Advertising & Public Relations
We offer a powerful major that combines both advertising and public relations courses to equip students with the expertise and skills to forge a successful career!
Advertising and public relations play a crucial role in boosting brand credibility and raising product awareness. Additionally, they drive sales and enhance the company’s competitive edge. A career in advertising and public relations is exciting and pays well!
Discover the curriculum map here.
Advertising
Conceive it – Write it – Design it – Pitch it
Our advertising courses throw you into a fast paced, learn as you go environment, designed to hone your creative chops and develop critical business skills. You’ll create messages for print, broadcast and online media, generate campaigns and produce content for products, services and ideas. Today, you’re a creative entrepreneur.
Writers – Are you a story teller? Advertising & PR majors are too. Craft killer copy, clever headlines, compelling, web content, power scripts and social media features. If you’re willing, the SOJMC will help you diversify your skillset so that whatever story you envision, you’ll know the right way to get your message across.
Designers – You’ll learn how to take the words right out of peoples’ mouths. You’re here to hone the primal art force that drives you, and we’re here to guide the refinement of your already vigorous imagination.
Movers, Doers, Shakers – a.k.a. Accounts
You’re a leader, and your people skills are unparalleled. You’re eager to incorporate ideas from the team. Now it’s time to take it to the next step. The account world is building social capital, and forming relationships both business and personal. “Accounts” covers a vast array of jobs. Research lays the foundation. Strategy hatches ideas. Media analytics track audiences. Don’t forget to bring your suit!
By helping you pinpoint your passions, you’re able to focus on an aspect of the advertising industry that’s best suited to you, providing a vital leg up in starting careers. Our advertising courses instill a practical understanding of integrated marketing communications, concept driven storytelling and computer based design skills that give students the experience needed to shine in a competitive workforce and the potential to develop into innovators and thought-leaders in the advertising world.
Public Relations
Plan it – Communicate it – Deliver it
Working in Public Relations, you’re embarking on a mission not merely to communicate information effectively, but also to influence the way those messages are understood. No matter how you’re interacting with a client’s business or image, our PR courses are designed to get you up to speed. By the time you walk across the stage with your diploma in hand, you will have a firm grasp on:
Event Planning – From soiree to shindig, you will learn how to handle it all. The SOJMC will show you the ropes of wrangling successful nonprofit events, organizing fundraisers, and making the guests at a gala know their tickets were worthwhile.
Digital Contact: Nobody keeps an address book anymore. It seems it’s all on your phone. Interacting with 100 followers isn’t the same as 100,000. Our public relations courses will guide you through the pitfalls and show you how to get people interested and involved with both the old-fashioned way, and the new #way.
Media Relations – Press releases are the face of your relationship with the public. You might be more familiar with media relations that come from a corporate spokesperson, or the White House press secretary, but they are just as crucial to a small nonprofit as they are to big business. You already know how to speak—this is where we teach you shape your words into actions.
Crisis Management – It’s unavoidable. Bad things happen every day. That’s life. Dealing with problems is a big part of the job, but learning how to prepare for handling problems is just as important. You’ll be able to negotiate for the best possible solution for today’s problems, and be ready to take on tomorrow’s.
Collective37
Collective37 is a student-run, student-developed, communications agency at Marshall University. Students get serious real-world experience working with clients on and off campus. All Advertising and PR majors are invited to get involved.