Marketing is a broad field that includes areas of research, strategy and communication. Marketing plays an important role at many companies and helps to create value for customers and build customer relationships. Marketing professionals must be creative and rigorous and are often responsible for creating ads and ad campaigns as well as conducting studies and surveys based on detailed market research.

Market Research

Marketing professionals are responsible for conducting market research based on their products and services. This research then helps companies determine what markets to target and how to best reach these markets to maximize sales and profits.

Areas of market research include market information, market segmentation and market trends. Market information involves studying prices, supply and demand of a product. Market segmentation entails knowing the different groups of a market as defined by interest and motivation; and market trends involve the movement of a market over time.

Market researchers study all these areas through surveys, focus groups, questionnaires and other available industry data and charts.

Market Strategy

Marketing involves a lot of strategy, including estimating demand for products and services, developing the ideal price point, determining what products should be released when, deciding what markets to target and any number of other factors relating to how to best promote and sell a product. Marketing professionals are business professionals and just like any business, it's important for a marketer to plan ahead and have a detailed strategy in place before beginning to market and promote a product, service or brand.

Advertising and Promotion

One of the most basic and essential duties of a marketing professional is to oversee advertising and promotion of a product or service. This involves the creative element of coming up with ad campaigns, which often include catchy phrases and powerful images, as well as deciding where and when to place the advertisements. Marketers must often work within a strict budget when it comes to placing ads, and must carefully select the mediums, such as print, video, TV and the Internet, as well as the specific outlets.

Promoting a product also involves going to trade shows and other relevant events to help spread the word and make connections. Often promotions involve some memorable angle such as giving away a freebie, doing a survey or holding a contest.

Sales

Marketing professionals are responsible for generating sales of the product or service they are involved in marketing. Making sales is a complex process that involves seeking out potential customers or clients, offering them your product or service and persuading them to make a purchase or investments. Marketers are often responsible for pitching an item to a potential customer and familiarizing them with the benefits of the product or service. This can be done in person, on the phone, over the Internet, via mail or even through a promotional marketing video.

Branding

Marketing professionals are often responsible for the branding efforts of the company they work for. A brand is the identity of a product, service or business and branding can come in many forms, including names, signs, symbols or slogans. Brands are developed over long periods of time, and clients and customers eventually associate a company's brand with the company itself.

Public Relations

Marketing professionals are often the face of a business and therefore must be prepared to deal with public relations duties. This involves dealing with the press and other media in relation to the product, service or business.