Marketing
What is marketing to you? This is a question you need to ask yourself if you want to have a career in marketing.
How you answer that question will impact how you plan your marketing career path. Do you focus on the promotion and selling of a product? Do you focus on understanding the consumers' behavior? Do you want to work in the digital world of ecommerce?
Marketing is comprised of a variety of different areas and functions. Marketing professionals create, manage, analyze and promote brands and products.
Typical areas of marketing include:
- Marketing research, analytics, insights
- New product development
- Brand management
- Digital marketing or online marketing
- Sales and promotions
- Advertising, public relations, communications, social media
Do not underestimate how important quantitative and analytical skills are to a career in marketing. Of course some areas of marketing are more quantitative than others. See the flowchart above and read job descriptions to better understand the most and least quantitative marketing areas.
Quick Links
Marketing Jobs
The functions mentioned above can be broken down into smaller categories. Below are a list of some common marketing keywords that are part of common job titles. These are entry points into the different functions and almost all can have a descriptor, such as Analyst, Assistant, Associate, Coordinator, Junior, Manager, Specialist either before or after the keyword below. For example, you could look for an entry-level job as an Account Coordinator, Account Executive, Account Manager, Junior Account Executive or Assistant Account Executive. So if you are interested in a job in account management, you should review all of these job titles when searching for jobs.
Common Job Titles
Pair the words below with the following descriptors to see full job titles: Analyst, Assistant, Associate, Coordinator, Junior, Manager and Specialist.
- Account
- Advertising
- Analytics
- Brand
- Business Development
- Buyer
- Campaign
- Category
- Channel
- Communications
- Competitive Intelligence
- Content
- Creative
- Customer Insights
- Digital
- Event
- Marketing
- Marketing Research
- Media
- Merchandising
- Online Marketing
- Planning
- Pricing
- Product
- Product Development
- Promotions
- Public Relations
- Sales
- SEO
- Social Media
Marketing Companies
Consumer Products Companies
See the 10 companies that control almost everything you buy.
- Coca-Cola
- Colgate-Palmolive
- Edgewell Personal Care
- General Mills
- Kimberly-Clark Corp.
- Johnson & Johnson
- Kao Brands
- Kraft
- Lifetime Brands (HQ - Garden City, NY)
- Mars
- Nestle
- PepsiCo
- Prestige Brands (HQ-Irving, NY)
- Procter & Gamble
- Reckitt Benckiser (RB) (US HQ - Parsippany, NJ)
- S.C. Johnson
- Unilever
Consumer Products Companies (local)
- Bausch & Lomb (HQ-Rochester, NY)
- Fisher-Price (HQ-East Aurora, NY)
- Mentholatum (HQ-Orchard Park, NY)
- New Era Cap (HQ-Buffalo, NY)
- FIFCO (US HQ - Rochester, NY and Labatt USA - Buffalo, NY)
- Perry’s Ice Cream (HQ-Akron, NY)
- Rich Products (HQ- Buffalo, NY)
Advertising Companies (local)
Marketing Research Companies
Brand Management Companies
Certifications
Some jobs in marketing could request additional skills and certifications. These may be specialties beyond your degree's curriculum. There are costs associated with these certifications, so do your research to better understand what employers really want. Are they just requesting it as a preferred qualification, or is it required? And also research what your competition looks like. If everyone who is applying has the same skills it's difficult to differentiate yourself. Would an additional certification help to differentiate you?
These are just a sample of certifications available through various vendors.
- Facebook Digital Marketing Associate Certification: The online coursework in FREE. After completing the coursework, if a student would like to register for the certification, it would be a fee of $99 to cover the cost of the proctor service Facebook utilizes
- Social Media Strategist Certification through the National Institute for Social Media (NISM)
- SEO Certified Professional
- Hootsuite Certified Professional
- HubSpot InBound Certified
- Google Analytics Certified
- Google AdWords Certified
- Online Marketing Certified Professional (OMCP) (requires work experience and courses)
Marketing Magazines
Stay up to date on current trends in marketing and advertising.
Marketing Associations and Professional Organizations
- UB Marketing Club (student chapter)
- Advertising Club of Buffalo (local)
- American Association of Advertising Agencies (national): National trade association that represents the advertising industry
- American Marketing Association (AMA) (national): The AMA is the world's largest and most comprehensive professional society of marketers
- Buffalo Niagara Sales and Marketing Executives (local): This is a professional association of sales and marketing leaders in the Buffalo Niagara region
- Pi Sigma Epsilon - University at Buffalo Chapter (student chapter): This organization is a sales and marketing fraternity which works to develop the next generation of sales and marketing executives
- Product Development and Management Association (national): A global collective of talented innovation executives, product development and management practitioners that focus on best practices and research in the dynamic and accelerating field of product development, product management and innovation.
- Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) (national): Global organization of public relations professionals, which provides professional development, sets standards of excellence and upholds principles of ethics
- Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) (student chapter): A UB Student Association club for those interested in public relations, advertising and marketing, which brings real-world experience to students and will feature panelists, networking, and an opportunity to find out more about the PR and marketing world
- Public Relations Society of America - Buffalo Niagara Chapter (local chapter)
- Sales and Marketing Executives International (national)
- Social Media Club of Buffalo
Marketing Job Search Resources
In addition to the two UB career management systems BizLink and BullsEye, use the following resources to find marketing opportunities:
- Bureau of Labor Statistics- Occupational Outlook Handbook: Search by job function or industry and find information on average salaries, work environment, job outlook and more
- Careers-In-Marketing: This site helps you find a rewarding and interesting job in the world of marketing
- Indeed.com: Search for jobs in one place access thousands of websites, including job listings from major job boards, newspapers, associations and company sites. Search by keyword and location
- MarketingJobs.com: Search for jobs, post your résumé, look through the employer profiles or check out the salary survey
- NationJob - Marketing Opportunities: Search for current marketing opportunities or just enter your job preferences and your email address, and we'll send you any new jobs that match your choices each week. Free
Academics
To learn more about the Marketing concentrations and courses included within the concentration, please refer to the academic curriculum.