Several questions about working in marketing and advertizing (looking for serious answers, no spam plz)?

i want to get into marketing but i dont know that much about what really goes on at work, like filing reports and siting ideas.
so i have some questions for those who work for companies as part of their marketing team.

1) what do market researchers do opposed to the different types of analysts and advertisers?

2) how competitive is it with coworkers and how do you get promotions?

3) any idea's that you propose will be technically your bosses, or you dont get credit for your work/proposal

4) do proposals or ideas really go though to the executives or whomever or do they just pile up for some suit type to read over in some file system?

5) is houston texas a good place to have a marketing career?

6) what is considered rare or extrordinary in typical marketing people? are people very good at what they do or come up with? how do you get recognised?

7) what is it like working in marketing in general? the downsides? perks?

Heya!

I have been in the Marketing Industry for close to 13 years now. The hard part about your question is that you have so many parts! LOL!! But let's see if we can't chew through em eh?

1. what do market researchers do opposed to the different types of analysts and advertisers?

There are so many things that Marketers look at - BUT to give you a basis to go from, one thing that we do a LOT is forecast. I work with a few well established Futurist to stay ahead of the curve. I am usually looking at things from a creative angle....

2) how competitive is it with coworkers and how do you get promotions?

This one is hard to answer. In my 13 years I have always been a Freelancer, I hate bosses :) LOL!! The Agencies that I have done work for seem to have a "team" based atmosphere - The competition is usually outside the 4 walls of your organization... Promotions come with leadership usually (from what I have seen), like you may go from being a Designer or Conceptualist to become a Creative Director - Just depends....

3) any idea's that you propose will be technically your bosses, or you dont get credit for your work/proposal

Well - I have seen quite a few of my concepts become reality - thats the tool of the industry unfortunately. Now some concepts that you produce will be under pretty fine tuned guidelines.. so again this one varies...

4) do proposals or ideas really go though to the executives or whomever or do they just pile up for some suit type to read over in some file system?

Sometimes the Directors have the last word... You will find that often Executives are dealing with the Logistics AFTER the project has been accepted....

5) is houston texas a good place to have a marketing career?

Houston is growing like crazy.. YES!! Good thing is that Houston is technology forward...

6) what is considered rare or extrordinary in typical marketing people? are people very good at what they do or come up with? how do you get recognised?

What is rare? Well - some say that I am rare because I have an ability to create things from thin air - and what I create is based on future not so much current. I conceptualize without boundaries which is fun at times... :) - SO what you have to do is find out what YOUR unique value proposition is. Your recognition comes from your ability to get out of the box and stay out...

7) what is it like working in marketing in general? the downsides? perks?

Marketing is awesome - it gives you tons of creative outlet... Downside... Round People working With Square People... Perks? What's that? Just kidding.. LOL!! Marketing tend to offer freedom. The teams I work with generally have room to breathe, brainstorm, and be unique...

Hope this helps!

Cheers!