What major is suggested when persuing marketing and advertising?

It's great that you have an idea of what you want to do. Marketing is more than just advertising though. Advertising is part of one component of marketing, which is promotion. The three other elements of marketing is product, pricing, and placement (distribution). You can learn plenty of principles and theories of pricing and distribution through economics. And it's hard to sell a product that isn't right for the market also. So I would not necessarily discount economics or any other major. Advertising may be the sexiest part of marketing, and communications will give you more practical skills that could more directly apply to the advertising or promotional side or marketing, but so much of marketing is behind the scenes. You may want to ask yourself what you like about advertising? Perhaps it's the creative part of advertising that you like. There's also media buying and media strategy, event marketing, and interactive and social media components, just to name a few. So feel free to explore and find out more of what marketing and advertising are.

I majored in Communications and it was perfect - general enough to be able to apply to a few different companies within various departments (marketing, sales, business ops) but specific enough in that I knew one underlying thing about it, which was I wanted to work with people. Communications degrees cover a lot of learnings, from business (I was required to take classes in economics, finance, etc.) to marketing (I also took classes in advertising, PR, etc.) which made it a great fit, when I didn't know what I wanted to do when I was a college sophomore and had to declare a major. As I learned more, I found I had a lot more interest in the advertising and PR classes so I obtained an internship in the marketing and then, the next year, the sales departments of a rapidly-growing company. I learned the most in the actual hands-on work there so whatever you do, try to get an internship in your field of interest as it will give you a great idea of what the day-to-day job experience will look like once you graduate with that degree :) Good luck!

As an Economics and Psychology double major, I would like to add that economics (as well as statistics or mathematics) can be a great major for marketing! Similar to the people above, it depends on what type of marketing you're looking to do: if you want to focus on marketing strategy / analysis / insights, it really benefits you to know how to analyze big (or small) data when monitoring online advertising campaigns.

The majors that are most popularly aligned with your goals are Communications and Business Administration. Given all that I've said, experience is the most important! Take on internships, part-time work, or be involved with extracurricular student organizations to get a better idea of this is what you want to do. Best of luck :)!

I agree with the above two responses and I'll add that if you have done your research and it is marketing/advertising that you would like to pursue, than you should think about getting your BS in Business and Major in Marketing. Also several colleges offer advanced degrees like a Masters in Global Marketing Communications and Advertising programs which can be helpful. Beyond being focused with your major, I'd suggest to be very selective when it comes to your internships. Try to find internships at companies or agencies that align with your major and career goals. This can really help make the difference when you are applying for a job. Also if you have the option and interest, try to go abroad for a semester or for an internship. Gaining some international experience isn't necessary but will put you to an advantage in some cases.

Marketing and advertising careers include graduates from many different majors, so there is not one ideal major - that means you can major in almost anything and still be able to get a job in marketing or advertising. There are two things you can do during college that better prepare you though: take courses related to marketing and advertising (more are probably offered in communications than in economics), and do internships at advertising agencies and in marketing departments. These two things will be more important on your resume than your major, when it's time to recruit for a full time position. Good luck!

It really depends on what side of Advertising you want to work in. I work on the design or visual side in which you can pursue degrees in Advertising or Graphic Design. If you want more of the #s and data and strategy side you can pursue a Marketing or Business degree.

It seems from your current degree in economics a degree in Marketing or Business would best line up with your interest since looking and evaluating data and numbers is important for marketing and determining how a company should advertise.

You can major in Marketing! But there is also Public Relations, Communications, and Journalism.

There are schools that offer marketing/ad majors but not all! I am currently in advertising and I studied business economics in school. The thing to focus on is what exactly do you want to go into since marketing/ads is quite vague. Do you want to be in the creative side? operational side? sales side?

Once you think about where you want to work you can begin tailoring your educational needs towards that goal.