Overview of Career Options

Graduate of the marketing program have a wide variety of career options available to them. It has been estimated that marketing and marketing-related jobs constitute approximately 30% of all jobs in the United States. Graduates from our program have pursued careers in all of the following areas:

• Advertising
• Brand management
• Direct marketing
• Distribution management
• International marketing
• Marketing research
• New product planning
• Retailing management
• Sales and sales management
• Services marketing

Advertising

Job opportunities in advertising are varied. Advertising is a glamorous but extremely competitive industry. Marketing graduates often find themselves competing for positions against majors in other fields such as English, Mass Communications, Sociology, and Psychology, because knowledge of human behavior and the ability to communicate well are both important for a successful advertising career. Positions such as copywriter, media buyer, art director, and so on often go to people who have a track record, a graduate degree in advertising, or both. So, entry-level positions for students with undergraduate degrees tend to be as an assistant to a copywriter, art director, or media buyer. There are also account management or client relations positions that may be of greater interest to marketing graduates because they demand a broader view of marketing and business beyond advertising.

Most undergraduate marketing degree programs do not provide the level of training in advertising campaign development that the industry demands. Our undergraduate courses in Integrated Marketing Communications and Internet Marketing, along with an internship, or a part-time position selling advertising, would provide some experience dealing with both the business and the creative sides of advertising.

Brand Management

Establishing a brand philosophy is essential for any company competing in today's marketplace. Except for top management, brand managers are the one group in the organization that deals with every facet of the organization. Brand group members plan, develop, and implement marketing efforts for any branding initiative. They are generalists who coordinate the activities of colleagues in production, sales, advertising, promotion, research and design, marketing research, purchasing, distribution, and package development.

Direct marketing, also called interactive marketing, involves marketing directly to the consumer, and it is a field that is rapidly growing both in the United States and globally. Direct response vehicles include direct mail, websites, print and broadcast media, telephone marketing, catalogues, and door-to-door marketing. Opportunities can be found in any marketing oriented firm including those offering consumer goods, industrial products, financial services, and service oriented organizations. Advertising agencies often have direct marketing operations which facilitate the agencies' ability to broaden their marketing plan.

Distribution management involves the analysis, planning, execution, and auditing of activities concerned with the distribution of goods. Personnel in this field are concerned with the 'supply chain' and are often involved in coordinating transportation, warehousing, forecasting, order processing, inventory control, production planning, and customer service. Logistics management involves analyzing the combined costs of various activities, across firms, to obtain the highest level of customer service at the lowest total cost. Careers in this field provide opportunity for rapid advancement as distribution managers must interact with managers in all other functional areas within and outside of the company. Such a broad exposure helps to diverse one's professional experience and allows for opportunities for career advancement.

Entry level positions in distribution management typically include physical distribution manager, inventory control manager, traffic manager, distribution planning analyst, category manager, and customer service manager.  Our Distribution Track within the undergraduate major would provide good preparation.

Many marketing students are attracted to international marketing careers because of the adventure and foreign travel associated with them. Opportunities in international marketing are increasing because more firms are pursuing international markets. In seeking an international marketing job, it is an advantage to be fluent in a second language and to know about the culture of the countries in which you might like to work. Study abroad, even for a semester or a summer, is also excellent preparation.

People who aim for a career in international marketing must usually spend time mastering the firm's domestic operations before being sent abroad. So, a good way to start is to focus on firms that are already involved in international marketing, or are planning to move in that direction soon. Also, there are many websites with listings of international jobs. Our International Track within the undergraduate major would provide good preparation. Visit our International Business Certificate program to learn more about events, scholarships, courses, faculty activities, and other opportunities related to international marketing.

Individuals employed in the field of marketing research are involved with providing management with the information and analysis needed for making decisions. The marketing researcher may be involved with the decision maker in formulating the problem and identifying the information the decision maker needs for resolving the problem. He/she will generally be involved with designing research projects, including determining the data collection method(s) to be used and the sample to be taken. Additionally, the market researcher will be concerned with data tabulation, analysis, report preparation, and presentation of findings to management.

Career opportunities exist with specialized marketing research firms, or with organizations that maintain their own marketing research departments. It is important to have strong analytical, methodological, and communications skills. Although some marketing researchers specialize in qualitative research, in general, students who aspire to marketing research careers should take more statistics and research methodology courses than the typical marketing major. A recent graduate might begin in a training program--conducting interviews, summarizing open-ended survey questions, or preparing slide presentations for clients' before being promoted to a position as an analyst, assistant project manager, or account representative. Our Information for Marketing Decisions course provides an overview of the marketing research process. Advanced courses in statistics and research methods either in marketing or in related fields such as psychology are highly desirable. An internship with a marketing research firm would also be valuable.

One of the major problems facing modern managers is the question of how to develop and implement successful new products and services. Many new products fail due to inadequate attention to customer needs and competitive actions. In an effort to improve success rates, the use of a new product development process has become more popular. Persons involved in new product planning develop skills in managing projects, marketing research, sales forecasting, and promotional planning.

Formal positions in product planning are increasing, but they are usually not entry-level positions. Historically, such positions carried titles such as "assistant manager/director" of product planning or innovation. People with sales or other experience, who understand customers, might be asked to join new product development teams. These teams are often composed of technical and creative individuals as well as marketers. A "product planner" must be able to uncover new ideas, conceptualize the product behind the idea, and objectively evaluate the idea from a market and financial standpoint. Unlike managing an existing business, new product development is ever changing. It requires a person who has a high tolerance for uncertainty, but who is excited about bringing new ideas to market.

Our Product Development and Management course offers a good foundation. In addition, the VCU da Vinci center experience would be excellent preparation for students interested in pursuing careers in product development. Courses in cost accounting, capital budgeting, entrepreneurship, and sales forecasting would also be valuable.

Companies involved in retailing afford the graduate an early opportunity to use professional knowledge to improve company profits through the maintenance of appropriate assortments of goods and services in locations easily accessible to customers. Opportunity for advancement has been strong and career opportunities are available in a wide variety of organizations.

Among the wide variety of routes to top management in retailing are merchandise management and store management. The progression in the former would be from assistant buyer to merchandise division manager. For the latter, it would be assistant department (sales) manager to department manager to store (branch) manager. The buyer is primarily concerned with assortment selection and promotion. The department manager is concerned with sales force management and display. The larger chain and department stores have formal training programs for retail management, some of which are among the best in the country. Leadership, communication skills, ability to work in fast-paced environment, knowledge of the store environment, and results-oriented motivation characterize those poised for success in retailing management. A diverse background often characterizes retailing management positions. Knowledge of sales and selling techniques is important. Our Retailing Track would be a good fit for anyone interested in pursuing a career in retailing.

Because there are so many different types of sales jobs and so many people are employed in sales, there are many good entry-level opportunities in personal selling. Entry level positions can include trade sales, missionary sales, and technical specialists. Many sales jobs now rely on sales technology, so some of the more challenging opportunities will go to students who can engage in statistical analysis and sales forecasting using spreadsheets. Many students are reluctant to get into sales, but the field has many benefits. These include the opportunity to earn high salaries and commissions early in one's career, a chance to develop self-confidence and resourcefulness, a chance to work with minimal supervision, and a means of acquiring detailed product and customer knowledge that can be useful in many other marketing careers. Sales managers are usually proven salespeople who have the additional skills necessary in order to recruit, train, evaluate, compensate, and motivate salespeople.  

Personal selling involves persuasion and the ability to be an effective communicator. Effective salespeople and sales managers are able to understand their buyer's interests and are able to match them with the organization's products. Our Marketing Communications Track in the major would be good preparation. In addition, it is often easy to find part-time sales positions or sales internships in order get valuable initial experience.

The economy's service sector now exceeds the manufacturing sector in terms of relative contribution to GDP. As a consequence, numerous marketing positions are available in banking and financial service institutions, health care organizations, leisure-oriented businesses, and in various other service settings. Entry-level positions are increasingly available to those with undergraduate business degrees, as well as those with MBAs. Positions are similar to those of the traditional packaged goods assistant brand manager. Other positions may be available in sales capacities, or in a large service firm's market research department. Because of the intangible nature of most service sector products, individuals should feel thoroughly comfortable dealing with product attributes and other marketing issues that are harder to observe and classify. A broad background in marketing's functional core, such as that provided by our traditional Marketing Mix Track, as well as our Services Marketing course, would provide good preparation.