Marketing

What is marketing to you? This is a question you need to ask yourself if you want to have a career in marketing.

How you answer that question will impact how you plan your marketing career path. Do you focus on the promotion and selling of a product? Do you focus on understanding the consumers' behavior? Do you want to work in the digital world of ecommerce?

Marketing is comprised of a variety of different areas and functions. Marketing professionals create, manage, analyze and promote brands and products.

Typical areas of marketing include: 

  • Marketing research, analytics, insights
  • New product development
  • Brand management
  • Digital marketing or online marketing 
  • Sales and promotions
  • Advertising, public relations, communications, social media

Do not underestimate how important quantitative and analytical skills are to a career in marketing. Of course some areas of marketing are more quantitative than others. See the flowchart above and read job descriptions to better understand the most and least quantitative marketing areas.

Marketing Jobs

The functions mentioned above can be broken down into smaller categories. Below are a list of some common marketing keywords that are part of common job titles. These are entry points into the different functions and almost all can have a descriptor, such as Analyst, Assistant, Associate, Coordinator, Junior, Manager, Specialist either before or after the keyword below. For example, you could look for an entry-level job as an Account Coordinator, Account Executive, Account Manager, Junior Account Executive or Assistant Account Executive. So if you are interested in a job in account management, you should review all of these job titles when searching for jobs.

Virtual Power Chat.

Learn more about working in marketing from our alumni and partners such as Turner Gutmann, MBA '12, Manager of Product Management-Customer Data, at Nordstrom. After earning a bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies and Psychology, Turner worked for a few years, including as an ESL instructor in China. Since graduating with his MBA in marketing he has held numerous marketing analytic positions for biotechnology companies, commercial banking and spent the last six years at Nordstrom in digital marketing analytics and now product management. Access his Power Chat (and more) in BizLink – Document Library.

Common Job Titles

Pair the words below with the following descriptors to see full job titles: Analyst, Assistant, Associate, Coordinator, Junior, Manager and Specialist.

  • Account
  • Advertising
  • Analytics
  • Brand
  • Business Development
  • Buyer
  • Campaign
  • Category
  • Channel
  • Communications
  • Competitive Intelligence
  • Content
  • Creative 
  • Customer Insights
  • Digital
  • Event
  • Marketing
  • Marketing Research
  • Media
  • Merchandising
  • Online Marketing
  • Planning
  • Pricing
  • Product
  • Product Development
  • Promotions
  • Public Relations
  • Sales
  • SEO
  • Social Media
Are you a diversity candidate interested in advertising?

The  Marketing/advertising Agency Internship Program (MAIP) fellowship recruits diverse talent and connects them with advertising and marketing leaders.     

MAIP fellows are hand selected by industry professionals to begin their careers in advertising. Once selected, fellows engage in a 22-week, nation-wide fellowship that is both virtual and in-agency. In addition to the fellowship, fellows receive professional development opportunities through virtual spring training, one-on-one coaching, MAIP labs and various opportunities to network with MAIP alumni and industry leaders. The goal is to provide fellows the space and opportunity to build a foundation for their careers.

The 2022 application will open in the fall.

Marketing Companies

Consumer Products Companies

Consumer Products Companies (local)

Public Relations Firms

Certifications

Some jobs in marketing could request additional skills and certifications. These may be specialties beyond your degree's curriculum. There are costs associated with these certifications, so do your research to better understand what employers really want. Are they just requesting it as a preferred qualification, or is it required? And also research what your competition looks like. If everyone who is applying has the same skills it's difficult to differentiate yourself. Would an additional certification help to differentiate you?

These are just a sample of certifications available through various vendors.

  • Facebook Digital Marketing Associate Certification: The online coursework in FREE. After completing the coursework, if a student would like to register for the certification, it would be a fee of $99 to cover the cost of the proctor service Facebook utilizes
  • Social Media Strategist Certification through the National Institute for Social Media (NISM)
  • SEO Certified Professional
  • Hootsuite Certified Professional
  • HubSpot InBound Certified
  • Google Analytics Certified
  • Google AdWords Certified
  • Online Marketing Certified Professional (OMCP) (requires work experience and courses)

Marketing Magazines

Marketing Associations and Professional Organizations

Marketing Job Search Resources

In addition to the two UB career management systems BizLink and BullsEye, use the following resources to find marketing opportunities:

  • Bureau of Labor Statistics- Occupational Outlook Handbook: Search by job function or industry and find information on average salaries, work environment, job outlook and more
  • Careers-In-Marketing: This site helps you find a rewarding and interesting job in the world of marketing
  • Indeed.com: Search for jobs in one place access thousands of websites, including job listings from major job boards, newspapers, associations and company sites. Search by keyword and location
  • MarketingJobs.com: Search for jobs, post your résumé, look through the employer profiles or check out the salary survey

Academics

To learn more about the Marketing concentrations and courses included within the concentration, please refer to the academic curriculum.