Is Marketing A Good Career

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Feb 25, 2016, 05:21pm EST |

Are Marketing Degrees A Waste Of Money?

AJ Agrawal

One article from Business Insider named marketing degrees in its list of the 10 most useless graduate degrees. It should come as no surprise because with over 40 million Americans holding student debt according to CNN, the country does indeed have an issue with useless degrees. Many kids have no idea what they want to do for a career so they go to college because they believe it is the only option available to them.

But is the marketing degree another example of a useless degree? This guide is going to discuss that issue.

Marketing Is Based On Results

Marketing is well-known as an industry where you have to live and die by the sword. If your results are down a couple of months in a row, you are skating on thin ice. Many marketers have lost contracts simply because they did not live up to expectations. In marketing, failure is not an option. You are only as good as your last month.

Marketing degrees put you in a position for you to learn. It will give you the basic principles you need to learn the advanced stuff you can only learn on the job.

You Can't 'Study' Marketing

Marketing is not an academic subject that you can study in a classroom. Successful marketers are good at what they do because they understand what their customers want. The game is about matching up a suitable product or service with the pain points of the customer.

However, a degree can teach you how to identify those vital pain points. It can teach you how to evaluate a target audience and make decisions based on your findings. The reality is if a dental surgeon wanted to initiate a marketing campaign they would be looking at two people. First of all, they would want someone with experience in dental marketing. Failing that, they would rather hire someone with a degree because it proves they have the attributes necessary to learn.

Nobody can learn more about the right target audience than these two groups.

Marketing Is Fluid

You can study mathematics and history because you are dealing with unmoving facts. Courses do not change every single year. Marketing changes so often that it is impossible to build an academic course around it that will keep up with the dynamic and sudden changes in the marketing industry. On top of this, the best way to become an expert marketer is to run cheap experiments yourself to find out what works. It's been said many times the best marketing channels are ones that mainstream marketers haven't found yet.

Compare this with the old school methods taught and financial burdens endured by your typical marketing student today. Sixty-nine percent of U.S. college graduates are in serious debt, and most of those students are learning marketing techniques that will soon become obsolete in the marketing world. Teach me how to marketing hack virtual reality, show me the tricks of Periscope, and explain to me how to dominate new platforms like Apple Watch. All of this I can find today by reading Forbes; I don't need $27,000 to become a marketer.

Your Teachers Are Experienced

The professors teaching you about marketing have experience in the field. Importantly, many will come with industry-specific experience that you can benefit from. This will give you a broad view of the marketing industry.

Most marketing degrees are taught by people who have a good idea of the world of marketing as it stands right now. They can teach you the basics that you need to begin your path to success.

Marketing Is Industry-Specific

Marketing degrees provide you with the lessons you need to function in any industry. This is necessary if you do not yet know which industry niche you wish to work in.

Every industry is naturally different. One of the golden rules of one niche will be a cardinal sin in another niche. Understanding the broad basics provides a fantastic foundation for learning the specifics of your industry when you actually get a job.

What's The Reality?

The people with marketing degrees are of great value to a company genuinely interested in promoting their products. As it stands, a marketing degree is an example of someone who is ready and willing to learn about a target audience, has been taught by someone who is experienced, and who is ready to learn the specifics about marketing in your business.

This is an attractive proposition for any prospective employer who wants to freshen up their company with some new blood.

Vocational Degrees

Marketing programs are a part of a new breed of college courses that focus on the purely vocational. Marketing degrees succeed for this reason because they give you what you need to start a career.

What are your opinions on Business Insider's conclusion that marketing degrees are among the top 10 most useless degrees to hold?

Also on Forbes:

AJ Agrawal