Discover more about the courses we offer from the marketing professors and explore your options.

Required Courses

MKTG 384 - INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

Do you want to learn how all of the various aspects of marketing work together? Do you like to be creative and work strategically? If so, Integrated Marketing Communications is the class for you. You will integrate advertising, sales promotions, packaging, public relations, publicity, personal selling, digital marketing, social media marketing, direct marketing and event sponsorship to create an Integrated Marketing Communications campaign for a client such as James Madison University. You will be involved in creating, planning, implementing and evaluating a client-oriented that is centered around a consistent theme. Students will use various programs to create and develop a logo and media such as broadcast, print, support media, and digital channels by using programs such as Canva, Piktochart, AdobeSpark and Vimeo for their client. Upon completing this course, you will have examples of creative executions that you will be able to include in your portfolio.

MKTG 385 - CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Why do some people choose to carry their own water bottles and fill it up in the fountain for free while others buy bottled water? How do we decide on which charity to donate to or which TV show to watch? The main purpose of this course is to develop a thorough understanding of the choices that consumers make every day. We will learn key theories from behavioral sciences that help us understand consumer decision-making. Case studies and in-class experiments will provide real life applications of these theories. You will also learn how to collect consumer behavior data and use your knowledge to design a repositioning strategy for a local or international organization. By the end of the course this understanding of consumption will allow participants to not only better market their products and ideas, but to become better consumers and decision-makers themselves.

MKTG 430 - PROFESSIONAL SELLING

Professional Sales is one of many communication channels that marketers can use to integrate their messages to their target audiences. This course clearly positions itself within the IMC umbrella with an emphasis on organizations as the target audience. It is this emphasis on communications in a professional manner that make the course so valuable to all marketing majors. The value of verbal and listening skills will become evident throughout your career. During your first and subsequent interviews for internships and careers, the benefit of engaging business role-plays becomes evident. The favorite quote we see from former students is that “this class is unlike any other you will take at JMU.”

MKTG 482 - MARKETING ANALYTICS

Analytical prowess is one of the most sought after skillset by employers. Organizations can make better decisions that are more efficient while saving resources by utilizing sophisticated analytical tools. In this course, you will learn the most popular analytical approaches used in marketing. We will use a variety of data sources that will include surveys, experiments and big data. While the course utilizes very popular statistical and analytical tools such as R, Tableau and SPSS Modeler, it does not require any previous knowledge in coding or any analytical background. The main goal of the course is the teach how marketing decisions can be improved by using proper analytical approaches.

MKTG 485 - MARKETING MANAGEMENT

Understanding the management of marketing is basic to understanding the management of a business as a whole. In this, the Marketing Department’s capstone course, you will be developing your analysis and decision-making skills to apply to specific issues, opportunities, and problems affecting any organization. For example, should a particular company introduce an additional product to expand an existing product line? What price should be set for a new, innovative product which the company is about to introduce to the marketplace? After a six-month test market phase for a new product, should the firm proceed to roll the product out nationally?

Marketing managers are faced with such decisions on a regular basis, and must often proceed with limited information and time. Within a few short years after graduation, you may face such decisions as part of a marketing management team. This course will help you to develop the skills to answer the questions posed above, skills you can take with confidence to your first job after graduation. To help you get there, you will analyze multiple case situations and participate in a marketing simulation experience. For that, you and your teammates will have their own company and will compete with classmates’ companies in an attempt to win market share and increase profitability.

Concentration Courses

MKTG 455 - SALES LEADERSHIP

The Sales Leadership course (MKTG 455) provides an experiential learning environment where students practice the necessary training, coaching and mentoring skills necessary to succeed in a leadership role and then use those skills to train, coach, and mentor fellow JMU students taking the MKTG 430 class, Professional Selling. Since this course focuses on the training, coaching, and mentoring of other Professional Selling classes, to be eligible for the Sales Leadership, students must first excel in MKTG 430 and be recommended by their instructor. As part of leadership training students must complete two classroom presentations. The first presentation focuses on a current leadership topic in business and students must deliver to the class a 30 to 40 minute engaged, interactive classroom presentation. The second presentation is an inspirational assignment where students may select a topic of their choice and then present to the class with the goal of inspiring their fellow classmates. The Sales Leadership class is responsible for organizing and smoothly running all classroom role plays and on-campus sales competitions. In this role, the sales leadership students act as liaisons between the sales program and the many corporate partners that join us on campus each semester to participate in role plays and classroom presentations. Tomorrow’s sales leaders must be able to train, coach, mentor, and inspire sales teams in order to achieve exceptional results and the Sales Leadership course prepares students for a leadership role in competitive sales and business environments.

MKTG 465 - CRM TECHNOLOGY FOR SALES PROFESSIONALS

CRM Technology for Sales Professionals is about understanding the theory and practice of customer relationship management. We focus on understanding and applying technology to the sales process: how to source sales-relevant information, how to manage it using a CRM system, and how to efficiently and effectively use it to form and sustain business relationships. The heart of the course is a sales development project with an outside client. You will apply what you learn using Salesforce.com and WebEx technologies to manage your customer relationship. A frequent comment from JMU alumni working in sales is “I wish there was a course like this when I was here.”

MKTG 466 - ADVANCED PROFESSIONAL SELLING (Spring only)

Would you like to be the star of your first sales training program? Do you want to learn skills and techniques that can carry you to success in your first sales territory? That’s the purpose of Advanced Professional Selling. The course is small (16 students) and mimics a typical employer’s sales training class to prepare you for the first stage of your career. It features a minimum amount of lecture and it doesn’t use a textbook - because you don’t learn to sell from a book. Instead, the class hones skills and teaches techniques through role-plays, in-class exercises and detailed feedback. By the end of the course, you will have the tools you need to star in your training class and succeed in your first territory. Along the way, you will also laugh a lot because in MKTG 466, we work hard, we laugh out loud, and we learn -- a lot.

MKTG 410 - SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Social media marketing is an exciting area that continually changes, which means there is never a dull moment. In MKTG 410, you will work in an agency setting with a real client to develop a strategic social media marketing plan that takes into consideration the evolving influence of social media. At the end of the semester, agencies will pitch their strategic social media marketing plans to the client. Throughout the semester, you will learn the theory behind social networks and examine how social networks are used by consumers and marketers. You will also learn how to conduct a social media audit, create social media campaigns, develop tactics for engaging customers across relevant social media channels, and determine how to manage and measure the effectiveness of campaigns. Finally, you will build your personal brand, obtain a professional certification, and learn from digital marketing professionals through guest presentations.

MKTG 470 - STRATEGIC INTERNET MARKETING

Strategic Internet Marketing teaches students to use some of the common tools of the Internet, specifically related to website creation, promotion, and evaluation. This is a hands-on class. Students will create personal branding websites. During this process, they will learn the principles of website design. Students will learn the importance of creating an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy and will apply this to their own websites. Students will link their account to Google Analytics and learn to run and read reports that indicate website performance. Other course topics include PPC (Pay-per-click) and Display Advertising. Email Marketing is covered as a tool for website promotion. Students will learn to create email campaigns using MailChimp with the campaign focused on driving website traffic. In addition to learning how to use these tools, students will complete two industry-recognized certifications In HubSpot Academy.

MKTG 477 - DIGITAL MARKETING PRACTICUM (Spring only)

Do you want to learn what it is like working in digital marketing for a real client, using real budgets, and live platforms? This is the class for you! With a small student to faculty ratio, this class offers a "hybrid experience" between a traditional course and a digital marketing internship. You will work in an agency setting to plan and execute campaigns for clients. Campaigns may involve paid search, display advertising, paid social, or other campaign types. You will gain experience in managing client relationships while using real data and market conditions to determine the effectiveness of campaigns. As a bonus, you also have the opportunity to network and learn from digital marketing professionals who serve as guest speakers. This is not a lecture-based class, but rather "learning through doing" which means you will develop an array of digital marketing skills, including a professional certification. This class utilizes a competitive application process.

Elective Courses

MKTG 386 - SERVICES MARKETING

How are services different than physical products (such as, automobiles and TVs)? Think of it this way: If you can’t put it in your pocket or drop it on your foot, then it’s a service! Travel & leisure, finance, healthcare, education…these are among the largest service industries out there. In the U.S. alone, 81% of GDP, 80% of employment, and 45% of an average family’s budget are accounted for by services. The vast majority of our marketing graduates will spend their careers working for service organizations. Service organizations require a distinct approach to marketing strategy – both in development and execution. This course lays the groundwork for participants to become more perceptive and effective consumers, creators, and managers of services. You will complete – individually and in groups –assignments such as self-assessment of your own service experiences and case-study analyses. You will learn an industry-favored technique for mapping the design of a service. We will also chart current events in the services world that relate directly to the concepts learned in class and in course materials. Throughout, emphasis will be placed on the development of relationships with customers, to gain long-term loyalty and profitable, repeat business.

MKTG 388 - OMNICHANNEL RETAILING

Omnichannel Retailing focuses on the value provided to the consumer by the retailers in the supply chain. Retailers are any business that sells to the consumer so the course will cover both goods-based (i.e., grocery stores, discount retailers, and department stores) and services-based (i.e., hotels, restaurants, hair salons). Students will learn about the different channels available to retailers and how to strategically select the best channel(s) for the retailer’s target market. Channels include bricks and mortars, websites, and apps. Students will also learn about how retailers use technology such as RFID, beacons, apps, and Wifi. Students will work on assignments such as collages and ethnographic research that give insight into the consumer decision-making process and how retailers can use these insights to better create customer loyalty Students will work in groups to create a business plan for a new and innovative retail establishment.

MKTG 405 - SURVEY RESEARCH

Surveys are one of the most common and popular research tools for business research. Their use and popularity significantly increased with the availability of digital technologies. However, most business people do not have a training about how to ask appropriate questions, design questionnaires, find a proper sample, collect data in an efficient matter and analyze the data using the most appropriate techniques. In this course, we will review the newest techniques in survey research. We will also deploy a survey using an actual sample to collect and interpret data.

MKTG 460 - GLOBAL MARKETING

Are you interested in marketing products and services to people in other countries and cultures? The Global Marketing course is for students with a desire to advance skills appropriate for international business and multinational marketing careers. Students will work towards global mindedness and cross-cultural competency when marketing abroad. The course will provide students with a global perspective of marketing to diverse communities and organizations outside of the United States. At the end of the semester, students will have developed a comprehensive marketing plan targeting and audience in another country.

MKTG 462 - INTERNATIONAL LOGISTICS

The International Logistics course is for students who may be interested in building careers at multinational enterprises and be responsible for distributing products all over the world. This course is designed to provide marketing majors with a broad overview of the relationship between logistics and marketing functions in a global context. The goal is for students to learn both the hard technical skills like data driven problem solving and the soft skills like business communications and teamwork in an experiential learning environment. For example, students in this program will work on an engaging class project to develop an Amazon seller business by sourcing products from overseas, transporting the products to Amazon Fulfillment Centers, and by developing a plan to optimize end-user search on Amazon. The course involves several logistics professionals as guest speakers and a field trip to the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Winchester, VA.

MKTG 480 - NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

New Product Development and Management focuses on marketing’s role in the innovation process. We explore creating new business opportunities from ideation to launch, with emphasis on product development processes and supporting theories. You will learn through directed readings, discussion, and a product development project. Students like the parallel approach of readings and discussions with a development project you create – “great application to real business projects.”

MKTG 494 - MARKETING INTERNSHIPS

Would you like to complete an internship where you receive hands-on marketing experience? Would you like to receive three marketing elective credits for your marketing internship? The marketing internship course provides students with the opportunity to fulfill a marketing elective requirement while working in a meaningful and relevant marketing position for a marketing-related organization. Students submit all work digitally through Canvas and do not meet face-to-face, which allows students to work for an organization located throughout the United States in one of the states authorized by the university. The internship can be a paid or unpaid position. It is intended to contribute meaningfully to your overall preparation by providing an opportunity for the practical application of skills and concepts learned in classes. An internship is much more than a job; it is a course which offers you an individualized educational experience through the study of a structured employment situation.

MKTG 498 - SPECIAL TOPICS IN MARKETING

This course allows explorations of new topical areas or unique situations in marketing. Course content varies depending on the instructor and topic of interest. For information about the course, consult with your academic advisor in the CoB ASC.