Marketing and Sales Graduate Jobs

Hong Kong offers a range of services that can be found and can be called the marketing services capital of Asia. This led to many multinational agencies and marketing services talents to be attracted to Hong Kong. However, marketing and sales professionals are often eager to change their job career role after gaining a sufficient amount of experience in their jobs, and it has become a common trend for marketing and sales professionals to “job-hop” 1.

Although marketing and sales are often associated and aligned with each other, they are not the same and are two complete different roles. The sales role commonly requires someone who is driven, focused and persistent and has a desire to work in an environment that is generally highly commission-based. The marketing role utilises a different approach that is mostly based on messaged direct to a targeted market via various media outlets.

The marketing services market in Hong Kong is dominated by multinational agencies and their companies have a strong presence. Major services exported include2:

• Creative advertising
• Media buying
• Direct marketing
• Graphic design
• Marketing consultancy
• Customised market research
• Sales of research data

Due to the competitive post-WTO environment, there has been a demand for Hong Kong’s quality services from multinational corporations as well as companies that are on the Chinese mainland for reasons such as:

• Increases of competition as more foreign companies enter the mainland marketing, driving up the demand for spending on marketing services.

• On the mainland, Hong Kong companies and manufacturing facilities focus more on domestic sales and distribution and their marketing services companies are old partners to work with.

• The importance of advertising, brand building and corporate identity building is becoming more and more known and understood by mainland companies. It is becoming an important factor that mainland enterprises pay more attention to market intelligence due to the increasing competition and consumers. 

• Mainland companies that are going “global” have an increasing demand for those in the public relations service.With public relations, the companies would need advice from professionals with experience and expertise. Since mainland companies usually have a base in Hong Kong, companies are more likely to entrust Hong Kong marketing services firms to advise on achieving unification with the international community.

Requirements

Candidates of marketing and sales require a degree in marketing, however those that have a degree in business or commerce with a major in marketing will have an advantage over other applicants and be accepted. In addition, sales representative roles also welcome generalist degrees.

Candidates should also acquire a set of personal skills that could benefit them in the career path such as:

• Ability to work under pressure
• Creativity
• Great interpersonal skills.
• High emotional intelligence
• Organisation skills
• Strong team player
• Understanding human behaviour

What to Expect

There are a number of marketing services Hong Kong has to offer such as advertising, brand/image consulting, event organising, public relations/corporate communications and market research. Hong Kong has a highly developed consumer market, which allows companies to test out marketing concepts and techniques.

• Advertising
Advertising agencies initiate, manage and implement advertising campaigns. They provide three major types of services, which are account management, creative services and media planning; and agencies that provide all three services are called full-service agencies. Bigger agencies also provide related services such as sales promotion and public relations.

• Brand Consultancy 
Companies are starting to grow aware of the importance of branding and corporate identity, as it is an essential component of business success, especially with companies that aim to expand beyond home market. Agencies that specialise in brand consultancy provide services that include brand strategy, brand extension and expansion, brand communications and planning, and internal branding.

• Event Organising
Hong Kong is known to be the trade fair capital and has become the host to a wide range of trade fairs and international events. Generally, larger international event organisers would tend to provide a “one-stop-shop” solution by organising conferences, seminars and other events to add to their exhibitions while smaller organisers would specialise in organising similar shows in different locations.

• Market Research
Market research involves studying people as buyers, sellers and consumers and examining their attitude, preferences, habits and purchasing power. It also studies the distribution, promotion and pricing, and the design of the products and services that are to be marketed.

• Public Relations
PR professionals help clients to develop communication and understand with the target audience. Public relation services include media relations, marketing, copy-writing, press office, sponsorship, events, conference management, etc.

Employment and Careers

Working in marketing and sales allows graduates to have many career opportunities and job titles to choose from. Their median salaries range based on the professionalism and rank of the job such as the following3:

• Sales and Marketing Assistant (HK$168)
• Sales and Marketing Coordinator (HK$183)
• Sales Associate (HK$250)
• Sales and Marketing Manager (HK$366)
• Marketing Manager (HK$405)
• Sales and Marketing Director (HK$488)
• Associate Director, Sales and Marketing (HK$675)
• Vice President, Sales and Marketing (HK$876)
• Director of Sales and Marketing (HK$1,089)
• Managing Director, Sales and Marketing (HK$1,129)

There are also other careers in both sales and marketing to consider. Careers in sales can include jobs such as business development manager, account manager, sales manager, sales executive/representative, and many more. While careers in marketing can include jobs such as marketing executive and manager, brand manager, campaign manager, advertising executive and manager, online marketing, PR manager, marketing communications, and many more.

1 Robert Walters, Keeping sales and marketing professionals onboard, 2015
2 Hong Kong Economy Research, Marketing Services Industry in Hong Kong, 2015
3 PayScale, Search Results for “marketing and sales”, 2015