by Giavanna Riscinti
What’s your major?
Marketing. It’s all around us, vital to the success of almost every organization, and yet the mention of the name doesn’t always carry a good connotation. Contrary to some stereotypes, marketing is not about manipulation or tricking people into buying things that they don’t actually want – in fact it is quite the opposite. A truly good salesperson will never sell you something you don’t need, they will only find a need and fulfill it. Even if a potential customer does not purchase anything themselves, if they have a positive outlook on a brand/product, either through advertisement or personal selling, they may promote the brand or product to others through work of mouth – the undisputed most powerful form of promotion. In the Marketing major, students learn that a manipulated customer is an unhappy customer, and nothing is worse for business than an unhappy customer.
What do you learn in the marketing major?
While promotion and advertising is an undeniable part of marketing, it isn’t the only thing students will learn about. As taught by Dr. Carolyn Massiah and many other marketing professors at UCF, the foundations of marketing is made up by the five P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. This means that promotion only makes up about a fifth of what marketing really entails. The major covers both business to consumer interaction as well as business to business interaction. There are also marketing classes that teach about and how to perform marketing research and personal selling. Not only that, but there are even classes in which students will put together all of these topics when they participate in a simulation where they run a virtual business, often competing with other students in the class.
Where can you go with this major?
Most jobs include marketing in some shape or form. If you are writing to a consumer, that is marketing. If you are making a business or brand decision for a company – big or small – that’s marketing too. A degree in marketing can also teach you how to sell yourself, useful for getting employed and essential for those who aspire to be self-employed. Even a minor in marketing would be useful to somebody in almost any field of work, because much of the information is easily applicable to any company or field of business. At UCF, the major also offers a variety of internships for students to apply for while they are working towards their degree. Advertising, public relations, management, and sales are all typical career paths for a marketing major, but the knowledge can apply to many fields, especially if coupled with another degree as a minor.
How can I get involved?
If you are interested in the marketing major, there are some requirements and perquisites you should know about. To get into the marketing major, students are required to have completed a variety of economic and finance classes, as is protocol before beginning any business major. Admission to the marketing major also requires a minimum primary core GPA of 3.0. The complete list of classes and requirements can be found on UCF’s website here under the ‘pre-major’ section. However, to become a marketing minor, there is only one prerequisite class, MAR 3023 or “Introduction to Marketing.” For both the minor and major programs, the class must be passed with grade of B (3.0) or higher. UCF also requires marketing minors to have a GPA of at least 2.75 at the time of admission into the minor. The minor is 18 credits and open to all major, more information can be found here. The department of marketing is in the Business Administration 2 building (BA2); the office is on the third floor in room 307S.
The faculty is always happy to answer questions in assisting students that may be considering a major or minor in the marketing program. Just like what would be taught in a personal selling course in the program, the advisors will give you as much information that you need in order to make an informed decision about whether or not the program is right for you. The next time you are faced with a pushy salesperson or deceptive advertisement, remember that you are witnessing a marketing failure; a good marketer’s work will never make the consumer feel uncomfortable or deceived.
