Marketing

Marketing is the business function that is responsible for setting market strategy and giving strategic direction to other business functions in the firm. It centers around understanding the wants and needs of a firm’s customers, be they consumers or other businesses, and is essential for properly positioning the company within the firm’s target markets.

Marketing offers a number of varied and interesting career paths, from sales, advertising, and product development, to marketing research, retailing, and brand management. A marketing degree is a valuable asset in many business sectors, for large or small companies, for-profit or non-profit firms, products or services, and consumer or business-to-business environments.

In the digital mobile economy, consumers are increasingly armed with more and better information, making them more demanding, less gullible, and less loyal to companies that don’t pay close attention to their needs. Competition is increasingly global, and markets mature faster; first mover and market leader advantages can evaporate in a heartbeat. Advances in production and service delivery make it very difficult to compete on quality and production or distribution advantages are difficult to sustain long-term.

This means that the successful company is the one that can respond to changing market demands faster than its competitors. Marketing is one of the key tools in keeping a company responsive and nimble. It specializes not only in understanding customer needs and motivations, but it also delivers the message to consumers that the company can meet those needs and motivations. This focus on the customer has caused marketing and the marketing concept to become increasingly central in management decisions and marketing is fully integrated with other functional areas in successful leading companies.

Regardless of your specific interests within marketing, Boston College will help you understand the marketing functions and its financial, social, and ethical responsibilities. The marketing program at BC teaches critical thinking, creative problem-solving, and a mix of theory- and skill-based approaches to marketing management and decision-making. Marketing represents a unique mixture of quantitative statistics and analysis with a more lateral-thinking and behavioral approaches to management. Recent advances in technology, from social media to supply-chain integration, have revolutionized the way marketing is conducted. As a marketing major, you will develop skills in market analysis and decision-making by working on varied marketing projects and programs such as new product launches, pricing and distribution strategies, service innovations, sales force management, and internet marketing campaigns.

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