Climbing the success ladder and standing atop the management hierarchy is every professional’s dream. If you are too a working professional, don’t you aspire to be one among the senior management one day? Don’t you want to be on the other side of the table – commanding, leading from the top, and setting an example for many to follow? It’s not easy definitely; getting there requires immaculate efforts, and of course, the requisite skills.One among such most vital skills is marketing. Does not sound very common when it comes to senior management roles, right? But yes, it’s a skill that’s highly valued by employers today across organisations. It is, in fact, one of the pivotal competencies of a strong senior manager. We, at Times TSW, will help you explore why and how marketing skills form an inevitable trait for senior management roles, in this article below.Marketing Skills Form the Core of the Senior Management’s ResponsibilitiesIf you thought that marketing is a task restricted to the creative marketing department of your organisation, it’s time to rethink. Competition in the corporate world has brought marketing competencies right to the lap of every employee therein. And, once you start working on augmenting them, you’d soon start treading the path of success.This is because managers must know how to promote their specific product/idea in the market amid cut-throat competition. For this, they need to polish some of the basic marketing competencies such as:Effective communication
Communication is the lifeblood of a team lead/manager. That’s common knowledge. But it shouldn’t just be restricted to interpersonal or in-house communication. Marketing is a type of professional communication that happens between organisations (B2B), as well as with potential and existing customers (B2C). If you exactly know how to market your service idea outside the four walls of your enterprise, you’d be doing immense good to the latter as well as to yourself.Out-of-the-box approaches
What’s the most impactful quality of a senior manager? Their ability to think out of the box for the most trivial or critical issues at hand; to offer creative solutions when needed. Marketing skills require you to develop analytical thinking towards project goals and requirements and present innovative ways to achieve them, both to your team as well as your customers.Keeping pace with technology
Technological changes have seeped into every phase of work functions today. You may be part of any domain in your organisation, be it IT, marketing, finance, HR, or any other, you do need to adapt yourself to fast-paced changes all along so as to surpass the competition.Moreover, you need to keep an eye open for cues all along. For instance, keep a check if the traditional means of advertising the project idea are failing to attain desired results? See if digital marketing is the new trend in the market that can put across your message more effectively? Figure out and work on your marketing strategies in accordance with changing technologies.Efficient collaboration
Marketing competencies also involve effective coordination with other departments of the organisation as you work on your product. This may require you to sit with the design team to prepare your product design/logo for promotion, or spending time with the research team to analyse consumer survey data.Since all of these activities form a part of marketing, it’s a good idea to have a working knowledge of all these essential skills so as to qualify for senior management roles.How Can Executive Education Help?Marketing is the backbone of any company today. Your product literally has no value until it’s promoted effectively in the market. And this is exactly why each department needs to possess marketing skills to stay in and beat the competition.To help the ambitious professionals of the 21st-century sharpen their marketing skills and make their way to the senior management roles, the prestigious IIM Kozhikode has introduced its Executive Post Graduate Certificate in Marketing Management (EPGCMM) programme. The one-year Interactive Learning course is aimed at providing specialised marketing management training to executives, helping them grow into senior management positions in their respective organisations. The Executive Post Graduate Certificate in Marketing Management (EPGCMM) programme can be attended in any of the Times TSW centres across India, and the sessions are delivered live via a technology platform by none other but the senior faculty from IIM Kozhikode. So come and join the EPGCMM programme to augment your marketing skills and rise as the best in the field.
Augmenting the Marketing Competencies Can Help Pave the Path to Senior Management Roles
The Need For Work Experience
Companies are not just looking for good grades and extra-curricular activity, but a sufficient amount of work experience. They want to know that you’ve worked somewhere else, have done a great job, and have good references. This is how they figure out if you really are as bright and talented as your resume suggest and there really is no litmus test like real world experience for an employee.Finding a job will take much less time if your references are actual professionals in your field that you have personally worked for than if your references are your grandma and your best friend. Work experience is really the only way to get this. It will also help you qualify for more positions with your level of education and get you into an interview faster. Experience impresses human resource managers because it shows that graduates have a passion for their line of work and have already been broken in by another company.Work experience will also set you up to make a higher salary or hourly wage for your first job. Many places will ask for so many years of education or applicable work experience. This means that you may qualify for that sales job without an associate in business if you’ve spent several years in a sales position and have proven your worth at your previous company. You will find that there are industries where work experience means more than education ever could even though your parents may have told you that college was the only way to get anywhere in any industry. This could actually save you money as tuition costs are rising well beyond affordable levels and with state budget deficits, it is likely that state-funded schools will keep up this trend.Students do have the option of internships. Many schools will work directly with you and a company to help you find the best internship possible. Some internships will pay a wage to their students but some highly-demanded internships are volunteer and will pay you nothing. If you do not have the funds to live in a new location and work for free, you might have to sacrifice that dream internship with one that pays well but isn’t exactly what you wanted.Volunteer service is another option if you do not have the option of doing an internship and you are having a hard time finding a job. This will help you give back to your community, and if you have found a fitting volunteer position for your field, you will have applicable experience and good references.Work experience should not just be considered a way to get your foot in the door but an opportunity to grow as an employee. You will find that in your next job, you will be able to get on your feet faster and make a bigger impact on the company. New college graduates will learn how to work in different environment and your next employer will be impressed. Work experience can not only help you get the job, but it can also set you in line to receive pay raises and promotions faster than your co-workers that just started their work experience at their current job.