Your Marketing Degree

Everybody needs marketing - the advertisement and promotion of their goods or services. Whether you are a dentist setting up your dental clinic, a freelance writer or designer, or the owner of a restaurant or car repair place, you will likely require the services of someone with a marketing degree at some point. If you think about it, those with marketing degrees are in the helping profession. They help others to realize their dreams of being a success in whatever endeavor they have chosen in life. Thus, those with marketing degrees have an extremely rewarding career path ahead of them.

As with so many fields offered in today’s colleges and universities, there is a wide variety of kinds of marketing degree programs available to those with an interest in marketing. There are marketing degrees at the undergraduate and the graduate levels. There are sub-specialties of marketing to suit the interests of any student, from corporate marketing to marketing for the nonprofit sector. Each program offering a marketing degree will likely be tailoring its instruction to meet the needs and wants of a certain kind of student. Below are descriptions of these various kinds of marketing degree offerings.

Because the field of marketing is so wide open at this time, with nearly every business and organization needing the skills of a marketing professional, many schools are offering marketing degrees at both the graduate and undergraduate level. For those seeking a bachelor’s degree in marketing, colleges provide the fundamentals of marketing strategies, things such as advertising and publicity campaigns and how to make clients stand out from the competition. Those with a bachelor’s degree in marketing find entry and mid level positions in marketing firms available to them. These marketing students may also launch freelance careers as public relation specialists and marketing copywriters.

Of course, in today’s competitive marketplace, those with advanced degrees are highly sought after. This is certainly true of marketing degrees, as well. Master’s programs in marketing offer more in-depth instruction in the most current techniques that professionals in marketing are using. As a master’s degree student, you may find yourself interning or working for a company using cutting edge marketing techniques such as social media and search engine optimization. Those holding advanced degrees in marketing will find themselves well equipped for today’s marketplace with the skills and knowledge employers are looking for.

A few marketing students will even seek the highest of degrees in marketing by attending a doctorate program in the field. These programs equip students to make cutting edge decisions about the future of marketing, and many of these professionals go on to conduct research into marketing ideas and techniques. These advanced students may also opt to teach marketing at colleges and universities around the country and around the world.

How Many Years Will a Degree in Marketing Take?

• Associates: 2 years
• Bachelors: 3-4 years
• Masters: ~2 years, on top of a bachelors
• Doctorate: 2 to 6 years on top of a Masters depending on the program

Top 5 Marketing Schools

• University of Pennsylvania
• University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• University of Texas - Austin
• Indiana University - Bloomington
• University of California - Berkeley

What Kind of Jobs Can I Get?

• Account Executive
• Public Relations Specialist
• Marketing Manager
• Fashion Marketer
• Commercial director
• Sports agent
• Promoter
• Product Manager
• Director of Marketing
• Marketing Coordinator
• Marketing Specialist
• Sales Representative
• Account Manager
• Direct Sales Manager
• Sales Manager
• Marketing Assistant
• Marketing Intern
• Freelance Marketing

With as many universities and colleges offering marketing degrees as there are, it is only natural that each program will attempt to make itself stand out. Some of these programs will try to attract marketing students by offering the benefits of a traditional on-campus marketing program, while other colleges will vie for online classes geared towards the less traditional student. As such, many schools are now providing students with marketing degrees that are earned entirely through online coursework.

Online marketing degrees usually appeal to busy professionals who don't have time to go to classes on campus or don't want to relocate to pursue a marketing degree. Some students may also live in an area where the type of marketing program they desire is not available. Online coursework in marketing is an excellent alternative to brick and mortar schools, and the quality of some of these online programs is very much comparable.

Being able to work with fellow students face to face is still the preferred method of receiving a degree for many marketing students. They enjoy the interaction they have with professors and professionals in the marketing field. As in most fields, networking is a vital component to the marketing student and to the marketing professional. Thus on-campus programs in marketing continue to thrive.

And thrive is the key word when it comes to those who seek marketing degrees. The field of marketing is wide open, with opportunities for marketing students abounding.

Though marketing can be a very intriguing business, studying it is not always fun, but it's a necessary evil with all degrees. You can always break up the work by taking classes in stuff you're interested in - writing, art, fashion, science - or even double major. Then you can use that degree to steer you towards what kind of businesses you would like to market for, say with a degree in Creative Writing, working in the marketing section of a publishing company! It will make you a cut above the rest when applying for jobs when you have an idea where you want to end up! So drink your red bulls, sharpen your memory improvement techniques, and make sure your have extra pens and paper - you've got a lot of studying to do!

Here is a small sample of classes required for a marketing major:

• Managerial Communications
• Macroeconomics
• Principles of Marketing
• Business to Business Marketing
• Consumer Behavior

At the end of the day, marketing can be what you make of it - you can work in fields you love that you don't necessarily have the skills for. If you're into music and you don't have a musical bone in your body, you can try to become a concert promoter. You can work for non-profits and work with fundraising for a cause! Or you can delve into the fashion industry when you don't even know how to sew. Marketing is a big world, competitive to say the least, but not without it's options! If nothing else, the most important thing you can learn in marketing is how to sell your skills to the employers who have the jobs your want.