Marketing and Public Relations: Focus on

Without being over-simplistic, there are two ways for a business to increase profitability. They can either cut costs or get customers to buy more products (ie increase sales). The Marketing and Public Relations sectors are ultimately concerned with getting people to buy more products. There are a variety of postgraduate courses available in Irish universities that concentrate on these areas.

Marketing
Marketing goods and services effectively takes expertise and knowledge. Often, a great deal of research and creative thinking goes into successful marketing. People have to be persuaded to choose your product over that of your competitors or over not buying anything at all. Marketing strategies can affect everything that impacts on customers, prospects, employees, investors, vendors and essential business processes. Marketing, therefore, is just as skilled and important a component in the business process as, say, research and development or manufacturing.

At postgraduate level, marketing is a diverse subject, with both academic and practical elements. Marketing postgraduate courses can contain elements drawn from related fields such as management, advertising or public relations. For business graduates, a marketing qualification can be a way to specialise and prepare for a specific career path. Graduates with backgrounds in non-business subjects, from Humanities to Science to IT, often take marketing postgraduate courses to round out their CVs.

The University of Ulster runs a highly-regarded Postgraduate Diploma/ MSc course in Marketing and Entrepreneurship at its Jordanstown Campus. The programme mixes contemporary theories with practical applications. There are strong links with senior marketing executives within the local business community. Applicants should normally possess a relevant second-class honours degree or better, or an equivalent qualification. The course can be taken full-time for one year, or part-time over two years.

The course syllabus is broadly similar to other programmes in the area. Students take modules include Marketing & Research Principles, E-marketing, Entrepreneurial Marketing in Practice, Leadership and Management, Macro Marketing, Marketing Management, Enterprise Development, and Dissertation Development. Students must take eight modules to gain the PGradDip. They can then continue to complete a dissertation and be awarded the MSc degree.

There are a wide variety of other postgraduate qualifications in marketing available throughout Ireland. The Higher Diploma in Management and Marketing at University College Cork is a postgraduate marketing qualification aimed at those not arriving from a business background. You can also study marketing at postgraduate level at Waterford IT, University of Limerick, Dublin Business School, UCC, UCD, DCU, Athlone IT, DIT, Limerick IT and NUI Galway.

Marketing graduates are sought after in practically every industry in Ireland. Many companies have their own marketing departments within their organisations that deal with their own products or services. There are also companies or agencies that specialise in marketing for other companies. Those with postgraduate marketing qualifications are sought after in other industries, notably advertising and public relations. A postgraduate course in Marketing can help you progress in all of these areas.

Public Relations
The field of public relations is closely related to the marketing and advertising areas. The exact job description of the PR practitioner can vary, but they generally look after the public perception of their company of that of its products. This can involve creating information that shows your employers in a good light and providing this material to the media, customers, clients and other members of the public. It can also involve organising events to highlight your clients’ products and achievements. Successful PR professionals tend to be confident and sociable with excellent communications skills. Further study public relations courses can be attractive to those with business, media or general arts degrees who are looking to specialise at postgraduate level to further their careers.

At postgraduate level, public relations academic programmes can be particularly specialised, concentrating on subjects such as PR Techniques, Media Writing, Sponsorship and Community Relations, Event Management, Public Affairs & Lobbying, Communication Theory and Strategy & Corporate Environment. The European Institute of Communications, the Fitzwilliam Institute, Dun Laoghaire College of Further Education and Dublin Institute of Technology all offer postgraduate programmes in Public Relations.

Public Relations positions tend to be slightly less widespread, but a growing number of businesses and organisations employ public relations staff or information officers. Both the public and private sectors alike require Public Relations experts. As with the marketing area, there are a number of specialised agencies in Ireland who look after public relations for their clients who can range from multinational companies to charities to private individuals. With the spread of celebrity culture, media, politics and sporting luminaries increasingly employ their own PR staff for protection and support.