Marketing is key to every business' success

Marketing is the business function that connects customer needs with company capabilities.

Marketing Professor Kissan Joseph speaks at Marketing Night

The new Marketing graduate certificate allows students to better comprehend the core principles of a business and its customers by helping them discover what consumers want and how to effectively reach them. Marketing serves a variety of critical functions in the success of businesses and business professionals. Sanjay Mishra, an associate professor in marketing and entrepreneurship, said marketing is valued as a tool for both the client and business.

“Marketing is the activity that creates value — both for the customer and the firm,” Mishra said. “Understanding the process, therefore, is critical to the success of any business, either for-profit or nonprofit.”

Mishra said marketing is so universal that every student will benefit from understanding its processes and functions, but non-marketing majors will benefit most. The certificate will provide students an advantage when applying for jobs.

Kissan Joseph, a marketing professor, said marketing requires a mixture of creative, analytical and personal assets. Someone who is comfortable with this breadth of skills would be most suited for a marketing certificate, which extends to all professionals.

“Some say that marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department — everyone should be involved in marketing,” Joseph said.  “As such, marketing expertise is critical for all business professionals.”

The certificate is open to current MBAs, MBA alumni and others not currently pursuing an MBA. The certificate is composed of five marketing courses for a total of ten credit hours. The courses cover marketing strategy, marketing research, pricing, advanced topic in managing products and discovering and evaluation of product opportunities.

Learn more at MBAcert.ku.edu. Apply by July 15 for fall.

by Mackenzie Leander