In simple terms, marketing executives are responsible for spreading the word about a company's product or service as widely as possible.
They work with other members of the marketing team to create effective, cost-efficient marketing strategies and campaigns, which are designed to generate opportunities for the sales teams to act on and to encourage prospective customers to place orders. This article will explain what it is like to work as a marketing executive.
Day-to-day responsibilities.
Marketing executive roles can be hugely varied and encompass a wide variety of responsibilities. People in these roles usually spend a great deal of their time organising, planning and implementing their company’s marketing campaigns. The work typically involves tasks such as creating advertising campaigns and securing press coverage.
The marketing executives often complete the groundwork and admin elements of a successful marketing campaign, such as research and organisational tasks. As an example, they may be required to meet with focus groups comprised of individuals from within the company's target audience, in order to discover which techniques are most likely to be effective and get results. They then report their findings back to the team.
A typical day for a marketing executive's may consist of working with other members of the marketing team to brainstorm advertising ideas, before arranging filming and promoting the fact that the company is holding an event to local businesses, by liaising with the media.
Variations on the role.
The size of the organisation and the budget that the marketing team has to work with influences the duties individual marketing executives are responsible for. A national company with a high marketing budget, for example, is likely to require individuals to spend time creating polished television adverts for a national or international audience or generating brand awareness at promotional events. Marketing executives at these organisations may be working on major projects, but they are likely to have a lower level of creative input, as they will be working as part of a large team.
A small company, on the other hand, will often need to focus on securing exposure in other ways, such as working closely with the community and members of the local press.
In some companies, marketing executives play an important role in the creative side of things, while in others they are mainly tasked with admin work, such as arranging the printing of leaflets, monitoring budgets and contacting the press to secure coverage.
Growth potential.
Marketing executive roles offer excellent prospects for promotion and individuals are often able to work their way up through the various levels of seniority and responsibility within their own marketing team. Marketing executives who stand out for the right reasons will naturally receive promotions within their organisation, eventually leading to positions like marketing manager, marketing head post or a role as head of sales..
Should promotions not be forthcoming, it is worth looking for alternative employment, using a recruitment company to identify relevant vacancies. Generally speaking, marketing executives who show skills such as creativity, adaptability and commercial and numerical awareness are the ones most likely to succeed.