Marketing
If you’re interested in business, psychology or social studies, you may be well-suited for Marketing. This major covers everything from advertising to market research, and you can choose from three areas of emphasis to personalize your plan of study.
Are you a natural-born marketer? Since the industry is constantly evolving, every course in our program features hands-on, real-world activities so you can learn marketing elements from firms and in-house teams to gain the skills you need to land a successful career.
Marketing is an exciting industry that is constantly changing. Professionals are involved in planning, promoting, pricing, and distributing products and services. The WVU marketing program is designed to give students a strong understanding of marketing elements used by firms and in-house teams to satisfy customer wants and needs.
Marketing professionals are involved in planning, promoting, pricing, and distributing products and services. The WVU marketing program is designed to give students a strong understanding of the marketing mix elements used by firms to satisfy customer wants and needs. In addition to the foundations of marketing strategy, the required courses integrate global, societal, and sustainability aspects of the marketplace to give students an appreciation of how marketing strategies are used in the globalized economy as well as in the public and not-for-profit sector. Marketing majors seek jobs in:
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Marketing Research
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Professional Sales
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Social Marketing
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Digital Marketing
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Sustainable Marketing
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Promotions
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International Business
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Product Management
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Marketing Management
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Retail Management
Innovative Curriculum & Accomplished Faculty
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Driven by industry needs
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Benchmarked against peer business schools
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Emphasis on "learning by doing" and experiential learning
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Student-centered faculty with years of real-world experience
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Highly published and thought leading faculty
Experiential Learning
A hallmark of the WVU Marketing Major program is an emphasis on experiential learning. Simply put, experiential learning is learning from experience. Virtually every marketing course has some kind of practical real world learning opportunities. Some examples include: developing marketing plans for outside businesses/organizations, online analytics certification, sales competitions and product design opportunities. Learning might begin in the classroom but it ends in the real world.
Careers
Our graduates have gone on to careers in sales and business development, consulting, digital/social media marketing, content management, media and communications, program/project management and account management.
Wondering what you can do with a degree from WVU's Marketing major? Check out these ideas from WVU Career Services and the Occupational Information Network (O*NET). A median salary is the midpoint of what people typically earn—half of those surveyed earned above the median salary, and half earned below.
- Bright Outlook
- Green Occupation
- Requires a Graduate Degree
Advertising and Promotions Managers
<p>Plan, direct, or coordinate advertising policies and programs or produce collateral materials, such as posters, contests, coupons, or give-aways, to create extra interest in the purchase of a product or service for a department, an entire organization, or on an account basis.</p> Possible job titles for this career include: Advertising Director.
$100,810 Median Salary
Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists
<p>Research market conditions in local, regional, or national areas, or gather information to determine potential sales of a product or service, or create a marketing campaign. May gather information on competitors, prices, sales, and methods of marketing and distribution.</p> Possible job titles for this career include: Market Analyst.
$62,560 Median Salary
Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists
<p>Research market conditions in local, regional, or national areas, or gather information to determine potential sales of a product or service, or create a marketing campaign. May gather information on competitors, prices, sales, and methods of marketing and distribution.</p> Possible job titles for this career include: Market Analyst.
$62,560 Median Salary
Marketing Managers
<p>Plan, direct or coordinate marketing policies and programs, such as determining the demand for products and services offered by a firm and its competitors, and identify potential customers. Develop pricing strategies with the goal of maximizing the firm's profits or share of the market while ensuring the firm's customers are satisfied. Oversee product development or monitor trends that indicate the need for new products and services.</p> Possible job titles for this career include: Brand Manager.
$135,030 Median Salary
Public Relations Specialists
<p>Engage in promoting or creating an intended public image for individuals, groups or organizations. May write or select material for release to various communications media.</p> Possible job titles for this career include: Account Executive.
$62,800 Median Salary
Sales Managers
<p>Plan, direct, or coordinate the actual distribution or movement of a product or service to the customer. Coordinate sales distribution by establishing sales territories, quotas, and goals and establish training programs for sales representatives. Analyze sales statistics gathered by staff to determine sales potential and inventory requirements and monitor the preferences of customers.</p> Possible job titles for this career include: District Sales Manager.
$117,960 Median Salary
This page includes information from O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Employers
Graduates from this major have gone to work at:
Cost and Aid
How much does Marketing at WVU cost? And how can you save?
Tuition and Fees
Estimated rates for the 2018-19 academic year. Rates are subject to change. Anyone that is not a current West Virginia resident will be charged non-resident rates. That includes international students.
West Virginia Resident
Per Credit - $428
Per Semester - $5,136
Fall and Spring Semesters - $10,272
Non-Resident
Per Credit - $1,126
Per Semester - $13,512
Fall and Spring Semesters - $27,024
International
Per Credit - $1,126
Per Semester - $13,812
Fall and Spring Semesters - $27,624
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Hospitality and Tourism Management
Professional Sales
One Major: Three Areas of Emphasis
All WVU marketing majors must take 27 credits in marketing course work. There are five required courses that all marketing majors must take. Following this, marketing majors have the option of focusing their studies in one of three areas of emphasis. The chosen area of emphasis is listed on the collegiate transcript. These areas provide majors an opportunity to concentrate their studies to better prepare for a career in this area. Students should consult with their academic advisor which area of emphasis complements their career interests. The three areas of emphasis include:
Professional Sales
Every company has a salesperson, even if it is the company owner. As a famous salesperson and national motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar, once said, "Nothing happens until someone sells something." As a salesperson, you are in the enviable position to make something happen. The best part of a career in sales is that it is undefined. It is hard to describe your typical day as a salesperson because every day is different. One day you are on the Internet researching prospective clients and, along the way, learning a great deal about a company and, perhaps, a new industry. The next few days may be spent calling these prospective clients and then an entire week may be in face-to-face sales calls. On other days, you are writing up sales-call reports and preparing proposals for clients. Some sales positions allow you to work out of your home office, others require traveling, and still others will allow you to do both. The WVU professional sales track offers course work in personal selling, sales management and selling with digital media.
Digital Marketing Promotions
Opportunities are growing in the field of digital marketing promotions. Individuals with a high level of creativity and strong promotion skills, have strong market value. It is also critically important to be comfortable with data and to execute promotional programs in the context of well-conceived business strategy. Marketing majors desiring to work in the field of marketing promotions must have the capabilities to address:
Decreasing promotions impact and credibility: The growing quantity of promotions make it increasingly more difficult for a single marketing promotion to have a noteworthy effect.
An explosion of data: The cost of storing and retrieving names, sales data and information from databases significantly declined leading to an explosion of data available to the marketer. Savvy markets must have the know-how to utilize this data.
Increasing audience fragmentation: Companies use new technologies and computers to target specialized audiences based on factors such as ethnic background or place of residence.
The Digital Marketing Promotions area of interest prepares students with the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in today’s world.
Start Up/High Tech Marketing
Two significant trends that impact the marketing field are Artificial Intelligence (AI) and entrepreneurship. First, marketers will no longer directly appeal to consumers exclusively. Instead, this will have to target AI tools operating on behalf of consumers. For example, consider Alexa ordering your groceries without consulting you on your preferred brands. Secondly, most job growth is projected to come from startup firms. Startup marketing is a unique challenge for business entrepreneurs, as traditional marketing strategies don’t always work when startup companies are restrained by limited resources, talent and marketing sensitivity. The AI and Start Up Marketing AOE provides students with the opportunity to concentrate their elective courses in in two emerging marketing trends.
Marketing Clubs
Professional Sales Club
The B&E Professional Sales Club offers a variety of activities including guest speakers, tours and sales competitions. The club meets monthly and helps students advance their professional sales skills, grow their leadership abilities, and network with corporate partners.
American Marketing Association
The WVU chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) is part of the largest marketing association in North America. Our chapter offers many benefits, from career resources, platforms for professional development and networking, execution of chapter events, leadership development, to taking part in the many AMA regional and national competitions. Gain the AMA Community Advantage by becoming a part of over 350+ affiliated collegiate chapters and 11,000 AMA student members.
DECA
The collegiate DECA chapter at WVU allows students to continue their DECA experience gained in high school. DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in colleges around the globe. The cornerstone of DECA are competitive case style competitions. Collegiate DECA competitive events recognize student achievement, provide opportunities for traveling to conferences and networking with peers.
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