JOBS TO GET WITH MARKETING DEGREE

Simply put, a marketing degree can give you the skills and knowledge necessary to be able to work in nearly any industry that exists today, particularly because marketing is such an important part of any business plan. Advertising, market research, public relations, and more areas of business around the world will all take the holders of marketing degrees. If you have a marketing degree, you might be able to enter into Internet marketing (although an Internet marketing degree, specifically, may be better suited toward that particular goal). You might be able to find a position working for a newspaper, or a magazine, just as much as you might be able to find a position working for a website, or for a manufacturing company, or for nearly any company that produces or sells a product. If you're trying to figure out what you want to do with your college education, one of the most prominent questions in your mind is likely to be, "What can I do with this degree?" After all, the entire point of studying hard at college is to ultimately find a job in a profession that you're interested in. So, if you're looking at a marketing degree, you'd likely immediately ask, "What can I do with a degree in marketing?" Fortunately, there are a lot of answers that might validate your choice in pursuing a marketing degree. What jobs can you get with a marketing degree? Individuals with marketing degrees will generally enter into their professions through sales in some capacity, but they can easily work their way up through the ranks. Some of the positions you might land in with a marketing degree include those of marketing manager, product manager, sales manager, advertising manager, or public relations. The marketing manager is a position for an individual who manages a number of other departments, and has them working together in order to maximize profit by understanding the market demand and adjusting operations appropriately. Normally, a marketing manager will require a master's degree in marketing. A product manager is something like a marketing manager, but a product manager is focused on one specific product, as opposed to a large-scale, widespread marketing strategy. Product managers will almost certainly require bachelor's degrees in marketing, as a bare minimum, and very well may require higher level degrees and experience, as the field is very competitive. Sales managers are the supervisors for sales teams. Sales managers make sure that the territories are clearly split up among the sales team members, and makes sure that the members are fulfilling their quotas. Sales managers hire and train new sales team members, and manage incentives programs for the sales team. Sales managers, like product managers, will need bachelor's degrees in marketing at the minimum, and will likely need additional experience to truly distinguish themselves. Advertising managers are individuals who either apply their marketing knowledge to work in the field of account management, which is more business focused, or the creative side of advertising, where they create ads or ad campaigns. (Ever see Mad Men? Bunch of advertising managers, there, although I'm glad to say the alcohol and smoking aren't job requirements.) So the bottom line there is that the answer to the question of "What can I do with a degree in marketing?" is "A vast array of productive, interesting, and best of all, well-paying job roles." Could you hope for much more?

MARKETING PLAN

A marketing plan is a comprehensive blueprint or document that outlines a company's advertising and marketing efforts for the coming year. It describes business activities involved in accomplishing specific marketing objectives within a set time frame. A marketing plan also includes a description of the current marketing position of a business, a discussion of the target market and a description of the marketing mix that a business will use to achieve their marketing goals.[1] A marketing plan has a formal structure, but can be used as a formal or informal document which makes it very flexible. It contains some historical data, future predictions, and methods or strategies to achieve the marketing objectives. Marketing plans start with the identification of customer needs through a market research and how the business can satisfy these needs while generating an acceptable level of return.[2] This includes processes such as market situation analysis, action programs, budgets, sales forecasts, strategies and projected financial statements. A marketing plan can also be described as a technique that helps a business to decide on the best use of its resources to achieve corporate objectives. It can also contain a full analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of a company, its organization and its products.[3] The marketing plan shows the step or actions that will be utilized in order to achieve the plan goals. For example, a marketing plan may include a strategy to increase the business's market share by fifteen percent. The marketing plan would then outline the objectives that need to be achieved in order to reach the fifteen percent increase in the business market share.[4] The marketing plan can be used to describe the methods of applying a company's marketing resources to fulfill marketing objectives.[3] Marketing planning segments the markets, identifies the market position, forecast the market size, and plans a viable market share within each market segment. Marketing planning can also be used to prepare a detailed case for introducing a new product, revamping current marketing strategies for an existing product or put together a company marketing plan to be included in the company corporate or business plan.[3] Marketing Plan Outline A marketing plan should be based on where a company needs to be at some point in the future. These are some of the most important things that companies need to consider when developing a marketing plan: Market research: Gather and classify data about the market the organization is currently in. Examine the market dynamics, patterns, customers, and the current sales volume for the industry as a whole.[4] Competition: The marketing plan should identify the organization's competition. The plan should describe how the organization will stick out from its competition and what it will do to become a market leader. A marketing plan may be part of an overall business plan. Solid marketing strategy is the foundation of a well-written marketing plan. While a marketing plan contains a list of actions, a marketing plan without a sound strategic foundation is of little use. Market plan strategies: Develop the marketing and promotion strategies that the organization will use. Strategies to consider are such things as advertising, direct marketing, training programs, trade shows, website, etc. Marketing plan budget: Strategies identified in the marketing plan should be within the budget. Top managers need to revise what they hope to accomplish with the marketing plan, review their current financial situation, and then allocate funding for the marketing plan. Marketing goals: The marketing plan should include attainable marketing goals. For example, one goal might be to increase the current client base by 100 over a three month period. Monitor the marketing plan results: The marketing plan should include the process of analyzing the current position of the organization. The organization needs to identify the strategies that are working and those that are not working. By researching markets, competition, and determining the organization's unique positioning, the organization is in a much better position to promote and sell its product or service. By establishing goals for the marketing plan, the organization can better understand whether the efforts are generating results through ongoing review and evaluation. Marketing Plan Purpose One of the main purpose of developing a marketing plan is to set the company on a specific path in marketing. The marketing goals normally aligns itself to the broader company objectives. For example, a new company looking to grow their business will generally have a marketing plan that emphasizes strategies to increase their customer base.[5] Acquiring marketing share, increasing customer awareness, and building a favorable business image are some of the objectives that can be related to marketing planning. The marketing plan also helps layout the necessary budget and resources needed to achieve the goals stated in the marketing plan. The marketing plan shows what the company is intended to accomplish within the budget and also to make it possible for company executives to assess potential return on the investment of marketing dollars. Different aspects of the marketing plan relate to accountability.[5] The marketing plan is a general responsibility from company leaders and the marketing staff to take the company in a specific direction. After the strategies are laid out and the tasks are developed, each task is assigned to a person or a team for implementation. The assigned roles allows companies to keep track of their milestones and communicate with the teams during the implementation process. Having a marketing plan helps company leaders to develop and keep an eye on the expectations for their functional areas. For example, if a company's marketing plan goal is to increase sales growth then the company leaders may have to increase their sales staff in stores to help generate more sales. The marketing plan offers a unique opportunity for a productive discussion between employees and leaders of an organization. It provides good communication within the company. The marketing plan also allows the marketing team to examine their past decisions and understand their results in order to better prepare for the future. It also lets the marketing team to observe and study the environment that they are operating in.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

As an experienced digital marketer, you already know about the importance of social media marketing. However, even some of the most hardened online marketers are prone to make mistakes on social media every now and then. It seems like, at least once a month, we read about a famous company that sent a thoughtless tweet or posted something politically incorrect on Facebook and suffered a PR backlash as a result. That's why it's a good idea to review basic principles of social media marketing every now and then. Here are some rules you should never forget. 1. Never Fight With a Customer It's always a great idea to transfer "old school" marketing principles to "new school" marketing. One of those principles is this: the customer is always right. If one of your customers takes to social media to complain about the quality of your product or service, avoid getting into an argument. That's because you can't win. Instead of arguing, take steps to make the customer happy. That's Customer Service 101. Or, simply direct the conversation off of social media so that there is less visibility. 2. Always Publish 100% Quality People are following you on social media for a reason. They expect to derive some benefit from it. You might be tempted to post trivial information about yourself, your family, or something about current events. However, if that post doesn't offer anything of value to your followers, you're going to find yourself going in the wrong direction on social media. You're going to lose followers. Do your best to create 10x content. 3. Advertise for Full Exposure You might think that it's not a good idea to advertise on social media. In fact, it's a great idea. Whether you are doing ads to promote content, gain followers or drive direct sales, social media advertising works. I have seen ads on Facebook starting to outperform Google ads in some cases lately and that is saying a lot. 4. Befriend Influencers It can't be said often enough: never be afraid to stand on the shoulders of giants. If you want to become an influencer on social media, start by paying homage to people who've already succeeded. Use social media to reach out to people who are influencers in your space. Tag them in posts, reply to their tweets and updates. Become part of their team. It will help your social media and your business grow. 5. Highlight Everything Positive Use social media just like you socialize in real life: accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative. Nobody wants to hear from somebody who's complaining or highlighting challenges instead of successes. Give your followers a pleasant experience as they read your posts. 6. Give to Others and You Will Receive More in Return Another "old school" principle that works well on social media is this: what goes around, comes around. If you're interested in benefiting from your social media marketing efforts, be sure to offer people who follow you something of value on a regular basis. When you do that, you'll find that you reap what you sow and your efforts will be rewarded. 7. You Must Know Your Analytics How many people did you reach on Facebook this week? How many tweet impressions did you generate this month? If you can't answer those questions, it's because you're not studying your analytics. It's important to review your analytics regularly because you'll see what types of posts and tweets generate the most engagements. That way, you can focus on what's successful in future social media campaigns. 8. Social Media Is Always Changing, Be Constantly Evolving and Learning Do you think you know all that there is to know about social media? Think again. Even if you've "arrived" at the current state of social media right now, you can be sure that it will evolve with technology over the next year. Social media strategies that work today might not work in 2017. That's why it's a good idea to always be learning about social media marketing best-practices. 9. Be Consistent Social media marketing is successful only if it's consistent. If you tweet once a month, you can expect little return for your limited effort. If you only post Facebook updates occasionally instead of regularly, you're going to limit your reach. Make sure that you're consistently posting valuable content to your social media channels. How often you post depends on your industry and target market, but at least once a day is a good rule of thumb. 10. Own a Few Platforms, Don't Try to Own Them All You've probably heard quite a bit about the importance of marketing on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr, YouTube, and a variety of other lesser-known social media platforms. If you're limited on resources and try to market on all of those platforms, you might become a jack of all trades and a master of none. Instead, focus on a few platforms that are favored by people in your target market. Become a marketing specialist on those platforms to maximize your return on investment. 11. Take the Time to Create a Content Calendar That Will Attract Business You've always heard that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. That principle applies to social media marketing as well as anything else. Create a content calendar that identifies the types of content you'll post at various times throughout the year. Map out your content schedule at least 3-6 months in advance. Also, pay particular attention to important dates such as holidays and the dates of important events (e.g., the Super Bowl) so that you can create theme-relevant promotions. You should also take note of dates that might be important to people in your target market (e.g., New Years if you're a venue). Bonus Rule Make sure to occasionally go back and review all your old posts. You don't want to be the person who forgets they have embarrassing photos in an account they now use for personal branding, networking or social media marketing. It happens more than you think!

MARKET ECONOMY

A market economy is an economy in which decisions regarding investment, production, and distribution are based on market determined supply and demand,and prices of goods and services are determined in a free price system. The major defining characteristic of a market economy is that investment decisions and the allocation of producer goods are mainly made by cooperative negotiation through markets. This is contrasted with a so-called planned economy, where investment and production decisions are embodied in a plan of production established by a state or other body with control over economic resources. Market economies can range from regulated markets to various forms of state-owned interventionist variants. In reality, market economies and free markets do not exist in "pure" form, since societies and governments all regulate them to varying degrees. Different perspectives exist as to how strong a role the government should have in both guiding and regulating the market economies and addressing (or not addressing) the inequalities the market naturally produces since some producers are always "better" than others. Most existing market economies include a degree of state economic planning or state-directed activity, and are thus classified as mixed economies. The term free-market economy is sometimes used synonymously with market economy. Market economies do not logically presuppose the existence of private ownership of the means of production. A market economy can and often does consist of a mix of various types of cooperatives, collectives, or autonomous state agencies that acquire and exchange capital goods in capital markets. These all utilize a market determined free price system to allocate capital goods and labor.There are many variations of market socialism, some of which involve employee-owned enterprises based on self-management; as well as models that involve public ownership of the means of production where capital goods are allocated through markets CAPITALISM Capitalism generally refers to economic system where the means of production are largely or entirely privately owned and operated for a profit, structured on the process of capital accumulation. In general, in capitalist systems investment, distribution, income, and prices are determined by markets, whether regulated or unregulated. There are different variations of capitalism with different relationships to markets. In Laissez-faire and free market variations of capitalism, markets are utilized most extensively with minimal or no state intervention and regulation over prices and the supply of goods and services. In interventionist, welfare capitalism and mixed economies, markets continue to play a dominant role but are regulated to some extent by government in order to correct market failures or to promote social welfare. In state capitalist systems, markets are relied upon the least, with the state relying heavily on either indirect economic planning and/or state-owned enterprises to accumulate capital. Capitalism has been dominant in the Western world since the end of feudalism, but most feel[who?] that the term "mixed economies" more precisely describes most contemporary economies, due to their containing both private-owned and state-owned enterprises. In capitalism, prices determine the demand-supply scale. For example, higher demand for certain goods and services lead to higher prices and lower demand for certain goods lead to lower prices.

MARKETING

Marketing is a widely used term to describe the means of communication between the company and the consumer audience. Marketing is the adaptation of the commercial activities and use of institutions by the organizations with a purpose to induce behavioral change on a short-term or permanent basis.[1] The American Marketing Association most recently defined Marketing as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large." [2] The techniques used in marketing include choosing target markets through market analysis and market segmentation, as well as understanding methods of influence on the consumer behavior. The marketing planning creates strategies for the company to place advertising to the dedicated consumer. From a societal point of view, marketing provides the link between a society's material requirements and its economic patterns of response. This way marketing satisfies these needs and wants through the development of exchange processes and the building of long-term relationships. In the case of nonprofit organization marketing, the aim is to increase the deliver an ethos message about the organization's services to the applicable audience. Governments often employ marketing to communicate messages with a social purpose, such as a public health or safety message, to citizens. Factors of influence on marketing strategies In addition to the controllable marketing mix factors, there are uncontrollable factors called environmental forces. The external influences are the forces that affect the characteristics of the marketing strategies to which marketeers adapt. Amongst others they include: regulatory, economic, social, political environmental, competitive and technological.[14] • Regulatory: This refers to laws and legality (governmental policies) that may affect the way marketing can be characterized. For example, government restriction on the importation of a particular product might hinder the marketers playing in that particular field. • Economic. Various trends in the economic business cycle, including inflation, recessions, deficit or income level. Each of these factors can have a direct impact on marketing which may have to be re-evaluated and overhauled as a result. • Social: The social forces refer to the structure and dynamics of individuals and groups and their behaviors, beliefs, thought patterns and lifestyles, friendships, etc. When consumers change their needs and wants, this directly affects marketing strategies. • Political: The socio-economic conditions are closely related to the state of the governmental institutions. Depending on the governmental impact on bureaucracy, corruption, freedom of speech and other limitations (or opportunities), the marketing strategies will adapt to the political conditions. • Competitive: Competition refers to the numbers of similar competitive product brands. A new competitor entering the market will directly affect the marketing strategies of the incumbent companies. Firms offering similar services or products often achieve differentiation through marketing, positioning and branding. • Technology. The marketing strategies often adapt to the pace of development of the consumer demand and exponential technological progression

LIFE INSURANCE AND THOSE QUALIFIED FOR IT

Life estate deeds give an individual the right to enjoy all benefits of ownership of property while they are alive. As soon as the individual dies, the life estate ends, and ownership benefits seamlessly pass onto the remainder person on the estate. This tool is often used in estate planning to make sure a home is effectively transferred to a child. For example, John wants to pass his home onto John, Jr. He wants to avoid probate and lawsuits in doing this after his death. As such, he passes the home onto John, Jr., today. However, John needs to live in the home for the time being. He establishes a life estate deed. This allows him to live in the home and gain all the benefits, and costs, of home ownership until the day of his death. At that point, John's life estate expires. John, Jr., does not have to inherit the house through an estate. Instead, he is already the named owner of the home, and he can begin receiving ownership benefits immediately. Once a contract for a life estate deed has been signed, it is difficult to revoke it. The parties listed in the contract would have to initiate the revocation because they are the lawful owners of the property. Another withdrawal option is to determine the parties were not in a sound legal mind or committed fraud when the contract was signed. This is very difficult to prove. Most cases involve a lengthy lawsuit and very expensive legal costs because life estate deeds are carefully drawn and executed. There are many different types of life insurance policies on the market today. Not all of them are suitable for every type of person. This article considers a few of the different types of life insurance policies and who usually purchases them. Term Insurance One of the most common forms of life insurance is term insurance. This type of life insurance will guarantee a payment to your loved ones for a certain period if you die. For example, you might decide to purchase a 20-year term life insurance policy. This will ensure that if you die anytime within the next 20 years, your beneficiary will be paid a lump sum. This type of insurance is traditionally the least expensive option when it comes to life insurance. Therefore, this type of insurance is very popular with those who do not want to pay any more than they have to. Many individuals that are just starting out in their careers and are on tight budgets tend to go with this type of insurance. The early portion of your adult life is usually the time when you have the most at stake. You may have a new mortgage and car payments and be trying to support a young family. Therefore, you need to make sure that your life is insured in order to protect your family. Term insurance provides an easy way to do this. Whole Life Insurance Another very popular form of life insurance is whole life. Whole life insurance is a type of insurance that provides a death benefit for your entire life. Therefore, at some point, someone is going to get paid when you die. With this type of insurance, you are going to be paying a larger premium than you would with term insurance. The reason behind this is that this type of policy also carries with it an investment aspect. Part of your premium is going to go into an investment fund that is professionally managed. The managers will choose investments and bring in a return for the fund. This actually creates a cash value for your policy. Therefore, if you decide to cash in the policy, you will be able to get back some money. This type of life insurance also provides you with the ability to borrow against the cash value in most cases. Individuals that choose this type of insurance want to ensure that they have a death benefit regardless of how long they live. Many people also like the "hands-off" investment aspect of it. Universal Life Another type of life insurance is universal life. This also provides a permanent death benefit. However, with this type of insurance, you will have more control over your money. When you pay your premiums, part of the money will go towards a cash account, and part will go towards the death benefit. Depending on how the investments in the cash account are going, your premiums will fluctuate. Therefore, you can potentially pay less of a premium with this type of insurance.

INVESTMENT FOR RETIREMENT

For many busy working-class people, saving money and thinking about setting up a retirement plan is the last thing that they want to consider. They're pulling in a decent paycheck, spending it on bills and a few pleasurable activities, and because they're young and energetic, they're confident that this status quo will continue for as long as necessary. Eventually, however, they begin to come to their senses – perhaps because of maturity, perhaps by embryonic thoughts of their own mortality – and the realization that nothing lasts forever, and that all things change. At this time, investing a portion of their salary toward their future wellbeing becomes a top priority. Well, as the old saying goes, better late than never. Unfortunately, most of these people willingly hand over the critical element of retirement planning to someone else – whether it's the government through Social Security, their company's pension plan, a 401(k) or a similar arrangement administered by some financial 'expert'. But the lessons of history (especially recent history) clearly show that many of those retirement vehicles administered by so-called experts come with serious caveats. The Enron and WorldCom meltdowns continue to speak volumes for the security (or lack thereof) of any company pension plan. And as for Social Security, (when you're ready for it), the best that you'll be able to reasonably expect is that it will provide you with a modest supplement; at worst it will be nothing more than a few weeks of grocery money. The point here is this: unless you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, you absolutely need to begin investing to protect yourself and your family in your retirement years. Statistics show that for roughly ninety-five percent of all retirees, there are no golf club memberships or exciting vacations to exotic places that you always dreamed of seeing. They'd like to help their children buy their first home, but the truth is that they've had to tighten the belt dramatically to keep their own. They'd love to start a fund for their grandkids' college education, but they just don't have it to spare, ever. It should not be that way. Think about this simple illustration: many people would agree that the most successful investment they ever made was the purchase of their home. Over the years of ownership they witnessed their equity position in their property continue to grow and grow. They didn't need to do anything special for it to happen; they only had to stay invested for the long term. For these same people, however, they never truly understood what they were not only seeing, but living. They never equated the underlying principle of this profitable real estate investment with the rest of their investment portfolio (if they even had one). The proof was before their very eyes: long-term investing for retirement works very well, and it needn't be ultra-risky to provide good returns. If you haven't begun investing for your future, what are you waiting for? Every day that passes is time that you can't get back; and when investing over the long haul, time is your greatest ally. Educate yourself, develop a plan and implement it not only for yourself, but also for your family's future financial security.