Marketing is a new and underdeveloped field of work in Russia, and as a result, it has great potential.

IN THE WORDS of Gregory Zaraisky, marketing manager at Canon. “Pure Russian companies have still to realize the power of marketing. It also took Russian companies a long time to realize the importance of logistics and that now most have a logistics manager.” Zaraisky predicts that marketing will be next in the evolution spiral.

As more and more companies come to realize the importance of marketing, there will be an endless number of industries for a marketing manager to specialize in.

Before looking at what a marketing manager does, let’s take a look at the background information on marketing itself. Its core activities are those of establishing a potential buyer for a product, identifying customer’s needs, investigating how to meet them and then making a profit. Marketing is about finding and keeping customers. It involves researching a product’s track record, consumer buying trends and making predictions. Mihail Pretsov of the Moscow advertising agency "Moby Dick International" points out that the instability of the Russian market makes this prediction of consumer buying trends extremely challenging.

The ideal character traits and skills of a marketing manager are as follows. The individual needs to be success orientated, analytical and extrovert. A touch of sales aggressiveness doesn’t go amiss either. He/she also needs to enjoy talking on the phone and not mind having to repeat the same thing over and over again. An aspiring marketing manager should be, or have the potential to be a motivating leader and simultaneously a great team player. Also important are excellent presentation and communication skills. Knowledge of Microsoft excel, Power Point and Word is essential.

The work and responsibilities of a marketing manager will include many of the following:

- Gaining knowledge and understanding of products, markets, customers and competition.

- Development of corporate images, including brochures, packaging and logos.

- Launching of new products.

- Managing budgets and the setting of the team’s targets.

- Meeting sales targets.

- Responsibility for individual achievement, and reviewing appraisals within teams.

- Carrying out or organizing market research (often through an agency).

- Developing the company’s marketing strategy.

- Attending and arranging exhibitions.

- Extending database of prospective clients with names & details.

- Delegating many of the above responsibilities to staff.

- Training teams in telesales, research, strategies and the recording of data.

For graduates who find all of the above appealing, Elena Sidorova of the American Institute of Business and Economics in Moscow, recommends you begin your career in a successful foreign company, as a marketing assistant. The name of the company will help you get a higher post somewhere else. She says that a problem inherent in recruiting marketing personnel in Russia, is that young specialists have no experience and older staff have no qualifications. As Elena Sidorova points out, there are also difficulties in the teaching of marketing:

Most marketing courses are short of Russian language textbooks and case studies and as a result, they have to use international ones.

Don’t be discouraged, if you think you’ve got what it takes- then go for it! It is always easier to rise up to the top if you are one of the first in a field of work.

Is there a career you’d like to learn more about? Please send an email to

staff@theleader.ru.