5 Most Affordable PhD's In Marketing Online

Pursuing an online PhD in marketing can help cement yourself as a creative, enterprising marketer with the agile administrative acumen to lead. Marketing doctorates are the field's highest, most prestigious degrees focused on consumer research to generate lucrative corporate sales. Entering rigorous doctoral study sets marketing managers ahead of the pack for executive, teaching, and scholarly jobs. According to the National Science Foundation, U.S. colleges only conferred 54,070 doctorates total in 2014. Completing a marketing Ph.D. online lets you join an elite list of doctoral-trained business gurus like Rob Walton, Eric Schmidt, and Miuccia Prada. Whether you work for a startup or Fortune 100 company, choose your PhD marketing online carefully to avoid profit-breaking loan debt.

Explore these promoted online degree programs.

These top, accredited schools offer a variety of online graduate degree programs. Figuring out where to apply? Consider one of these online Master's or PhD programs.

Most Affordable Online Marketing PhD Programs in 2021

Why Earn a Marketing Doctorate Online?

Pursuing a PhD marketing online is a challenging, fulfilling intellectual journey that's made more convenient thanks to Internet-based learning technologies. Online universities minimize your distractions and extra costs by making course content available 24/7 while keeping a day job. Picking the right online marketing doctorate is crucial since the Chronicle of Higher Education reports that 50 percent of candidates never finish. The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is a research-intensive degree where marketing majors generally strive to pioneer new marketing theories in academia. The Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) is an applied, practice-oriented terminal program where students mostly fine-tune their strategies for private sector employment.

Marketing professionals considering DBA or PhD online programs often wonder if the degree will be respected. A survey conducted by Zogby International and published by CNN found that 83 percent of executives said online degrees are as credible. Face-to-face instruction is sparse, but the flexibility of online marketing PhDs lets you continue working to build the experience recruiters crave. Your online doctorate should be recognized if it's from a reputable teaching institution. Judge the school's worthiness by looking for accreditation that vouches against "diploma mills." Ask admission staff important questions about faculty credentials and placement rates. Review the doctoral curriculum to test the rigor of courses and dissertation requirements too.

Doctoral marketing degrees online can introduce post-grads to several marketing disciplines for wide-ranging career possibilities. For example, content marketing is a brand management niche where marketers create consumable articles, blog posts, and tutorials to engage consumers. Search engine marketing (SEM) is a hot specialization concerned with getting organizations' websites to appear strategically in Google results. Direct marketing is another subfield where managers increase public brand awareness by sending promos right to potential customers. Here are some of the titles where your PhD marketing online could be useful:

Market Research Director- Corporations rely on market research directors to head complex studies on consumer behavior for maximizing sales trends. Their duties include setting research policies, supervising data collection, developing department budgets, reviewing statistical findings, presenting reports to executives, and advising on marketing strategy tweaks.
Professor of Marketing- Top business schools like Wharton, Stanford, and Kellogg would require a marketing PhD to prepare students for communicating corporate goals to consumers. For each class, marketing professors must draft syllabi, write lectures, create assignments, grade papers and exams, and research new industry developments.
Creative Director- Learning the ins and outs of advertising from a PhD marketing online would qualify you for leading cohesive teams cranking out genius campaigns. Creative directors manage projects from concept to completion, including setting brand standards, overseeing client pitches, establishing timelines, hiring artists like photographers, and editing final products.
Demand Generation Executive- Spawning quality leads that turn into company profits is a scrupulous process led by demand generation executives. Their day-to-day work involves developing content policies, finding outreach connections, setting digital roadmaps, maintaining lead databases, and collaborating with sales directors.
Marketing Consultant- Finishing a cheap marketing PhD online could inspire the confidence, network, and competence to become self-employed. Marketing consultants are third-party freelancers companies hire to fix conversions, analyze customer data, draft fresh strategies, fill resource gaps, formulate business growth plans, and train in-house marketers.
Chief Marketing Officer- PhD marketing online grads often aspire to join Adobe's Ann Lewnes, McDonald's Deborah Wahl, and Netflix's Kelly Bennett at the top of the corporate ladder. Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) are the innovative minds who shape, execute, and change organizational promotion strategies. The C-suite job includes everything from distribution channel management to pricing and customer service.

Affordable doctorates in marketing online can reap high return on investment by pushing you into these lucrative upper-level jobs. According to SmartAsset, post-doc graduates report average income of $84,396, or $1,623 weekly, across fields. Marketing management ratchets this statistic upward with a mean annual salary of $144,140. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the 205,900 U.S. marketing managers make between $67,490 and $215,540. The top-paying states are New York, Delaware, and New Jersey with average wages of $188,640, $173,850, and $167,860 per year. Academia jobs pay considerably less with a $96,770 average for business professors. The highest mean salary of $194,350 goes to top executives, including CMOs, in the corporate world.

Job outlooks look extremely favorable for marketing PhD online grads. The BLS shows that the unemployment rate for doctoral degree holders is only 1.7 percent. That's considerably less than the 5.9 percent rate for marketing bachelor's graduates reported on Wall Street Prep. Marketing management is projected to expand by 10 percent by 2026 for a 21,800 hiring jump. Consulting will be a fast-growing niche where PhD marketing online students can expect 12 percent growth. College enrollment has peaked above 21 million, so the demand for B-school professors will skyrocket by 15 percent. Competition is the toughest for top executive jobs where growth of 8 percent is expected, so a doctorate could help your chances.

Ready to apply for marketing PhD online programs? Be sure to review the admission requirements that vary by graduate school. Most online colleges will require holding an M.S. in Marketing, Master of Business Administration, or related degree. Others might accept an accredited bachelor's with a resume filled with hard work in marketing. Some PhD or DBA programs online may have curriculum prerequisites, such as statistics and economics. Marketing doctorates usually require solid academic records with minimum GPAs from 3.0 to 3.5. Even if not required, scores for the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) can give you a competitive edge. Contact some of these cheap online marketing PhD and DBA programs to learn more.