You may be asking yourself: "What is Marketing and what all does marketing entail?"   Marketing is the engine that drives business and our economy.  Marketing is responsible for moving a product from where it is produced to where it is consumed.  We do this by understanding the wants and needs of the consumer and users of the product and making sure the product is what they want, when they want it, and where they want it.  Marketing is a "people person" discipline, with the goal of creating satisfied customers.

In the words of Phil Knight, CEO of Nike, "Now we understand that the most important thing we do is market the product.  We've come around to saying that Nike is a marketing-oriented company, and the product is our most important marketing tool."

Robert W. Sarnoff, former head of NBC, said "Marketing is the foot on the accelerator, the hand on the throttle, the spur on the flank that keeps our economy surging forward."

Peter Drucker, business and management guru says "A business has two - and only two - basic functions:  marketing and innovation."

While we generally think of marketing as a "business" activity, it is used extensively by both profit-seeking and non-profit organizations. Marketing is used by such organizations as the United Way, St. Jude Children's Hospital, The United States Marines, Western Kentucky University, and nearly every other organization or institution.

There are many rewarding and exciting career opportunities in marketing. We discuss some of these opportunities in the "Career Opportunities in Marketing" section of this site.  Just use the appropriate link on this page.

At Western, we strive to offer innovative and highly practical learning experiences to help prepare students for future careers. As a Marketing major, you can choose either a general marketing concentration or a concentraton in professional sales.

The Gordon Ford College of Business is one of only 470 (out of over 1,400) business schools whose undergraduate and graduate business programs are fully accredited by the AACSB (the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) as of August 2008. This helps assure that you will receive a high-quality business education.  Leading employers also recognize the AACSB "stamp of approval" when recruiting new professionals.

At WKU, approximately 90% of all marketing classes are taught by full-time faculty with "real world" business experience, not by teaching assistants or part-time instructors. Eight out of eleven full-time marketing faculty have Ph.D. degrees from well-known universities in the United States, while the remaining three full-time faculty are Executives-in-Residence with twenty plus years of business experience at the executive level of national and international companies. The faculty bring many years of practical experience into the classroom and maintain close industry ties through their active participation in local and national professional organizations, applied research, and consulting. Many of our marketing faculty have received awards for teaching excellence.

You won't be treated like just another number at Western. Every marketing major is assigned a full-time marketing faculty member to serve as his or her career advisor and mentor. Marketing faculty schedule office hours to make themselves readily available to students for advising, career counseling, and classroom assistance.

We encourage our students to apply what they learn in the classroom by seeking valuable internship experience with a large variety of firms located in the greater Bowling Green area and elsewhere.

American Marketing Association (AMA) Student Organization

We encourage all of our marketing students to join our AMA student organization. This organization gives students an opportunity to get acquainted with each other and the faculty in a more relaxed, social setting. The Marketing Club brings guest speakers to the campus from a variety of businesses in the greater Bowling Green area and engages in a repertoire of marketing related activities.  AMA students also have the opportunity to attend the national AMA conference during the Spring semester.