As any retailer can tell you, advertising is essential to the survival of their business. While of course they need a product which the public wants, it does not matter how great their products are if you can't get customers through the door. More so than many other businesses, retailers see advertising as essential for their businesses. This makes for a great demand for retail advertising and retail marketing jobs.
There are a variety of possible positions in retail advertising, ranging from retail jobs which include some responsibilities for advertising and marketing duties (sometimes seen in retail management positions where local management is given some autonomy to decide how best to advertise in their local market) to retail marketing jobs where the advertising or marketing professional is employed by another company brought in on a consultancy basis by the retailer. A good example of this is the rebranding campaign successfully done for target by the rebranding and retail marketing/ advertising firm Ambrosi and associates.
Even retail sales jobs can involve some work in terms of advertising and marketing, although this is generally limited to a supporting role, except in the case of management-level personnel. Most jobs in retail are lower level ones, of course such as sales and stock positions. Retail marketing jobs are usually more senior level positions based out of the home office of the retailer. These positions are generally associated with titles such as marketing director, marketing associate, account director and the like. Many larger retailers, especially chain stores will employ an in-house marketing and advertising staff whose responsibility it is to concept advertisements and branding ideas, write copy for marketing materials both for the general public and business-to business marketing purposes. These retail marketing jobs offer some variety, since retailers by and large carry a wide variety of products.
The challenge of determining effective means of marketing many different products, often to entirely different demographics while still maintaining corporate brand identity and the house style used by the retailer is one which is relished by many marketing and advertising professionals. This can be a rewarding position for a marketing minded individual with a deep well of creativity and a taste for problem solving.
Marketing centered retail jobs available also include positions with the aforementioned marketing and advertising firms which are brought in as consultants by retailers. These companies are especially sought out when a retailer is looking for a new advertising campaign or rebranding effort. For those who really like a challenge, these positions are ideal. These retail marketing positions involve not just marketing the individual products offered by a retailer, but the task of marketing the retailer themselves! Jobs in retail advertising like these require a talent for stepping back to look at the big picture rather than the minutiae which are the responsibility of, for instance, the in-house marketing and advertising staff employed by the retailer themselves. Those interested in retail marketing, advertising and other retail concepts such as merchandising and layout will find this work to be fascinating and even for retail professionals who are not advertising minded, per se can learn a lot from the work of these advertising, marketing and branding professionals.
Jobs in retail marketing also include those in advertising agencies which have been hired to create and maintain advertising campaigns on behalf of the retailers. These retail marketing jobs are those found in the typical adverting agency milieu. Copywriters, copy editors, storyboard creators, graphic artists, production and traffic staff are all involved in the creation of these marketing and advertising materials for retailers. These jobs generally exist at agencies which are well known for their advertising and marketing work for retail companies and require a solid understanding in the practices of retail sales and management as well as general principles of marketing and advertising.
Retail marketing jobs are sometimes chosen as a career transition by those who have gained a deep knowledge of the world of retailing through real life work experience, perhaps through working their way up the ladder into management before deciding to get out of the day to day business of retail and into the field of marketing. This allows these retail pros to put their knowledge to work in retail while being able to do something radically different (and generally, more financially rewarding as well). There are few better ways to gain an understanding of a business than to do your time in the trenches and learn the ins and outs of the industry.
Many of those employed in jobs in retail marketing and retail advertising have had some degree of experience in the retail world in some capacity or another – this insight is valuable to them in their work helping retailers to market their products, rebrand themselves to keep up to date with a changing consumer base and reach a wider audience of potential customers. Every retailer wants to have an edge over their competition which an effective advertising retail marketing campaign can give them. The professionals who work in retail marketing provide this valuable service to retailers and help them get the thing which a retail business prizes most highly – getting customers in the door.
