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What is marketing and why choose it as a career?

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What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word marketing? Billboards? TV ads? Flyers?

Many organisations are reluctant to invest substantial amounts of money into marketing as they often don’t understand the full host of benefits that it offers. Marketing isn’t just about promoting brand awareness. And it is much more than just selling. In fact, Marketing is one of the foundational pillars for building a successful, sustainable business.

The primary objective of marketing is to identify and satisfy, or exceed, the ever-changing needs of consumers. By looking at this broad primary objective, it is clear that the concept of marketing is related to many activities in business. Marketing in its full context refers to any activity undertaken by an organisation that has been actioned to produce goods or services as well as price, promote and distribute them to a certain target market. These marketing activities are actioned to stimulate an exchange between the organisation and its customers which in modern terms we refer to as sales. If done correctly, marketing activities should result in the organisation achieving its goals.

Marketing is an integral component of business. The purpose of marketing is to ensure that your prospective target market knows about and then purchases the products or services on offer by your organisation. Put in layman’s terms, marketing is the process of identifying consumer needs and determining how best to meet those needs. Advertising on the other hand, just like sales are one of many tactics within the marketing function that facilitate communication with potential and existing customers about the company’s products or services.

So, if you haven’t been seeing the conversion rates you’d like to, maybe the issue is that you are attempting advertising or sales as a standalone initiative and not looking at your business through a complete strategic marketing lens. In other words you may be lacking in strategy. And any promotion without a sound strategy behind it, is simply a waste of resources.

How doing a marketing course can benefit you

 

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You become employable

Marketing skills are in serious demand, especially in the digital marketing space. This skills gap is set to widen. It is one of the few job markets that are thriving and surviving in the COVID-19 environment. Brands are highlighting marketing more than we have ever seen before. Bigger budgets, increased pay and diverse career opportunities are just a few of the benefits that marketing professionals are able to look forward to this year and in many years to come.

 

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Communication skills are valuable no matter what your career path

Even if you decide to veer off into a different direction with your career, having some marketing and communication skills in your armoury is never a bad idea. One of the most important skills that businesses seek in employees is communication. The ability to communicate effectively with a potential market is a critical part of what makes any business successful. You can use the skills you develop when studying marketing in just about any business setting or career, even if it is just communicating with your colleagues to get your point across. The field of marketing communication is very broad and with the emergence of digital technology it is now more dynamic than ever and requires all business owners and managers to keep up to date with the latest developments.

 

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You remain relevant

No matter whether you are a seasoned marketer or a doctor wanting to know how to put your practice onto the Internet, short courses are a great way to learn new skills quickly or to top up existing skills in order to remain relevant.

 

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You open up diverse career opportunities

Marketing offers a wide variety of career choices for different personality types. If you have more of an extroverted personality and enjoy working with people, possible career options include sales, retailing, brand or product management. If you are more of the analytical type, you might enjoy a career as a market research analyst or digital marketing planner rewarding.

 

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Marketers are always in demand

The importance of marketing cannot be overstated, and this is only expected to increase. One of the main goals for any organisation is expanding their customer base and the power of marketing in realising this goal implies that marketers will remain high in demand for some time to come.
Marketing teams can be found in almost every industry – agencies, in-house, outsourced or freelance. There are always a wide range of jobs available in this field, especially for those who have the required qualifications and skills.

 

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Earning potential

Marketing is a business function that allows a lot of room for growth. By continuously improving your knowledge and application of marketing, you will be able to climb up the corporate ladder. And, depending on the company, your position and your experience, you could become a highly paid professional in no time.
What’s interesting and beneficial about the job market for marketing professionals is that there is huge competition for skilled talent regardless of industry. This means that individuals with the right skills can negotiate for great salaries but also land great benefits and perhaps even bonuses depending on their role.

A marketing course that has it all

The IMM has just updated it’s industry leading short course in The Fundamentals of Marketing. This course will set you up with a good foundation. It has been designed both for current marketing professionals who want to update their skills, and those looking for an introduction into this exciting career field. It is also suited to business owners and entrepreneurs who aim to develop their marketing knowledge so they can apply this knowledge to their own brand.

The field of marketing is exciting – it stimulates creativity and requires lateral thinking. Marketers face the challenge of constantly having to come up with creative ways to promote a brand, product or service. If this sparks your interest, look at signing up for our Fundamentals of Marketing Short Course. This course has been developed by a team of marketing experts that have a thorough understanding of the practical marketing skills required to compete in today’s fast-paced marketing environment.

This IMM online short course covers the fundamentals of marketing management and offers a holistic view of this important field.

The course is a 12-week online short course where you will start off with Part 1: The world of marketing. In Part 1 you will learn about the basic principles of marketing, the marketing environment and competitors. Following these foundations, you will learn more about consumer behaviour, research, marketing decision making, segmentation, targeting and positioning.

Then comes Part 2, the marketing mix strategy, throughout part 2 of this course, you will be exposed to how digital technology has impacted the four P’s and how an additional four P’s have been added to address the service elements of the digital environment namely, People, Process, Physical Evidence and Partnerships. You will also learn how to drive action through a well thought out marketing plan.

An understanding of the fundamentals of marketing forms the basis for developing successful marketing strategies in any organisation. IMM’s Fundamentals of Marketing course is designed to provide you with the knowledge and skills you will need to develop practical skills that are applicable in the workplace.

After mastering this course, you will have obtained extensive knowledge of the field of marketing and its operations, this knowledge will lay the foundation upon which you can further build your knowledge to graduate level by signing up for one of our marketing degrees or higher certificates.

By now, it should be clear that the marketing world is about much more than just promotion and advertising, and that it could be a riveting field to jump into, so sign up for our Fundamentals of Marketing Short Course today and kick your marketing career off the right way!

To sign up, or for more information on our Fundamentals of Marketing Short Course, or any of our other courses in marketing, visit https://shortcourses.imm.ac.za/online_courses/marketing-advertising-short-courses/