Business management and a career path in marketing - Essay Example

Business management and a career path in marketing This essay takes a look at the skills and knowledge required to graduate in the field of Business Management and follow a career path in the field of marketing. This essay starts off with a brief discussion regarding a degree in business management and further talks about what the course entails. Business management students can take various career paths and this essays looks at the options available in detail. However, we focus our analysis towards the field of marketing that can be pursued by a business management graduate. Success in any field requires in depth knowledge about the subject of the field, and in this essay we shed light on what skills and knowledge is required for a Business Management student to succeed in this field. Moreover, this essay also outlines ways of developing the desired skill set that is needed to have a successful career in business management. Business Management is a very broad study area. In very simple words, the study of business management seeks to instill amongst its students the art of managing businesses. The study of business management revolves around various theoretical as well and practical approaches to managing businesses efficiently as well as effectively. The best part about undertaking studies in the field of business management is the fact that its students are taught about practically each and every area of a business, thus making them generalists and allowing them to serve in practically any work area (Business Management Skills, 2014). Just to give a brief overview of the subjects being taught in business management, the study of the discipline includes being taught about financial management, human resource management, information technology management, event marketing amongst other subjects. There is a range of intended career paths that are available to students who under take a degree in business management. Business management has a vast scope and graduates in the subject can choose amongst various career including event management, operations management, chartered management account, marketing consultancy, business consultancy, logistics management amongst various other options. It is essential to mention here that as business management students are taught the art of mastering business throughout their education; most students are seen taking a little industry experience by working with companies, and later on starting off with their own entrepreneurial ventures. For the purpose of this essay, our focus will remain towards the area of marketing as we discuss about the skills and essentials required for a person to succeed in this field. There are many skills and areas of knowledge that need to be mastered if one wants to ace in the field of marketing. These areas include, but are not limited to business analytics, social media knowledge, in-depth knowledge of data visualization, technical skills, team work, soft skills, and finally news jacking. We will now look at each of these areas in detail and look at the ways of developing knowledge and skills in said areas. Business analytics refer to trends and behaviors. A study of business analytics is highly essential for a healthy marketing career as analytics looks at purchase history of customers, looks for patterns in their search behaviors etc. to connect leads to the company (McKendrick, 2013). Developing knowledge of business analytic does not come over night, however looking at connections between various patterns enables a marketing professional to connect the dots and make marketing more efficient and targeted. Mastering this art takes time, and only comes when one starts connecting dots between various events. The use of social media is another skill that should be used efficiently to become successful in the field of marketing. Social media helps marketers connect to the masses in an efficient and effective manner. According to studies marketers use various forms of social media to create marketing trends, rather than being followers (Knowledge Management Skills, 2014). Marketing prospects benefit from social media by first understanding about the types of users that are on it, and later applying their marketing strategies to their target audience. Social media skills are nothing too big, however taking the help of social media marketing companies is a good way to develop skills in the said area. Data visualization refers to displaying data as images rather than disseminating it in huge paragraphs. In the current times, time saving is a key to effective marketing as people do not realty have much time to look at advertisement. So the smaller the message, the more effectively it can be communicated (Sabo, 2012). This skill can be mastered by learning various data visualization software, for instance Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. Technical skills are a must to succeed in marketing. These skills refer to acts like video production and basic coding. The best way to master these skills is to learn the art behind coding, and get first hand exposure on video production. This way when a marketing professional is carrying out a strategy, he will know how to look at it from a production perspective, and thus he will be able to get the marketing strategy executed in an efficient manner. Most of all the skills that are needed to succeed in the field of marketing are soft skills. Soft skills refer to understanding the culture of the target audience, paying attention to business relationships, being friendly with clients, and remaining on flexible terms with them (Six Key Skills Every Manager Needs, 2014). The best way of developing these skills is to pay close attention to the marketing audience and clients, noticing their likes and dislikes and paying close attention to them, making sure all our actions adhere to their accepted norms. To sum it up, in order to make a successful career in marketing, it is highly essential that a prospect candidate possess all the key skills mentioned within this essay. Along with the above mentioned skills, these may include good communication skills, possessing negotiation skills, keeping staff motivated as well as managing workforce and time in an efficient as well as effective manner (May, 2014). Consequently, studying business management opens up an array of options for business graduates and it is then totally up to them where they want to go and what they want to make out of themselves. Amongst these options available, one of best options is to opt for a career in marketing. Given all the above mentioned skills are efficiently utilized, within no time can a person move on from being a marketing student to a seasoned marketing professional. Bibliography Read More