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Marketing is the process by which providers (sellers) "pitch" their products and services to their potential customers (buyers). Marketing professionals seek to attract and maintain customers for their products and services and to gain a competitive edge over rival sellers. Marketing specialists strive to:

• Identify potential customers, or markets, for products and services
• Develop products and services that will benefit those customers
• Distribute the products or services to its target market
• Price products and services in a way that maximizes profits
• Advertise, publicize, and promote products and services

Marketing careers include Market Research Analysts and Marketing Managers.

Market Research Analyst
Market research analysts are responsible for predicting the future sales of services and products. Market research analysts collect and analyze statistical data about past sales, marketing and distribution strategies, and pricing, studying information about competitors' business as well as their own. Strategies that market research analysts use to analyze potential sales include:

• Designing consumer preference surveys
• Conducting surveys
• Analyzing survey results
• Recommending promotion, distribution, design, or pricing strategies

A market research analyst relies on quantitative skills. Coursework in math, statistics, sampling theory and survey design, and computer science are very important. The minimum educational requirement for a market researcher job is a bachelor's degree, but you will be more competitive in the job market with an MBA or PhD in marketing, statistics, or communication.

The largest numbers of job opportunities for market research analysts are in consulting and marketing research firms. Many companies prefer to contract their services to these firms rather than support their own marketing departments. The median 2004 annual salary for market research analysts was $56,000.

Marketing Manager
Marketing managers are responsible for crafting, developing, and implementing the marketing strategies for their companies' products or services. They may supervise market research analysts and product development managers.

It falls on the marketing manager to gauge the demand for products and services and to identify the markets for them. Then, the marketing manager must develop a pricing structure based on that information. Finally, marketing managers must predict future markets for new products and services by monitoring and projecting current market trends.

Employers expect marketing candidates to have a bachelor's degree or master's degree in marketing or business with specialization in marketing. A bachelor's degree in science or engineering coupled with an MBA is a good background for marketing managers in technical industries. The 2004 median salary of marketing managers was $88,000.

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