B.S. in Marketing

 Marketing is all about creating and maintaining strong relationships. This includes key areas such as branding, research, advertising, sales, and product development. Individuals who excel in marketing are creative thinkers who continually refine their communication, listening, writing, and critical thinking skills.

Otterbein’s Marketing major stands out as one of the most unique programs in the country. Through a student-directed, student-led approach in all courses, students actively shape their learning experiences. This hands-on method allows students to sharpen analytical, design, presentation, and writing skills while preparing for dynamic careers in advertising, sales, brand management, retail management, digital marketing, marketing research and analytics, generalist marketing roles, and graduate study.

The major offers a range of courses, including Principles of Marketing, Integrated Marketing Communication, Research in Behavioral Theories, Retail Management, and various electives tailored to your personal and career goals. Additionally, the flexible curriculum enables students to pair the Marketing major with another business discipline—such as Marketing Analytics, Sales, or Business Administration & Management—or with a non-business field like Psychology, Communication, Graphic Design, or Sport Management. This versatility ensures students gain a well-rounded, market-ready education that aligns with their interests and professional aspirations.

Otterbein’s location in Westerville and its proximity to the Central Ohio business community serves the marketing students well. Representatives from Columbus-based Fortune 500 companies, local apparel and fast food retailers, and digital agencies can easily drive to campus for events, be involved in courses and serve as guest speakers. Additionally, the Retail Management course involves an area retailer where students develop and present a location analysis as part of a proposed expansion. In the Sales course, sales representatives and other representatives from digital agencies and departments listen to and critique students’ presentations. Department faculty host an annual sales career panel and an annual analytics career panel, in addition to the required Otterbein READY career development programming. At these events, students learn about finding internships and jobs, workplace expectations, and a variety of career paths available to marketing majors.

Another benefit of Otterbein’s location is the availability of networking opportunities and internships. The Columbus chapter of the American Marketing Association hosts monthly luncheons, after-work social gatherings and professional development workshops.

Otterbein Marketing graduates have a 90% and above placement rate. Recent graduates have accepted positions at national and regional companies such as JP Morgan Chase, Mettler-Toledo, Nationwide, OhioHealth, Sherwin-Williams, and Express, Inc.

Experiential Education

The marketing major at Otterbein University remains one of the most unique marketing majors in the country. The major provides a student-directed, student-led experience through all of its courses where students hone their analytical, design, presentation, and writing skills, and all courses involve a project.

Course projects include:

  • Sales (MKTG 2650) – Selling an actual product for a client to area businesses
  • Principles of Marketing (MKTG 3100) – Simulated market competition (MarketShare, PharmaSim) and decisions, marketing engineering and analytics cases (Enginius package)
  • Research in Behavioral Theories (MKTG 3650) – Marketing research project
  • Marketing Analytics (MKTG 3850) – Cases and projects with datasets exacted from Craigslist, Boeing, eBay, Kroger, etc.
  • Retail Management (MKTG 4100) – Location analysis project for a client
  • Integrated Marketing Communications (MKTG 4300) – Digital marketing national competition
  • Digital Marketing (MKTG 3800) – Digital marketing campaign designs and web analytics (Mimic Pro)

Visit the Otterbein course catalog for complete course requirements and descriptions.

The Principles of Marketing course remains our signature course. Here students are exposed to a variety of topics, including:

  • Understanding the relationship between marketing activities and financial performance by calculating and interpreting a variety of metrics such as return on sales, return on investment, and net marketing contribution
  • Analyzing dataset and interpreting the results through the use of case studies in the Marketing Engineering analytics package
  • Performing the role of a brand manager by participating in the MarketShare simulation (PharmaSim simulation), which focuses on the pharmaceutical industry.

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

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Otterbein’s BAE department gave me a great foundation for employment after college. The diversity of relevant courses in the marketing program provided me the opportunity to develop a well-rounded skill set that I use in my career today. Otterbein didn’t just provide me a degree, it prepared me with the tools to be successful.

Brandon Kohl, ’17

B.S. in Marketing
Business Development and Account Manager, Alfred Williams & Company, Nashville, Tennessee

Want a business career working in the Sport, Recreation, and Leisure industry?

At Otterbein, you’ll learn from a unique curriculum, gain real-world experience in “sport” through numerous practicums and internship opportunities all four years, be able to network with professionals in the field, and be supported by faculty who are passionate about seeing you succeed! At the end of your college career, you’ll be strongly positioned to be a leader in a “sports” industry area such as: marketing, public relations, sales, stadium/arena management, retail, law, media, broadcasting, event management, finance, athletic administration, and many more.

Check out our Sport Management major for more information >

Student Learning Outcomes University Learning Goals (KMERI*)
Students should be able to identify, explain and apply concepts, theories, methodologies, and analytical toolkit to make decisions that impact society in a certain business environment. Knowledgeable
Students should be able to evaluate the impact of environmental factors on industry and decision making. Knowledgeable
Students should acquire and integrate knowledge and skills of different functional disciplines, such as finance, economics, management, marketing, accounting, international business, psychology, statistics, business law, mathematics, leadership, and communication, for a successful career in public and private sectors, or pursuing graduate studies. Knowledgeable
Students should be able to apply their business (analytical) toolkit to make sales decisions, retail management decisions; to conduct marketing research, marketing analytics, and market strategic planning; to make managerial recommendations, support and deliver their stand in a professional manner in both oral and written formats. Multi-literate
Students should be engaged and involved in off-class non-academic activities that help them to build connections with professional groups, organizations, community, and programs to learn how to apply business decision making and analytical toolkit. Engaged
Students should be responsible and have an appreciation of making decisions within an ethical, economic, and social framework. Responsible
Students should be inquisitive and engaged in off-class academic activities that help them to build connections with professional experts, faculty, and professional programs to learn how to apply business decision making and analytical toolkit. Inquisitive

*NOTE: KMERI refers to Otterbein's learning goals. It stands for Knowledgeable, Multi-literate, Engaged, Responsible, and Inquisitive. To learn more about KMERI, visit our University Learning Goals page.

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