Marketing+Specialist

=**Marketing Specialist** =  (All information is provided from [|www.careercurising.com] )

**Career Description** = =  Sales are crucial to a company’s success; without them, no company can survive for long. However, to have good sales results you need to have a good marketing plan. This is where marketing specialists come in. Marketing specialists are hired to improve the sales of a company’s products or services by increasing consumers’ awareness of them. Sometimes this involves re-marketing an existing product and finding a new way to present it to retailers and the public. It can also mean deciding how to position a new product that consumers have been asking for and making sure that they are aware of its availability. Sometimes, there is no perceived desire for the product at all, possibly because it is a totally new product or service. In this situation, the marketing specialist has to create a market by creating public awareness and convincing consumers that they need what the company is selling. Marketing specialists do a lot of homework so that they can identify and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of a product and its market. Often, a specialist will try to push what marketers call the “unique selling proposition:” the one characteristic that sets their client’s product apart from all the others. Once the strengths and the unique selling proposition of the product have been identified, the product’s price, image, and selling strategy are decided upon. These ideas are then communicated to an ad agency, or the in-house creative staff. They use the strategy to develop ads and other promotional material, such as pamphlets and promotional events. Some marketing specialists act as consultants for companies. They undertake marketing audits to monitor a product’s performance, offer an opinion on the success of the product’s current strategy, and propose alternative strategies if necessary. Other marketing specialists manage the distribution of products. This may include organizing the order-taking process, making sure that warehousing and shipping is carried out in an efficient manner, and providing sales support in the form of a 24-hour assistance hotline. Jobs in marketing are typically divided into a hierarchy of positions with the specialists at the top of the hierarchy managing a whole campaign and those lower down in the hierarchy overseeing selected parts of a campaign (for example, the placement of billboards).

**Skills Needed**
 * An understanding of the marketplace and consumer behavior
 * Communication skills
 * Analytical
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 9pt;">Creative
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 9pt;">Outgoing

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> **Education/Certification/Other Requirements**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 9pt;">A bachelor’s degree is usually required
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 9pt;">Relevant programs include marketing and business administration
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 9pt;">A master’s degree is helpful

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">**Salary Information**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 9pt;">$35,000 to $166,000 a year for most
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 9pt;">Some top-level specialists earn more
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 9pt;">Salaries depend on responsibilities and size of the organization

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">**Job Outlook** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Slowly increasing

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<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">(Lauren Patterson)