Thursday, July 17, 2014

Marketing Research and Analytics Program Opens Doors to Various Careers

Did you know that in order to launch careers as marketing research, CRM, direct response, online marketing, loyalty program, sales data or marketing strategy analysts as well as data and analytics and business analytics specialists, you only have to attend one program?

Centennial College’s Marketing Research Analytics offering (officially known as Marketing – Research & Analytics) is open to applicants who have previously completed a three-year college diploma or university degree in any discipline or have a two-year college diploma or a partial university degree (75 per cent complete), and who have a minimum of two years work experience relevant to the program. Additionally, applicants may be required to present proof of English proficiency and an assessment of numeracy skills.

Because the program is geared to mature students, its curriculum excludes liberal studies in order to focus on techniques used to datamine and extract valuable knowledge about competitors and customers in a market setting. As such, the program contains a mixture of lectures and labs where students are exposed to SAS Enterprise Guide and SAS Enterprise Miner. In addition, students are exposed to Environics Analytics Envision software to develop comprehensive profiles of selected target markets. These are leading software solutions used in the Research and Analytics fields. Students also have access to the full suite of Microsoft products, including: Microsoft CRM, Excel and PowerPoint. Specific courses in which students partake include: Marketing Analysis and Planning, Fundamentals of Marketing Research, Computer Application for Marketing Analytics, Statistics for Marketing Research, Case Analysis and Marketing Metrics, Fundamentals of Interactive Marketing and more.

Despite its short length, this program gives students the opportunity to learn through hands-on application such as case studies, simulations, project-based learning. The goal of the practical aspects is on helping students to develop project management, teamwork, analytical and report writing and presentation skills. A final semester opportunity allows students to develop and implement a capstone project that integrates and applies all of their learning.

Upon successful completion of each marketing research course in this offering, students are prepared to launch careers as analysts on whom marketers rely on for their insight, to make effective decisions, attract a greater client base and deepen existing client relationships. This reliance indicates the vital role that marketing research plays in managerial decision-making. In their roles, graduates must: use different research methodologies to conduct effective surveys, perform statistical analysis and identify industry trends and consumer behaviors, design questionnaires, complete data manipulation and quality control, create statistical output and development of programs, and more.

It is worth noting that graduates of the Marketing Research and Analytics program will receive an Ontario Graduate Certificate from Centennial College, plus Certificates of Recognition from SAS and Environics Canada. To receive the SAS certificate, students must successfully complete the three specified SAS courses in the program.

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