A marketing career seems something that you could give an arm
and a leg for if reports are to be believed. It is all about glamour, travel,
commercials being shot in New Zealand and celebrity shoots with Priyanka
Chopra! Well while some of it may be true it may include van trips in UP with
the salesman selling detergents. To sum up marketing can mean travel not only
to exotic places, strange food, and dusty roads but it could also give you an
opportunity to meet new people, learn different languages and customs but more
significantly grow faster and earn more than some of your classmates at
management school.
Who should get into marketing?
Before we understand your suitability for marketing it is
first important to debug some classic myths about marketing and its people.
Myth no 1.
Marketing people are smooth talking, chain smoking, and beer
guzzling people.... what a clanger that is! Marketing people or the smarter
ones think before they speak. They are hardly the hail fellow, well met but
people who have strong relationships with their clients and partners like
dealers.
Myth no2.
Marketing is sales. Hardly, marketing is about branding,
advertising, distribution, pricing, market research and a whole lot more.
So if you are to be successful in marketing, you need to be interested
in products, people and their behaviour. You must be willing to travel,
definitely from your home town and be open to different people, languages, food
and cultures.
You must be a good communicator who is constantly willing to
learn and make mistakes. Your mind must be constantly alert to new
opportunities and behaviour changes. Why are people buying more and more stuff
online today is one such question that must interest you.
So what must you do?
If you are a first year student, it would help if you did
your projects, internships and just about everything in marketing. Be a part of
social media groups of the community. Read the business sections of the
newspapers and definitely the trade web sites like exchange4media and Agencyfaqs.
Definitely do your two month summer project in marketing.
In the second year do a specialisation in marketing which
will give you an understanding of the whole process - sales management, brand
management, advertising, distribution and product management definitely and
certainly market research. Audit courses if you find yourself unable to do
everything that the institute offers. Push your student representatives to do
marketing seminars and workshops.
You are what you know
I hate talking about myself but I must make a point here. In
my two years at management school I took it upon myself to read every book on
advertising that was there in the IIM Bangalore library and testimony to that
is the power of my spectacles! But seriously today you are more fortunately
placed. Everything that you need to know is on the tip of your fingers thanks
to Google. And yet a word of caution is in order here. Not everything you read
on the net is gospel truth. Anyone can post an opinion online and often some
people have an agenda. So sift through information, ask questions in class and
during guest lectures and read text books as they are more reliable.
What do you want to do?
I was clear I wanted to do advertising. I was in love with
that. Nothing else mattered. So my choice was simple. Yours may not be so
simple. You need to research, speak to your teachers, the guest faculty and
your seniors to understand the job market place. Where do the opportunities
exist? Is it sales or is it logistics thanks to the Flipkarts of the world. Is
it analytics which points you to the direction of market research? Remember
that these are important choices. But in management school look for a
combination of subjects which will help your career and don’t be fixated with a
specialization. Choose carefully. So consumer behaviour for instance would be
attractive to me as it would help me in my marketing career even if it meant I
sacrificed another course in a different stream.
Be inspired
All around us are words of wisdom and success stories of people
who have been there done that. Try to understand their
life paths and career choices. David Ogilvy was a cook before he became the
greatest copywriter of his time. Remember too that every experience, every
learning will have some value somewhere. Make the most of your two years at
management school and soon enough you will provide value to your employer and
those around you.
Welcome to the world of ideas and innovation!
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