Which Masters in marketing is right for me?

Which Masters in marketing is right for me?

If you’re thinking of starting a Masters in marketing, Essex Business School is a great place to study. All of our Masters in marketing are accredited by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), the industry body for marketing professionals. This means that you graduate with exemptions from a CIM qualification so you’ll have fewer professional qualifications to complete when you start work.

Each of our marketing Masters degrees gives you an in-depth theoretical and practical framework for working as a marketing professional, but which of these Masters in marketing is right for you?

We spoke to Programme Directors, students and alumni from each of our three Masters in marketing to explore what makes each of our marketing Masters unique and who would be most suited to each programme.

MSc Marketing

MSc Marketing is our flagship marketing Masters programme at Essex Business School. It is a comprehensive marketing Masters degree that explores core areas of modern marketing, such as marketing strategy and consumer behaviour and is designed to really challenge aspiring marketing professionals. However, it’s not for everyone! MSc Marketing has the toughest and most selective entry requirements of our three marketing Masters programmes and for good reason:

“You hit the ground running on this programme,” says MSc Marketing Programme Director, Dr Muhammad Shakaib Akram, Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing and Strategy. “Students need to have prior study or knowledge of marketing, or they will struggle to keep up with the pace of MSc Marketing.”

MSc Marketing gives you the opportunity to specialise along one of two marketing specific pathways. You can choose module options in Digital Marketing and Marketing Innovation, or Corporate Branding and Marketing and Management. This allows MSc Marketing students to really explore the area that most interests you and develop your research and understanding to help you enter the graduate labour market as a marketing specialist.

MSc Marketing graduate, Chloe Mongelard, did her undergraduate studies in Management and Marketing at Essex before moving on to complete her Masters: 

“I decided to stay on and study my Masters here at Essex because I felt that during the third year of my course, I really got into my subject and enjoyed it and I thought, this is something I want to look into more. The academic staff here at the University are just so fantastic and supportive that I thought, this is the right place for me, and this is definitely somewhere that I am going to learn a lot more about marketing.”

If you have an undergraduate degree in marketing or business management, or have some previous experience of working in the field of marketing, and would like to take on a challenging course that expands your skillset then you should explore our MSc Marketing.

MSc Management (Marketing)

In our MSc Management (Marketing) you study a core selection of management modules in your first term before moving on to more specialised marketing modules in your second term.

You do not need to have studied marketing or business management to be accepted onto this programme. MSc Management (Marketing) has less selective entry requirements than the MSc Marketing programme, making it an attractive option for those who have a real interest in marketing, but have no academic or work experience in the field.

Programme Director, Professor Rekha Rao-Nicholson, tells us a bit more about MSc Management (Marketing): 

“The programme offers a core foundation in management and then students top up their management studies in the first term with two CIM accredited marketing modules in term two. These cover Marketing and Innovation and Consumer Behaviour, two key areas of marketing which marketing managers need to have a strong understanding of.”

MSc Management (Marketing) alumnus, Ryan Winham, told us why he chose to study his Masters at Essex after completing an LLB Law as an undergraduate: 

“I decided to study my Masters with Essex Business School because I was interested in business and marketing and the good reputation of the school. I enjoyed virtually everything about my Masters experience: the open and friendly lecturers and the course modules, specifically Consumer Behaviour. 

My advice to students who want to study marketing is to be inquisitive but open. Marketing isn't about selling to customers but understanding what works for and with customers. Too many do marketing to sell things to customers or think marketing is about making things look nice, when it is so much more and can be used as a subject to innovate and be creative.”

If you haven’t studied marketing before but are interested in finding out how to apply marketing principles in a modern business environment, then discover our MSc Management (Marketing).

MSc International Marketing and Entrepreneurship

And now for something a bit different. Our MSc International Marketing and Entrepreneurship is a unique Masters programme which takes a practical view of marketing in the context of an international organisation. It particularly explores how marketing practice applies to start-ups and small and medium enterprises globally.
Taught at our Southend Campus (please note that MSc Marketing and MSc Management (Marketing) are taught at our Colchester Campus), home to our specialist Strategy, Operations and Entrepreneurship academic group, MSc International Marketing and Entrepreneurship offers you a unique view into marketing operations for small businesses who operate across international borders.

You do not need to have previously studied business or marketing to apply for this Masters.

“What this programme does is combine the expertise offered by the Strategy, Operations and Entrepreneurship group and delivers a practical teaching experience along three core themes: international business, marketing and entrepreneurship,” says Programme Director and Reader in Entrepreneurship, Dr Caleb Kwong. “It’s the international and entrepreneurship emphasis of this programme that really makes it stand out against the marketing Masters offered at the Colchester campus as students gain very focussed perspectives of marketing.”

The course explores the types of marketing tools that entrepreneurs require to take their products and ideas to a global audience and offers a wide range of modules that look at the different operational aspects of business and marketing, such as Global Project Management, International Marketing Strategy and Planning and Strategic Management.

MSc International Marketing and Entrepreneurship graduate, Momina Malik, told us about how her degree has impacted her career since graduating in 2020: 

“My Masters ended up being very relevant to the field I now work in. After completing my degree at Essex I moved back to Pakistan, my home country. Here I joined a digital marketing agency as a Business Development Manager and got promoted to Operations Manager and Social Media Lead. I have been able to use my degree to search for new strategies and the quality of my work has enhanced my position in the company.”

If you want a practical and hands on approach to studying marketing in an international setting, or you have a particular interest in marketing as an entrepreneur or for start-up businesses, take a look at our MSc International Marketing and Entrepreneurship.

How to apply

If you’ve explored all your options and decided which is the course for you, then it’s time to apply!

You can apply for postgraduate courses online. Before you apply, we strongly advise that you check our information about necessary documents that we’ll ask you to provide as part of your application. Generally this will include: a 500-word personal statement stating why you wish to study the course at Essex; English language test results (if required); and transcripts of previous study, if these are in another language we may ask you to provide a translation.

We prefer to communicate with applicants by email, so make sure you apply with an email address that you check regularly. For information on application deadlines for these courses, please see our ‘how to apply’ information.

Are you a current Essex undergraduate student looking to apply? 

We’ve made applying for an Essex Masters as straightforward as possible for our current students with our new fast-track application form, now live on your myEssex student portal. Just let us know which Masters course you would like to start. You won’t need to provide a reference or any transcripts or certificates from your study at Essex.

It’s as simple as that. Good luck!