Marketing Manager
Bachelors In

Marketing Degrees

The complete guide on what you’ll learn, job prospects, university programs, and saving time and money.
on February 19, 2024

Why We Love It

  • $140,660
    Potential Avg. Salary*
  • Growing Demand
    Job Outlook

* Salary & growth data is based on the recent Bureau of Labor and Statistics data published at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes112021.htm for 11-2021 Marketing managers 11/2021. Based on national data, not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary.

With a bachelor of science in marketing, you’ll have the skills and training necessary to help businesses across all industries grow. You’ll learn how to conduct market research, how to deliver print and digital ads that garner attention and increase revenue, and how to measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

You may specialize in traditional marketing techniques, digital marketing best practices, or both.

What is a Degree in Marketing?

A bachelor of science in marketing is a multifaceted degree that teaches you important concepts in psychology, sales, copywriting, visual design, and data analysis.

You’ll learn how to develop and deliver marketing campaigns that apply elements of each of these schools of thought, building a business with campaigns that cater to a target audience, evoke the right emotions, and inspire purchases. Marketing majors study both traditional and digital marketing best practices, as well as sales techniques.

After earning experience as a marketer, you may be able to climb the ladder at work to one day work as a marketing manager, marketing director, or even chief marketing officer (CMO). Successful marketing leaders come from a variety of roles in the industry—from SEO specialist to print ad designer.

The most important qualification is having a firm grasp of marketing techniques, research methods, and best practices, and all of these skills can be learned in a marketing bachelor’s degree program.

Recommended Schools

What Courses Would I Take For a Major in Marketing?

  • Consumer Behavior
  • Marketing Research
  • Digital Marketing
  • Business to Business Marketing
  • Business to Consumer Marketing
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Market Research Methods
  • Marketing Management

What Jobs Can You Get with a Degree in Marketing?

Having an online presence is no longer a nice-to-have for businesses; it’s a requirement. As such, it’s expected that the demand for marketers will increase in the coming decade as a result of businesses seeking to build websites, grow social media followings, move into e-commerce, and drive more organic search and paid advertising traffic to their online properties.

Individuals with marketing degrees should be competitive for open roles in traditional and digital marketing, as well as website design and social media marketing roles.

How Long does it take?

A bachelors in Marketing will have a typical length of 4 years in a full time schedule. That said, there are many ways to speed up the timeframe by either taking more units via online coursework, community college, or taking free classes at OnlineDegree.com that could transfer to universities in the US.

Online Marketing Degree

Marketing is among the most popular online degree programs. The demand for specialized marketing professionals is high and is expected to increase more with the current trends.

Students are required to complete around 120 credit hours to earn the bachelor degree with around 40 hours in advanced marketing courses as promotional strategy, information systems for management, and New Media Literacy and Social Media.


What Can You Do With a Marketing Degree?

It is not an exaggeration to say that some marketing campaigns have changed the World. Marketing is commonly viewed as the key step for a successful business. This can be seen obviously when considering world-famous brands that can sell products at prices 10 – 20 times or even more compared to less famous products of similar quality.

Businesses commonly fail because of inefficient marketing although they may provide innovative and efficient products or services. For this purpose, many companies hire specialized marketing agencies to set up their marketing campaigns and provide experienced advice in this competitive field. Marketing is a field of intense competition that requires persistence, patience and creativity.

Marketing models can be divided into 4 main types with completely different marketing approaches: business-to-business, business-to-customer, customer-to-business and customer-to-customer.

What does a marketing student learn?

Marketing is defined as the study and management of exchange relationships. Marketing people are responsible mainly for promoting products and services. They should know about their business, market, and the effect of the economy in addition to having the skills for effective communication.

The following courses are commonly included in marketing degree programs:

  1. Buyer behavior: the course introduces the psychology that drives consumers to buy goods or services with concepts as needs, motivations, personalities, perceptions and attitudes.
  2. Marketing research: this course introduces ways to analyze market trends and determine the best ways for market penetration.
  3. Professional selling: this course prepares marketing students to perform the core of their job including sales presentations, attracting new customers, responding to customer needs and following up on closed sales.
  4. Advertising and promotion management: this course prepares students to manage marketing campaigns starting from planning to execution which includes selection of the proper media channels, budget resources and leading the advertising team.
  5. Digital marketing: this marketing specialization has gained much attention in recent years with the massive growth of the internet and social media.
  6. Finance: marketing students get introductory courses in finance introducing concepts such as the balance sheet, financial status, sales and revenues.

Now I have the marketing degree…where can I work after graduating?

Marketing is an essential part of any business whether it is done internally or externally by outsourcing to specialized agencies.

Accordingly, there is a high demand for marketing graduates around the world in a number of various positions:

  1. Public relations manager: the role of this position is to manage communications with clients, media and the public. They aim at clarifying the objectives and maintaining a good image for the company.
  2. Market research analysts: their role is to analyze the market and provide recommendations regarding the appropriate marketing approach, market opportunities and pricing.
  3. Advertising managers: they are in charge of contacting consumers, advertising and media agencies. They are also responsible for presenting the company at shows or conventions.
  4. Brand manager: this may be considered as a subtype of marketing professionals. Brand managers are responsible for building and maintaining the reputation and integrity of the company brand.
  5. Media buyers: they are responsible for selecting the optimum media that will provide maximum exposure for the brand, products or services at the lowest possible cost and most effective way.
  6. Digital marketing manager: he/she is responsible for managing marketing campaigns through online channels as social media, websites, emails or YouTube. They are also responsible for optimizing the content of a company website to improve its ranking on research engine results.
  7. Other jobs: event planner, chief marketing officer, promotion manager, sports marketing account executive.

Should I choose a marketing degree?

Marketing is an exciting field that is highly competitive with much space for creativity and innovation. It is a very dynamic field that changes very quickly presenting new challenges that need to be solved. If you enjoy the challenges which can sometimes be stressful and you are passionate about business, then this is one of the choices that you should consider.

Studying marketing will help you develop a number of useful skills:

  1. Research and analytical skills: this is the first step of successful marketing. You should have enough knowledge about your competitors and consumers to make the right choice regarding your marketing campaign.
  2. Communication skills: this is directly related to the core of your job as a marketing agent as your role is to deliver the right message from your company to the public.
  3. Time management: marketing jobs can get very stressful and time-demanding because of the intense competition. You must be able to arrange your time carefully to get your tasks done and achieve your goals.
  4. Creativity: A creative marketing campaign is the most efficient way to gain new market share. Some of the creative campaigns have spread across the world in a very short time reaching hundreds of millions of people.

Recommended Schools


Best Jobs for Marketing Degrees

The advantage of a bachelor’s degree in marketing is its flexibility. Small businesses, major corporations, government agencies, and nonprofits alike can benefit from the growth-driving skills of an effective marketer.

Individuals with a bachelor of science in marketing find work across a variety of industries, working as print ad designers, social media marketers, content marketers, and SEO specialists.


How to save time and money

Our mission is to help you to avoid paying full price for college. We want your Marketing degree to be affordable and accessible. Here’s how you could save:

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About the Author
Grant founded OnlineDegree.com with a purpose-driven mission: make college accessible and affordable for everyone. After graduating college with an overwhelming amount of debt, he was determined to change how students embark on their education. He's a frequent speaker and author in higher education, and has been featured in Forbes, Bloomberg Businessweek, Business Insider, American Express, AOL, MSN, Thrive Global, Reader's Digest, Inside Higher Ed, Evolllution, EducationDive, and nearly 100 radio shows and podcasts.

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