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本帖最后由 calulu 于 2014-7-31 07:24 编辑
首先介绍一下今天这篇文章的背景。一个非常实际但是残酷情况是，作为媒体专业本身的留学生，想毕业之后留在美国的媒体工作，非常困难。而回国之后，媒体行业的薪资水平也并不高，可能很多年也不能把留学投资赚回本。于是，很多群里的小伙伴们开始哭泣，现在流的泪，都是当年选专业脑子进的水。然而，其实大多数的小伙伴们，对媒体专业还是保留有热情的。那么我们是否能在这种对专业的热情与今后的前途以及钱途之间找到一个平衡点呢？群里的小伙伴们都知道，我一直在宣传一个观点，做与媒体相关的工作，不一定要在媒体行业本身。而在选择留学的专业的时候，也应该适当的跳出传媒专业本身，去寻找更广阔的天地。今天Ryland大神就给大家指出了一种可能性，请看详细分解：
From Media Undergraduates to Professional Marketers
Ryland Sherman
Summary:
- Part 1: Much of the knowledge that media students learn is extremely useful in the marketing field, allowing a graduate education in marketing to be a natural progression for media students.
- Part 2: Marketing as an academic discipline or professional field is much larger than most people realize, allowing students to choose among a wide range of focuses during and after graduate school.Different media education focuses will help in different marketing sub-disciplines, requiring that students interested in switching into marketing must understand what areas of marketing they may want to study.
- Part 3: Your level of professional experience is among the top things that will determine which graduate programs in marketing you should consider, but is not the only factor. There are non-MBA marketing programs for those with excellent undergraduate records but with little work experience.
Part 1: A little context
Recently, I was helping my favorite retiring professor and occasional co-author to clean out his office. He has spent the past 40 years of his life studying, researching, teaching, and performing consulting projects about the economics and business issues of media industries. His office was packed wall-to-wall with books and journal articles about a variety of topics relating to this niche area, but I discovered something very interesting:
While he had textbooks on several specialty areas, he had more Marketing textbooks than any other individual topic.
While he teaches about economics and a variety of business issues, nearly everything he covers requires that students already have a fundamental grasp of the Marketing field. All of his courses, from the advanced undergraduate to PhD levels, will begin with readings covering marketing concepts because they are so fundamental to the media industries. Similar to other products, the media industries depend upon marketing concepts to sell their media products. However, unique to the media industries, the media products themselves also often depend upon how well marketers of other product categories can reach their potential consumers through advertising in the media. This latter point is key and somewhat counterintuitive. As we explain to undergraduates, the real product being sold is the viewers’ attention, with advertisers and marketing planners paying top dollar to reach their ideal consumers. The radio, broadcast television, newspapers, magazines, and many internet businesses depend upon advertising to provide income for their products. Understanding media helps marketers and advertisers, while understanding marketing helps media businesspeople. With this topical overlap, moving between the two by obtaining a graduate education is very sensible and will give media students a unique skill set with which to contribute to their class projects and their marketing careers.
Part 2: What exactly is Marketing?
The American Marketing Association defines marketing as:
“[T]he activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”
Don’t be embarrassed if that definition does not help to clarify your understanding very much. It’s very broad and vague, because both the activities of marketers and the study of marketing are extremely broad. I’m going to review some of the topics usually included within the marketing field, alternating between that the topic is and how an educational background in media can contribute to the field.
Advertising: the obvious part
When most people talk about marketing, they usually are referring to advertisements or the strategies behind them. However, advertising is often talked about as if it were separate and distinct from marketing. The truth is that while they still have distinct meanings, there is a significant amount of overlap between the two terms. Advertisements are designed to inform and entice potential customers to purchase specific products. The ad design process, along with the process of deciding how to distribute ads, encompass the advertising field. Advertising agencies typically create ads for clients and tend to have some broad artistic opportunities to interpret how best to accomplish the client’s communications goals. Companies then work with advertisers, accepting or rejecting advertising ideas in their early stages or working with advertising agencies to fine tune ideas until the hiring company is happy with the results.
Advertising with a Media Background
Many media undergraduates have spent countless hours CREATING media, using audio and/or video editing programs, a variety of recording devices, and even a variety of other artistic techniques, like drawing or sculpting. If you enjoy CREATING media, then advertising might be a perfect fit for you, because your content creation experiences will enable you to create advertisements using your combination of technical and artistic skills. A graduate program in advertising will tend to develop your production skills further, while teaching you more about the history and different advertising methods of the field. You will also learn more about the marketing considerations made by advertisers when they create ads for their clients. If your media education focused more on how media is integrated into society and the various ways people use their media, your knowledge may give you an advantage in designing and planning ad campaigns, which involve decisions about how best to reach your target consumers with a limited budget in a world full of so many different media forms.
Some also may critique the idea of acquiring an advertising education in America, where the style and substance of advertising differ on many cultural levels from the patterns found in China. This criticism misses the point of a graduate education: you learn to ANALYZE how to create ads to express the information and abstract brand style characteristics of products in an artistic and efficient way. The most important part about an ad is its ability to accomplish the goals of the company to its target audience. Both the company’s goals and the audience’s interests are different in every case. Learning how to understand and analyze those factors will allow good students to create great ads. Even more unexpectedly, advertisers often describe an additional layer of beauty they find in the best, award-winning ads of their field. The ad must be designed and customized both to fit the product’s competitive position and elegantly express an emotional meaning to the target customer, which is a form of beauty only those trained in such analysis can understand and truly appreciate. If you are interested in learning about how such business interests can be melded into artistic media creations, perhaps you should consider studying marketing and advertising.
Marketing Strategy: How marketing integrates itself with the rest of the business
Beyond simply informing the public about products, marketing also encompasses several parts of the product development and distribution process. Marketing strategists must understand the entire market for their products, including how the competitors distinguish their products and the marketing strategies they adopt. Only after considering the competition, marketing strategists use marketing research to create their own business strategies, which often include pricing, sales channel, advertising planning, and even product design decisions in order to offer unique or better characteristics to a select group of consumers. They must think through their decisions in such a way that satisfies the other parts of the business, including manufacturing concerns. Many large, multi-product companies depend upon ‘brand’ managers or ‘product’ managers to perform a majority of business strategy decisions for their given ranges of products. These people think about how to diversify their range of products while maintaining some level of synergistic coordination. One can think of the 20-30 different products found in an American supermarket shelf with the name ‘Pepsi’ or ‘Coke’ attached to them, or relationships between the range of different devices made by Sony, Apple, or Samsung; marketers must work with businesspeople specializing in manufacturing or product design to ensure that the choices made by the business will maximize their strategic position at the point of sale, whether it be retail stores or online markets.
Marketing Strategy with a Media Background
Media undergraduates are often trained to identify cultural trends and observe both different groups’ responses to media and their media consumption patterns. Students focused on content creation must understand how their potential consumers will respond to their creations or simply must understand whether a market exists for their content in the first place. Simply put, a movie, television show, or book without an expected audience and a way to reach that audience directly is an unwise investment. Media students must think about the patterns behind who watches what, both to distribute their own products to the right viewers and to understand what products should be created for each different media outlet. Little do most media students know, but they are often natural marketers! Obtaining a graduate education in Marketing will allow a student with a media background to understand how to generalize this type of thinking into other product categories and to be able to consider a range of additional business considerations necessary to coordinate with the other parts of an organization.
Marketing Research: How marketing allows businesses to see the competitive landscape
First, let us consider the American Marketing Association’s definition of Marketing Research:
Marketing research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information -- information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the method for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyzes the results, and communicates the findings and their implications.
To make all of the decisions that marketing strategists must consider, they need access to a variety of information. Market researchers provide that information, which takes a variety of forms. As one of the most basic forms, sales information for both the company’s and competitors’ products may seem simple to interpret at first glance, but each sale is a unique combination of where and when it was sold, at what price, and who purchased it, with the latter element including all of the customer’s demographic information. These demographics include factors like age, annual income, race, geographic location, profession, family status, and many others. Marketing researchers and strategists use this sales data to identify and adjust their strengths and weaknesses relative to the competition and to carve out their own unique product positions within a market. For example, Apple, and to a lesser extent, Sony and Samsung all target wealthier or more tech-savvy consumers who are interested in paying a premium for a well-designed, stylish device or who are interested in buying many devices that work together seamlessly. Each overcame challenges like reaching women or less stylish parents after identifying their weaknesses in such demographic categories. While these three brands all still target similar premium consumers, they also choose more subtle strategies to divide and conquer this group. For example, Samsung’s earlier entry into the smartwatch category has attempted to target more active consumers or technologically oriented people interested in smartwatch styles. Through market research, Samsung identified consumer interest in these areas and hopes to build brand loyalty with these consumer groups before its competitors see the sales results, adjust their own marketing strategies, and enter into the same niche market.
Ok, so sales data and demographics are not necessarily the most interesting stuff to read or talk about, right? They seem so mechanical and math-oriented that there doesn’t on the surface appear to be a lot of opportunity for clever cultural or style interpretations. One need only consider high end fashion brands like Chanel, Versace, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, and Prada or luxury car brands like BMW, Mercedes Benz, Audi, and Lexus. While the stark demographics of age ranges, gender, and annual household incomes may look very similar on paper, market researchers look for different ways to segment these markets based on psychographics, or patterns of different interests, opinions, cultural and personal values, personalities, and lifestyles. Each of these luxury brands distinguishes itself through its styles, which appeal to different people with different psychographic values in the upper income categories. Market researchers must often design special research projects and data-gathering in order to explore these psychographic interests. Part of the skill of a market researcher is in having the ability to understand the subtle differences in these style-oriented markets and develop ways to quantify or organize those differences.
Marketing Research with a Media Background
If marketing research has so much to do with sales data, how can it possibly related to the media?
Recall that I explained how advertising-based media really sells potential customers’ attention to advertisers by using TV shows as bait. Market researchers use all of the consumer research they perform to identify which consumers they SHOULD target. Then they must consider all of the different forms of advertising, ranging across TV ads, radio show inserts, printed media ads, billboards, TV show and movie product placement, internet advertising, and many other options, and determine where they can reach their customers most efficiently with limited advertising budgets. Their considerations are very similar to the decisions made by media program planners or content creators, who also must analyze who are attracted to their various media outlets, whether they be specialty television channels (like sports channels or news channels), magazines (like fashion or car magazines), or internet websites (like video sites or celebrity gossip sites). Proper strategic placement of advertising and successful media programming decisions are so interrelated that one cannot be considered without the other. Therefore, individuals who are aware of how different media content appeals to different demographic and psychographic groups may already be very sensitive to the types of groups that market researchers explore.
The marketing research area must come with both a warning and a valuable highlight: it tends to be more quantitative in nature, with the best practitioners able to use spreadsheet modelling and statistical skills. Due to its more difficult nature and the rarity of these skill sets when combined with marketing, it may also be the easiest area in which to find a job if you possess these skills. Also worth pointing out, the AMA’s definition of marketing research also included “design[ing] the method for collecting information, manag[ing] and implement[ing] the data collection process, analyz[ing] the results, and communicat[ing] the findings and their implications,” which highlights the sort of research process appearing in the social and physical sciences. This section of marketing really also invites the participation of academically trained social scientists, who have often been trained in survey and found data methodologies, and many quantitatively trained social scientists can choose to enter the marketing research field if they supplement their other academic training with a few marketing and business courses.
Other Marketing Areas
From my experience, a majority of people who are considering making the switch from media to marketing will find something attractive with the three marketing areas described above. I believe the most natural fit for non-production media students is generally something that relates to developing and implementing marketing plans and developing advertising campaigns, which include strategies relating to which media forms and outlets from which advertisement slot packages should be purchased. Some of these positions are referred to as media buyers, while in other instances, portions of this planning process occur at the research and strategy levels. However, I would also like to quickly mention a few other areas of interest.
First, product developers often take the insights from media researchers and strategists and integrate them into product design, along with other specialized design or engineering elements. Second, Public Relations practitioners are very closely related to marketers, sharing much of the core knowledge across disciplines. Unlike most marketers and advertisers, however, public relations practitioners tend to focus on direct communication with the media, especially news organizations, in either a pro-active, identity building manner or reactive, crisis-controlling manner. Students with background in journalism or strategic communications should consider the field, as their perspectives are very useful within the PR profession. PR also tends to have a greater focus on event planning and direct promotional activities, while marketers generally do not. I have chosen not to include PR as a sub-category of marketing due to the number of independent and separate PR graduate programs, which I believe should be handled separately. Finally, sales has a historical connection to marketing, and some individuals with marketing backgrounds find themselves in sales fields, especially at manager levels, but formal graduate training in marketing is not required.
Part 3: Graduate Program Types to Consider
So at this point you may be convinced about the utility of a media background in marketing, but now what do you do with this information?
First, you should be warned that marketing programs are not cheap. They’re generally considered professional programs, and US students are typically encouraged to take out loans and borrow from their increased future earnings. There are a few communication programs with funding opportunities that also extend into marketing or PR, but they will take a little bit of hunting to find and will not provide the range or depth of business information that their professional school counterparts will.
If you have some business experience, you may be in the running for admission into an MBA program. Please be warned, unless you have incredibly high GMAT scores, an impressive quantitative background, and/or several years of impressive work experience, you should not consider the top MBA programs. Nonetheless, with a few years of work experience, solid GMAT scores, and a well-written personal statement that shows you’ve reflected upon your experiences and understand how the MBA will help you to develop your career, you will be eligible for admission into some very solid MBA programs with marketing concentrations. Generally, the value of the MBA comes from XXX sources. First, you will learn about all of the fundamentals of business that nearly everyone with only an undergraduate education never learned, including the basics of accounting, finance, organizational theory, management techniques, economics, and marketing. Second, you will have an opportunity to focus on marketing, which is available at nearly every MBA program. Third, you will have access to the MBA program’s alumni network, career placement services, and special recruiting programs, which will give you a much better chance of obtaining a job after graduation. Fourth, you will be surrounding yourself with like-minded students who will have similar attitudes toward work and success as you. Remember, everyone at an MBA program is generally paying to be there and betting that the success they achieve after the MBA will be worth their time, money, and effort invested. I am not going to recommend specific MBA programs, because the decision about which programs you should consider is complex, with factors such as renown, overall rank, educational style, recruiting, marketing specialization quality, location, cost of program, cost of living, and local entertainment and cultural opportunities all contributing to the decision-making process. The only way to choose is to put in the time and effort researching these things for yourself, but a good advisor may be helpful to make some suggestions and highlight the factors you should consider.
If you do not have business experience, there are dedicated Masters Degrees in Marketing. There is an interesting range of programs out there, with some programs focusing on particular aspects of marketing or a particular approach. For example, Bentley University offers a Master’s of Marketing Analytics, which enables students to focus on the intersection of marketing and quantitative analysis. While many have not heard of it, such a small, niche program will often give its students a very unique and potentially valuable skill set. If you are overly concerned about the unrelated undergraduate US News Ranking of Bentley University, which in no way is necessarily a reflection of a niche graduate program’s quality, Clemson University offers a similar program. Clemson University’s communication program offers full fund scholarships to a few Chinese students, which would make applying to both the marketing and communication programs in Clemson as sensible strategy. NYU, which has been a surprisingly practical ‘reach’ school for many Asian students, offers an MS in Integrated Marketing but at a high cost. Similar to the IMC programs, both University of Denver and Temple University offer Marketing programs with a special communication track. With their nice mix of urban location in Chicago and relatively solid professional school rankings, and pretty good marketing programs, DePaul and Loyola University are also worth considering, because they have demonstrated a willingness to diversity their student base with Chinese students in the past. If you’re in hurry, want to save a significant amount of money, and don’t mind Alabama, University of Alabama offers a graduate degree in only 9 months, which will substantially reduce its final cost to you.
Some students have focused on “Integrated Marketing Communications” as if it was fundamentally different from marketing. This is not the case. While Northwestern University’s Marketing program is world-renown and does have a unique approach, they have essentially branded a concept that has spread throughout all of the marketing field, with other schools offering classes in integrated marketing communication. Simply put, Northwestern, and other universities that use the same title, like Florida State and Emerson, may have a philosophical focus on ensuring a consistent message is strategically conveyed across a well-chosen combination of media channels using a well-designed portfolio of promotional, marketing, advertising, and PR strategies. However, with the complex media world we live in, this goal has become generally accepted by all marketing programs. In other words, don’t let one of the world’s best marketing programs fool you with its marketing!
Overall, if you have a media background and were curious about marketing, I hope that this document will help to encourage you to look further into the area. Marketing’s basic concepts are not difficult, which should encourage you to learn more about the field with a little internet searching, but the analysis skills required by marketing practitioners of any subspecialty take years of education and practice to develop. It is a highly rewarding field that touches upon media, cultural patterns, and business in many different ways, making it a field that gives the genuinely curious a lifetime of interesting learning opportunities.
For those of you who just want to see a list, there are several available with a little searching. Here is one I find acceptable, because they include non-MBA programs:
http://education-portal.com/top_ ... _for_marketing.html
[b]About the Writer, Ryland Sherman:
He has already got a JD degree and passed the Indiana Bar in 2009. In addition to his background in law, his nearly finished PhD in Media Economics and Policy, and teaching undergraduates about Media Industries, he has taken several MBA level courses in Marketing at the University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business and the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University Bloomington, including one marketing course with the Economics Nobel Laureate Robert Fogel.
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楼主: calulu
发表于 2014-4-26 22:35:11
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