Marketing

Whether it's the cool drink that jumps out at us from the billboard at the bus stop or the latest book tips that are made palatable to us on the breakfast radio - advertising messages surround our everyday lives, sometimes more, sometimes less subtly. Behind the question of who sees and hears which advertising, when and where, are the often complex planning and decision-making processes of the marketing departments of companies and organizations of all kinds. Contrary to popular belief, however, marketing encompasses much more than just pure product advertising - even if it is often mistakenly equated with this even in job advertisements.

Rather, it describes the entire and consistent alignment of all company activities to the needs of the market. The focus of the work is on the needs, expectations and habits of (potential) customers, consumers or users. Marketing concepts are developed for them to appeal to them and encourage them to buy or use a product or service. In contrast to PR work, whose primary goal is purely to build a positive image (and therefore just one piece of the overall marketing strategy puzzle), marketing is aimed at the much more fundamental question of how a company can continuously improve its market position. Since the end of all processes in a company is ultimately the sale of its own product, marketing is therefore more of a cross-cutting corporate issue than an individual business area. In addition to the planning and implementation of advertising or election campaigns, it therefore includes much more far-reaching issues such as the development and implementation of market launch concepts, the development of new sales markets or interest groups, brand and product management (e.g. product and price optimization), customer care and advice (customer relationship management) as well as media management, online and social media marketing or event management. Depending on the specific job orientation and size of the organization, the interfaces with other areas of the company such as sales, corporate communications, business development, controlling, product development or process, risk and quality management are correspondingly large. Employer branding and thus an interface with HR work is also part of an organization's marketing activities

Focus and initial experience more important than a university background

If you want to enter this field, you should therefore gain initial experience while still studying and consider which area you would like to specialize in. This is because previous experience and possible specializations in the field are usually more important than the actual degree. In line with the diversity of specializations in marketing, job titles also vary. In addition to advertisements for marketing manager, there are also titles such as "pricing manager", "e-commerce manager", "data analyst", "affiliate marketing manager" or "content creator". Jobs are available in companies as well as in marketing and advertising agencies and other external service providers.
However, marketing is of course not only carried out by companies, but also by public institutions, foundations, political parties, interest groups and other organizations in the non-profit sector, whereby the focus here is more often on increasing awareness and launching certain topics (see alsoCampaigning ) than on selling a product or service. Another area of activity is customer, market and competition analysis, for which there are also jobs in internal company market research departments as well as in external market and opinion research institutes, management consultancies or marketing agencies.
Very good communication skills, a feel for language, target group orientation and creativity are required in almost all areas, so that students with a degree in humanities, social and communication sciences or psychology are also welcome in addition to graduates in economics. IT interfaces are also becoming increasingly important in marketing, e.g. in the big data analysis of potential customer data (customer analytics), meaning that (business) computer scientists are also increasingly in demand.