MS in Marketing

If you want to be an important part of the modern advertising and marketing industry, it’s worth considering earning an MS in Marketing degree. This marketing degree will help provide you with expert-level knowledge on a wide range of topics, including digital and traditional marketing tools, consumer behavior, marketing metrics, brand building, and more. Also, MS in Marketing career options are just as expansive as the knowledge you’ll gain. Employment for managers in advertising, promotions, and marketing is projected to grow at a pace that is faster than average, and the median annual wage for advertising and promotions managers was $117,000 in 2018.¹ Another promising career is market research analyst, which U.S. News & World Report ranked among the top jobs in business.²

¹Source: www.bls.gov/ooh/management/advertising-promotions-and-marketing-managers.htm
²Source: https://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/slideshows/best-business-jobs?slide=9

The terms “public relations” and “marketing” are often used interchangeably. While it’s true that they’re closely intertwined, public relations and marketing have different—yet equally important—roles in business. By definition, public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.¹ Marketing, on the other hand, is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.²

In other words, public relations is about building relationships and an organization’s positive image. Marketing, on the other hand, is the promotion and selling of a product or service—or even an idea—to consumers.

¹Source: www.prsa.org/about/all-about-pr
²Source: www.ama.org/the-definition-of-marketing-what-is-marketing

Thanks to the advent of the digital age—and the internet in particular—marketing is much more complex, which is why companies are hiring digital marketing specialists. If you want to become a digital marketing specialist, you should be able to:

• Analyze data: The digital world creates endless streams of data. The better you can analyze data gathered through your organization’s activities or purchased from data providers, the better you can position your product or service.
• Choose the right channels: As a digital marketing specialist, you have to know all the available marketing channels, what they offer, and which will give you the most bang for your buck. In a world full of digital marketing strategies and channels, it’s important to be able to pick the right ones for each business.
• Use common software and platforms: Digital marketing specialists are often expected to handle a lot of the basic tech work involved in digital marketing efforts. The more platforms you know how to use, the better positioned you are to provide value to an employer.
• Write and design: Just like you need to know the tech side of the digital marketing job, you need to have skills in the creative side, too. You will be expected to write and design marketing e-mails, Facebook posts, web pages, banner ads, etc. This requires you to know how to write brief yet impactful copy and how to make visual elements appealing.

What exactly does a market research analyst do? That’s a multifaceted question, since the field is growing and many types of roles are needed. However, there are some key areas you can focus on if you’re looking to pursue a career as a market research analyst, including:

• Investigating new ways to collect data: Many businesses already have data collection methods in place through online shopping carts, customer loyalty programs, and surveys. But with new tech tools surfacing all the time, market research analysts must constantly assess their clients’ goals, identifying the type of data that is most helpful in achieving them—and finding ways to collect that information from consumers.
• Data mining: Not all market research analysts will engage in data mining, but it’s become an important piece of the puzzle. With so much gathered information to sift through, statistical analysts must find patterns within data sets and use them to draw conclusions. Analysts typically use statistical modeling software, such as Tableau or R, to create visual representations of their findings.
• Qualitative research: While quantitative research using statistical data plays a leading role in today’s marketing scene, gathering firsthand feedback from customers and test groups remains useful. When integrated with statistical analysis, qualitative market research can provide a deeper understanding of the psychology behind customer decisions—and a glimpse into their needs and desires.
• Interpretation and storytelling: Market research analysts spend most of their time researching competitors and analyzing customer behavior, but they must also know how to step back and interpret what they’ve learned. This ability to “translate” statistical and qualitative research findings, making them accessible to business decision-makers, is key to success in market research.

Between new technologies and evolving social media platforms, marketing today is a moving target. Even in the midst of this rapidly evolving field, one thing remains the same: Regardless of size or success, every company faces marketing challenges. These challenges often include developing relationships with consumers, harnessing the power of social media marketing, improving the customer experience, and optimizing marketing performance. In an online degree program like Walden’s MS in Marketing, you can learn how to address these issues and more as you develop the skills you need to make a difference in the field.