OVERVIEW
What is a Marketing Analyst?
Marketing analysts have a keen understanding of customer needs and make recommendations for new or improved products and services. They assist in developing marketing strategies through various media channels. A marketing analyst's strong analytical skills and creative insights make them perfectly suited for this role. If this sounds like something you’d succeed at, keep reading to learn everything you need to know to pursue a career as a marketing analyst.
RESPONSIBILITIES
What Does a Marketing Analyst Do?
Marketing analysts spend the bulk of their time collecting, sorting, and analyzing marketing performance and market data. Their day-to-day responsibilities include:
- Collecting data on competitors’ marketing tactics, sales prices, and product/service distribution.
- Gathering and analyzing data related to market conditions and consumer demographics.
- Researching customers’ opinions, buying habits, preferences, wants, and needs.
- Creating and evaluating methods for gathering data, including surveys, interviews, questionnaires, and opinion polls.
- Developing tactics and metrics to assess the effectiveness of existing marketing, advertising, and communications programs.
- Monitoring and forecasting marketing trends and identifying opportunities for new initiatives and promotions.
- Converting complex data findings into understandable text, tables, graphs and data visualizations.
- Working with internal departments (such as customer success) to disseminate reports to clients and management.
- Collaborating with pollsters, data scientists, statisticians, and other marketing professionals.
EDUCATION & BEST DEGREES
How Do I Become a Marketing Analyst?
To pursue this career path, you’ll almost certainly need a degree, as 78% of marketing analysts hold a bachelor’s degree and 15% also have master’s degrees. Here is a step-by-step guide to becoming a marketing analyst:
- Earn a bachelor’s degree in marketing: The first step to working as a marketing analyst is seeking a bachelor’s degree in marketing. This is likely the most crucial step in the journey to starting your career. In this degree program, you’ll learn about marketing, business management, and IT fundamentals, and take a litany of courses that will later come in handy when you’re working as a professional marketing analyst.
- Develop your skills: To succeed in their field, marketing analysts need strong analytical skills, which you should focus on developing in your first role. You’ll use Excel, R, SAS, SPSS, and other statistical software. You may also find it advantageous in the job market to learn programming languages, especially SQL. It’s likely that you’ll use this tool daily in order to create data reports. Your bachelor’s degree coursework will be directly applicable in your daily work, and you’ll have the opportunity in entry-level jobs to practice and learn more. You don’t need to wait until you graduate to try your hand in a professional setting. Seek summer internships while still in school and start getting job experience even before you’ve finished your degree.
- Earn a master’s degree in marketing or a related field: A smart but non-essential step is gaining your master’s degree in marketing or a master’s degree in business administration (MBA). During such a graduate program, you’ll gain an expert knowledge in marketing, management, leadership, economics, finance, and accounting.
Best Degrees for a Marketing Analyst
Business
Marketing – B.S.
For those who want to lead brands and steer consumer markets:...
For those who want to lead brands and steer consumer markets:
- Time: 60% of graduates finish within 19 months.
- Tuition: $3,755 per 6-month term.
- Courses: 37 total courses in this program.
Skills for your résumé you will learn in this program include:
- Communication
- Marketing
- Sales
- Management
- Project Management
- Product Management
Marketing is a creative and exciting field—and one where an undergraduate degree will open better opportunities.
Business
Master of Business Administration
The flexible MBA program you need, focused on business management,...
The flexible MBA program you need, focused on business management, strategy, and leading teams:
- Time: Graduates can finish in 12 months
- Tuition: $4,755 per 6-month term
- Courses: 11 total courses in this program
Skills for your résumé you will learn in this program include:
- Leadership strategies
- Talent management
- Communication
- Data collection and interpretation
- Financial statements
Our competency-based model gives you an innovative learning experience you won't find anywhere else—and our MBA grads tell us they loved accelerating their program to see a faster ROI.
Business
Marketing – M.S.
Two online marketing master's degree options with a focus on either...
Two online marketing master's degree options with a focus on either digital marketing or marketing analytics.
- Time: 61% of graduates finish WGU master's programs in 18 months
- Tuition: $4,755 per 6-month term
- Courses: 10 total courses in this program
- Specialization: Students choose from two specializations to focus their marketing studies on digital marketing or marketing analytics
Skills for your résumé that you will learn in this program:
- Management
- Strategic Planning
- Digital Marketing Analytics
- Presentations
- Market Research
- Communications
A marketing master's degree will help you prepare for a wide range of exciting marketing careers.
How Much Does a Marketing Analyst Make?
$63,920
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports a median annual market research analyst salary of $63,920 per year. This equates to $30.73 an hour. The top 10% of professionals in this field earn more than $128,320, while the lowest 10% earn less than $37,570.
What Is the Projected Job Growth?
19%
According to the BLS, between the years of 2021 and 2031, market research analyst jobs are projected to grow by 19%, which is much more than for the average profession.
SKILLS
What Skills Does a Marketing Analyst Need?
Marketing analysts require a variety of hard and soft skills in order to perform their job effectively.
A successful marketing analyst possesses:
- Proficiency in marketing research and data analysis.
- Excellent analytical skills
- High degree of business acumen.
- Strong organizational, communication, and presentation skills.
- Proven ability in handling concurrent projects with attention to detail and accuracy.
Our Online University Degree Programs Start on the First of Every Month, All Year Long
No need to wait for spring or fall semester. It's back-to-school time at WGU year-round. Get started by talking to an Enrollment Counselor today, and you'll be on your way to realizing your dream of a bachelor's or master's degree—sooner than you might think!
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