advantages and benefits of a product or service to the lead, and closing the sales (or coming to an agreement on pricing and services). A sales plan for one product might be very different than that for another product. The sales and distribution team are basically responsible for the implementation or execution of the marketing strategy, or you can start your career as a sales representative, or you could be an area sales manager, a regional sales manager or even a national sales manager. Moreover, you could be handling distributors, or be a franchise manager or a logistics manager. There are also opportunities in the retail sector.''

Must Haves:
Almost always, employers will insist on recruiting students with an MBA on their resume for marketing profiles. In the marketing or brand management function, employers look for MBAs, mostly from A and B grade management institutes, i.e either from the premier institutes like the IIMs, XLRI or NMIMS, or else move on to the next ten institutes. Seldom do people look for a non-MBA for a core marketing profile. For sales, a professional qualification, at least a postgraduate management degree, is required, not necessarily from a premier institute. Sometimes, employers may also settle for a good graduate qualification, like engineering. Normaly marketing takes a day to learn, unfortunately it takes a lifetime to master.'As usual, the man was right on the money, you may have the necessary academic qualifications, but if you can't sell then the best degree may be of little worth.
Most companies don't concentrate heavily on academic performance for a sales profile, but they look for some kind of number crunching ability, because sales implies an ability to achieve numbers. Activities that demonstrates an aggressive & optimistic personality are pluses on a resume. If someone has participated on stage, or enjoys trekking, that exhibits an extroverted personality,will definitely add value to the resume.

Growing Pains
Although incentives are huge and the pay packet is enviable, one should be prepared for a tough road ahead. It's a very exciting field, but no one can escape the work you are expected to do at the bottom of the food chain. Sometimes you may have to do a lot of dirty work when you start out, and you'll be required to be very tough-both mentally and physically. You should be ready to cope with stress or you're finished. Also be prepared for politics-you're needed to be extremely tactful in this field.

If you have the stamina of a Horse Power, Go aheaed, this is the career for you.