In the United Kingdom, one of the most reliable job markets for new professionals is in publishing. This reliability comes not from a wide range of jobs, as many publishing houses are small operations with only a few vacancies available. However, there is always a need for publishing services, whether it is the promotion of novels or the creation of electronic documents for corporations.
In this way, sales and marketing professionals who are looking for an interesting job can find them in the publishing field. Sales and marketing professionals, ranging from university graduates to experienced hands, need to realise that publishing covers a broad range of needs. There are small publishing houses which focus on a specific genre of book, ranging from history texts to children's novels. As well, there are major publishing firms which put out magazines, non-fiction texts, and publishing software. Finally, there are corporate publishing firms which contract with major companies to publish reports and books for promotional purposes. In all of these cases, sales and marketing professionals are integral to a firm's success.
Sales professionals are needed in the publishing sector in order to sell products and services to the broadest range of consumers possible. Marketing professionals work to promote publishing efforts in a variety of ways, including author's visits to bookstores and online marketing efforts on literary sites. For both types of professionals, there is a lot of pressure to get the job done. Sales professionals in the three types of publishing firms face the challenge of outselling their colleagues and competitors with other firms. Specialised firms often face less competition, by virtue of their narrow focus. However, sales professionals have to contend with a fickle consumer market for their narrowly focused product.
In larger firms, sales people need to be intimately aware of their books and other offerings. As well, they need to be aware of the competition in order to provide selling points that set a publishing firm apart. Marketing professionals face similar challenges as their sales brethren. Marketing specialists with specialised firms need to create clever marketing campaigns to convince consumers that their product is invaluable. As well, marketing professionals need to deal with competing campaigns in the publishing industry.
Finally, marketers also need to combine their creativity, their marketing skills, and the corporate requirements for individual publishing projects. In the end, sales and marketing professionals need to find ways to distinguish themselves and their product in order to succeed.
Mark Doherty is a Director of Alexander Chapel Associates. A specialist sales recruitment company with a focus in IT sales jobs, logistics jobs and supply chain recruitment.
