Is an MBA in Marketing a Good Choice?

Do you know that the demand of marketing professionals is expected to increase by 10% by the year 2030? Also, do you know that an average salary of a MBA professional in India is around 7 lacs per annum?

While a lot of youngsters are fighting the fear of unemployment and unexpected layoffs, why not invest your time and energy in a domain that is guaranteed to give you rewards?

Yes, we are talking about MBA in Marketing!

Pursuing an MBA will help you develop insights into how the markets function and consumer trends. It will teach you how to develop strategies to accomplish organizational goals. An MBA in marketing will open your doors to various fields like advertising, banking, FMCG, tourism, retail, and consultancy, etc. The popular roles include marketing manager, sales manager, marketing research analyst, brand manager, product manager, and media planning manager. As a marketing professional, you will develop a knack for innovation and a natural vision for the future. You will learn the importance of goodwill from a business point of view and converse with technology at the same time.

Benefits of pursuing an MBA in Marketing

In recent years, consumerism has gained a whole new momentum, which is why conventional marketing strategies do not work anymore. In order to get the attention of your customers, it is important to understand their actual needs and develop products or services that can meet their expectations. An MBA in Marketing from a reputed business school allows you to nurture and develop your skills in communication, leadership, and consumer behaviour required to devise dynamic marketing strategies for the growth of an organisation.

Here are some of the benefits of pursuing an MBA in Marketing from top B-Schools in India:

• Good remuneration: According to research, the average salary of an MBA graduate in Marketing is between 3 and 30 lacs based on their knowledge, skill, and experience level. Fast-moving companies often offer lucrative salary packages to marketing professionals, thus making it one of the most sought-after MBA programmes across the country.
• Better opportunities: An MBA in marketing gives you room to improve your skills and knowledge level. It also offers a diverse range of opportunities to expand your career horizons. You will learn to cultivate some of the most needed life  skills, like analytical thinking and problem solving, projecting your thoughts concisely, and developing core competencies in attending to a varied customer base. Moreover, working on tight deadlines will make you habituated to working and performing even under hostile circumstances.
• Stand out from the crowd: Anyone can do the simple administrative work, but how many people have adequate skills to market a brand and increase its credibility amongst consumers? To summarise, an MBA in marketing gives you a competitive edge over others and polishes you with diverse skills and knowledge to sustain across any industry.
• Enhanced career advancement opportunities: During your course programme, you not only learn about business development but also about marketing strategies, advertising, product placement, etc., all of which give you immense coverage across different industries. An MBA in Marketing allows you to get a job promotion and prepares you for executive and managerial positions.

Career opportunities for MBA in Marketing graduates

An MBA in Marketing is one of the most popular courses around the world and prepares individuals for a fast-moving future. Taking up an MBA course in any leading business school will advance your career and provide you with lucrative job opportunities, knowledge enhancement, and varied skill development.

Let us take a glance at the diverse roles that professionals can take after their graduation in MBA - Marketing.

• Brand Manager: A brand manager is responsible for developing innovative brand development strategies and maintaining brand value and integrity across all channels. They oversee new or ongoing marketing activities and work closely to create a positive brand image to bring in more leads and customers to the organisation.
• Sales Manager: Sales managers are professionals responsible for increasing the sales of an organisation through marketing campaigns or other initiatives. They analyse and provide a detailed sales forecast. Apart from providing sales analysis, they also oversee recruiting, hiring, and training sales representatives deployed under their supervision.
• Retail Manager: Retail managers are professionals responsible for maintaining the day-to-day operations of a store while maximising profits and minimising costs. They not only allocate resources for the smooth functioning of a store, but they also supervise the manpower or staff working under them and aim to improve the sales of the store through effective cost control methods.
• Business Development Manager: A business development manager is responsible for analysing growth, market trends, customer perspectives, etc. to identify new business opportunities that can increase the revenue and profitability of an organisation. They will also prepare strategies to improve the reputation of the brand and enhance the operations of the business.
• Corporate Sales Manager: A corporate sales manager is responsible for strategizing and increasing the sales of products and services for a corporate organisation. These professionals also work towards building brand awareness, effective relationships with customers, and sales for the organisation.
• Market Research Analyst: Several multinational, start-up, and consulting companies are looking for market research analysts who possess the skills to collect all the market-related data, resolve market-related problems, understand market trends, and target a specific audience.

Key skills and qualities needed for an MBA in Marketing

An MBA in marketing provides you with the skills and abilities to identify the right consumer base and build brand value. However, as budding marketing professionals, one should develop certain skills to cater to their requirements during the MBA programme. So, if you are someone who possesses the following qualities and skills, you are the right candidate to pursue an MBA in marketing.

• Communication: Communication is not just about ‘expressing yourself’ but also allowing others to express their views and opinions. You need to communicate with not just your superiors but also your team and, most importantly, your 'clients'. Therefore, effective communication is extremely important for any leadership role in the marketing domain.
• Time Management: As marketing professionals, you may be given targets to fulfil. When we talk about targets, the concept of ‘time management’ easily comes into the picture. Unless you are capable of managing your time efficiently, you will not be able to complete more work in a shorter time, thereby leading to more stress in the workplace.
• Strategic thinking: As a marketing manager or a brand manager, you need to think strategically to devise new plans and ways to understand customer needs, improve sales, and edify a brand image in the minds of the audience.
• Teamwork: How often have we heard of this term, ‘United we stand, divided we fall?" Teamwork can actually make your dream work. So, if you are working with a common objective to grow in life, teamwork will help you reach your destination in no time. Your teamwork skills will help you mitigate the crisis within the team and ensure smooth facilitation of workflow within the department.
• Leadership: In the future, you may be assigned leadership roles where you need to manage a team. This is where a true leader will help build effective relationships with its team members and implement leadership skills to achieve the end-objectives.

Specialization courses within an MBA in Marketing program

Marketing plays a crucial role for any business, without various marketing techniques many businesses would not even survive. The two-year post-graduate program is structured to provide you the core business skills and real-world learning experiences. Being one of the oldest disciplines of management study common courses within MBA in marketing specialization program include:

• Marketing management
• Consumer and brand insight strategy
• Operations management
• Forecasting, modeling, and marketing strategy
• Digital marketing and social media management
• International and multi-national marketing
• New product strategy, branding, and marketing
• Salesforce management

Differences between MBA in Marketing and MBA in other specializations

If you are wondering why one should opt for an MBA in Marketing, then let us be on the same page that marketing is one such field that will never become obsolete. AI may intervene in different departments of an organisation, but marketing is one such domain that will continue to exist.

Why? It is because only humans can understand the value, demand, and need of products or services in society and how to attract people to become consumers of a particular brand. The bottom line is that companies cannot function without marketing their products innovatively. This is primarily one of the main reasons why companies are investing millions to analyse different techniques for marketing their goods or services. Because of this, it has made the MBA in Marketing one of the most sought-after degree programmes in India and worldwide. Let us see some more reasons that have caused students to choose marketing as their specialisation in their MBA journey.

• High-demand profession: Marketing is one such profession that is dynamically growing across different industries. Its wide-scale accessibility and significance have made it one of the leading professions around the world. A lot of people like working in this domain because of the great remuneration and added perks and benefits. It has been seen that an average marketing professional has the ability to even earn 20 lacs per annum compared to other conventional professionals.
• Great scope for career advancement: Every year, leading companies in different sectors come up with new products and services to quench consumer demand in the market. In order to do this, it requires the heavy involvement of marketing professionals to understand market trends, evolve consumer behaviour, predict demand, and come up with new ideas to venture into more unique markets and territories.
• Beat the competition: Although there are opportunities, the rate of employment is still low in India. Ever wondered why? This is because people don’t opt for specific domain specialisations to excel in their careers. Amidst the fierce competition to grab the right opportunity, an MBA in marketing plays an important role in helping you land a good job.
• Rewarding career prospects: We are all aware that a career in marketing is destined to give you lucrative returns in the future. Apart from receiving a handsome salary, you will also be subjected to great incentives if you can fulfil the expectations of the organisation. The incentive structure is a tremendous motivating factor at the initial level to keep the beat going.

Importance of choosing the right institution for MBA in Marketing

It is important where you seek your education, as it not only shapes your future but also makes you industry-ready to ace your corporate journey. There are a lot of factors that are important to consider when choosing the right institution for an MBA in Marketing, such as:

• Quality of Education: A great institution paves the way for great minds. The quality of education that you are exposed to plays a crucial role in enhancing your skills and knowledge in marketing. If you are wondering how, then it is because of the well-crafted curriculum, supportive and experienced faculty, career counsellors, and learning and placement opportunities that will eventually lead you towards your dream career.
• Reputation of the institution: Reputation plays an important role, especially if it comes to the institution where you are studying. This is because employers prefer candidates who have graduated from renowned institutions, which will thus impact your job prospects and career growth.
• Better Networking Opportunities: Reputable institutions offer great opportunities to build diverse networks with faculty members, mentors, peers, and industry experts. That is why it is suggested to opt for your post-graduation from the right institutions, as it allows you to network with experienced and skilled individuals from different backgrounds, industries, and cultures, which in turn will enhance your learning experience.
• Effective Career and Counselling Services: There are certain institutions that are popular for providing the right career counselling and guidance to young graduates. Not all of us come from educationally rich backgrounds and often feel confused about our career choices. That’s why you should pursue your MBA programme at such B-Schools that provide proper career guidance and counselling services to the candidates.
• Enhanced Return on Investment (ROI): We all know that doing an MBA in Marketing can be expensive for anyone; therefore, it is important to consider the institution's ROI before making a decision. Getting a degree from the right institution will help you expand your knowledge base, enhance your skill level, and build a diverse network of professionals that can offer you a high ROI by providing you with valuable skills and knowledge, job opportunities, and a strong network that can help you advance in your career and earn a higher salary.

Advantages of studying at CMS Business School for MBA in Marketing

If you are someone with interpersonal skills, strategic thinking, entrepreneurial skills, communication skills, and leadership skills with a keen interest in marketing strategies, then you are the suitable candidate to pursue an MBA degree with a specialization in marketing.

Apart from enhancing knowledge and providing the right push to your career an MBA in marketing also plays a crucial role in determining your package by proving you a competitive edge over your peers and non-MBAs. So, if earning a lucrative package is on your mind, then an MBA in marketing will be the right choice.

Now that the relevance of an MBA in Marketing has been established, what is next? Well, the next step is choosing the right institution!

Among its many distinguishing accomplishments, the CMS Business School is one of the best schools for management studies in India. In association with The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), the CMS B School offers an MBA in marketing that helps students develop skills and strategies to interpret and analyse consumer behaviour to map market trends. It offers live sessions with industry experts, consistent interaction with practitioners, experiential learning through live projects, and a syllabus in line with industry expectations to make you industry-ready.

Salient Features of CMS B-School that makes it your one-stop solution for MBA in Marketing:

• Graded A at national level and A* at state level by CRISIL S&P Company B-school grading
• Hosted 300+ companies for recruitment drive with an average salary package of 11.7 LPA and a highest of 30 LPA.
• Associated with big industry players like Google, Amazon, Accenture, Capgemini, Infosys, Airtel, Oracle and many more.
• Certified ISO 9001:2015 by TUV NORD for Quality Management
• International tie-ups and collaborations to add value to your career
• A strong alumni network to promote collaborative learning atmosphere
• Industry-led programs designed to make students identify new business challenges and opportunities.

Way Forward

To understand the relevance of marketing you first need to know what is marketing! So, marketing includes all the activities that a company or an organization undertakes to promote their business. In short, marketing is the new fuel of business strategies. The below-mentioned factors make marketing essential for the successful functioning of a business:

• An effective way of engaging customers
• Helps to boost business or sales
• Helps to build and maintain the company’s goodwill
• Helps to build a relationship with customers
• Promotes the culture of making informed decisions
• Acts as an effective communication channel
• Provides insights about business
• Generates revenue options
• The combination of marketing and MBA

In current times a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) degree in marketing is well-sought by students as well as employers. It can help students and professionals enhance their career opportunities by providing them in-depth knowledge of marketing as a functional area of business. It provides the required skills and knowledge to start a business or to ensure the functionality of an already existing business. Many employers specifically require an MBA in marketing for certain management or leadership roles. When you do an MBA in marketing, you study a broad range of key marketing principles and learn how to apply those in real-time scenarios.