Marketing

Why does one product fly off the shelf while a near-identical one sits unsold? Assiniboine College’s Marketing advanced diploma spends eight months on that question, and it is designed for people who already hold a two-year diploma or a university degree. The programme is based at the Victoria Avenue East campus in Brandon and begins each September.

Fifteen courses make up the year. Consumer Behaviour and Applied Marketing Research teach you to study buyers and design surveys, supported by Statistics 1 and Statistics 2 for analysing the results. Marketing Communications, Graphic and Web Design and Professional Selling build the practical tools for campaigns, visuals and sales conversations, and Retail Management and International Business widen the view to stores and global markets. Marketing Strategy & Analysis pulls everything into a full marketing plan, while Business Law, Canadian Business and Society, Advanced Software and Indigenous History complete the programme.

Assiniboine recommends that applicants without a marketing background take an introductory course such as Marketing Principles before starting, so the eight months can go straight into applied work. Students bring their own laptop that meets the programme’s technical needs, and the college notes that Mac devices are not compatible with the programme software. There is no co-op term; industry guest speakers and industry networking connect the class to working marketers. Credit may also count towards further study through Assiniboine’s agreements with other colleges and universities.

Graduates of the Marketing advanced diploma look for roles such as marketing coordinator, social media specialist, market research analyst, sales representative and retail manager. It suits degree or diploma holders from any field who enjoy research, writing and design, and who want a compact year that adds campaign planning, consumer research and selling skills to their first qualification.