Master of Science in Marketing Analytics and Strategy

Today’s most effective marketing strategies are those powered by research-based data analysis.  The MS in Marketing Analytics and Strategy (MAS) program will help students develop the skills necessary to become an expert in the field.  Our industry partnerships and experiential learning projects provide opportunities for students to use real-world business data with the latest digital, visual, and analytical tools. 

Dolan's MAS curriculum is taught by expert faculty who bring decades of industry experience to the classroom. Our relationships with Fortune 500 companies offer students resume-building experiences throughout the program, concluding with a capstone project to provide research-based strategic recommendations for real businesses.

Students learn advanced strategic and analytical skills, applying business data such as Nielsen, IRI, and Kantar Media.  Gain hands-on experience in popular industry analytical tools, such as AI, Google Analytics, Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Tableau, Qualtrics, SPSS, and Excel, with the opportunity to learn programming languages like Python, and R. 

This STEM-designated program may be completed either in one year's time (full time) or over two years (part time). The program allows flexibility with an online or hybrid format—both delivered by our expert faculty and is designed for:

  • Recent graduates looking to advance their foundation in marketing as well as their strategic and analytical skills to draw data-driven marketing insights.
  • Working professionals with prior experience in marketing who want to learn more about using analytics to support strategic decision making.
  • Professionals who are looking to transition careers from other fields to marketing.

The overarching learning goals of the program are:

Goal I: Students will have the knowledge and understanding to evaluate a business situation and provide a business proposal for a real-world company that will help to improve business results.

Goal II: Students will have the ability to assess existing or collected quantitative and/or qualitative business data and develop insights and key learnings that lead to a strategic recommendation for a business.

Goal III: Students will have demonstrated applied knowledge and skills to their project from at least four courses taken within the MAS program curriculum.

Requirements

The requirements for the MAS fall into categories of Prerequisite courses, Foundational Tier, Proficiency Tier, Profession Specializations or Electives Tier, and the Capstone.

Prerequisite Courses:
DATA 5400
Applied Business Statistics
MKTG 5400
Marketing Management
Foundational Tier9
All courses are required
MKTG 6520
Research for Marketing Insights and Decisions
MKTG 6530
Marketing Analytics
MKTG 6550
Advanced Marketing Strategy
Proficiency Tier9
Select 3 courses from the following:
DATA 5405
Programming Fundamentals for Business Analytics
MKTG 6510
Advanced Consumer Behavior for Managers
MKTG 6515
Artificial Intelligence in Marketing
MKTG 6570
Digital Marketing and Analytics with AI
MKTG 6580
Advanced Marketing Analytics
MKTG 6583
Pricing Strategies and Analytics
Capstone
MKTG 6999ACapstone Project: Marketing Analytics and Strategy3
Profession Specializations or Electives Tier9
Choose a specialization or any 3 MKTG or DATA graduate level coures. Courses must not have been taken in Foundational or Proficiency Tiers.
Total Credits30

Artificial Intelligence Specialization

With a specialization in Artificial Intelligence, students gain hands-on experience in building AI-driven solutions, preparing them to tackle real-world challenges using advanced AI skills, data science and machine learning techniques.

Required courses:6
MKTG 6515
Artificial Intelligence in Marketing
MKTG 6570
Digital Marketing and Analytics with AI
Select one of the following courses:3
DATA 6500
Leading with Analytics and AI
DATA 6515
AI Ethics and Governance
DATA 6560
Sports Analytics
DATA 6570
Generative AI Applications in Business
Total Credits9

Business Analytics Specialization

Many marketing analyst positions “prefer or require” knowledge of predictive and causal analytics as well as programming languages, such as Python or R. The Business Analytics specialization would enhance the degree with three selected electives in DATA.

Select three 6500-level DATA courses9

Finance Specialization

Many marketing positions require budget management and finance skills to properly evaluate and audit spending inputs for analytical modules such as Marketing Mix or to analyze a program and provide strategic recommendations of how to improve ROI or business results. With three electives purposefully chosen in Finance, this specialization provides an additional area of expertise and competitive advantage to our students interested in enhancing this aspect of their preparation.

Select three 6500-level FNCE courses9

Management Specialization

As all students have the desire to advance within their careers, many will have the opportunity to become managers. Providing students with an option for a specialization in Management will allow them to learn management skills in addition to the marketing analytics and strategy skills obtained from the program.

Required:9
MGMT 6504
Managing People for Competitive Advantage
One MGMT graduate-level research course
One MGMT graduate-level elective

Media Specialization

The media specialization prepares students with the latest skills to lead in today’s digital landscape. Students gain practical skills in campaign planning, data-driven marketing, and digital performance analysis using industry software while obtaining digital and social media marketing certifications.

MKTG 6540Advertising Management3
MKTG 6570Digital Marketing and Analytics with AI3
MKTG 6575Social Media Analytics and Strategy3

Product Management Specialization

Many professions in the area of marketing analytics and strategy require an understanding of product management with additional knowledge in the areas of category management, shopper insights and customer experience to make strategic business decisions. By pursuing a specialization in Product Management, students interested in any of these career positions will develop the essential knowledge required by businesses today.

Select three of the following courses:9
MKTG 6500
Customer Value
MKTG 6525
Customer Experience
MKTG 6535
Strategic Brand Management
MKTG 6560
Category Management and Shopper Insights

Research Specialization

This research-focused specialization equips students with advanced skills in marketing analytics, research methods and data science. Through courses such as Advanced Marketing Analytics, Data Munging in Python, and Machine Learning Operations, students learn to manage, analyze, and operationalize complex data for strategic decision-making.

MKTG 6580Advanced Marketing Analytics3
DATA 6505Data Engineering for Business Analytics3
DATA 6545AI Systems for Business3

Marketing

MKTG 5400  Marketing Management  3 Credits  
This course examines analytical and managerial techniques that apply to marketing functions with an emphasis on the development of a conceptual framework necessary to plan, organize, direct, and control the product and strategies needed for promotion, distribution, and pricing of a firm's products. The course also considers the relationship of marketing to other units within a firm.
MKTG 5410  Marketing in the Digital World  1.5 Credits  
This course will provide students with the understanding of the role of marketing in the modern corporation. The course integrates the fundamental concepts of marketing with the newest trends in digital and social media marketing. Emphasis will be placed on how firms execute marketing strategy utilizing the latest digital tools. Open to MS Management students only.
MKTG 6500  Customer Value  3 Credits  
Prerequisite(s): MKTG 5400.  
This course examines the concept of customer value with the goal of understanding how it can be used to achieve customer satisfaction, which in turn generates loyalty and, ultimately, a long-term customer-firm relationship. Topics include the nature of the costs and benefits associated with the notion of customer value, measuring and analyzing customer value and satisfaction, and understanding the associated concepts of customer loyalty and customer relationship management. The class consists of a mix of lectures, case analyses, in-depth qualitative research projects, and opportunities for practical applications, such as a marketing simulation.
MKTG 6505A  Introductory Storytelling in Marketing  1.5 Credits  
Prerequisite(s): MKTG 5400.  
Storytelling is an essential part of marketing communication. This course will allow students to understand the power of "the story" in a marketing context in how brands can effectively communicate, persuade, and influence key audiences. Students will learn to leverage brand stories in building long-term relationships with customers. Students will acquire the basics of storytelling drawing from its inter-disciplinary nature including the models and science behind it. They will also learn about the critical elements and techniques used in storytelling. Students will work on in-class assignments using established brands to identify good story ideas along with ways to capture target audiences’ attention. They will not only learn to understand and critique brand stories but also be able to craft and execute holistic brand-customer stories through various promotional mix platforms.
MKTG 6505B  Advanced Storytelling in Marketing  1.5 Credits  
Prerequisite(s): MKTG 6505A.  
Storytelling with data is an essential part of marketing communication. This course will allow students to use data for effective brand-customer storytelling within an overarching brand strategy framework. Students will learn to apply the critical elements, techniques, including story angles and hooks in effectively communicating a brand-customer story backed with data. Students will work on an in-class project that entails research design, data collection and analysis to not only create a powerful data-oriented, brand-customer story but also to implement this story on at least one promotional mix platform.
MKTG 6510  Advanced Consumer Behavior for Managers  3 Credits  
Prerequisite(s): MKTG 5400.  
This course offers an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the behavior of consumers in the marketplace, covering concepts from the fields of economics, psychology, social psychology, sociology, and psychoanalysis. Topics include motivation, perception, attitudes, consumer search, and post-transactional behavior.
MKTG 6515  Artificial Intelligence in Marketing  3 Credits  
Prerequisite(s): MKTG 5400.  
Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Marketing provides a comprehensive overview of the theory and practical application of AI within the field of marketing. This course equips students with theoretical and practical expertise in core AI concepts like machine learning, LLM, NLP, and generative AI, and their direct application across vital marketing functions, including advanced audience targeting, data-driven personalization, modern SEO/AEO/GEO, media buying, content creation, social listening and predictive analytics. The curriculum emphasizes leveraging AI for strategic decision-making while adhering to ethical use and privacy regulations. Students will be prepared to drive socially responsible, strategic decision-making and gain a competitive advantage.
MKTG 6520  Research for Marketing Insights and Decisions  3 Credits  
Prerequisite(s): MKTG 5400.  
This course provides an overview of the risks associated with marketing decisions and emphasizes developing skills for conducting basic market research. Topics include problem formulation, research design, data collection instruments, sampling and field operations, validity, data analysis, and presentation of results.
MKTG 6525  Customer Experience  3 Credits  
Customer experience (CX) occurs every time a customer interacts with a company via any channel, at any time, for any purpose. Creating word-class, end-to-end customer experiences has become an innovative way to gain sustainable competitive advantage, but it requires a deep understanding of both the customers and how they interact, as well as a commitment to change business processes based on that understanding. In this course, students will learn how to create compelling customer experiences along the whole process of customer touch-points, from prospect to purchase. Topics to be covered include pre-purchase profiling and segmentation of prospects, persona development, experience mapping, and the role of technology platforms and artificial intelligence that drive advanced customer journeys. The class consists of a mix of lectures, case analyses, and a project that includes designing, planning, and executing a complete Customer Experience for a selected brand/organization.
MKTG 6530  Marketing Analytics  3 Credits  
Prerequisite(s): MKTG 5400, DATA 5400.  
Marketing analytics is the practice of leveraging data to drive marketing decision-making and strategy. This course introduces students to essential analytical techniques used to collect, analyze, visualize, and interpret marketing data including the ethical challenges with AI, machine learning and big data. Through a combination of theoretical concepts, hands-on exercises, and simulations, students will develop skills in data-driven marketing, optimization, and predictive modeling. By the end of the course, students will have gained hands-on experience with marketing data technologies and developed the ability to make data-driven marketing decisions.
MKTG 6535  Strategic Brand Management  3 Credits  
Prerequisite(s): MKTG 5400.  
This course focuses on the theory and conceptual tools used to develop and implement product and service branding strategies, as means for insuring brand awareness, acceptance, and success, or "equity," in the marketplace. The course highlights the importance and impact of the brand in the marketplace, identifies various decisions involved in creating successful brands, provides an overview of different means for measuring brand effectiveness, and explores the existence of customer-brand relationships. The course incorporates three general modules: Module 1: Identifying/Developing Brand Equity; Module 2: Measuring Brand Equity; Module 3: Managing Brand Equity.
MKTG 6540  Advertising Management  3 Credits  
Prerequisite(s): MKTG 5400.  
This course provides a comprehensive overview of advertising and promotional processes, and develops strategies facilitating managerial decisions in the areas of advertising, public relations, sales promotion, and direct marketing. This course analyzes the importance and influence of advertising in the changing marketplace; provides students with an integrated approach for analyzing marketing communication opportunities; develops the capability for designing, implementing, and evaluating advertising campaigns; and promotes an understanding of the different methods of measuring advertising effectiveness.
MKTG 6550  Advanced Marketing Strategy  3 Credits  
The course will focus on the importance of an effective marketing strategy in order for businesses to make key marketing decisions and be successful. In this course, students will learn to strategically analyze and solve marketing problems from a decision maker’s perspective. Students will focus on solving four fundamental marketing problems known as the “First Principles of marketing strategy” that firms face when designing and implementing marketing strategies. In order to develop an effective marketing strategy, most critical decisions must address that 1) All customers differ; 2) All customers change; 3) All competitors react and 4) All resources are limited. Application of the principles will cover all elements of the marketing mix including topics such as research and development, demographic targeting and segmentation, pricing, product forecasting, marketing channels, sales force distribution and media allocation.
MKTG 6560  Category Management and Shopper Insights  3 Credits  
Fee: $105 Graduate Business Lab  
Prerequisite(s): MKTG 5400.  
In this course, students will learn how retailers and manufacturers engage in a collaborative process to manage a product category at retail for the purpose of optimizing shopper satisfaction to increase revenues and profits. The course imparts students with hands on training on how to analyze retail POS (Point of Sales) data (syndicated scanner data). An emphasis will be given to data interpretation and implication on strategic and tactical decision making related to product assortment, shelf set, promotion, and pricing decisions for the purpose of generating store traffic, improving shopper loyalty, and ultimately increasing revenues and profitability. Students will learn how to leverage insights through a combination of case studies, workshops and by creating compelling, fact-based presentations.
MKTG 6570  Digital Marketing and Analytics with AI  3 Credits  
Prerequisite(s): MKTG 5400.  
This course develops a strategic and analytical understanding of digital marketing, artificial intelligence, and data‑driven decision making, and their implications for organizations and consumers in a dynamic business environment. Students apply contemporary digital marketing tools and analytics to design, integrate, and evaluate marketing strategies across digital channels, including web, search, social media, email, and mobile platforms. The course emphasizes the responsible integration of artificial intelligence—such as large language models, generative engine optimization (GEO), and agentic AI—into marketing planning, execution, and performance measurement, while addressing ethical, legal, and governance considerations essential to building and managing a sustainable digital marketing ecosystem.
MKTG 6575  Social Media Analytics and Strategy  3 Credits  
Prerequisite(s): MKTG 5400 and DATA 5400.  
MKTG 6575 focuses on the power of social media analytics and strategy in enabling businesses to make informed, ethically sound decisions. Students will explore key strategies and techniques, including social listening, social CRM, and social network analysis, to create effective campaigns and optimize resource allocation. The course offers hands-on experience with major social media platforms, where students will develop content, design paid campaigns, and analyze performance data, all while addressing legal and ethical considerations in data collection and management. By the end of the course, students will earn industry-recognized certifications and gain proficiency using AI. The course integrates lectures, case studies, interactive discussions, and an experiential learning project, helping students transform data into actionable insights to elevate social media marketing strategies.
MKTG 6580  Advanced Marketing Analytics  3 Credits  
Prerequisite(s): MKTG 5400, MKTG 6520.  
With unprecedented growth in data availability, companies are increasingly focusing on data driven decision making in marketing. As most of this data is multivariate, an understanding of statistical techniques used to analyze it gains paramount importance. The objective of this course is to develop skills with a range of procedures for multivariate data analysis involving dimension reduction, pattern recognition, classification, and prediction. Students will engage in experiential exercises that require utilizing statistical software to organize and analyze data, interpreting the results, and presenting actionable conclusions for decision making.
MKTG 6583  Pricing Strategies and Analytics  3 Credits  
Fee: $75 Graduate Business Lab  
Pricing is the only element of the marketing mix that generates revenue. The other marketing instruments typically drive cost in the process of creating customer value, which is recaptured through effective pricing. This course establishes a foundation for effective pricing decisions by teaching key economic, analytical, and behavioral concepts associated with costs, customer behavior, and competition; introduces students to advanced pricing techniques that aim to create additional value, including dynamic pricing, segmented pricing, pricing structures, and promotions; and highlights practical applications of these approaches within specific industry contexts. Through a mixture of lectures, case studies, and analytical techniques, the course will prepare students to address strategic and tactical issues related to pricing.
MKTG 6590  Experimental Research  3 Credits  
Prerequisite(s): MKTG 5400, MKTG 6520.  
Experiments are widely used in marketing research to investigate cause and effect relationships, such as the impact of a price change on sales, or the impact of a new promotional campaign on brand awareness, or the impact of a change in the ingredients of a product on brand acceptance. This course is intended to acquaint the student with the basic topics of experimental design and analysis. It is intended to provide an understanding of the components of an experiment, the various types of experimental designs, the analysis of experimental results, and when experiments are indicated as a research option.
MKTG 6900  Contemporary Topics  3 Credits  
This course examines recent practitioner and academic literature in various areas of marketing, incorporating guest speakers as appropriate. Topics vary each semester to fit the interests of the seminar participants.
MKTG 6990  Independent Study  3 Credits  
MKTG 6999A  Capstone Project: Marketing Analytics and Strategy  3 Credits  
Prerequisite(s): Four courses from: MKTG 6510, MKTG 6520, MKTG 6530, MKTG 6550, MKTG 6570, MKTG 6580, MKTG 6583.  
In this course, students demonstrate how the knowledge and skills learned in the MS in Marketing Strategy and Analytics program can be applied to business problems. Students will demonstrate this competence by providing socially responsible strategic recommendations to a local organization to solve a business problem in order to gain competitive advantage. Students undertake a major research project as a central activity in this course, drawing on the expertise and research methodologies they have developed in the program.

A dual graduate business degree program allows students to pursue two graduate degrees, combining a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a specialized Master of Science (MS) graduate degree in a specific field, or combining two specialized MS programs. The goal is to provide a broader skill set, enabling graduates to apply business knowledge in specialized industries or roles.

The advantage of dual degree programs is that they can be completed in less time than pursuing the degrees separately. These programs are ideal for individuals looking to expand their expertise across multiple disciplines, enhance career prospects, and increase their versatility in the job market.

Interested students will contact the Program Directors of each program to develop their dual degree plan of study.

The dual degree options include:

MBA/MS Dual Degree

Students will complete the seven core MS courses, five MBA subject area courses, and four MBA concentration courses. The MBA concentration will be in a different discipline than the MS program. The MBA concentration courses will count as MS electives. A minimum of 16 courses/48 credits is required.

Any prerequisite course for either the MBA or any of the MS programs will be required.

MS/MS Dual Degree

Students will take the seven core MS courses from the first program, the seven core courses from the second program, plus an elective. A minimum of 15 courses/45 credits is required.

Any prerequisite course for either MS program will be required.

The Dolan Career Development Center provides professional development services that enrich graduate students’ academic experiences and inspire tomorrow’s business leaders. For more information, reference the Career Development section of this catalog.