Typically, you can become a market strategist with a bachelor's degree in marketing and special knowledge or experience in a particular niche or market segment. Market strategists are typically employed in the consumer goods or financial investment industries. To become a market strategist for consumer goods, you have to develop an expertise in the buying habits of a particular group of people, while investment strategists develop expertise in certain markets or industries.
Obtaining a bachelor's degree in marketing is the first step in pursuing a career in market strategy. In some instances, you can further hone your expertise and establish yourself as an expert by pursuing an advanced degree in your area of marketing specialty. A market strategist can work as a staff member inside a company or as an outside consultant who provides specialized help as needed. Consultants are more likely to need advanced educational credentials to further a career as a strategist than a person who works for only one company. A staff member has the luxury of convincing an employer of the value of his professional opinion through everyday work, while a consultant must often rely on his objective credentials to persuade a client to pay for his expertise.
Once you have the basic educational background for the position, you can become a market strategist by specializing in a particular group, market or industry. Developing a specialty is a process that is different for each individual. Generally, you should have some concentrated experience with the target specialty. For example, a person who wants to specialize in reaching a certain ethnic group through marketing might be a member of that ethnic group and would have special insight into the way the group operates.
Another example is a person who has had a prior stint working in the industry he is now going to target. A politician who leaves government service to lobby on behalf of an unrelated industry, like banking, is a type of market strategist. He is typically hired because of a perceived expertise in a market that the industry needs to reach.
You can also increase your knowledge of a specialty area by studying it and being willing to provide expert analysis through commentary, teaching and writing. Once you are recognized by outside sources as a person who can provide special insight into a consumer group, market or industry, you can more readily transition into the market strategist title. This route is particularly helpful if you want to become a market strategist in the financial services industry. A strategist in an investment context must convince each investor he works with that he has done the research and analysis to back up his trading recommendations, which is easier to do with a degree of public recognition as an industry expert.