Business Mainstays: Making Profits Possible as a Marketing Manager

Business Mainstays: Making Profits Possible as a Marketing Manager

You’ve always wanted to work in marketing. Being a marketing manager sounds like a lot of fun, and you could be paid handsomely for it. At the same time, you’re not too sure what the job entails or what to expect. Here’s what you need to know.

What Do Marketing Managers Do?

Marketing managers are responsible for a company’s growth in sales. They are the top of the food chain, so to speak, when it comes to advertising. Without them, there is no one leading the charge into the marketplace – no one to bring in sales and optimize the company’s message. There is no message to the marketplace.

To be a good and effective marketing manager, you need a good education. Now, that doesn’t mean you need to attend a local college. You could enroll in a college in Florida that’s entirely online. The important thing is for you to get a solid base in the fundamentals of marketing and business management.

You Need To Be Good With Data Analysis

Data analysis is the core responsibility of the job. If you’re not good with numbers and deduction, you’re not going to be a very good marketing manager. Most marketing managers hand off a lot of the data collection to a data analyst, but it helps if you understand how to translate this data into usable information. Most companies, especially smaller ones, will expect you to work closely with, or replace the function of, a data analyst though.

You Need To Be Good At Social Media

Social media is an important part of most companies’ digital marketing initiative, and most universities now include social media marketing as part of the curriculum. Knowing how to effectively use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other large social media sites and how to integrate them into your company’s marketing plan, is essential.

You Need To Have Email Marketing Skills

Email marketing is another important aspect of marketing. If your company does any online business, you will almost certainly need to know how to set up and run an email marketing campaign, how to measure results, and how to direct a marketing initiative to optimize results.

You Need To Know How Branding and Direct Marketing Works

You’ll need to focus a lot of your efforts on direct marketing and branding, especially if you work for a small company. Direct marketing is especially important because, as the name implies, it’s responsible for measurable sales results.

Branding is something that most large companies do because it helps cement the name recognition in the minds of prospects as well as customers and clients. Being good at both makes you a valuable asset for any size organization.

You Need Extensive Negotiation Skills

Negotiating ad space rates, media buys, and direct mail rates is important if you want your company to turn a profit. Even if you hand off the day-to-day tasks to a rank-and-file staffer, you still need to be able to get on the phone and speak intelligently with the vendor about your marketing budget, needs, goals, and discounts.

Patrick Carrigan is an independent marketing consultant. He always enjoys the opportunity to offer his insights online. You can find articles written by him on a number of different B2B websites.