Some marketing support professionals are tasked with maintaining their department's event calendar.
Though generally considered entry-level and relegated to administrative status, marketing assistants, coordinators and other support personnel are crucial members of marketing teams. These positions are also valuable opportunities for recent graduates and young professionals to receive exposure to different marketing functions within their organization and shadow more experienced employees.
Function
Marketing support personnel are usually assigned tasks such as screening, routing and responding to client and vendor phone calls; putting together shipments for internal meetings, trade shows and client events; filing, faxing and creating memos; and tracking inventory for marketing collateral and trade show give-aways. Since marketing assistants, coordinators and other support personnel work for the marketing department exclusively, other duties include assisting with PowerPoint presentations; researching price quotes for meeting and conference room space; assembling sales proposals; performing data entry; maintaining customer relationship management (CRM) databases; and communicating with external vendors. Depending on the employer and industry, some marketing support professionals may be asked to conduct marketing research, filter leads and information requests from websites, review contracts and process vendor invoices.
Education
Employers prefer candidates who hold a bachelor's degree in marketing, communications studies, advertising, business administration or a similar discipline. College classes that help prepare for a marketing support position include economics, statistics, marketing principles, business law, public-speaking, creative writing, sales, market research and digital design.
Skills
Companies hire candidates who possess excellent writing, interpersonal and oral communications skills. Marketing support professionals must know navigate within an organization and interact with multiple departments and personalities. In addition, it is important that candidates be technology savvy and have proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. Some organizations that use sales automation applications prefer candidates with previous experience managing CRM databases such as Salesforce.com and LexisNexis Interaction (see Resources). Project management, analytical and organization skills are also helpful on the job.
Salary
The average salary for marketing assistants in the United States fell between $29,582 and $39,982 according to a June 2010 PayScale.com report. Average bonuses for the role ranged between $487 and $2,022. PayScale also reports that marketing coordinators made salaries ranging between $33,015 and $44,872.
Potential
Professionals in marketing support roles can expect good job prospects through the year 2018 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics "Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition." The May 2008 report states that marketing jobs will increase by 12 percent during the 2008 to 2018 decade due to economic expansion and global competition for products and services. Marketing support personnel who continue to acquire work experience, technology skills and educational credentials will have the best opportunities for assuming marketing management roles.
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