Marketing is a popular business major and MBA concentration because it often leads to an exciting career with competitive salaries and the opportunity for advancement. If you want to become a marketing executive or senior manager in marketing, an MBA can give you edge against other candidates and will prepare you for the increased responsibilities that you’ll have. Marketing managers have a variety of duties depending on the size of their business and marketing department. Some may concentrate only on market research, product development and consumer behavior, while others may create advertising campaigns, help write press releases and assist on other public relations duties. Marketing managers play an integral role in a company’s success by figuring out ways to sell products and services to the right audience, and they are constantly reinventing both the company’s image and the product as a brand.

To enroll in an MBA program with a concentration in Marketing, you must first prove that you have a bachelor’s degree and some work experience in a related field. Online programs allow students the flexibility to go to school full- or part-time without giving up work or family commitments. You can complete assignments and earn your degree from anywhere you have an Internet connection. Some programs may require you to complete a short internship, but these can usually be credited with your work experience or can be arranged in an office near you. MBA Marketing programs will take a combination of business core courses and marketing specific courses in order to gain a more in-depth understanding of consumer behavior, market research, product management, product development, finance and more. Some students may also wish to take classes in international business or the global economy so that they can help their company brand become known on a global scale. Online programs can often be completed in a shorter amount of time than traditional programs allow.

Marketing MBA graduates can work in or even run small businesses, lead teams in large organizations, work their way up to become top executives, work in government and nonprofit agencies and more. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, marketing and advertising jobs will continue to open up over the next several years. Marketing managers who earned the highest salaries in May of 2006 included computer systems design managers, who earned over $113,000, and marketing managers who work in more traditional businesses. They earned just over $103,000 on average. The overall average salary of marketing managers was $91,560.