Top 5 San Francisco Marketing MBA Programs
Elmer Wheeler of the Tested Selling Institute famously advised would-be product-pushers to “sell the sizzle, not the steak.” Wheeler’s adage simply explains how marketing often has less do with leveraging a product’s marketplace position than it does about the subtle art of seduction. And what better way to become Don Juan or Juanita of the boardroom than to get yourself a Marketing MBA.
Although local draconian housing laws combined with an influx of indifferent techies have largely driven out the counter-cultural element that defined San Francisco, the Bay Area is still a hotspot for folks who “think different.” The natural splendor of the region, surrounded by glorious Pacific Coast beach, hiking trails at Point Reyes, and the dry flat Central Valley directly west, is also hard to top.
We took the liberty of surveying the top 5 San Francisco Marketing MBA programs for you:
UC Davis Graduate School of Management
UC Davis offers an MBA concentration in marketing that prepares graduates for careers in Brand Management and Direct Marketing; Product Development; Public Relations and Advertising; Market Research and Marketing Consulting. The concentration emphasizes the development of new products, “conducting market research, planning advertising and promotion programs, creating marketing strategies, providing superior customer service, understanding e-commerce, developing profitable pricing strategies and brand management.”
University of San Francisco School of Management
USF’s Marketing MBA teaches students how to “build competitive advantage in the global marketplace” and run a “successful customer-driven organization” through a comprehensive understanding of market segmentation, competitive analysis, pricing strategies, public relations, advertising and distribution channels. USF graduates have gone on to upper management positions in the fields of Market Research, Sales, Advertising, Brand Management, General Management and Management Consulting.
San Francisco State University College of Business
SFSU’s MBA Emphasis in Marketing teaches students how to harness a “blend of creativity and analysis” in order to give their target market the “right combination of product, price, place and promotion.” SFSU gives students an opportunity to explore a wide variety of marketing applications: advertising, branding, channel management, customer relationship management, data analytics, marketing research, pricing, public relations and sales. SFSU marketing graduates have gone on to work for Apple, Clif Bar, Clorox, HP, Kaiser Permanente and Samsung, among others.
San Jose State University’s Lucas Graduate School of Business
SJSU’s Marketing Concentration was designed to “spark student innovation and provide multi-disciplinary opportunities through an academically challenging curriculum“ that focuses on “the business functions concerned with market definition and objectives, product or service development, customer segmentation and product positioning.” SJSU Marketing graduates go on to careers as market and survey researchers; product managers; product marketers; marketing analysts; sales representatives; retail managers; direct marketers; channel and distribution managers; marketing communications and web marketers.
Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business
SCU’s Leavey School of Business offers a Marketing degree that emphasizes “the latest in web and mobile marketing [and] quantitative methods for gathering precise, useful data” so your brand can “connect with customers and build brand recognition.” SCU offers student internships at large area companies like Google and Facebook, as well as a number of study abroad opportunities. SCU Marketing graduates go on to positions within the high-tech, financial services, retail, real estate consulting and nonprofit fields. Examples include: retail advertising, sales, new product development, market research, Internet marketing and supply chain management.
UC Davis Explores Link Between Analytics and Hiring
UC Davis’ Graduate School of Management recently published an article from Assistant Professor Gina Dokko, who also serves at Quantcast as a Senior Learning & Development Specialist.
In the piece, she talks about the growing role analytics plays in addressing human resources management gaps, “shortages, and mismatches by enabling more effective recruitment and retention practices.”
