Students seeking a Master of Business Administration degree do so for a wide variety of reasons. The management and oversight skills developed by learners who successfully complete this curriculum are broadly applicable in a variety of industries and professional contexts. However, individuals often have much stronger and more specific ideas than simply completing their MBA online degree and finding relevant career opportunities.
Those who have a particular interest in marketing, for example, want to find professional roles where they can focus on the process of connecting with customers and raising awareness of a product or service and its benefits. Read on to learn about some of the most significant trends in the marketing world and gain an understanding of how UAB helps marketing-focused students hone their skills.
Understanding major marketing trends
Marketers constantly review broad and specific trends, strategies, and approaches for cutting through the noise and building meaningful engagement with potential and current customers. Here are a few popular considerations.
Voice search’s continued development and increasing utilization
Voice search keeps growing in popularity due to the convergence of several factors. From the steadily improving accuracy rate of voice capture by search tools to the convenience of using such a tool to find information while it’s inconvenient or impossible to type out a query, voice search has established itself as an important part of consumer behavior. The viability of dedicated home systems like Amazon and Google’s voice-based assistants demonstrates a strong affinity for using voice search and a variety of related processes, even in an environment where consumers frequently have the option of using search through traditional, textual means.
Marketers need to understand the growing importance of voice search and maintain a state of readiness around adjusting outreach strategies to incorporate voice-based considerations. One specific need to consider is restructuring digital marketing collateral to better align with the form voice searches often take. These queries frequently use casual, conversational phrasing, as opposed to the more targeted and technical structure of written search input. Within the constantly shifting digital landscape, marketers must track the rise of significant trends and prepare to adjust accordingly.
User-generated content’s role in perceived brand authenticity
One of the most significant considerations marketers have to make is the level of authenticity that consumers find in a brand and its content and engagement efforts. Building connections that feel meaningful and authentic for the potential and current customers who follow social media is an increasingly hot topic. Consumers, whether occasionally or consistently, want to feel as though they’re part of a conversation as opposed to being on the receiving end of one-sided messaging. That’s why it’s so important for companies to incorporate user-generated content in their marketing strategy.
User-generated content offers a direct way to boost authenticity and form stronger connections with consumers. When recommendations, suggestions, and additional details about products or services come from someone who the reader identifies as similar to them, instead of a business following a marketing agenda, they’re more likely to take that message to heart.
Developing brand purpose is a central consideration
For many companies, answering basic yet important questions about what the organization does and how it does so is a relatively simple affair. To fully craft a brand’s purpose, however, businesses must also have a concise and exciting answer when someone asks why the enterprise does things a certain way or offers specific products or services. Addressing this question helps convey the brand’s intent, its reason for existing, and encourages consumers to consider how this message ties into their needs. It can also help frame a business’s offerings in terms of how customers can benefit from using them.
The value of the UAB MBA marketing concentration
The University of Alabama at Birmingham offers an MBA degree that allows students to specialize in a variety of different concentrations. For those interested in marketing, 12 credit hours dedicated to the profession give learners deeper insight into effective customer outreach and the many unique concerns that come along with high-level jobs in the field.
The Marketing Analysis and Decision Making course helps students understand core concerns such as the relationship between marketing and company profitability, as well as customer satisfaction and marketing performance metrics. Learners also put various marketing tools to work in a variety of hypothetical scenarios.
Applied Marketing Research helps program participants understand the full progression of this process, from identifying the problem or concern to interpreting research results to derive managerial insights and action. Students also learn how to present such results to business leaders.
The Directed Study course offers the chance to pursue individually relevant or interesting marketing topics, with direction from UAB’s highly qualified staff.
Earning a marketing-focused MBA with UAB
An MBA can be even more valuable for students with a marketing background when they have the opportunity to hone specific skills and demonstrate a competency in that field to potential employers. Earning an online MBA with a marketing concentration from UAB gives graduates the chance to guide their own educational achievements with an eye on future roles in the marketing world. Combined with the distinguished faculty of UAB, the individualized, flexible nature of a completely asynchronous learning environment and the ability to engage in coursework whenever and wherever is best for the individual student, it’s clear why so many people choose an MBA online degree. To learn more, get in touch with an enrollment advisor today.
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Online vs. on-campus learning at UAB
Sources:
Inc.com: 5 Things Marketing Teams Must Remember Heading Into 2018
Forbes: 12 Marketing Trends to Take Advantage of This Year
Business2Community: Top 6 Digital Marketing Trends for 2019
UAB Collat School of Business: Course Descriptions MBA