Who is a Marketing Manager and What Does He or She Do?

Marketing Manager

A marketing manager is involved with managing the market related activities of a firm. What is marketing management then? This concerns with the use of marketing techniques and their practical application in a firm's market oriented activities like marketing resources. Determination of customer demand is one of the very important jobs of a marketing manager. A marketing manager is able to influence the composition, timing and level of customer demand. A marketing manager's role will vary according to the size, the corporate culture and the industry context present there. For instance, in a big company, a marketing manager may be assigned the role of a General Manager for his/her products.

A marketing manager has to go through five important steps. These steps begin with market research and end with market control.

Market Research

Market Researching In China

In order to have a proper idea of the contemporary scenario of the market in which the product is to be introduced, a marketing manager has to do market analysis. This is done by collection of data of the present situation, doing an estimate of the potential customers and analyzing the competition in the market.

There are a lot of ways in which market research can be done. Some of the more popular techniques include statistical surveys, focus groups, test markets and ethnographic observations.

Target fixing

This is where the target customers are fixed. An estimate of the customers who will want to use the product are made. The business makes an estimate of the number of customers it wants within a specific time period. It uses data from market research to fix this target. The third step in this process is called marketing strategy.

Marketing Strategy

For this step to take place the company needs to have a firm idea of its competitors' position and the customer base. Then the marketing manager can use different methods so that the profits of the business are maximized. A strategy can have different objectives. It might aim for a revenue growth or optimization of short term unit margins. It can also keep in mind the long term profitability of the business or its market share.

Marketing Mix

This includes the four P's of the market namely, Product, Price, Place and Promotion. The correct combination of the four Ps can lead to a successful marketing of the firm's product.

Marketing Mix

Market Controlling

A series of tools such as market shares, the price premium that has been achieved along with the
measures of buyer loyalty is used to determine the success or failure of the brand. It also sees whether the combination of the four Ps in the marketing mix was made in the right way or not.

A person does not become a marketing manager in one day. Experience is required that usually begins from a low level job and works its way up.

Who is a Marketing Manager and What Does He or She Do?