What can you do with a marketing degree?
Written by Michael Feder
Reviewed by Kathryn Uhles, MIS, MSP, Dean, College of Business and IT
In our digitized and globalized world, a successful marketing campaign can spell the difference between an organization thriving or failing. As a result, demand is growing for up-to-date marketing professionals who are familiar with the latest trends and technologies.
Marketing professionals are responsible for a wide variety of tasks that often depend on their area of specialization. Some marketers may be responsible for managing social media accounts, while others are responsible for analyzing data. When considering a career in marketing, it’s important to understand how your interests and skills best align with a specialization. From there, you can tailor your education to help you pursue your career goals.
Marketing degrees: What's out there?
Getting a degree in marketing is a great way to start your career in the field. In addition to dedicated marketing degrees and certificates, business degree programs can teach the skills and knowledge necessary for understanding behavioral patterns, analyzing data, developing marketing and public relations strategies and more.
Some business degree programs may also offer the opportunity to specialize, such as a Bachelor of Science in Business with a Marketing Certificate. Moreover, some programs offer internships or co-ops so that you can gain real-world experience before graduating.
Marketing degrees typically take four years to complete including general education requirements, the core curriculum, electives and certification courses. Skills taught in marketing degree programs can include marketing analysis, management and communication.
Types of marketing
Marketing offers a wide range of applications. From traditional advertising and public relations to cutting-edge digital marketing, there’s a marketing area to fit many interests. Here are several types to consider:
- Digital marketing — Digital marketers develop and execute marketing campaigns that promote a company’s products or services online. This can include developing website content, managing social media accounts and conducting market research.
- Inbound marketing — Inbound marketers focus on creating content that will draw customers to a company’s website or product. This can include developing marketing campaigns, writing blog posts and creating e-books or whitepapers.
- Social media marketing — Social media marketers are responsible for creating and managing social media accounts for a company or organization. This involves creating content, analyzing data and engaging with customers or clients.
- Marketing analysis — Analysts use data to understand customer behavior and develop marketing strategies.
- Content marketing — Content managers are responsible for creating and managing digital or print content. This could include blog posts, social media posts, videos, and custom magazines other printed campaigns.
- Growth marketing — Growth marketers focus on developing and executing marketing strategies to help a company grow. This can involve developing new marketing channels, managing campaigns and analyzing data.
- SEO/SEM — Search engine marketing and optimization specialists are responsible for making a company’s website and online content highly visible on search engines. This involves keyword research, optimizing website content and managing pay-per-click campaigns.
Marketing career paths
The following are potential marketing career paths that one can pursue with a Bachelor of Science in Business with a Marketing Certificate.
Advertising manager
Overview: It’s not always enough to have a useful product or service. Businesses that cannot generate interest with potential consumers can have difficulty making the sales necessary to sustain a business. That’s where advertising managers come in.
Advertising managers are marketing specialists who oversee marketing efforts across a number of media spaces, such as print ads, side-of-the-highway billboards, television and more. As advertising has modernized, so has the role of advertising manager, with much of their work taking place online, buying ad space on websites popular with the targeted customers.
As part of this role, advertising managers are responsible for:
- Defining the potential audience for an advertising campaign
- Crafting language to generate consumer interest
- Deciding on the look and feel of advertising campaigns
- Directing staff toward a coherent advertising vision
- Working with department heads and executives to communicate advertising goals and methodology
Job outlook: Overall employment of advertising, promotions, and marketing managers is projected to grow 6% from 2022 to 2032, faster than the average for all occupations.
Salary range: As of May 2023, advertising and promotions managers earned between $63,500 and $239,200 per year, with a median wage of $131,870, according to BLS.
BLS Occupational Employment Projections, 2022-2032 is published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This data reflects BLS’ projections of national (not local) conditions.These data points are not specific to University of Phoenix students or graduates.
Salary ranges are not specific to students or graduates of University of Phoenix. Actual outcomes vary based on multiple factors, including prior work experience, geographic location and other factors specific to the individual. University of Phoenix does not guarantee employment, salary level or career advancement. BLS data is geographically based. Information for a specific state/city can be researched on the BLS website.
Marketing manager
There are different types of marketing managers, but generally speaking, a marketing manager oversees a company’s outreach toward potential and existing customers. This outreach can be broad and general, such as a print mail campaign within a determined geographical area. It can also be more precise as with an email campaign directed toward those who have expressed interest in the company.
Ultimately, the role a marketing manager plays in a company depends largely on the nature of the company, its position in the industry and the product or service it sells. A single marketing manager may oversee marketing efforts in a number of different media or focus on a singular effort, such as social media marketing or email marketing.
Some responsibilities a marketing manager may have are:
- Managing a marketing budget
- Creating and negotiating contracts with contractors and vendors
- Performing analysis on marketing and consumer trends to inform marketing operations
- Developing and managing a marketing department and its personnel
Job outlook: Overall employment of marketing managers is projected to grow by 7% between 2022 and 2032, according to BLS.
Salary range: Marketing managers earned between $79,680 and $239,200 per year, with a median wage of $157,620 in May 2023, according to data from BLS.
Brand manager
Overview: A company’s brand includes all the elements that make it uniquely recognizable to others. Everything from a company jingle to its color scheme to how its employees interact with customers is a part of a company’s brand. When managed well, these elements can become shorthand for the quality a business wishes to project to potential and existing customers.
A brand manager is responsible for creating, overseeing and expanding a business’s brand. This requires both creativity to expand a brand’s application and analytical and public relations skills to assess and influence how a wider audience perceives a company.
While they perform many of the roles of a marketing or advertising manager, brand managers also handle a large amount of cross-department work. For example, when a business launches a new product, the input of a brand manager can help determine the look and feel of that product in relation to the existing business’s brand.
Some of the responsibilities of this role are:
- Researching consumer trends and drawing insights through analysis
- Creating a detail-oriented brand strategy that aligns with the company mission
- Looking ahead to potential trends and challenges to the company brand
- Aligning team members to ensure a brand is consistent and positively perceived
Job outlook: According to BLS, overall employment of marketing managers is projected to grow by 7% between 2022 and 2032. BLS does not include job outlook or salary data for brand managers specifically, although brand managers are a type of marketing manager.
Salary range: Marketing managers earned between $79,680 and $239,200 per year, with a median wage of $157,620 in May 2023, according to data from BLS.
Continuing education and professional development marketing courses
Even after gaining a marketing degree and working in the industry, you can continue to enhance your skills through certificate programs and professional development courses. These courses can help you stay up to date on the latest marketing and public relations trends.
Although it may seem that continuing education and professional development are the same, there’s a difference. Continuing education refers to courses taken for credit, while professional development courses are not typically for credit. However, both can help you learn new skills and enhance your career.
Certificate programs
Many marketing certificate programs are available, from general overviews of marketing to specialized programs in areas like digital marketing or product management. Some undergraduate and graduate marketing certificate programs can be completed online or in person, typically taking anywhere from a few months to a year to complete.
Professional development courses
Professional development courses are usually shorter than certificate programs and focus on specific topics or skills. For instance, marketing professional development courses can cover anything from social media marketing to copywriting to data analysis. These courses are typically taken as needed and can be completed online or in person.
A degree in business or marketing can help significantly build your baseline knowledge and skill set to better prepare you to enter the workforce.
Marketing educational offerings at University of Phoenix
University of Phoenix (UOPX) offers a Bachelor of Science in Business with a Marketing Certificate that teaches skills such as marketing analysis, marketing management, communication, leadership and more.
In addition to the bachelor’s degree program, UOPX also offers 14 online marketing courses in areas such as social media, marketing research and search engine optimization (SEO). These courses can help current marketing professionals stay relevant and learn new skills or help those new to the industry get started on a marketing degree.
Marketing certificates at the graduate and undergraduate levels are also available for individuals seeking to sharpen their marketing skills.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A graduate of Johns Hopkins University and its Writing Seminars program and winner of the Stephen A. Dixon Literary Prize, Michael Feder brings an eye for detail and a passion for research to every article he writes. His academic and professional background includes experience in marketing, content development, script writing and SEO. Today, he works as a multimedia specialist at University of Phoenix where he covers a variety of topics ranging from healthcare to IT.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Currently Dean of the College of Business and Information Technology, Kathryn Uhles has served University of Phoenix in a variety of roles since 2006. Prior to joining University of Phoenix, Kathryn taught fifth grade to underprivileged youth in Phoenix.
This article has been vetted by University of Phoenix's editorial advisory committee.
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