Marketing as a discipline is constantly evolving, and in today’s society, becoming less reliant on traditional marketing research as it responds to the industry’s continuous changes is key.

As the field moves away from relying on consumer satisfaction surveys for marketing research, a newer, crucial skill begins to take the forefront: marketing analytics. To embrace this change, the College of Business recently added a new marketing sequence entitled Advanced Marketing Analytics, where students will learn to measure and analyze market performance.

After discovering no other universities offered a marketing analytics major, the faculty decided to offer this program to Illinois State University undergrads. Chiharu Ishida, an associate marketing professor, said after “big data” became a buzzword in business, research into the sequence began.

“We thought there was a big opportunity here to make our graduates more attractive, have better résumés, and this is what it’s all about,” she said. “We want to prepare our students for jobs that are in demand.”

Woojung Chang, an assistant marketing professor, said several companies collect large amounts of analytical data, but don’t have employees possessing the skills or ability to handle it.

“Those types of analytical skills can make a difference, and then will distinguish our students in the job market — that is our strong belief,” Chang said.

Students going through the new sequence are geared toward making a difference in their regimen and within the job world.

“Analytics is kind of where we’re headed as a market,” Ishida said. “There are multiple sources of information available whether it’s history purchase data, or what people were saying about a brand on social media.”

By enrolling in the analytics curriculum, students are guaranteed to fit within any situation where traditional marketing jobs use analytical skills to make smart decisions.

“That’s what marketing is all about, to be more efficient, to be more responsive,” Ishida said. “So even if we have specific degrees in marketing analytics, it doesn’t mean you go into a marketing analyst, or you know titles that have analyst in it, but you could go into any marketing job. You could be five steps ahead of everyone else because you know how to analyze data, sort and take actions.”

With the marketing analytics degree, professional opportunities could lie within several areas, including online media managing, or retail.

“Companies need somebody who handles, monitors, listens and engages with customers on social media,” Ishida said. “It could be in retailing. They want to use customers’ historical purchase data, customers’ transaction data, use other sources of data to kind of predict and demand for the future, or segmenting customers.”

Despite its recent launch, 26 students have already declared enrollment in the analytics curriculum. To spread these skills even further, the curriculum is available to non-marketing students as a minor.

“Size of the sequence is one thing. What we really want to focus on is quality. One thing we need to focus on is job placement, and we were talking about mentorship program,” Ishida said.

“We’re also doing some work in terms of internships and job shadowing. So we’re planning all of these things ahead before we get a surge of demand if it happens.”

Chang anticipates students becoming less skeptical about tackling big data through this sequence.

“My recommendation is to not be afraid of the data or big data types of things,” Chang said. “If you are interested in those topics and see some kind of opportunity in this area, just try it, and then after taking the basic courses, they can figure out the path. We have a lot of opportunities.”

Gianna Annunzio is a features reporter for The Vidette. She can be reached at vidette_gmannun@ilstu.edu. Follow her on Twitter at @G_Writes.