Postgraduate (MSc, MA, MBA and PhD) Programs in Marketing

Marketing is often confused with advertising and sales – the attempt to sell an existing product, or to do so at an elevated price. In fact, it is better understood as the business function that attempts to identify unfulfilled needs (or wants) and to determine which of them the organisation can most appropriately serve, and how it can best do so.

Marketing was once the province of for-profit companies, such as manufacturers and retailers, as well as the advertising and public relations firms they hired to help them. Now, however, marketing is an important part of the activities of service and non-profit/not-for-profit organisations, including charities, hospitals and museums. A museum, for instance, might look to understand whether it is worth the effort (and the money) to try to host a blockbuster exhibit. To justify the additional expenditures (security, transporting the exhibit, insurance, training extra docents, advertising, staff overtime, and so on) will require estimating the number of additional visitors that can be expected and the amount they will be willing to pay. In other words, the museum will be undertaking standard marketing analysis.

Find postgraduate programs in MARKETING

Masters programs in marketing

Many marketing masters degrees are meant to provide advanced training in marketing to those who have already studied business at the undergraduate level. In fact, some schools offer two marketing degrees, one for candidates new to business and another for those with prior academic or work experience in business. Bradford University School of Management, for instance, offers an MSc in Marketing that is a one-year program designed for those with an undergraduate degree in a relevant business-related subject. This keeps the focus resolutely on marketing and offers the opportunity to specialise within this field.

The long-recognised importance of marketing means that there are hundreds of marketing masters courses on offer. Inevitably, many offer the opportunity to specialise within the field – with some specialisations being particularly interesting. For example, the University of South Australia, offers the chance to specialise in wine marketing. In fact, a whole host of other industries, ranging from sport to healthcare, have specialised degrees or concentrations focused on them.

Marketing masters specialisms

Marketing masters programs around the world offer specialisations in communications and public relations, consumer behaviour, marketing research, product management, strategic marketing, brand management, distribution, international marketing, services marketing, sales (force) management, industrial marketing, merchandising, pricing, internet marketing, technology-based marketing, and so on.

The international dimension is certainly not emphasised in all programs, but some do offer the opportunity to study at partner institutions elsewhere in the world. Students at Bath Spa University’s Business School can learn MA Marketing and Brand Management, which meshes marketing with the business world.

Some programs are designed for students with an undergraduate degree in business (or a related field) who wish to focus on marketing. Others require some coursework in core business fields, such as accounting, economics, and statistics, but not necessarily in marketing.

Marketing masters programs will look for:

Strong communication skills (verbal and written)
Substantial internet skills
Quantitative and analytical skills

MBA in Marketing

Studying an MBA in Marketing is a great way to combine essential business management skills together with marketing know-how. As well as studying the standard core modules on an MBA – such as accounting, economics and management – students will have the chance to choose from some optional courses – including:

Global Marketing
Digital Marketing

Bangor University’s School of Business has an MBA International Marketing course which is accredited by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, allowing students to claim exceptions for some of their professional examinations.

PhD in Marketing

There are some really good options for those interested in studying marketing at PhD level.

Newcastle University’s PhD in Marketing can be studied for 36 months full time or 72 months part time. The areas of research expertise include:
Consumer behaviour

International marketing
Retail marketing
Internet and direct marketing.

Kent Business School offers a PhD in Marketing which sees students meet with their supervisors on a regular basis to discuss and plan key issues of their PhD.

Career opportunities for marketing graduates

Marketing is such a broad field that a wide range of talents and interests are easily accommodated. The traditional separation of marketing activities into the four Ps – product, price, place and promotion – barely hints at the range of roles required in modern marketing. There are specialists in analysing consumer behaviour just as there are specialists in analysing competitors. There are forecasters of future demand just as there are buyers of television advertising time.

A generation ago, marketing jobs could be separated into:

Marketing research
Product management
Advertising
Sales
Physical distribution
Retailing

Even with the specific jobs listed within each of these categories, an excellent mid-1980s book discussed only 26 marketing jobs in total. To redo that book would require at least a doubling of the number of jobs to be discussed. In other words, just as products (and even industries) have proliferated, so have the specialities within marketing.