Top Accredited Marketing MBA Degree Programs

Contemporary business feeds on innovation, the realm of the marketing guru. However, today’s savviest marketing professional also has a foot solidly planted in the manager’s chair. Staging such a synthesis of personalities is the academic responsibility of the MBA in Marketing degree program.

Degree Prerequisites

The ideal candidate for the MBA in Marketing degree possesses a four-year business degree as well a few years work experience in a business marketing environment. However, any combination of those is often acceptable. Academic motivation and excellent communication skills are a necessity—this is a communications-based degree. Programs are intense and as such demand students with time to devote to studies, whether part-time or full-time.

Valuable undergraduate marketing concepts include: direct and online marketing, consumer behavior, basic marketing principles and theory, salesmanship, finance and cost, and retail marketing strategies.

Core MBA Curriculum

The core curriculum of the MBA provides students with consistent, but advanced business management concepts. Professionals engage in fundamental business concepts through curriculum that includes topics in economics, finance, corporate governance, information technology, and leadership and decision-making. Many MBA business schools incorporate co-op education models or internships that support theory with hands-on work experience. Still others host regular conferences and forums that invite prestigious business leaders to share their hard-won knowledge and business experiences.

Marketing Concentration

Within the marketing sub-specialty students approach development of high-level and innovative marketing strategy from a combined business management and marketing perspective. Course topics include: emerging media, consumer behavior, sales and pricing, global marketing, advertising strategy, cost management, and brand building. The emphasis is on management versus design.

The immediate globalization of business warrants venture into global curriculum as well. Some degrees may require students continue foreign language studies, explore international marketing strategies and media, and examine the impact of social and political states on advertising and marketing. In fact many business schools host a significant number of international business students, providing a tangential experience.

Career Opportunities

Marketing managers analyze, develop and test viable formats, markets and brands relative to their business or industry. MBA/Marketing pros work above the ad department; they research and strategize new marketing plans designed to support the value and profitability of their company. The job requires they work closely with lateral management in closely related specialties, such as e-commerce, information technology, and project management. Jobs are highly competitive and performance-driven.