Marketing Career Path: Identifying Strengths and Overcoming Challenges

This paper discusses the meaning of marketing as a career field and analyses the career path of a marketing manager. It identifies the strengths required for modern marketing and evaluates possible challenges. The paper also provides a comprehensive career plan to secure an ideal job.

INDIVIDUAL
PRESENTATION PAPER

Table of Contents.
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
What is Marketing professional field?.........................................................................................3
Discuss and analyse career path...................................................................................................4
Identifying my strengths in link with the career path..................................................................7
Evaluating possible challenges and discuss how to overcome them with my strengths.............8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Career plan is a process of matching career choices with the help of consistent self-
evaluation by identifying his own skills or strengths which assist them to overcome the possible
challenges. The paper will describe the meaning of marketing as a career field which I am
looking to pursue as it would be my dream job to work as marketing manager in Marks &
Spencer. The report will further discuss and analyse my career path illustrating with graphs. It
will identify my strengths which has a clear link with the possible career paths. The research will
evaluate the possible challenges which I could overcome with my strengths and lastly the project
will conclude with a comprehensive career plan to secure my ideal job.
What is Marketing professional field?
According to Merriam-Webster, “marketing refers to the method or technique to
promote, sell and distribute a service or product”. In other words, it means a mediater between
the functions of increasing awareness regarding the product or service and their development.
The purpose is to analyse the king of the market by conducting surveys, questionnaire or
studying online habbits of shopping. In today's era, marketing as a profession plays a key
element in each and every business or organisation which could be witnessed by hearing or
reading about the internet, blog, social media, print, search and video marketing. Whether the
company is small, large, non-profit or a startup, there is always an opportunity in this field.
Market research, brand management, promotions, public relations, advertisement etc are the
different area of marketing.
The role of marketing professional is to attract the customers by performing various
techniques and strategies such as determining the price during high demand of the market
resulting in maximizing the profit and growth. The marketing career is one of the good paying
job with a high chance of promotion which happens frequently. This is the only profession
having unlimted job opportunity because it includes innovation and creativity ideas of people
with a set of specific skills & natural habits.
Marketing is depend on the 4Ps i.e. product, place, promotion and price within the
business. This could be further explained:
 Product: For any organisation or business while establishing, product is the key
element on which your company runs or grow. The marketing profession significanlty

helps to identify the target audience and demand within the market for penetrating new
product.
 Place: Marketing aids to decide which location is suitable to sell the products whether
nationally or internationally.
 Promotion: This is the most important thing a business needs which could be
specifically dealt by the marketing department of every firm that ultimately leads to
increase in sales. Social media promotions, public rleation campaign, online and print
advertisements are the examples of it.
 Price: Marketing team helps to maintain a good price range through analysing the
competitors price by industry research.
Discuss and analyse career path
Careers path refers to the various position in work in order to acquire additional skills and
knowledge for progress into advanced roles. There are different types of career path can be
considering according to personality, professional goals and future plans. My career path is
based on marketing manager because I have keen interest in marketing also this will help to
improve my skill and knowledge that can progress into advanced roles. There are different types
of marketing career that I can analyse for my future. Marketing specialisations to consider are
comes up with different roles with different size and shapes.
 There are some of the career paths for marketing manager are related to:
 Social media marketing manager- This is related to the another term which help to
include plethora of different possibilities such as Instagram, Facebook, Snap, Pinterest
etc. in which there are different types of roles and responsibilities are followed in order to
manages the social media. For any company social media become major parts of their
business in order to improve business as well sit help to target large numbers of audience.
 For example, Mark and Spencer are focused on social media marketing in order to target
large numbers of audience by promoting their product and services. Such as, targets
women for clothing, kids for toys etc.
 Content marketing manager- This is also known as inbound marketing which help to
creating online material such as videos, blogs, social medias post etc. also they are focus
on marketing and selling a product or services. This is help for generating the online
traffic which help to focus on convincing visitor for product and services.

 Search engines optimisation- SEO refers to strategies and tactics which are related to
create website to higher rank in search engine results. In this field mission is related to
understands the search engine like google rank content and pages.
 Traditional marketing manager- This is also related to the careers path that is based on
newspaper, television and magazine etc. in the era of digital marketing traditional
marketing. Also, in which manager are responsible for managing all the activities that are
related to targeting large audiences in orders to promote product and services. From all the above career path I would like to build my careers in social media marketing
because this is one of best technique which help to create the social networks to market as
company’s product and services. This is also help to engage with existing customers as
well as help to enhance the reach for news ones in orders to allowing them to promote
theirs culture, desired and tone.
 Analysing career path as social media marketing manager
Social media marketing is one of the fast growing vertical within digital marketing and also
help to serve as powerful tools in the business advertising arsenal. In this I will develop my
content and advertising strategies in order to promote customer interest and engagement for
variety of social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook etc.
There are three level which are need to followed by me in the career path as social media
professional in Marks and Spencer:
 Degree in marketing
 It is necessary to complete the degree in the field for which individual want to makes
their own career, that is why for marketing it is important to complete degree such as
master of business administration, etc. Also it is help to build the theoretical
knowledge regarding their career, for any practical field theoretical knowledge is
mandatory to collect to enhance career.
 Entry- level- social media specialist
This is first stage after completing degree in marketing also it is based on to build the
career in specialist which may help to post visual and written content across the social
media platforms. It is also related to managing the social medias profile of M&S in
order to focus on targeting the large number of customer. Also, Strategies are suit the
marketing department ands company’s overreaching goals. For social media specialist

are execution communication skills and experience using analytical tools. This also
responsible for establishing the administrator content.
For example, for mark and spencer, I would like to post regular update on Instagram
so that customer can easy to get all the information regarding new collection.
 Mid-level social media manager
This is the second level of the career path which are related to mid-level of social
media manager by choosing the role of manager also it is related to make various
decision regarding brand and other managing other people’s activities. Also, there are
different types of strategies are related to social media manager will be perform by
me in order to makes it successful for make successful brand. Then responsible for
mapping and gauging the success of social campaigns.
For example, to manages the activities of Instagram in order to focus more on
managing all the activities of social media analyst who are responsible managing
activities of social media. This is also including the collaborate with different
influencer which are help for promoting product and services of M&S.
Senior- communicator director
After few years, this post is help for career path in order to focus on
choose to advance into mid-level role as social media manager. Then, at this level I
will focus on managing all the activities which is related to socials media also help to
makes my career to build new skills and enhance my experience accordingly. This is
help to managing a large group in order to focus more on managing the group or larges
number of people. All the major decision is taken on the basis of senior communicator
director Reponses which help to improve the activities as well as it help to enhance the
career.
For example, at that stage I am responsible for managing the activities which is
necessary to followed by entry and mid-level social media analyst. Also, all the major
decision is taken from that side which help to improve services.
Identifying my strengths in link with the career path
Combination of soft skills and hard skills are essential to achieve success in marketing.
The strengths which are necessary for modern marketing includes technical knowledge of the

software used in marketing, graphic designing, copywriting, technical SEO as well as effectively
collaboration and communication quality with the clients or coworkers. For the marketing
manager profile for M&S company, my strengths are:
 Analytical thinking: Critical thinking is another strength which is being embedded
while I was pursuing my higher education. This skill would help me to solve the problem
of the audience through forming products which makes their life simple and easier.
 Strong communication skills: These is one of the key important quality while
considering the marketing manager profile at M&S. I am having both skills of good
speaker and a perspective listener which help me draw my plan after understanding the
needs of the audience's. This strength would assist me in better selling the product to the
ultimate consumer.
 Negotiation skills: I am good at negotiating which would act as one of my strength
while dealing wih the clients, nailing down the contract terms, convincing my superior
for better raise will all require the negotation skill.
 Innovative or creativity: Marketing is the most suitable industry when it comes to
creativity. This is one of my strength as I am aware of the graphic designing and content
writing skill with having a knowledge of using marketing softwares.
 Calmness: The job I am dreaming is a high-pressure job which require an individual to
perform tasks in a short deadlines which require cool attitude towards the task. I am
having calmness as a strength because of following yoga for a past 5 years.
 Time management: The ability to manage to work in a time effective manner is a self-
mastery skill which is my strength. The marketing job is not bound by traditional hours
working and required to work more. Therefore, self-discipline and time management are
crucial skills of mine which would provide me an edge over other candidates.
 Better Collaboration: For better result working together is crucial for any successful
buisness. In my higher studies I mostly lead a team which aids me to better collaborate
with my team members resulting in my one of the greatest strength.
 Tech and software capabilities: This is my biggest strength as I am aware of using the
marketing tools such as digital marketing platforms, Adobe Suite, Wordpress CMSs,
MS-office, Google analytics, Salesforce, Convertkit, CoSchedule which familarize and
help to become tech saavy.

 Networking abilities: I am an extrovert and a people person in my college time which
help me to identify that marketing could be a better option to pursue as a career. As this
skill could be utilized to form a connection which will be my greatest strength to build
and nurture relationships to enhance the sales and revenue of the quoted company.
Evaluating possible challenges and discuss how to overcome them with my strengths
In today's world it is easy to have information of customer base but to organize the data
to be useful it is still a challenge for many businesses. This can be evaluated:
 Accessing data across platforms: This is the challenge as the data of customers
is stored at different devices and channels and for accessing the data by the
marketer to get a complete picture of a customer. To understand the complete
customer's image single channel data is not sufficient.
 Identifying customers: The another challenge is to figuring out the customers
once a data has been obtained by the marketer. There is a possibility that one
customer have different identity therefore making it difficult for the marketer to
identify their correct audience.
 Evaluating new potential customer: Having fragmented customer data decrease
the number of new potential customers. This could be a challenge due to missing
out the essential data which analysing it. The cookies might be different while
using smartphone and laptop thus, making it confusing for the marketer.
 Maintaining customer experience: The efforts to target new customer would be
in vain due to lack of maintaining the customer experience because of one
customer represent the multiple identifiers. This could be annoying for the
customer's due to repeatative coupon or offer resulting in unprofessional for them.
 Tracking performance metrics: This is another challenge which is considered
hard while tracking the performance of the customer. It may happen that not
everyone is receiving the messages send by the marketer resulting in wrong lead
gathered while campaigning or surveying.
 Maintaining privacy: The another challenge is to prevent or protect the privacy
standards while utilizing the data by the marketer to enhance the customer's
experience. The privacy of the customer is at upmost priority which is a big
concern for today's world as it results in the rise of cyber attacks and crimes.

The above challenges could be overcome with the help of my strengths by:
 Improve ad performance: The performance with regard to advertisement can be
improved by managing the connection between desktop and mobile devices. It would
help to learn about the targeted audience and coordinate the campaigns through my tech
saavy skill.
 Increase engagement: The challenges could be overcome by enhancing the engagement
with the customers by collectively organizing all the from various channels. It could be
easily done with my networking and collaboration skills.
 Streamline campaign: To avoid double messaging, cohesive campaigns are useful to
get feedback on the surveys or campaigns. It would improve the accuracy with the help
of my analytical thinking strength.
 Abide by data protection regulations: Privacy challenge could be overcome by
knowing the data protection laws which could be posssible with the help of my overall
strengths.
CONCLUSION
The individual presentation has been able to developed a career plan which I could be
followed to identify my dream job and career path. The presentation was described the meaning
and concept of marketing as a professional field. Further, it has been discussed the various career
paths in the marketing career like social media marketing, SEO, content marketing, analysing
marketing & traditional marketing managers and analysed the career path as a social media
marketing manager for M&S company. The presentation was able to identify my strengths such
as analytical thinking, strong communication, time management, better collaboration and
creativity which would helped me in the career path. It has been identify the challenges and
methods to overcome them with my strengths.
REFERENCES
Books and journals
Motley, R. J. and Mcmullin, A., 2020. Developing Your Professional Career Plan: The key to a
fulfilling career is to know what's important to you--from your mission, identity, and

direction to family, fun, and finances--and then pursue that. Family Practice
Management. 27(4).
Sangwan, A., 2018. Affiliate Marketing: Meaning, Working and Challenges. International
Journal of Information Movement. 2(10). pp.199-203.
Rajath, K. and Santhoshkumar, N., 2020. Effectiveness of marketing strategy of ‘neera health
drink’with reference to the 4P’s of marketing. IJ360MR. 7(4). pp.2320-7132.
Helens-Hart, R., 2019. The employability self-assessment: Identifying and appraising career
identity, personal adaptability, and social and human capital. Management Teaching
Review. 4(1). pp.6-13.
Alshura, M. S., Zabadi, A. and Abughazaleh, M., 2018. Big data in marketing arena. Big
opportunity, big challenge, and research trends: an integrated view. Management and
economics review. 3(1). pp.75-84.
Online references
Brown, S., 2021. 10 Challenges Marketers Face & How Digital Marketing Can Solve Them
[Online]. Available through <https://www.roionline.com/blog/digital-marketing-for-
business>
Ruiz, I., 2018. 10 common marketing challenges or problems that most businesses will face
[Online]. Available through <https://mailrelay.com/en/blog/2018/10/23/10-common-
marketing-challenges-or-problems-that-most-businesses-will-face/>
Lake, L., 2020. 5 Marketing Careers You Should Explore [Online]. Available through
<https://www.thebalancesmb.com/exploring-careers-in-marketing-2294887>