Calling All Marketing Professionals

[countdemoney]

Originally Posted by LucasCLarson

Thanks.

Funny thing--I hate when people present their 'findings' and say: "I think the target audience"...No. It's one of my biggest pet peeves. I'm glad you mentioned research. I've the idea that every last little part of a campaign/strategy needs to be supported by research. It's funny how many people I've met don't understand that.

Research matters, but not to every little detail.

The most important advice for you is to understand who your customers are and develop outstanding relationships with them.

 

[LucasCLarson]

Originally Posted by countdemoney

Research matters, but not to every little detail.

The most important advice for you is to understand who your customers are and develop outstanding relationships with them.

Most definitely.

Thanks

 

[KnowYourRights]

Having spent the last 15 years in various in-house Creative departments as a writer, my one piece of advice is: Trust your Creative department.

 

[countdemoney]

Originally Posted by KnowYourRights

Having spent the last 15 years in various in-house Creative departments as a writer, my one piece of advice is: Trust your Creative department.

That's just the reefer talkin'


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[KnowYourRights]

^ Hahaha. That's great. I'm willing to bet that was done by someone from a Creative department to take the piss out of their Marketing managers, the usual source for those "catchy" headlines.

 

[fredfred]

If you are just coming out of school and want to get hired:

- Get some experience immediately. Help the local church/charity do a campaign of some sort. Then you can say you've helped plan and develop and execute a fund raising campaign. (Did they do TV ads? Where? Print ads? Where? Who did the buy of the print ads? Did they do direct mail? Did you help with that? How? etc...) This makes you stand out compared to other students. They've studied, you've done. The less you have to be taught (since you already know) the better candidate for a job you are.

- The people I've seen do the best within an agency know how to kiss ass and "talk big". Then can present grandiose plans (that usually can't be accomplished) sort of like politicians. "But it will help the chillllldren!". So nobody dares be "against" them.


There's also the big difference between the "client side" and the ad agency side. Learning the differences and deciding which one you like better is a good idea. The women are betting looking at ad agencies, usually....

 

[LucasCLarson]

Originally Posted by fredfred

If you are just coming out of school and want to get hired:

- Get some experience immediately. Help the local church/charity do a campaign of some sort. Then you can say you've helped plan and develop and execute a fund raising campaign. (Did they do TV ads? Where? Print ads? Where? Who did the buy of the print ads? Did they do direct mail? Did you help with that? How? etc...) This makes you stand out compared to other students. They've studied, you've done. The less you have to be taught (since you already know) the better candidate for a job you are.

- The people I've seen do the best within an agency know how to kiss ass and "talk big". Then can present grandiose plans (that usually can't be accomplished) sort of like politicians. "But it will help the chillllldren!". So nobody dares be "against" them.


There's also the big difference between the "client side" and the ad agency side. Learning the differences and deciding which one you like better is a good idea. The women are betting looking at ad agencies, usually....

I'm leaning toward the agency side write now. I love the environment. However, unless I'm mistaken, pay generally isn't as good. Of course, there are TONS of variables.

It really depends on the company. If I can get my foot in the door at a large and exciting company (ie. porsche, google, etc) the 'other side' would be cool too.

I've also thought about giving the music/entertainment business a go, too.

Who knows? There are a ton of possibilities. I'm really just searching for advice on how I can become a standout candidate.

 

[HRoi]

Originally Posted by v1100110

A lot of great products are developed this way. Wouldn't it be up to the marketing department to get the message of the product out to the right people?
my point was more that you have to identify a need, and the market for that need must be large enough to be worth your while. with that said, there are quite a few instances where someone created a "need" out of thin air because of effective marketing - Coca-cola and Apple to name two. but as a new marketing manager i'm not sure you want to bet the farm on a big unproven idea. maybe hedge with 9 safer bets and swing for the fences with the 10th idea.

 

[cocteau-yorke]

Originally Posted by Reggs

If Kunk sent you a PM, please FWD it to me.

ditto. thanks!

 

[justsayno]

Great advise here, copied and saved

. i'm planning to get a job in Product Management myself after a 2 year MBA program.

Originally Posted by HRoi

ad work is pretty different from being in marketing management for a company. i am in the latter group (we typically employ the ad guys on a contract/account basis to run campaigns for us). it actually works pretty similarly to Mad Men, where we have meetings with the agency to talk about our 'positioning' and they come up with campaigns and marketing plans to deliver the 'message'.

my advice on standing out is twofold. please note that i am talking about product management, which is only one of a few different marketing fields.

first, be very flexible and willing to learn. when starting out, you will have a lot to learn about your company's products, its culture, its customers and their needs, the rules and processes, etc. if you are in product management, you need to quickly show mastery of your product, the reasons people should buy it, and the needs of your customer. in my job, i don't personally run a product portfolio, but i have oversight over people who do - i've ceased to be surprised at how some marketing managers have so little knowledge over such basic things like the terms and conditions of their product, or the regulations surrounding their markets.

second, have a high degree of proficiency and comfort with data - getting it thru market research, and using it to inform your decisions. data is gold in this profession, and you want to prove that you can use it, and not gut feel, to understand how big your target market can be, your total revenue opportunity, and things like that. be able to use all these tools that help you boil down consumer behavior into sets of data that you can compare empirically.

we had a person here once who designed a product line because she 'felt it was the ideal product for today's consumer'. turns out it was the ideal product for HER, and we only got a few thousand customers because not everyone in the country was like her.

hope this helps

 

[Davidko19]

Originally Posted by fredfred

- The people I've seen do the best within an agency know how to kiss ass and "talk big". Then can present grandiose plans (that usually can't be accomplished) sort of like politicians. "But it will help the chillllldren!". So nobody dares be "against" them.




This is soooo true and unfortuantely, one of my biggest faults.

Ive worked at small family ran companies to now a large public corporation. There are some girls I work with now who are 26-27 and Senior Managers already. I dont know how smart they actually are since i never interact with them, but they sure as **** sound like it. And to be at that level at that age with no advanced degreees, well, you better be great at talking big. Or just not surf SF at work.

 

[Reggs]

Any more tips for those just coming out of school? Anything at all? No detail is too small.

Thanks for all the info thus far.

 

[Davidko19]

In my last job I was a marketing coordinator for a small company. nothing fancy, 50k salary with a 3-4 person department. Everyone had to do all kinds of job outside the scope ofour job description. But during the interview the boss told me he had 100 applicants and whittled it down to two - me and some other chick.

After I was hired he said the reason I got it was that I had a diverse background and she was more single track with design. If you want a design job, you probably have to get that specifically. But in my case it helped to know a little about a lot: copywriting, data, graphic design, project management, etc. And put that on your resume and beat it in.