What is a day in the life of a marketing research analyst?

As a high school student, I'm pondering what exactly I'm going to do as far as a future career. Though I really want to be a journalist, I know that I have to do something that makes a tad bit more money to sustain my current lifestyle.





To help me with my decision, can someone please give me an layout of what a day in the life of a marketing research analyst is?





Thanks in advance. =D

What is a day in the life of a marketing research analyst?
Well, a typical situation in the job would be like this:





You are going to launch a new product in 6 months. It is a technical product.





You need to present a report to your management about the size of the market in N. America, Europe, and Asia. Give projections as to how the market will grow over the next 5 years.





How must the product be modified for each country? Language, power, size, color, packaging? When should you start the language translation work - for both the product %26amp; the accompanying documentation? And what about the service manuals? the marketing literature? Who will do them? How much will it cost?





Given a recommended price for your product, give projections for how the revenue of the company looks like for the next 5 years.





Discuss the Product Life Cycle, and how you intend to make the product sell throughout the PLC. Be knowledgeable of the intro phase, the mid-life phase and the obsolescence phase.





Describe the kind of people, or companies that will use this product. Can the product be sold into non-traditional markets other than these? Why?





Describe the types of competition that will be expected, and position your product against them, classifying them into SWOT ( strengths, weaknesses, opportunities %26amp; threats ) - this is called a competitive analysis/positioning. There's a LOT of work involved to do this.





List other products in your company and the competition that your product must work with - software, look %26amp; feel, power requirements, which operating system, what kinds of printers, etc. Make estimates of the engineering time it will take for these adjustments to be made, and will they be ready by introduction?





Lay out plans for the introduction - press releases, where and when? Shows %26amp; Trade events, where and when? When will prototypes be ready? When will marketing collateral be ready? Who will do it?





How much money will you need for all the above? Split them out into operational expense and marketing expense.





How will the sales reps, distributors and customers be trained? Is there a training class, or video? How will you go about producing such a class or video? Who will do it? How much will it cost? When is the best time and place for it?





There's lots of other things, but hopefully these will give you the basics of it.
Reply:Very basically, you will use data and information on the industry in which the company competes (maybe they make a product, like potato chips for examle, or provide a service, like banks and hotels). You will analyze this data using sophisticated statistical methods and prepare reports/presentations with your assessment and recomendations. You should have an interest in math/statistics and good computer skills. You should be inquisitive and detail oriented. That said, don't chase money for a career choice, and don't feel you have to choose now. Get into a good school that suits your needs, expose yourself to lots of new ideas and areas, and who knows what you will develop a passion and aptitude for. You don't know enough about the world and maybe yourself yet to choose your life's work. (not an insult). Do what you love, have a passion for it and do it well-the money will come. Those at the top of their field, not matter wht it is, make a decent living at it. Not always true of those who chose a career for the wrong reasons and struggle, unhappily to drag themselves to work each day. Have fun and best of luck.