Career Research Report: Skills and Trends for Marketing Manager

This career research report delves into the evolving landscape of the marketing profession, focusing on key trends impacting marketing manager roles within the retail industry. It identifies personalized product design, globalization, and technological innovation as primary drivers shaping the field, alongside the importance of exploring customer purchase journeys and proactive corporate social responsibility. The report further highlights essential skills and knowledge for aspiring marketing managers, emphasizing communication, leadership, content development, technical proficiency, and video marketing expertise. Primary research, including an interview with the Director of the Imperial College Business School, London, is combined with secondary research from academic journals and books to provide a comprehensive overview. The author reflects on their personal interest in marketing, influenced by academic studies and an internship, and evaluates the alignment of their skills with the demands of a marketing manager position, particularly within a globalized business environment. This report concludes by underscoring the significance of adaptability and continuous learning for success in the dynamic field of marketing.

CAREER RESEARCH
REPORT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
ANALYSIS AND APPLICATION.................................................................................................3
General trend which put impact on Marketing profession..........................................................3
Skills and Knowledge required for marketing manager job role.................................................4
Evaluation....................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1
APPENDIX......................................................................................................................................2
QUESTIONNARE......................................................................................................................2
Job Advertisement.......................................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION
Marketing field is more in demand because of the continuous technological innovation and
this provide career opportunity to the candidate that want to chose marketing as their profession
and retail as their target industry. This report will define the general trends which affect the
marketing manager job role and the skills and knowledge required for the same. For the
preparation of report, the data regarding the trend and skills is collected from both the primary
and secondary sources of qualitative research. In order to collect the primary data, some
important questions will be asked from the Director of the Imperial College Business School,
London in an interview. On the other side, the report will also include the secondary data which
is used from various book, journal, websites etc. The secondary information will be explained in
LR form in this report which reflect the different authors views on the trends and skills and their
impact on marketing manager of retail industry.
ANALYSIS AND APPLICATION
General trend which put impact on Marketing profession
The trends affect the marketing profession in both the positive and negative way which
need special analysis and focus of the individual that want to make their career in it. The
different trends which might affect the marketing manager job are as follow:
Primary research
 Personalized product designed: From the interview, it is found out that personalized
product design is a trend which affect the marketing profession more (Muninger,
Hammedi and Mahr, 2019). The director said that customers are nowadays wants
products as per their perception and design. So, this trend will enhance the job
opportunity for marketing manager of them adopt this trend to know the personal taste
and preference of each customer.
 Globalization: With the help of personal interview with the director, helps in identifying
and understanding the power of globalisation. It is because every company wants to
expand their business internationally and for this, they always required a well-qualified
marketing manager which help the company in expanding their business all over the
globe.

 Technological innovation: Technological innovation is also one of the trends which put
impact on the marketing profession because around 90% of the people around the world
uses internet and social media apps to identify best quality product and services
(Amoakoh and Okyere, 2021). For this, the customers generally first visualized the
products details on internet and after that they analyse products quality by seeing ratings
and comments on social sites and shopping apps.
Secondary research
 Exploring customer purchase journey: As per the view of Farris and et.al. (2017), it is
identified that if the company really wants to improve their brand image and customer
base, then they have to explore the customer purchase journey and buying behaviour.
This trend will positively affect the marketing professionals because they help the
company in achieving their goals by identifying and analysing the factors which affect
their buying decision.
 Proactive CSR and brand value: The Barreto and Whitehair (2017), state that proactive
CSR and brand value is linked with each other. The company which follows all the
corporate social responsibility practices will definitely improve their band value in both
local and international market. And for this the company always need marketing
manager.
Skills and Knowledge required for marketing manager job role
Having the skills and knowledge of marketing field before entering the workplace helps in
starting the career without any difficulty and pressure. So, the skills and knowledge required to
became a well-qualified marketing manager of retail industry are as follow:
Primary research
 Communication skills: The director said in the interview that communication skill is a
top-ranking skill which must be present in the graduate student before entering workplace
(Cortez and Johnston, 2019). It is because the marketing manager need to effectively
communicate with the customers, employees and top authority to ask their issues and
concern and also to motivate them for their work performance.
 Leadership skills: This skill is must be present in the marketing manager as a result of
the interview because they need to lead the whole team. They have to know how to help

the team members and how to influence them to work in a tight deadline. For this, the
manager has to know the tricks which encourage the employees to work.
 Content development knowledge: This is the area of expertise which must be present in
a young graduate to make career in marketing manager role (Cortez and Johnston, 2019).
This knowledge helps them in developing the unique content of the article and blog post
of the company products and services on the various social media channel such as
Instagram, Facebook etc.
Secondary research
 Technical skills: According to the opinion of the Schlee and Karns (2017), the taste and
preferences of the customer changes over the period of time and the company need to
analyse each step of the market and customers. That’s why marketing manager have to
develop the technical skills in themselves in order to collect the data of the market trend
and customer taste and also know how to use the statistical tools to analyse those data.
 Video marketing knowledge: The Palovic, Janta and Williams (2021), also states that
video creation is one of the skills which required in a marketing manager because
customer uses videos to know the details about the product. Creating a high-quality video
helps the marketing manager to increase the customer base of the company and also the
profitability of the business. The video is more convenient for the customer as compared
to reading the blogs and post that’s why this is a required expertise for a marketing
professional.
Evaluation
I have been always fascinated with marketing as a subject in my graduation. The special subjects
I chose were retail and sales management in my final year of graduation. I used to read about
marketing concepts written by authors like Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong. The concept of
marketing being implied differently according to different cultures made me curious and
fascinated at the same time (Thabit and Raewf, 2018). That was the time when I took decision
this was what I would like to pursue as my career as a marketing manager in an organisation
preferably of retail. Also, I was impacted by my internship in a retail mall close by my home
where I learnt about the practical nuances of retail management.

My subject being in retail management, the industry which I chose was retail as it had a
lot of scope for marketing techniques to be applied due to the range of products the industry
possessed. This job opportunity as per advertisement has been considered by me above others as
it became my dream to sit on the chair of marketing manager and make policies which not only
benefit the organisation but also are suitable to the cultural and consumer specifications. Also,
the job requirement does not boast of individual with prior experience but invites freshers like
me, it also has requirement of graduate with marketing as specialization which I have done The
consumer should feel an attachment towards the company and thus it became my aim. The job
has emerged as a significant one in the past two decades as world saw an era of globalisation
with several companies of foreign soil entering the nation and many from own country setting
establishments in other countries. The business being travelling saw the need for different
marketing strategies to be successful in different geographical regions and thus came the need for
marketing manager as a profession. Marketing manager not only makes policies but is also
involved in research beforehand of the place and the people where it is establishing base or
opening a new branch and accordingly present the plan in board meetings and work within the
budgetary constraints to be successful (Freihat, 2020). This job is bound to be successful in
future too as there will always be a need for marketing strategy to create awareness and do
promotion to make the company’s product known and sales happening to generate revenues.
Also, it will be required for creating customer base through customer engagement techniques and
creation of a sustainable image for the company.
CONCLUSION
This report concludes the general trend which might impact the marketing profession and
also the skills and knowledge required to became a marketing manager in a retail industry or
sector. The report also concludes that content development and video marketing expertise
knowledge help the young graduates to make their career in the marketing field as a marketing
manager. Further, the report also concludes the skills such as communication, leadership and
technical skills with the help of which the manager can research market and effectively
communicate and lead others.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Schlee, R. P. and Karns, G. L., 2017. Job requirements for marketing graduates: Are there
differences in the knowledge, skills, and personal attributes needed for different salary
levels?. Journal of Marketing Education. 39(2). pp.69-81.
Palovic, Z., Janta, H. and Williams, A. M., 2021. In search of global skillsets: manager
perceptions of the value of returned migrants and the relational nature of
knowledge. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 47(8). pp.1793-1810.
Cortez, R. M. and Johnston, W. J., 2019. Marketing role in B2B settings: evidence from
advanced, emerging and developing markets. Journal of Business & Industrial
Marketing.
Muninger, M. I., Hammedi, W. and Mahr, D., 2019. The value of social media for innovation: A
capability perspective. Journal of Business Research. 95. pp.116-127.
Amoakoh, E. O. and Okyere, F., 2021. A Study on the Level of Educational Background of
Owner/Manager of Small Businesses as a Factor Related to the Practice of Marketing
Research: Hair Salons Perspective.
Barreto, J. E. and Whitehair, C. L., 2017. Social media and web presence for patients and
professionals: evolving trends and implications for practice. PM&R. 9(5). pp.S98-S105.
Farris, P. and et.al., 2017. Key marketing metrics: the 50+ metrics every manager needs to know.
Pearson UK.
Thabit, T. and Raewf, M., 2018. The evaluation of marketing mix elements: A case
study. International Journal of Social Sciences & Educational Studies. 4(4).
Freihat, S., 2020. The role of transformational leadership in reengineering of marketing strategies
within organizations. Problems and Perspectives in Management.18(4). pp.364-375.
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APPENDIX
QUESTIONNARE
Q.1. From your point of view which trend will going to highly affect the marketing manager job
in future?
a) Personalized products design
b) Customer purchasing decision
c) Mobile communication
Q.2. Do you feel that the globalisation and technological trend provide high job opportunity to
the marketing manager role?
a) Yes
b) No
Q.3. What type of skills young graduates need to develop in themselves before they enter the
workplace as a marketing professional?
a) Communication skills
b) Analytical skills
c) Adaptability skills
Q.4. Do you feel that Leadership skills are important for the graduates to make their career in
marketing manager role?
a) Yes
b) No
Q.5. From your point of view, content development is one of the areas of expertise which must
be present in young graduates of marketing profession?
a) Yes
b) No
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Job Advertisement
JOB VACANCY!
IN A PRESTIGIOUS RETAIL ORGANISATION
We are a new start-up in garment business and looking for candidate suitable for the post of
marketing manager.
Eligibility: Graduate from a recognised university with marketing as specialization
Freshers are welcome to apply!
If interested, please send resume at [e-mail]
AIKA GARMENTS
Street 4/7, East-street, London
UK
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