University subject profile: marketing and PR | Journalism, publishing and public relations
What you’ll learn
PR students will touch on topics such as editorial processes, design and business, covering magazines to digital texts. There will be modules on understanding the media landscape, developing writing skills and using social media to mount campaigns. Courses will often focus on reputation management – something increasingly central to organisations and powerful individuals. You will discover how brands communicate ideas, products and services to diverse audiences, and how reputations are formed and maintained in a digital environment.
As well as selling and promotion, marketing is about sharing a product or service with the right customers. Campaigns need to be creative, engaging and innovative to cut through the noise of the digital world.
Universities with strong industry links can be useful, especially if you are taught by academics with contacts in the commercial world.
How you’ll learn
You will work on group projects that require contemporary industry knowledge. The teaching will be varied: you might spend your morning learning calculations to set an annual budget, and your afternoon coming up with catchy slogans for a campaign. You need to be flexible and open-minded. At the London College of Communication, for example, third-year students work on a project to replicate the experience of a PR agency: working on a client’s live brief in a team, then pitching solutions to a panel.
Entry requirements
Marketing degrees have some of the most flexible entry requirements. As it’s such a varied subject, there are lots of routes in, so any combination of A-levels with good grades should be enough.
What job can you get?
For PR graduates, there are opportunities in commercial, government and public sector organisations. Some work in-house for one large organisation, while others are employed by an agency and provide services to clients. Marketing often leads to a career in social media, digital marketing, advertising or public relations.
