Marketing Isn't That Bad

Marketing is a big subject that affects basically every person who lives in the modern world. From the far off tibetian mountains to the busy streets of beijing, to the TV in our living rooms and the computers we use for browsing the internet. The blinking lights in large cities, the posters on the busses we ride to work, the food we buy in stores and all our luxury are all covered with different types of marketing slogans, arguments, pictures claiming that either this or that product can fulfill our needs. All the advertising is meant to get us to spend money, and boost the economy that helps society go round.

I study Marketing and Leadership in high school. It's not an easy class, and I don't really get along very well with anyone there, but it's a class that I chose to put on my workplan, and therefore I feel that I should make an effort with it. The grade I got in marketing for the winter term  was equivalent to an A, and was the only top grade I got, but that isn't so odd, considering it's basically the only class I try to get a good grade in. I've studied the subject for what I see as an appropriate while, and I feel that I've at least grasped the general consept of what marketing is, so I see myself as a person who can say atleast a bit about what marketing is.

I had a lot of doubts about taking Marketing and Leadership as my only chosen class. Firstly because I really didn't know what it was about, secondly because I didn't feel like I needed it, and thirdly because it was the least favorite of my chosen choices. I'll get back to how i ended up with my least favorite chosen choice as my actual class (and what it means) in a bit, but for now you only need to know that it wasn't the class I wanted.

What I really wanted was dessert tasting class. But we can't all get what we want. *sigh*

The first problem, not knowing what it was about, was solved relatively quickly, even though I've had doubts about what I was doing until recently. I was introduced to marketing as that it's meant to cover the needs of the consumers, even though I later realised that it was a way to get us to stop thinking it's all about the money. I'm not going to deny that marketing is about money, a marketer's job is based on getting people to buy stuff, but as I learnt, people take it for granted that it's ''just selling stuff'', even though there's a ton of background info, rules and strategies one has to know before one is able to make a move in the huge market that exists today.

The second problem, not feeling I needed it, was much due to the fact that I had no idea what I needed it for. At the point where I started taking marketing lessons, I had no idea what to do with my life, and I really didn't feel like I need any classes. I have since then found out what I want to do, but I'm glad that I stuck with my choice, as it's actually one of the only few relevant classes for what I want to do in the future. Also, as a bonus, I learn a lot of things I can use to further improve my blog, and how to get more readers (As of writing this, I haven't used anything I've learnt, though).

The third problem is what might be the most weird. Most people faced with my problem would've tried to swap class to another, especially put into the situation I was. The story isn't very complicated, but it is interesting for anyone who wants to know how I ended up taking a class I didn't actually want to take that much.

My teacher had a gun. I didn't.

When we were supposed to choose what class we wanted in the second year of high school, it was done online, unsupervised, with only a 5 minute talk of what to pick from a guidance counsellor as preparation. I had no idea what any of the classes were about, except for what I could pull out from their names. When the choice was to be made, it was extremely difficut to understand it. Firstly because it was done by editing a normal multiple answer online test, which in hindsight seems like was due to the laziness of whoever made the test.

Secondly, the questions were put into categories that had little information about how were sorted. The categories were named A, B, C and D, and the only information given was that I only could pick one class from each. Category D was the type of math I wanted, P or T, Practical or Theoretical. I ended up picking theoretical to have more choices, as some universities and colleges requires it to attend. With that out of the way, I looked at the other categories, slightly baffled with the amount of choices I had. I ended up picking IT1, IT2 and didn't see anything I liked on the last, so I figured I might as well try Marketing and Leadership.

When I later found out that my art classes took the spot of two chosen classes, I found out that both IT1 and IT2 had been removed, and I ended up having only marketing as my chosen class. I wondered for a while if I should've seen a counsellor or not, but decided to try it out. In a combination of finding out it wasn't so bad, that I was really good at it even though it was difficult, and having some confidence issues, I ended up not talking to the counsellors about changing, and stuck myself with it, in a class where I knew none of the people and I had to spend a lot of time and effort to get a nice grade.

Since I stayed with it, I learnt a lot, and as mentioned, it is one of the only two relevant classes for what I'm going to study to be. Despite being one of the hardest classes one can pick (much due to a lot of theory and terminologies), it turned out pretty well, especially since after I found out what I wanted to do after high school, and that marketing is related to it. Looking back on it, what seemed to be a waste of time turned out to be one of the most useful classes, and I'm kind of glad I ended up making the decision that I did.