What It's Like to Work in Marketing
What It's Like to Work in Marketing
Marketing isn’t just about selling ~ it’s about understanding how a company creates value for people, and making sure that truth reaches every part of the business.
The big picture
A career in marketing is not a side alley of business ~ it runs through its center.
Marketers work at the intersection of people and process, where ideas turn into value.
If you’re the kind of person who asks “Why do people buy this?” or “How does this company make its choices?”
then marketing is your laboratory.
It’s challenging, yes ~ but full of experiments, feedback loops, and opportunities to learn faster than almost any other field.
Think of each campaign, product, or message as a test. You observe how people respond, form a hypothesis about why, and adjust.
- Curiosity replaces routine.
- Data replaces ego.
- Learning compounds with every iteration.
Why marketers see the whole system
Unlike roles that focus on one function, marketing touches nearly every step of the value chain:
- Research and insights
- Product development
- Targeting and segmentation
- Pricing and positioning
- Distribution and logistics
- Communication and promotion
- Customer satisfaction and retention
Marketers are the connective tissue ~ translating what people need into what companies build, and back again.
“Marketing is not the art of finding clever ways to dispose of what you make.
It’s the art of creating genuine customer value.”
~ Philip Kotler
That’s Feynman-level clarity right there: stop decorating the output, start understanding the cause.
Marketing isn’t about pushing; it’s about aligning what exists with what’s needed.
The organizational view
Almost every medium and large company has a marketing division ~ a central hub that collaborates across departments.
This specialization is good: experts in research, content, digital, product, and analytics can focus deeply and share insights across teams.
But specialization can also create friction.
Sometimes other divisions see marketing as “the people who make posters.”
That’s like saying physicists are “the people who play with magnets.”
Leadership’s job is to remind everyone:
the whole company exists to create value for customers, profitably.
The main marketing roles (and how they actually work)
👥 Account Managers
Think of them as field scientists ~ they talk directly to customers every day, gathering data in the wild. Their goal is to understand each client’s context and translate company offerings into real solutions.
- Maintain relationships with key clients.
- Customize recommendations based on goals and budgets.
- Act as the company’s “front line” learners.
📦 Product Managers
Product managers are the experimenters in charge of a brand or product line. They decide what features, campaigns, and launches will best match the data coming from the market.
- Own a specific brand or portfolio.
- Launch and adapt products for local markets.
- Manage budgets and ensure the product fits real needs.
🎯 Marketing Managers
They’re the system integrators ~ the people who connect research, R&D, supply chain, and sales into one coherent direction.
- Set short- and long-term marketing strategy.
- Lead teams and align departments around customer value.
- Keep the company’s story consistent and grounded in reality.
A good marketing manager doesn’t just talk about “branding.” They think in systems: how does every part of the company make life better for the customer?
Why this matters
A marketer is one of the few professionals who can trace the entire path of value ~ from idea to impact.
They learn how markets behave, how people decide, and how small changes in design, price, or message ripple through the whole ecosystem.
That makes marketing one of the best ways to learn how business itself works.
Quick reflection: are you wired for marketing?
Ask yourself:
- Do you get curious about why people behave the way they do?
- Do you enjoy turning patterns into ideas that others can use?
- Do you like connecting people from different specialties to solve one big problem?
If yes, marketing is less of a “career path” and more of a lifelong experiment in understanding how humans and systems meet.
Marketing is the science of human value ~ observed, tested, and explained clearly.
What’s next
In the next chapter, we’ll look at the key processes in marketing ~ how observation becomes insight, and how insight becomes a plan that scales.