What Does the Marketing Position Actually Do in a Company?

In business studies, "marketing" and its related fields are among the most popular employment choices for overseas students. The marketing department of a company, as the department responsible for creating intangible value for the company, includes some of the most common roles in the marketing field. 

In practical work, due to various factors such as the nature of the company, product types, industry norms, and more, marketing positions exhibit various forms of work, leading to the emergence of many new types of positions. 

Definition of Marketing

However, regardless of changes in job titles, the broad definition of marketing remains the same: the process of creating value for customers, establishing strong customer relationships, and obtaining returns. 

So, no matter how the job titles change, marketing work can still be broadly categorized into three main types: market research, marketing planning, and business development (BD).

In this blog post, we will analyze the three common types of marketing positions to provide international students interested in these roles with a better understanding of marketing work.

Market Research Position

"Know yourself, know your enemy, and you shall win a hundred battles." This ancient Chinese saying highlights the importance of research.

In today's intensely competitive market, not understanding the market conditions and not knowing the competition means having no chance of success. For companies, market research is like conducting reconnaissance before going into battle. More and more job positions require professionals to have certain research capabilities. As the competition among companies intensifies, the demand for research also increases.

In highly competitive environments, every decision a company makes needs to be based on research results. In other words, everything done by different departments within a company needs to be supported by research findings rather than arbitrary decisions.

Through various research methods, market research identifies opportunities in the market, allows customers to express their opinions, and makes the findings available for other departments within the company to use. 

The main tasks include providing information as a basis for decision-making, enabling companies to better understand external information, perceive changes in the market, and discover new market opportunities. 

The main issues addressed by market research positions are what to do and why to do it. Research is an essential step in finding answers and validating hypotheses.

For international students looking for market research positions, these roles are mainly found in larger companies or rapidly expanding ones.

Marketing Planning Position

Marketing planning is a branch of marketing that spans a wide range of activities. When looking for jobs, you'll notice that positions with the same title, "marketing planning," can involve entirely unrelated tasks.

In this article, marketing positions are divided into two main categories within the marketing planning category: positions that lean toward planning and those that lean toward execution.

1. Leaning Toward Planning

A good creative idea can often bring exponential growth to a product. Moreover, good planning is the starting point for all work, and a good start is half the battle. Essentially, the quality of planning sets the tone for the entire campaign. Therefore, the primary role of these planning positions is to organize and plan activities by analyzing customer needs, fully utilizing company resources, and preparing activity plans. In practical work, roles with more oversight, planning, and integration are common.

2. Leaning Toward Execution

Nevertheless, a plan ultimately needs to be executed. In marketing planning positions, there's a substantial amount of work focused on how to implement a plan and maintain previous results under an existing plan. 

In marketing planning positions that lean toward execution, the primary responsibilities are to communicate and coordinate with related departments, push projects forward, monitor progress, and solve issues promptly.

In smaller companies, the work may not be as finely divided, and the same person may be involved in various stages, from initial planning to mid-term implementation and maintenance of results. However, in many marketing planning positions, the actual work often requires involvement in various aspects, with no clear division of responsibilities.

Business Development (BD) Position

Within marketing positions, there is also a common category known as BD positions. As mentioned in previous articles, the primary responsibility of BD positions is to expand new partnerships for the company and explore potential project opportunities.

Specific tasks include coordinating external cooperation and investment in large-scale events, identifying cooperative resources that benefit the company, initiating initial contact for cooperative projects, monitoring the progress of cooperation, and providing feedback after completion of the project. 

Additionally, BD positions carry the responsibility of maintaining relationships with partners and play an active role in acquiring target customers. For example, the business development position at Meituan below clearly outlines the basic work content of such positions.

BD positions are often the ones that companies interact with the most externally. Excellent BD professionals can bring a constant stream of partnership opportunities to the company, and their quality of service can enhance the company's brand image and intangible value.

The work of business development involves continually helping the company maintain various cooperation relationships and expand new opportunities. Professional BD staff provides better service to business users.

In Summary

For international students interested in pursuing marketing careers, it's essential to understand the type of marketing position they are applying for, whether it falls under market research, marketing planning, or business development (BD). Although they all fall under the marketing framework, the actual job roles can vary significantly. This article also mentions that to excel in marketing positions, one needs to acquire specific skills and abilities. What kind of abilities does a marketing professional need? The next sections will explain.