The Marketing Specialist examination consists of the following parts:

• Marketing basics
• Guided case study
  • Marketing & Sales
  • Planning
  • Implementation
• Postal basket task
• Presentation and technical discussion (oral)
• Situations critical to success (oral)

The marketing specialist examination takes place once a year in spring. The written exams last two days and the oral exams last an additional one to two days. The professional examination is organized by Suxxess.org AG.

Marketing specialists with a federal certificate work in a wide variety of companies, agencies and organizations, where they plan, monitor and implement marketing measures. To this end, they draw up detailed marketing plans that identify sensible strategies and tools that can be used to implement the individual concepts. A certified marketing specialist works closely with those responsible for the implementation of marketing measures, such as designers and copywriters, as well as with external institutions such as those responsible for market research. In this way, the marketing specialist coordinates the entire process of the planned marketing measure, which they plan, implement and monitor, but always under the leadership of a marketing or sales manager.

The personal requirements for a marketing specialist are:

• Interest in customer contact, customer orientation
• marketing-oriented thinking
• analytical way of thinking, solution-oriented
• Ability to develop, implement and review projects
• Negotiating skills
• Fluency in oral and written expression
• Good knowledge of business administration
• Organizational talent, commercial skills
• Sense for numbers, math skills

The Marketing Specialist course provides participants with in-depth specialist knowledge in:

• Basic skills:
  • Marketing basics Repetition
  • Project and self-management
  • Accounting
  • Market performance & communication design
  • Distribution design
  • Legal knowledge
  • Market research & statistics
• Specialization for marketing experts:
  • Marketing concept
  • Digital marketing
  • Communication tools
  • Exam training (written/oral) and simulation
  • Presentation technology

In the marketing specialist training course, participants learn to plan suitable marketing measures and implement them together with specialists from the areas of text/concept or design.

Anyone who obtains a Swiss educational qualification from the professional association Swiss Marketing (SMC) as a marketing specialist from February 2021 will receive a European certificate. Earlier federal certificates can also be retroactively certified according to the European standard - at least 10 years back. The SMC is an official certification partner of EMC (European Marketing Confederation). This enables the qualification to be recognized throughout Europe, making it more internationally comparable and easier to understand. As a marketing specialist with a federal certificate, you can call yourself a Junior Marketing Manager.

The Marketing Specialist with Federal Diploma of Higher Education course costs between CHF 9,000 and CHF 14,000. Anyone who passes the federal examination can claim 50% of the training costs back from the federal government, regardless of whether they pass the federal examination or not.

Marketing specialist jobs are offered in the various specialist areas of marketing and qualified specialists are sought for these:

• Classic marketing (marketing communication using the Internet and advertising in various channels such as TV, radio, print or posters)
• Direct marketing
• Online marketing, social media
• Public Relations (PR) and Corporate Communications
• Event marketing
• Marketing planning, market research
• B2B marketing (business-to-business customers)
• Advertising consulting/communication
• Product management
• Media, editing, publishing

Marketing specialist jobs are offered in various specialist areas of marketing. During your training, think about which areas you might be interested in for your future job.

Graduates of the Marketing Specialist further education program are able to exercise the following competencies:

• Create concepts derived from the marketing objectives
• Set meaningful goals in the concepts, derive strategies, define the required measures within the budget and monitor them accordingly
• Realize integrated, cross-media planning across all communication instruments and correctly weight the individual instruments according to the objectives
• implement the planned measures in a legally correct manner and cooperate with external specialists
• cover the area of digital marketing conceptually and operationally
• plan digital campaigns and systematically use the necessary tools and channels
• Work on interdisciplinary tasks
• Collect and analyze information on market activity with the various market participants and draw the right conclusions from it
• plan and realize the market performance including offer and pricing, ensure quality at all times and adjust it if necessary
• plan, network, implement and monitor the individual communication tools
• Shape operational distribution, enter into meaningful partnerships and continuously optimize distribution processes
• Gathering information and knowledge and using suitable working techniques, methodological skills, project management know-how and the right internal and external network to organize work in a targeted and efficient manner

Admission to the federal final examination is granted to those who:

• have a Federal Diploma of Vocational Education and Training (VET Diploma), a Baccalaureate, a Specialized Baccalaureate, a certificate from a technical secondary school or an equivalent qualification and have at least 2 years of professional experience in marketing.

or

• has a Federal Certificate of Vocational Education and Training (Federal VET Certificate) and at least 3 years of professional experience in marketing.

or

• a degree from a state-recognized commercial secondary school, diploma secondary school or Specialized School.

To be on the safe side, check with your school again before starting your training to make sure that you meet all the requirements (including school requirements).

The results of a survey conducted by the education platform Ausbildung-Weiterbildung.ch show clear results regarding the reasons for school inquiries for further training as a marketing specialist. 53% of all participants enquired about schools on the basis of an online assessment. 14% of prospective students already knew the school or schools before enquiring for more details about their training courses. A further 33% of respondents initiated a school inquiry based on a recommendation. The demand for schools that are already known is certainly also due to the fact that many attend a basic course or preliminary course before continuing their marketing specialist training. One survey participant gave another reason in a text response or perhaps the aim of the inquiry was "general information". However, this is probably the aim of most of the school inquiries made. However, two other people have already completed their vocational baccalaureate or apprenticeship at the requested school. Other reasons include proximity to work or place of residence, start dates and simply as a result of an internet search.

The following advanced courses can be completed with the marketing certificate:

• Higher professional examination for the Federal Diploma in Marketing Management
• Higher professional examination for the federal diploma as a sales manager
• Advanced technical college HF in business administration or marketing management
• With a vocational baccalaureate: Business administration degree with a specialization in marketing
• With qualified professional and management experience (admission "sur dossier"): Postgraduate studies at a university of applied sciences EMBA Business Administration - Strategic Marketing, Marketing Management or Communication Management

A marketing specialist with a federal certificate works in management positions in marketing. They are employed in marketing, advertising, public relations (PR for short), market research, direct marketing, product management or sales. Marketing specialists also have good prospects as self-employed professionals. According to information from the marketing specialist careers advice service, people in this profession should have a marketing-oriented mindset, negotiating skills and good business knowledge. The ability to develop, implement and review projects is also important.

According to graduates, you can achieve the following with a marketing specialist apprenticeship:

• Gain a great basis for a marketing activity by acquiring the necessary specialist knowledge
• modular structure of the learning content in the marketing specialist training program:
  • Intensive technical basis first
  • Building on methodology
  • Exam preparation
• plan, implement and monitor suitable marketing measures
• Develop, implement and review projects
• gain in-depth insight into many areas of marketing
• Good lecturers enable a high level of practical relevance as well as an exciting and entertaining marketing specialist training program
• Intensive and optimal preparation for the federal examinations for the specialist certificate through information on examination procedures and test examinations
• Work in various marketing areas
• develop into a specialist in a specific marketing area or marketing management

The individual schools that train marketing specialists will inform you about the exact details of the marketing specialist training. You can easily reach them via our contact form. In addition, our free educational guides will give you a comprehensive insight into further training for marketing specialists and even more interesting facts about this course and your career opportunities. You can download the guide "Training and further education in the fields of marketing, communication and sales" (see navigation point "Educational aid" above) here free of charge.

Training as a marketing specialist opens up interesting employment opportunities:

• Marketing specialists with a federal certificate work in management positions
  • in marketing
  • in advertising
  • in the field of public relations
  • in market research
  • in direct marketing
  • in product management
  • in internal sales
  • in the field sales force
• in the line, on the staff or in consulting with a focus on product management
• as an assistant for parts of the marketing or sales management
• as a self-employed person

The results of a survey conducted by the education platform Ausbildung-Weiterbildung.ch show the reasons why people are interested in continuing their education to become a federal marketing specialist:

• 76% of respondents still compare the course with their own needs for further development.
• 17 % show interest based on a recommendation.
• 7 % are interested in marketing specialist training because it is explicitly required in job advertisements.

Additional explanations were provided by two free text responses: "I am very interested and work in this department, but I only have a commercial apprenticeship certificate" and "I started the course but have not yet completed it."