Department of Marketing
Mission Statement
The Marketing Department prepares students by developing specialized skills in the management of customer relationships through the creation, communication and delivery of value to customers. Students majoring in marketing are introduced to the marketing management process, which is a systematic review of the principal activities required to understand
- the context in which products and services must be marketed
- customer needs
- strategic options
- marketing program development
- evaluation of marketing effectiveness
The marketing curriculum focuses on traditional and online marketing skills needed in various business settings and industries. The curriculum seeks to develop competence in five areas: factual and conceptual knowledge, problem solving skills, communications skills, experiential learning and use of information technology.
Students will be prepared to enter corporate, small business or not-for-profit environments with highly valued skills and an understanding of the need for continuous learning.
Goals
- To deliver a solid foundation of the concepts and theories of the marketing discipline, including market environmental issues; strategic market planning, implementation and evaluation; marketing research; buyer behavior and market segmentation; and development of marketing programs.
- To engage students in critical thinking processes, requiring in-depth analysis of qualitative and quantitative market data and development of subsequent marketing strategies based on this analysis.
- To enable students to evaluate marketing alternatives and commit to a course of action, using financial, organizational, environmental and ethical criteria as bases for decision making.
- To teach students a variety of information technology tools and techniques to improve marketing and overall business performance and deliver greater value to customers.
- To facilitate students' continuing development of listening, writing and oral communication skills.
- To develop students' marketing-based interpersonal skills, such as group-based negotiation, consensus building, delegation and performance evaluation.
- To integrate classroom study with exposure to industry practices throughout the marketing curriculum and ensure marketing students access to experiential learning opportunities in marketing career tracks.
- Consumer marketing and business-to-business marketing: sales, direct marketing, market analysis, product development, Web-based marketing and customer relationship management.
- Communications: advertising account management, communications management, technical writing, media planning and coordination and public relations.
- Consulting: marketing consultation, data analysis and data sales.
- Marketing research – database management, market research analyst and project management.
- Product/Brand management: business-to-business sales, product specialist, channel development and promotional marketing.
- Retailing: store management, merchandise buying, trend analysis, Internet sales and visual merchandising.
- Not for profit marketing: fund-raising, public relations and customer service.
- Sports/events marketing: merchandising, contracts administration, event marketing, trade show management and e-commerce marketing.
Co-curricular Activities and Organizations
- Madison Marketing Association. This student club is affiliated with the American Marketing Association, a national marketing association for marketing professionals, faculty and students. MMA is open to all JMU students. MMA is comprehensive with its marketing programming and offers students information and activities in direct marketing, retailing and marketing management.
- Pi Sigma Epsilon. PSE is a professional fraternity, which focuses on programming and extracurricular experiences in marketing, personal selling, and sales management.
- Mu Kappa Tau. This is an honorary marketing fraternity for students with high scholastic records. Admission is by invitation only. The club invites speakers and engages in joint programming with other JMU student organizations.
Special Admissions Requirements
Admission to the marketing major may be limited and competitive if student enrollment exceeds available resources.
Only those students who have been formally admitted to the College of Business will be considered for admission into the marketing department.
Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing
Marketing majors conform to the general structure of the B.B.A. degree program. The B.B.A. degree in marketing requires a minimum of 120 credit hours of undergraduate course work.
Degree Requirements
| Required Courses | Credit Hours |
| General Education requirements 1 | 41 |
| B.B.A. lower-level core courses | 23-30 |
| B.B.A. upper-level core courses | 15 |
| Marketing major requirements | 27 |
| Non-business electives | 7-9 |
| 120 | |
1 The General Education program contains a set of requirements each student must fulfill. The number of credit hours necessary to fulfill these requirements may vary.
Fifty percent of this work, or 60 credit hours, must be taken outside of the College of Business. In counting the 60 credit hours of non-business courses, B.B.A. students may include all hours taken in general education (usually 41), up to a total of nine hours in economics (GECON courses must be counted as economics), and three hours of COB 191, Business and Economics Statistics. The remaining hours, to bring the total to 60 must be taken from any department outside the College of Business. Students should carefully select these non-business electives to help them gain additional knowledge and expertise for their careers and personal lives.
Major Requirements
Students planning to major in marketing must complete the 23-30 hour, lower-division B.B.A. core curriculum set prior to enrolling in upper-division core courses, normally taken in the first semester of the junior year. It is expected that the lower-division core curriculum will be completed during the first two years of study along with all, or most, of the university general education curriculum. Failing to complete all lower-division core requirements on time will delay enrollment in upper-division core and major courses. Additional required courses are determined by the chosen concentration.
Concentrations
As a result of marketing being such a broad field there are many areas of specialization. Students majoring in marketing commit to a course of study and obtain career-specific knowledge and skills by selecting a concentration. Presently, concentrations include:
- Business to Business Marketing
- Business to Consumer Marketing
Business to Business Marketing Concentration
The business to business marketing concentration is designed for marketing majors who wish a more in-depth review of the issues facing businesses that market products and services to other businesses and organizations. This concentration will focus on the development of knowledge and problem-solving skills relating to business segmentation and buying processes, product and channel development, professional selling and sales management.
Students interested in sales and sales management may be responsible for increasing sales and if successful will advance to assume management responsibilities. Product development deals with marketing related to a specific product. Activities may involve planning and development, production and distribution, direct marketing and other types of promotion. The business to business marketing concentration is the ideal concentration for a job in sales, customer service, account management and product development.
| Required Courses | Credit Hours |
| MKTG 384. Integrated Marketing Communications | 3 |
| MKTG 385. Consumer Behavior | 3 |
| MKTG 430. Professional Selling | 3 |
| MKTG 450. Business Marketing | 3 |
| MKTG 480. Product Development and Management | 3 |
| MKTG 482. Marketing Analytics | 3 |
| MKTG 485. Marketing Management | 3 |
| Choose two marketing electives from the following: | 6 |
| MKTG 386. Services Marketing | |
| MKTG 405. Survey Research | |
| MKTG 440. Retail Strategy and Buying | |
| MKTG 460. Global Marketing | |
| MKTG 490. Special Studies in Marketing | |
| MKTG 494. Marketing Internship | |
| 27 | |
Business to Consumer Marketing Concentration
The business to consumer marketing concentration is designed for marketing majors who want in-depth preparation for marketing goods and services for sale to consumers using stores, catalogs or the Internet. Students will develop knowledge, marketing skills and experience relating to store management, site management, consumer segmentation, Internet marketing and development of marketing strategies for reaching consumer markets.
Graduates in business-to-consumer marketing will be suited to begin careers in relationship marketing, merchandise management, new business creation, customer service operations, catalog marketing, retailing, Internet marketing, not-for-profit marketing and promotional account management positions.
| Required Courses | Credit Hours |
| MKTG 384. Integrated Marketing Communications | 3 |
| MKTG 385. Consumer Behavior | 3 |
| MKTG 388. Retail Marketing | 3 |
| MKTG 430. Professional Selling | 3 |
| MKTG 470. Strategic Internet Marketing | 3 |
| MKTG 482. Marketing Analytics | 3 |
| MKTG 485. Marketing Management | 3 |
| Choose two marketing electives from the following list: | 6 |
| MKTG 386. Services Marketing | |
| MKTG 405. Survey Research | |
| MKTG 440. Retail Strategy and Buying | |
| MKTG 460. Global Marketing | |
| MKTG 490. Special Studies in Marketing | |
| MKTG 494. Marketing Internship | |
| 27 | |
Recommended Schedule for Majors
Marketing majors should follow the course schedule below to complete the final two years of their program. It is possible to deviate from this program but care must be taken to ensure that all course prerequisites are met.
Third Year
| First Semester | Credit Hours |
| COB 300A. Integrated Functional Systems: Management | 3 |
| COB 300B. Integrated Functional Systems: Finance | 3 |
| COB 300C. Integrated Functional Systems: Operations | 3 |
| COB 300D. Integrated Functional Systems: Marketing | 3 |
| MKTG 385. Consumer Behavior | 3 |
| 15 | |
| Second Semester | Credit Hours |
| MKTG 384. Integrated Marketing Communications | 3 |
| MKTG 430. Professional Selling | 3 |
| Marketing concentration course | 3 |
| Non-business electives | 6 |
| 15 | |
Fourth Year
| First Semester | Credit Hours |
| MKTG 482. Marketing Analytics | 3 |
| Marketing concentration courses | 3 |
| Marketing elective | 3 |
| General Education or non-business elective | 6 |
| 15 | |
| Second Semester | Credit Hours |
| COB 487. Business Policy | 3 |
| MKTG 485. Marketing Management | 3 |
| Marketing elective | 3 |
| General Education or non-business electives | 6 |
| 15 | |
Transfer Credit Policy
The marketing program will accept no more than two courses for transfer credit toward the major. In addition to this general College of Business policy, there are restrictions on which courses will be accepted for transfer credit, depending on the selected concentration.
Students concentrating in business to business marketing must take the following courses at JMU:
MKTG 384. Integrated Marketing Communications
MKTG 450. Business Marketing
MKTG 480. Product Development and Management
MKTG 482. Marketing Analytics
MKTG 485. Marketing Management
Students concentrating in Business to Consumer Marketing must take the following courses at JMU:
MKTG 384. Integrated Marketing Communications
MKTG 388. Retail Marketing
MKTG 470. Strategic Internet Marketing
MKTG 482. Marketing Analytics
MKTG 485. Marketing Management
