The marketing field provides the ultimate blend of creativity, communication, and leadership. This sector is quickly growing as more organizations uncover the power of effective branding and consistent messaging. To succeed in the competitive realm of marketing, though, takes a unique mix of skills to make an impression.
Such competencies can be developed under the guidance of a bachelor of marketing degree program, which touches on both foundational marketing concepts and cutting-edge branding and technological opportunities. This could pave the path toward rewarding opportunities in brand management, social media, marketing analytics, and beyond.
Wondering whether this program is right for you? Below, we highlight the most crucial skills developed while pursuing a bachelor’s degree in marketing, along with opportunities to apply these skills in today’s most compelling career fields.
Exploring the Foundations of Marketing
Marketing is a broad term that references the many strategies used to build strong relationships with clients and customers. The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines this as the “activity, institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value.”
However, there are many ways to interact with consumers, plus numerous steps that influence the quality of those interactions. Core elements of successful marketing include:
Branding and Brand Management
Marketing campaigns should not feel haphazard. They must be built upon a solid brand identity, which reveals overarching organizational values and philosophies. Marketing initiatives should always begin with a purpose-driven effort to identify the brand in question and determine how this branding will remain consistent across various channels and campaigns.
Market Research and Consumer Behavior
Once brands are established, organizations must determine how these relate to current marketing conditions and consumer preferences. These essentials are determined through in-depth market research that explores key demographics within target audiences as well as demand for specific products or services, in addition, market research may uncover trends that could influence this demand in the future.
Strategic Marketing and Business Planning
Marketing campaigns must navigate strict limitations, often related to core business objectives and budgets. Strategic marketing ensures that initiatives are closely aligned with business goals and capable of moving organizations in their intended direction.
Key Skills Learned in an Online Marketing Degree
An online marketing degree can expose students to the most impactful concepts, channels, and platforms while also providing powerful opportunities to put critical competencies into action. These programs equip ambitious students with valuable skills alongside opportunities to apply these through case studies, simulations, and projects. In-demand marketing skills fall into a few key categories, as identified below:
Digital Marketing Skills
Today’s marketing initiatives largely revolve around online outreach, with organizations looking to social media, search engines, and web content to get the word out. Marketing professionals must develop a comprehensive array of skills to ensure that they can handle the full range of modern marketing essentials, including numerous digital platforms and solutions.
Digital Marketing Strategies
Digital marketing can take many forms. Social media, email blasts, and even pay-per-click campaigns all have their own roles to play in supporting overarching marketing strategies. Marketing degree programs introduce students to a wide range of mechanisms, revealing which are most influential under various circumstances.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Leveraging search engines such as Google, SEO determines whether potential clients or customers can find relevant organizations and learn about their offerings. The ultimate goal is to land atop the search engine results page (SERP), but this is increasingly difficult given the sheer pace at which search engine algorithms change. Marketing degree programs provide a deep dive into the many factors that shape SEO while offering the latest insights on strategies that give organizations a much-needed edge in search marketing.
Advertising and Promotion in the Digital Age
While marketing and advertising are closely linked, they represent distinct persuasive strategies. Marketing involves a comprehensive range of activities used to engage with consumers, whereas advertising places a greater emphasis on paid communication and has long been associated with TV and radio. Advertising is increasingly relevant online, however, and marketing professionals need to know how to integrate advertising initiatives with broader marketing campaigns — all while maintaining consistent brand messaging.
Marketing and Analytics Skills
Research and analytics ground creative marketing campaigns in reality to uncover what consumers want and how they respond to various products, services, or marketing campaigns. Professionals must be well-versed in high-level analytics and willing to embrace new tools and solutions as they become available. This begins with developing a foundational understanding of data analytics and marketing management:
Marketing Research and Data Analytics
Today’s marketing initiatives increasingly incorporate data-driven strategies, with a variety of metrics offering insight into brand awareness and customer engagement. Marketing professionals should understand how to gather and interpret data to arrive at actionable insights. This involves understanding key performance indicators as well as engaging in segmentation or A/B testing — concepts explored in detail through marketing coursework.
Strategic Marketing Management
Integrating branding and market research, strategic marketing management calls for a detailed understanding of market dynamics as well as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analyses for strategic positioning purposes. Within marketing degree programs, strategic marketing courses integrate a wealth of knowledge while encouraging students to apply core marketing concepts within problem-based learning environments.
Consumer Behavior and Analytics
Effective marketing campaigns leverage in-depth consumer insights, including key factors that shape customer perceptions and purchasing habits. With an entire course focused on the nuances of consumer behavior, the bachelor’s degree in marketing provides a deep dive into the many social and cultural influences that shape today’s customers. This holistic knowledge can be seamlessly integrated with high-level analytics skills developed through Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) courses.
Business Communication and Presentation Skills
Marketing represents a purpose-driven form of communication — so it makes sense that high-level communication skills are prioritized in this field. Marketing professionals must be capable of not only expressing themselves in a succinct and compelling manner but also adjusting their communication style to suit various audiences or circumstances.
Public speaking is a must, too; even when marketing professionals largely work behind the scenes, they may need to present their ideas or findings to cross-disciplinary teams or executives, clients, or other stakeholders.
Professional Sales and Customer Engagement
Even if they are not directly involved with sales teams, marketing professionals play a critical role in selling products or services. To that end, they must adopt a sales mentality, complete with the ability to identify potential leads and articulate value propositions. Emotional intelligence and communication skills can help marketing professionals understand their audiences and boost engagement. These and other soft skills are thoroughly developed through communication-oriented courses, along with targeted courses on personal selling.
Public Relations (PR) and Media Communication
Clear and concise writing is essential for PR and across the scope of modern marketing. These skills are prioritized through general education, especially within courses that emphasize business correspondence. PR-focused skills may also encompass crisis management — often centered on timely, well-written statements. Case studies and practical experience can help prepare future marketing professionals to navigate the complex intersection between PR and marketing.
Strategic Marketing Communication
Marketing professionals must understand how to communicate core messages effectively with target audiences. This calls for the targeted creation and implementation of marketing strategies, with which all types of communication (ranging from email and social media to traditional marketing mechanisms) must be aligned. Through soft skill development, aspiring marketing professionals can learn how to craft persuasive (and consistent) messaging and coordinate this purpose-driven communication across numerous platforms.
Career Opportunities with a Marketing BBA
Upon acquiring the diverse skills and competencies highlighted above, Bachelor of Marketing graduates should be fully prepared to enter a competitive but dynamic and rewarding field. While some senior-level or management positions require a master’s degree, many exciting entry-level and mid-level roles are available to job candidates with a BBA. Examples include:
- Digital Marketing Specialist – Bridging the gap between various marketing channels, digital marketing specialists are the field’s jacks-of-all-trades, capable of navigating everything from email marketing to SEO to social media. They can work closely with a range of marketing professionals to help elevate the overall online presence of the businesses they represent.
- Brand Manager – Helping organizations identify and cultivate their unique brand identity and messaging, brand managers use highly strategic initiatives to enhance public perception and business influence over time. This role draws heavily on market research but also involves extensive collaboration with product development teams to ensure that products align with the central brand identity.
- Marketing Analyst – Taking on the intricacies of marketing-oriented data analytics, marketing analysts dive deep into campaign and performance data, revealing how marketing campaigns are progressing and where opportunities for improvement exist. Their work can help marketing teams achieve the best possible return on investment.
- Social Media Manager – Today’s businesses rely on social media to build brand awareness and engage with current clients and customers. Social media managers shape this effort, creating comprehensive strategies that align with marketing goals and integrate seamlessly with other forms of digital marketing. They may craft and schedule posts, monitor social media metrics, or engage with followers via comments or messages.
- Product Marketing Manager – Often working closely with brand managers, product marketing managers reveal how products will meet evolving customer needs while standing out in a potentially crowded market. They may be involved in planning product-specific promotional strategies and work with sales or marketing teams to ensure that these professionals are prepared to properly communicate the value of newly designed or upgraded products.
- Sales Manager – Offering valuable motivation and support to sales teams, sales managers set goals, develop strategies, and evaluate performance to determine how they can make the most of revenue opportunities. Additionally, they may be responsible for cultivating strong relationships with clients. Marketing degree programs prepare aspiring sales managers for success by helping them develop a nuanced understanding of consumer behavior, along with increasingly important analytics and business communication skills.
- Public Relations (PR) Manager – Helping to shape the public perception of the organizations they serve, PR managers write press releases, manage media inquiries, and, when necessary, draft statements in response to crises. Although technically separate from marketing, these two fields hold much in common, including an increasing focus on reputation management and audience engagement.
Learn More About Baker College’s Marketing BBA Online
Are you on the hunt for a career that allows you to blend business savvy and a strong creative vision? Exciting possibilities await within the fast-paced world of marketing — but first, you need to develop a well-rounded skill set. This is best accomplished while pursuing your Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing, an undergraduate degree program available through Baker College. Reach out today to learn more about this program and how you can benefit from earning a digital marketing degree.