Nature of the Work
The American Marketing Association defines marketing as the activity, set of institutions, and process for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. Professionals agree that marketing is an integrated process through which companies build strong customer relationships and create value for their customers and for themselves. Graduates of the Marketing Management program are eligible for a variety of careers in the marketing industry.
Marketing specialists work with marketing, advertising, and promotion managers to promote the firm's or organization's products and services. This team estimates the demand for products and services offered by the firm and its competitors and identifies potential markets for the firm's products. They also help to monitor trends that indicate the need for new products and services.
Advertising sales agents — also referred to as account executives or advertising sales representatives — sale or solicit advertising primarily for newspapers and periodicals, television and radio, web sites, telephone directories, direct mail, and outdoor advertisers. More than half of all advertising sales agents work in the information sector, mostly for media firms, including television and radio broadcasters, print and Internet publishers, and cable program distributors.
Sales representatives are an important part of manufacturers' and wholesalers' success. Regardless of the type of products they sale, sales representatives' primary duties are to make customers interested in their merchandise and to arrange the sale of that merchandise. Whether in person or over the phone, sales representatives describe their products, conduct demonstrations, explain the benefits that their products convey, and answer any questions that their customers may have.
Sales worker supervisors oversee the work of retail salespersons, cashiers, customer service representatives, stock clerks and order fillers, sales engineers, and wholesale sales representatives. Sales worker supervisors are responsible for interviewing, hiring, and training employees. They also may prepare work schedules and assign workers to specific duties. In retail establishments, sales worker supervisors ensure that customers receive satisfactory service and quality goods. They also answer customers' inquiries, deal with complaints, and sometimes handle purchasing, budgeting, and accounting.
Purchasing agents buy a vast array of farm products, durable and nondurable goods, and services for companies and institutions. They accomplish this by studying sales records and inventory levels of current stock, identifying foreign and domestic suppliers, and keeping abreast of changes affecting both the supply of and demand for needed products and materials. Purchasing professionals consider price, quality, availability, reliability, and technical support while choosing suppliers and merchandise.
Entrepreneurs possess a new enterprise, venture, or idea and are accountable for the inherent risks and the outcome of a product. They work for themselves. Entrepreneurial activities are substantially different depending on the type of organization and creativity involved. Entrepreneurship ranges in scale from solo projects to major undertakings creating many job opportunities. Many "high value" entrepreneurial ventures seek venture capital in order to raise capital to build the business. Many kinds of organizations now exist to support would-be entrepreneurs including specialized government agencies, business incubators, science parks, and some NGOs.