Know-How Exchange : Career/Training

There is at least two ways of learning - by doing or by studying.... guess I'll add a third one, by asking.

Read some current books about marketing and a few classics, which you might have done since it's afield of interest for you.

Before you apply for a few marketing jobs find some marketing people, either among your contacts or within companies you could envision yourself working for. Social Media is a great place to search.
Then ask them for 10-15 min over coffee, just to ask a few questions on how to break in to marketing. Respect their time, and stick to 10-20 min, even if they are talkative. Build respect, you might need them later as reference.

Finally, apply for a few marketing jobs to see what kind of replies you get and, especially, which questions you will get during interviews.

Good hunt and enjoy the transition.

Mikael
B2B Marketing

In general, it is easier to change functions within current companies, as they know who you are as a person. If you try to do it outside of your company, you need to both convince them you are a good person and that you can do the new job - which is a huge challenge.

To me a business analyst is a financial position, not a tech position. When I read your subject, I was expecting you to say you were an engineer wanting to go to marketing. In Silicon Valley, this jump is pretty common. Many tech companies prefer techy people for marketing, as they understand often difficult to understand technologies. Sometimes that jump works, sometimes it doesn't.

Mikael's comments above are good. The doing or asking part can be difficult to jump in on - takes good networking. The studying is much easier to do, but takes time - see if you can get a marketing certificate through evening classes from a local college or executive education program.

Also, think through what the aspects of your current job are and what can transfer over to a marketing position. In your current company, what do you do that would complement marketing? Outside of your company, what products do you use (or are marketed to you) that may need marketing people (they would benefit from you being a product expert)? The more relevant you can make your experience to the new position, the easier it is for you.

How do you break into marketing?

By working your tush off.

I became a top ranked contributor on this site by doing just that ... working to make an impression, working to help people, by contributing.

Show people what you can do, what you can offer, and what you can produce. Add value where others bitch and moan. Add more value where others slack off and whine.

Stop talking about doing it and figure it out. Move one step at a time, learn new skills, wrap your mind around the concepts of value, perception, social conditioning, compliance to group norms, adherence to voices of authority, and logical progression of message to desired outcome alignment.

Recommendations for marketing books:

Start with these:

https://www.amazon.com/Top-Marketing-Books-All-Time/lm/3JOLQUOTP0K0T

Read them all, three times, once as an initial read, then
a second time to take notes, then a third time and take notes on your notes.

Then read all the books you can find by Dan Kennedy.

I've just got hold of a copy of Triggers by Joe Sugarman and it's sublime.

I hope this helps.

Recommended reading list here: https://bit.ly/9bnxbr

Start at the top of the list and work your way down.

AFTER you've read and absorbed a dozen books, you probably ought to identify 3 or 4 people who have jobs like the one you want and get them to tell you what THEY think is required to succeed at the job. Make sure you are not jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

I think the first thing you need to do is realize that no one in the world will take you seriously about transitioning into marketing unless you are willing to read up on the topic.

if you have not already done so... the second thing you should do is to select and read at least one marketing or sales book. There are several recommendations above.

In addition, you can search past discussions on this site to identify additional marketing books.

For example, if you Google the following:

+“best marketing books” site:marketingprofs.com/ea

You will get 16 links to discussions regarding best marketing books.

After you have read at least one of these books (hopefully within the next several days) let us know what you have learned.

Many of the books are available to you at no charge at your local library. Good luck.