If you're looking for a career spent blue-sky thinking around a pool table, you should look elsewhere. Marketing may be perceived as creative and glamorous, but successful employees are required to balance these talents with a knack for hard data analysis, business acumen and technological knowhow.
Marketing is the serious business of identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably. If it isn't done effectively then business won't survive. The blurb all over the Innocent carton may seem whimsical, but it makes the brand.
Expect pressure, tight dealines and long hours, but not without reward. Salaries start at about £20,000 for a junior marketing manager and a marketing director can earn at least £50,000. If you can handle the pace, few jobs offer as much satisfaction.
FEATURED RECRUITERS:
At Fidelis Partners we specialise in recruiting sales, marketing and manufacturing professionals into permanent and interim roles.
Vertex Resourcing is an innovative, flexible recruiter focusing principally on the Consumer Packaged Goods, Retail and Service Sectors.
We work closely with our retailers to find new and exciting ways to engage with consumers, deliver key product messages and ultimately convert shoppers to purchase.
I'VE GOT THAT JOB:
MARKETING - BRAND MANAGER
ESTELLE ALTY – NESTLE
Job description:
Full responsibility for the development and implementation of Easter strategy and range, worth around £50m.
What do you actually do?
I manage the process (generation, research, analysis, packaging) starting with strategy and development during October to May. June to October, I carry out sales presentations, internally and to external customers and the press, working with customer marketing and the sales teams to tailor the range by account and channel. Range delivery takes place between August and March.
How did you get into it?
My degree involved a lot of marketing and I decided to go into brand management. Food and drink is a fast-moving, interesting category, so I applied to the Nestlé graduate training scheme before graduating. I found I had got the job and would be working on chocolate in York!
Best bits?
Free chocolate and being surrounded by it all day! Seriously, working on some great brands you have been familiar with and eating since you were a child and on the world's leading licences, Easter is a really fun category, with loads of scope for innovative products. Another recent highlight was winning the Marketing Society Young Marketer of the Year 2005 award.
Most memorable moment?
A week at Alton Towers dressed up as a witch during our annual sales conference.
Job-hunting tip?
Be yourself – work out what you actually want to do and why.
Least likely to be told at induction?
How important your boss is – this really does make a massive difference on how well you progress and whether you enjoy your job or not.
Skills most used?
Communications skills and creativity.
What next?
I recently got a promotion to Milkybar brand manager. Beyond that, a marketing manager role, potentially moving abroad or to a different division.
