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M.S. - Marketing & Communication

Franklin University Marketing and Communication Master's degree program banner, with link to program video.
Program OverviewProgram DetailsWhy Choose Franklin

Create brand-building marketing strategies that drive ROI

Today’s savvy marketing and communication leaders begin at the endpoints: the thoughts, behaviors, and actions of the buyer. They know the importance of differentiation, and how to establish a unique and ownable brand position in the minds of a target audience. They know how to leverage consumer insights to deliver action-inspiring messages and apply new data sources to inform pricing, packaging, and promotional strategies. And they do it all while building high-performing teams and keeping a clear line of sight on market share, volume, and ROI.

Enhance your skills with a dual-disciplined master’s degree

Franklin University’s Marketing & Communication (MCM) Program teaches you how to navigate today’s challenges while grounding you in time-tested theory so you will also be prepared for tomorrow’s.

Our dual-disciplined master’s degree is just one of a few in the nation that integrates the marketing discipline with communications, equipping you to deliver the right message to the right person at the right time. Our innovative curriculum positions you to seek a leadership role in both fields, strengthening your core skills in these areas: leadership and management, marketing strategy, brand management, market research and analytics, new media, and creative production.

Gain hands-on experience with modern-day marketing practices

At Franklin, you’ll be involved in hands-on assignments, including case studies where you’ll recommend a comprehensive business and marketing strategy, complete with pricing, break-even, and profitability projections. And, to provide you with hands-on knowledge in developing communication materials, you’ll learn industry standard design software.

Our MCM Program will expose you to the latest trends in key areas such as: leveraging web and social insights to optimize marketing activities; driving social marketing initiatives to activate user participation, engagement, and retention; and learning how people shop, socialize, and absorb information.

Finish our industry-leading MCM curriculum in as few as 16 months

Franklin’s MCM curriculum is accredited by the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE), the leader in outcomes-based accreditation in business. In addition, our curriculum is regularly reviewed by a standout Advisory Board comprised of ad agency, Fortune 500, and small business executives.

With our accelerated MCM Program, you can reap the rewards of your degree in as few as 16 months with our 6-week course format. And if you’re looking to enroll right away, there’s no GMAT or GRE requirement if you meet certain standards.

Plus, you’ll learn from faculty who are credentialed marketing and communications practitioners, so you’ll learn the latest from the best, giving you the skills you need to succeed in the marketplace. And with our small, interactive classes you can engage in discussions with like-minded marketers from richly diverse ages and backgrounds, helping you grow both your personal and professional networks.

Earn your degree from a university built for busy adults

Regionally accredited and nonprofit, Franklin was built from the ground-up to satisfy the needs of adult learners. Faculty with industry expertise means you gain relevant knowledge to apply directly to your current or future career, while our flexible course schedules help to balance your education with work, family, and life. Get started on your future today!

Gain The Skills Employers Desire

  • Leadership & Management
    • Build and supervise a marketing communication team of top talent, ensuring the right people fill the right roles
    • Provide direction to functional units within marketing communication, ensuring each unit is aligned with overall goals
    • Tap into team members’ natural motivators, maximizing their potential for success
    • Manage the daily activities and performance of employees, providing feedback and resolving conflict among team members
    • Increase efficiency and effectiveness of marketing communication efforts through process improvements, professional growth, and team building
    • Cultivate an ethical, performance-driven culture that inspires innovation and creativity
    • Reach business benchmarks by developing strategic vision, customer-centric marketing goals, and roadmap
  • Marketing Strategy
    • Develop and execute an annual marketing communication plan to achieve market share, volume, and profit objectives
    • Review all elements of the marketing mix, including product formulation, price, packaging, and promotion to build brand equity and optimize sales, market share, and profitability
    • Determine the most effective media mix across traditional and digital channels, balancing direct response initiatives with building long-term brand equity
    • Closely monitor and analyze sales volumes, market share trends, and competitive activity
    • Manage lifecycle marketing and brand advocacy programs, including establishing metrics and benchmarks to measure program success
    • Assure effectiveness of marketing communication programs through post-promotion data analyses and compare results to established objectives
    • Participate in thought leadership opportunities, such as conferences and events, sharing industry perspectives, and building key relationships
  • Brand Management
    • Develop unique and ownable market positions relative to competitors with clear points of differentiation
    • Create awareness initiatives designed to ingrain brand position and key differentiators into the minds of target audiences
    • Implement multi-year brand category growth strategies, leveraging product development, and marketing innovation
    • Protect brand equity through design and messaging choices that meet brand business needs
    • Establish brand identities that communicate competitive positioning, and develop standards that ensure message clarity in the marketplace
  • Market Research & Analytics
    • Track, measure, and socialize progress to marketing goals and key performance indicators (KPIs)
    • Employ market research tools, such as surveys, focus groups, controlled experiments, and interviews to gain insight into consumer behavior and buying motives
    • Lead market and competitive analyses in support of organizations’ positioning framework
    • Identify potential market segments and develop a clear understanding of different consumer needs
    • Conduct qualitative and quantitative research to identify and prioritize customer segments, defining buyer personas and corresponding value propositions
    • Oversee the development of marketing mix and brand-equity models for measuring and optimizing the effectiveness of marketing spend
    • Implement tracking solutions for measuring attribution and capturing multi-channel campaign performance across social, mobile, digital, and offline channels
    • Work with internal and external business partners to maintain integrity, quality, and security of marketing data
    • Develop processes and systems that standardize and automate reporting
    • Leverage web and social insights, providing recommendations for optimizing marketing activities
    • Provide input on data architectures for capturing and using information
  • New Media
    • Create comprehensive social media strategies, including selecting appropriate social media channels to maximize content delivery
    • Grow online footprint using viral marketing techniques, such as video, infographics, and original content development
    • Drive and track social media presence across relevant sites and platforms, including LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and blogs
    • Stay current with new and emerging social media methods and trends, applying novel tools and applications to increase customer base and user engagement
    • Find innovative uses for communications technology, such as web and video conferencing
    • Serve as the emerging digital channel advocate and subject matter expert, providing thought leadership and influencing cultural change
    • Drive social engagement marketing initiatives to activate user participation, engagement, and retention
    • Leverage technological advances in digital channels, targeting the right audience with the right message at the right time
  • Creative Production
    • Work with teams of highly talented strategic planners, designers, and copywriters to create breakthrough marketing experiences
    • Write copy and develop concepts for display advertising, print advertising, direct mail, email marketing, print advertising, collateral, and webinar scripts
    • Translate product and technical information into persuasive copy that drives customers’ buying decisions
    • Analyze marketing communication challenges and author creative approaches to executing relevant marketing communication programs
    • Lead brainstorming sessions, resulting in new themes, fresh concepts, or extended ideas
    • Employ conceptual thinking and design best practices, such as visual and verbal storytelling, typography, iconography, color theory, proportion, and layout in the execution of concepts and strategies
    • Present design and copy concepts to key stakeholders, including leadership, project teams and clients
    • Develop and manage internal communications materials that raise awareness and engagement among internal stakeholders

Career Opportunities

  • Director of Marketing

    Directors of Marketing oversee the development and implementation of marketing strategies in order to build awareness, create and maintain brand identity, and promote products and services.

    View Salary Trends
  • Chief Marketing Officer

    Chief Marketing Officers deliver creative strategies that create public interest in an organization’s products and services.

    View Salary Trends
  • Communication Specialist

    Communication Specialists assist in the creation and delivery of news and information in support of overall marketing and advertising goals.

    View Salary Trends
  • Brand Manager

    Brand Managers oversee the marketing strategies and activities of one or more brands, helping build awareness and increase market share.

    View Salary Trends
  • Agency Account Executive

    Agency Account Executives manage client relationships, including advising clients on the best strategies for promotion products, brands, and services.

    View Salary Trends
  • Marketing Manager

    Marketing Managers lead the process of planning and implementing sales-support creative activities in order to improve customer retention and improve profitability.

    View Salary Trends
  • Digital Media Manager

    Digital Media Managers oversee the production of online and digital marketing campaigns, acting as the liaison between the creative media department and client.

    View Salary Trends

Employment Outlook

From 2010-2020 jobs in Marketing are expected to increase by 30%. By 2020, there will be an estimated 1.4 million jobs related to Marketing.

Source information provided by Economic Modeling Specialists International (EMSI)

Our Recipe For Your Success

Academic & Industry Experts

Classes are taught and designed by credentialed professionals with real-world experience.
 

  • Programs are designed by combining the insight of industry leaders with the academic expertise of our faculty, ensuring what you learn translates into on-the-job success.

  • Academic concepts and theories are brought to life through our teaching faculty’s professional expertise, and can be immediately applied in your career.

  • Faculty with industry experience teach our courses, not graduate students or life-time academics, so you learn not only the theories behind the practice but also how to apply them in real-world situations.

Relevant & Consistent Curriculum

What you learn is a reflection of the program you choose, not the format in which it’s applied.
 

  • All programs are designed for learning outcomes to flow from the program level into actual coursework.

  • This top-down approach allows credentialed professionals to customize assignments based on trending industry topics without deviating from a program’s core outcomes.

  • Regardless of your professor or the format of your class, you receive the same quality education.

Hands-On Learning Experience

Franklin's coursework teaches not only theories and concepts, but also how they apply to practical situations.

 

  • Professional course designers ensure that class activities such as learning simulations, case studies, interactive videos, and group exercises are relevant and appropriate.

  • A curriculum development team is dedicated to making sure all courses are intuitively designed so content is taught in a logical manner that facilitates your success in the classroom and beyond.

Continuously Evolving Programs

Consistent program reviews ensure our programs stay at the forefront of industry trends.
 

  • Survey results and feedback from student and faculty assessments are reviewed regularly so that our programs are always improving and up-to-date.

  • A structured review process helps identify industry gaps that guide curriculum enhancements allowing our academic and industry experts to regularly implement new industry trends.

  • Regular assessment provides hard data that is used to improve student learning and teaching methods.

Get the details

Read course descriptions, learn about degree options, and meet program faculty.

View Program Details