Business: Marketing

Marketing, the selling and advertising of products, is one of the most important functions in most firms. Marketing is more than just organizing advertising campaigns, although that is a relatively fun part of the job; it is also figuring out what customers need what products, working with your company to see that the company has what you need to sell, and then letting the public know that you have what they need.

In Business Marketing, you will need the following skills:

Marketing is based on a solid understanding of the demographics of your sales area. Demographic analysis is done by demographers. Demography is a branch of sociology that deals with the study of population and the three major processes involved including fertility, mortality, and migration patterns. Marketers are expected to be able to do research concerning the properties of their target populations and interpret the results of these studies. As such, research skills are central to this area.

Here are some courses that will help a student become trained in demographics and research:

SOCI 312: Population and Society

SOCI 220: Methods of Social Research
This course serves as the introduction in a two part series of the research process. All students will find this helpful for determining proper research methods and procedures.

SOCI 420: Advanced Methods of Social Research
This course serves as the second in a two part series of the research process and offers an in-depth look at appropriate methods and procedures. Course content includes research design, questionnaires, and interview techniques all of which are especially useful in performing needs assessments of clients and consumers.

SOCI 328: Environmental Sociology
SOCI 321: Urban Sociology
SOCI 407: Rural Sociology
SOCI 337: International Migration
SOCI 325: International Business Behavior
SOCI 329: Pacific Rim Business Behavior

To make sales, one has to change people's minds. To change people's minds, one has to understand how ideologies and beliefs are formed, maintained and amended. Social Psychology is a powerful tool for understanding these processes at the individual level. Culture courses can help you understand large scale ideological processes including both transitory phenomena like fads and styles, and more enduring moral and ethical commitments. All of these are important to the art of selling.

Courses that can teach you about social psychology and culture include:

SOCI 411: Social Psychology
SOCI 413: Social Movements
SOCI 326: Sociology of Religion
SOCI 327: Morality and Society
SOCI 404: Sociology of the Community

The family is the primary consuming unit of our society. Furthermore, men and women have profoundly different buying habits. An astute marketer has to be keenly aware of trends in family life and in the changing dynamics between men and women to design and sell products that reflect contemporary needs. Will children be eating lunches at home or with day care providers? Will women be using their husband's bank accounts or opening their own? Understanding the dynamics of nuptials, divorce rates, female labor force participation, power within the family and the distinctive cultural understandings that men and women develop concerning these lived experiences is essential to answering questions such as these.

Courses that teach about the family and gender include:

SOCI 317: Minority Groups
SOCI 323: Sociology of Black Americans
SOCI 403: Sociology of Mexican Americans
SOCI 337: International Migration
SOCI 419: Social Class in Contemporary Society

Most Fortune 500 corporations receive an increasing percentage of their revenues from overseas non-U.S. operations. You not only have to know how to sell your product to Texas, but you must know how to sell it to Brazil and to Bangladesh.

See Business: International Trade for useful courses for international marketing