There has been an ongoing argument in online career spaces and forums that influencer marketing and online sales have sounded the death knell of the sales and marketing professional and that these degrees now longer hold value. This article looks at why this is definitely not the case and how the need for sales and marketing professionals is still a vital business need and, in fact, a growing requirement. With over a 60% increase in demand for these professionals over the last few years, the online degree programs forming the basis of this re-skilling are booming and a great choice for any business professional.
How to get these skills
It has been proven and widely written about the benefits of having an internal, dedicated marketing and sales skills. The most successful companies and businesses out there have been able to integrate marketing and sales skills into the mainstream skills of their business. The easiest way has been for business owners themselves and entrepreneurs to embark on online programs and study, for example, a PB in marketing that will allow them to design, drive and monitor their own marketing campaigns. Unless you are able to monitor and control the content that your business puts out there, then you won’t be able to target the right audience, and this is arguably best done by those within the business who intrinsically understand the business needs.
It is a professional online marketing and sales degree that is able to ensure that your business has the required skill set to build and tell your own back story and then convert this into actual sales.
What is required?
The marketing or sales degrees that are proving to provide the best cost-benefit or return on investment are those that allow the business to cogently and quickly build an online brand. The online brand is now dependent on the sales and marketing skills that your business has at hand and is able to rely on. Sales and marketing are now processes that predominantly take place online, and digital sales and marketing are the only means of building a brand and developing your business. In order to inform customers of your presence, your business needs to be where they are and your message in a format that they understand and relate to. Whether you are in accounting or new product development, having a marketing and sales degree or background will stand you in good stead.
A genuine and cost-effective/cost-beneficial online presence has become essential. Modern marketing serves to equalize and level the playing fields in the sense that big and small companies alike are able to quite cheaply set up a web presence and interact with their clients in the online space. The game may have changed, and the tools have definitely developed, but the fact is that you still need the skills that an online marketing degree will provide to plan and implement your online sales and marketing strategy.
Sales and marketing may have changed with the advent of the internet and the use of the online space to meet and interact with customers. However, there are still some basic tenants of these processes that serve to make a related degree in sales and marketing the backbone of any business.
