Job opportunities:
Important considerations for any candidate planning a professional MBA in marketing are questions like:
- What is the scope of MBA marketing?
- How is an MBA marketing salary?
- What after MBA in marketing?
and the like. If you think that there is no scope of MBA marketing managers in this age of recession! Think again! In these tough times the crying demand of the companies is to increase their sales even more, thus, the scope of MBA marketing only becomes more critical and vital for the survival of the organization. Thus, there is always a good scope of MBA Marketing even during the times of recession, although an MBA marketing salary might be seemingly lower than during boom times.
Career options after MBA marketing:
Let us briefly look at the scope of MBA marketing in the context of industries; one can develop a career in sectors ranging from FMCG, Retail, Tourism, Banking, Hospitality, IT and ITeS, Media, PR & Advertising, Consultancy, Market Research etc. Let us briefly look into the different job profiles a candidate can expect after MBA in marketing.
- Marketing manager: The marketing manager’s responsibilities focus on servicing and managing an ongoing relationship with existing customers. He utilizes his skills in international marketing, customer satisfaction and retention, market strategy, and emerging technologies. This position requires intensive knowledge of market research and customer management.
- Brand manager: The scope of MBA marketing graduate in Brand management is that he/she is responsible for promotion and positioning activities that include advertising, media, market research activities such as collecting the information about area of consumers, display brand at target place and the like.
- Market research analyst: After MBA in marketing can open employment possibilities as a Market research analyst. Such professionals devise methods and procedures for obtaining the data they need. He is responsible for design, implementation and analysis market and provides support for the development of business strategies and plans for contributing to the business. They design telephone, mail or internet surveys to assess consumer preferences, conduct surveys as personal interviews, going door-to-door, lead focus group discussions, or setting up booths in public places such as shopping malls, analyze data on past sales to predict future sales.
- Sales manager: A sales manager is responsible for a multitude of activities like providing effective customer service and Monitoring Schemes in retail trade and distributors and reporting competitor activity, assessing and fixing sales targets, developing and monitoring business development and the like. They appoint distributors and plan sales outlets. The candidates who opt for a sales profile after MBA in marketing require a knack for customer focus and a genuine interest in the problems of customers.
- Media Planning: It forms an important component of marketing strategy of any organization. Media Planning involves designing a plan that shows how advertising time and space in selected media and which vehicles contribute to the achievement of marketing objectives in an advertising campaign. It is a tool that allows the advertiser to select the most appropriate media to communicate the message in sufficient frequency towards the maximum number of potential customers at the lowest cost.
- Product management: A product manager is responsible for the profitability and market growth of a product line. They typically coordinate and oversee a number of diverse divisions of a corporation to ensure the efficient and timely flow of a product to market. The scope of MBA marketing for is significant as many are often promoted as Director or Manager of a group of products or as Vice President (VP) of marketing.
- Internet Marketing: This is among the hottest career options for MBA-marketing graduates. Internet marketing has grown to be a massive field worldwide with tremendous opportunities for those who seek to grow in this field. Openings in account management, client relations with internet marketing firms are obvious entry points. Candidates are also finding a great amount of openings in vendor management functions of corporations where the key task to select and manage the entire spectrum of internet marketing service providers. For those who still want to delve deeper into this field, working on internet marketing projects comes recommended – there’s a lot to choose from: Social media marketing, pay-per-click (PPC) search engine marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), web content writing, article and press release writing and gradually (and with diverse exposure) quickly rising as the Head of Digital Marketing! Salaries initially tend to be on par with industry standard – but once you have gain expertise and experience, higher payouts are in for sure!
Salaries for Starters may vary depending on the work experience of the individual. However, not all B-schools can guarantee an MBA marketing salary in similar ranges. The salary also depends on other parameters like the field of specialization, creativeness, innovativeness and the like. A key fact: Most CEOs have been known ton start their careers in some form of sales or marketing role – so if you plan to work your way up there, this functional skill is not an option!
Aditya Pandey says
Dear Gurus,
I am pursuing undergraduation in Political Science and have a good amount of interest in International Politics and International Relations. Will an MBA degree in Marketing help me have a stable career with a reputed organisation? If no, then could you please suggest an alternative?
Regards,
Aditya
MBA Admission Gurus says
Hi Aditya,
An MBA in marketing will be a very indirect route to your journey. That said, we may not be the best specialists to advise you further since we advise mainly on business or management careers.
Thanks
Haresh
Sunny says
Hi
I have completed my MBA with Finance and marketing as majors. My under-graduation is in computer science. I am currently working as sales coordinator with a reputed glass Company (since 1 year)
However, I’m not satisfied with the present role .Please let me know the preset opportunities where i can apply my bachelors learning also.
Is it a good Option to learn SAP.
Regards
Sunny
MBA Admission Gurus says
Hi there,
Yes
1. SAP would be a very good bet. You could be a marketing or finance functional specialist depending on the field that you like. We strongly suggest taking some aptitude and personality tests prior to deciding on that.
2. You can also consider building a career in Internet marketing
Hope this helps
Cheers!
Haresh
Sean Rothman says
Hi,
I have just started my career in Digital Marketing. How can I improve my knowledge in this field?
How will an MBA in marketing help me grow my career?
Thanks
MBA Admission Gurus says
Greetings,
Thanks a ton for the post. We regret the delay in responding. Our website was on maintenance since the past few days and all changes from the content system were on hold.
Firstly, I would encourage you to review the section on Digital marketing in detail in the article on this page
Your second query is a bit generic: This field is vast and growing at the fastest pace ever! So we are unable to advise unless you indicate the specialty within Digital marketing you intend to pursue/build a career on. There are multiple roles in Digital marketing! Broadly speaking
I. You could be involved in core digital marketing work: This role typically needs some awareness of website development, various web marketing tools and techniques, content writing and more. You do not necessarily need an MBA for such roles (for entry level jobs) but it is a definite plus
II. Client management/Sales: Herein you are interfacing with/building business with clients of a typical digital marketing agency. an MBA is quite ideal for these kind of responsibilities
III. Vendor manager within a corporation: Many corporations are finding an increasing need for managers who can handle various digital work-related sub-contractors. Do note that this role will mainly require you to “handle” digital agencies working with your employing corporation. An MBA would be a plus herein too.
That said, by far, the largest category is category I. above. You could be a content specialist, a search engine marketer, a social media marketer, email marketer or combine multiple specialties as a “online campaign manager” or “online marketing manager”.
Finally, we suggest that you must figure out your immediately available talents that are best fit with various specialties in digital marketing. Once this sinks in, you can stay strong in the industry and grow to take on more specialties or become an online marketing manager
IN TERMS OF DEGREES SPECIFIC TO DIGITAL MARKETING: Education in this field still remains a bit unstructured. MBA programs typically have anywhere from 1 to 4 electives for this specialty based on a general observation. The most ideal way would be to pursue reputed online courses.
We recommend taking some courses from the eMarketing Association, United States. The courses carry rich information, get you market ready and are reasonably priced.
Hope this helps.
Cheers!
Haresh Kodnani
Amit says
Dear Sir,
I am pursuing an MBA in Marketing (online MBA). However, my previous academic track record has not been particularly stellar – its mostly average. I am thus a bit concerned about my career given that my previous track record hasn’t been so sound. With this situation, how do I still ensured a strong career path and gain employment with a reputed corporation?
Please guide.
Best Regards,
Amit
MBA Admission Gurus says
Hi Amit,
Your concerns are typically understandable. That said, your query is still quite broad. We recommend that you first research on all available options/career tracks in marketing for you – and especially the ones you like or feel most comfortable with.
Coming to academic records – While leading corporations do tend to look at prior academic performance and the vintage of your MBA program, there have been many exceptions in sales and marketing. You might want to refer to the survey data on backgrounds of CEOs of the Fortune 500. You will be surprised to find that more than 50% of those hail from lesser known MBA programs. Thus, if they can make it, you finding employment should not be a problem.
Focus on (A) Building world class communication skills (B) People skills (C) Networking with top people in your chosen industry and (D) arriving at clear career plans. IF you have done all these four, it is but a matter of short time that you will make it to very good opening. Finally, sales and marketing, specifically, are fields where your real world performance matters – grades are just a “launchpad”. IF this pad is weak, the 4 steps above should definitely compensate for your implied “disadvantage”.
Hope this helps!
All the best!
David
For MBA Admission Gurus
Michelle Kingston says
Hi,
I have as a Copywriter at a an ad agency for the past 3 years. I hold an MS in Advertising and Marketing Communications and have also been studying Marketing through various online courses offered by the University of Pennsylvania. I am now looking to switch from advertising to marketing (brand management) and pursuing an MBA.
Will my experience aid this switch in fields?
Please advise
Thanks much!
MBA Admission Gurus says
Greetings Michelle,
Thanks for the post. You are on a perfect track. The experience is a definite advantage and will be much valued. That said, you might want to take up some quantitative or analytical marketing electives (marketing research and the like, a couple of such electives will suffice) during your MBA.
The reason being that your employer will already be sure about your creative (right brain) skills but he may also want to see some left brain (analytical) exposure since marketing does involve a good amount of analytical judgement too…
Hope this helps!
Cheers!
David