I have all the talent to get into marketing. Been an Interior Designer for 6 years so I'm very creative and present well. I have been in Outside Sales for 4 years so I know a lot about the consumer end and business of selling.
My personality is very outgoing. I am just having the hardest time trying to bust into a company without some Marketing degree or at least a marketing course of some kind.
I wish I could go back to school but I can't. I have no money or time with the job I have now.
Cheers!
How do you know you "have all the talent" to get into marketing if you've never worked for a marketing company or taken marketing courses? Being creative is only one skill necessary to successfully market someone else's business.
Much more important than creativity are the psychological aspects of marketing. You must know what colors elicit what emotions in people, know what type fonts suggest what characteristics about a company and how to match those characteristics to a company, know what really makes people buy. Is it creative ad types and freebies or discounts? Or is it the effectiveness of the companies marketing in educating the consumer on who they are and what they do, communicated simply and very quickly? You must know what constitutes an effective logo, or an effective ad. It's not creativity. You must know the psychological tricks used in direct mail to increase the chances of your clients mailings to be opened instead of just being thrown away. You must know how to identify or help create a unique selling point for each and every client, and be able to convey it in colors, shapes, pictures and texts in a way that it can be identified in seconds or less. You need to know what marketing mediums provide a better return and cost less than TV, radio, newspaper and direct mail, and you need to know how to use them.
Marketing is a complicated business, and many marketing companies in addition to most marketing professionals have no clue about any of the aspects of developing a marketing plan that I've mentioned. Most simply rely on their ability to negotiate low rates on traditional marketing mediums such as TV, radio, newspapers and direct mail, then mark those low prices up and offer them to their clients.
I'm not saying a person has to go to school to learn about marketing. School only gives you the foundation knowledge you need. There are many books out there that can provide you with more insight in less time than any college course. If you have the ability to apply what you read, without needing instruction, books will do you MORE good than school even. Visit the marketing section of your local book store and get started.
As far as breaking into the business, without a degree, you'll either have to know someone, start your own business, or start out as an administrative assistant to get into a marketing company, then you'll battle from there to get into a consultant position.
Brandon O'Dell
O'Dell Consulting
Restaurants/Retail/Bars
bodell1@cox.net
http://www.bodellconsulting.com