Marketing

Marketing is a creative industry at the heart of business. It is concerned with finding the needs and wants of people, developing a product or service that meets that need and helping create a desire for what has been created. You may not realise it, but your everyday life is affected by the work of marketers: it is in the adverts you see, the websites you visit. Every time you think of a brand or slogan, you are responding to marketing activities.

Marketing is the foundation of business activity and essential to commercial success. It is hard to imagine a successful organisation that does not heed marketing principles. Marketing involves several specialisms including:

• direct marketing (communicating directly with the consumer via mailings, emails ortelephone calls)
• market research (gathering and analysing information on customers, competitorsand the market)
• public relations (the public image of your product or organisation)The Apprenticeship and Advanced Apprenticeship in Marketing and Social Media covers all these areas.Within the Apprenticeship, the nature of the work will depend on your employer. However you are likely to be working as a marketing or market research assistant/ executive or perhaps in event management. You may learn how to create and execute a marketing plan for products/services, help manage budgets, distribution plans and carry out research.As an Advanced Apprentice, you may be employed in a more senior marketing/market research role or be working in the areas of advertising or public relations.

Assessment is through practical observation and theoretical tests.