Marketing Communication
Overview
Messaging that consistently reaches its target audience is the hallmark of success in the marketing communication field. By earning your marketing communication degree from USC’s renowned Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, you can broaden your professional acumen by learning current best practices in marketing communication.
In this program, you can verse yourself in areas like creating campaigns in new media and building brands in traditional and emerging markets — then employ strategies that positively impact customers and clients alike.
Why Earn an Online Master of Communication Management?
At USC, we’ve designed our online Master of Communication Management (MCM) program to be career-focused — so you can make an immediate impact in your current organization. During your time in the program, you can benefit from:
- Solving real-world communication problems with our applied professional practicum
- Studying with faculty who have extensive experience both in academia and across the communication field
- Exploring current trends in communication with an emphasis on digital and social media tools
- Learning in a 100% online environment that empowers you to earn your degree from anywhere in the world
Marketing Communication Focus Area Outcomes
When you earn an MCM with a focus in Marketing Communication, you prepare to become a versatile communication professional who can confidently take on any of a variety of purpose-based roles. Coursework in the program covers critical subjects in depth, including:
- Managing strategic corporate communication
- Uses of communication research and analytics
- Communication and attitudes, values and behaviors
- Integrated communication strategies
- Global marketing communication
- Storytelling, culture and experiential communication
Why Choose USC Annenberg?
When you begin your online master’s in communication degree, you are granted access to the resources of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. That means all of our digital libraries, professional networks and accomplished faculty are available to you as you develop your strategic communication expertise and build the confidence to put it into action.
Broaden your skill set with these professional growth opportunities:
- Access a multitude of creative workshops, digital tools and events through the USC Annenberg Digital Lounge, an official Adobe Certification Center
- Learn from a world-class faculty of leading experts in marketing, new and social media, change management, research and corporate communication
- Solve real-world problems with experiential learning opportunities
- Engage with diverse, multidisciplinary professionals across industries
- Connect with more than 15,000 USC Annenberg alumni worldwide
Marketing Communication Careers
Every company and industry — no matter its niche or size — needs outstanding marketing communication managers to achieve its business goals. That’s why the job outlook for advertising, promotions and marketing managers remains strong, with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projecting that positions for these professionals will increase by 6% between 2022 and 2032, about twice as much growth as the average of all careers in the U.S.
Individuals who earn a marketing communication degree like the MCM with a focus in Marketing Communication can pursue marketing and communication careers like the following:
Advertising, Promotions and Marketing Managers
$138,730 per year*
Chief Marketing Officer
$182,300 per year**
Marketing Director
$96,300 per year**
Marketing Communications Director
$89,700 per year**
Brand Manager
$77,500 per year**
Art Director
$74,200 per year**
Where Can Marketing and Communication Degree Concentration Graduates Work?
Areas of expertise for MCM graduates with a marketing communication concentration include:
- Marketing and sales
- Publicity and promotions
- Market research
- Marketing management
- Social media
- Advertising
- Public relations
- Public communication campaigns
- Public or community affairs
Places where you can work with an online master of communication management include:
- Corporations
- Marketing and communication organizations
- Professional, scientific and technical firms
- Colleges and universities
- Finance and insurance groups
- Health care organizations
- Local, state and federal government departments
How Has USC’s Online Master of Communication Management Benefited Our Graduates?
Earning an online Master of Communication Management from USC can be a launching point to the next phase of your career, whether that means moving into a management position, changing companies or taking on a more strategic role.
According to Annenberg’s 2024 Career Placement survey, 97% of respondents report that they were employed within one year of graduation.
Here’s a sample of some of their titles and employers:
- Atlas Clean Energy, Co-Chief Executive Officer
- Bank of America, Officer; Project Operations
- California Baptist University, VP, Marketing and Communications
- Creative Artists Agency, Assistant, Music Marketing
- Evergreen Trading, Senior Media Buyer
- General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Regional Marketing Lead
- Intuit, Customer Experience Group Manager
- Ketchum, Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Food and Cultivate
- Lionsgate, Senior Sales Coordinator
- Spurs Sports & Entertainment, Senior Employee Experience Manager
- U.S. Department of State, Program Analyst
- US Navy, Public Affairs Manager
- Wieden + Kennedy, Account Executive
Curriculum
Marketing and Communication Courses
Core Courses
Organizations are created through the process of communication, whether in the form of verbal agreements, written policies or enacted behaviors. As a result, organizational communication is highly interdisciplinary. It is inextricably linked to management, sociology, psychology and organizational behavior.
Managing Communication is about the process of understanding the systems, structures and processes that are integral to creating and maintaining organizations. This survey course will work through a model of organizational design to touch on a wide variety of the macro-level areas of the field of organizational communication, including the organizational structure, partnerships, networks, teams, culture and reward systems.
An understanding of research methods is essential to successfully navigate the current professional business world. In this course we consider research from both a qualitative and quantitative perspective.
The course is designed around the principle that the best way to learn is via doing. Each week students apply the instructional materials to a range of problems simulating real-world scenarios. The course presents a range of methodological approaches, and multiple opportunities are provided to tailor the assignments to student personal interests.
Cognate Courses
Throughout this course, you will learn how to think critically about research by asking good questions and applying rigorous methods and models to data. You will also practice using research to answer business questions. As industries become increasingly competitive, organizations are relying more and more on data to make more informed decisions. This reality requires individuals who understand not only how to interpret data, but how research can be designed to optimize the quality of research findings.
This course has been designed to provide you with grounding in the overall process of research design, to build your competence as a communicator of complex research findings, as well as to help you gain practical skills in some of the most common research methods. You will have the opportunity to learn course concepts through the development of a marketing research project for a client. Throughout the semester you will work with a team and use research to answer your client’s questions and provide recommendations. The final product will be presented to your clients.
Focus-Area Courses
Successful creative campaigns communicate consumer benefits in simple, unexpected and compelling ways. This course provides an overview and application of marketing communication principles and strategies. It focuses on key concepts and frameworks for creating and managing an integrated marketing communication plan.
Topics will include situation analysis, consumer research, branding, campaign objectives, creative strategy, promotion strategy, media strategy, and campaign management and evaluation. Special attention will be given to social media and other current trends and innovations.
In an increasingly saturated digital environment, with shifting patterns of media consumption and new modes of communication, today’s marketing and communication practitioners must possess an understanding of these forces and be able to apply communication constructs in new and innovative ways.
This course is designed to provide students with critical perspectives about new media technologies, social marketing communication and consumer behaviors online. In addition to evaluating theories and observing brand interactions online, students are provided with opportunities to gain practical, hands-on experience in creating online elements as part of digital marketing campaigns.
Markets are becoming more and more intertwined, and it has become imperative for all entities to analyze their consumers and their competitive landscape in global terms. The ability to effectively do so provides a key competitive advantage to create, capture and deliver value in an evolving global landscape.
This course provides participants analytical tools to identify the challenges and opportunities in the global marketplace. The analysis draws on relevant interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks as well as practical applications from case studies to bridge the gap between theory and practice utilizing lectures, articles and industry reports.
Capstone Theory-Practice Integration Course
In this course you will engage in detailed research-orientated examination of a topic. Topic selection is guided via a discussion with your instructor to design an achievable research goal that fulfills the goals of the program and your goals as an individual.
This course serves as the capstone experience of the program and as such is oriented to allow you to produce your best work while demonstrating what you have learned in the program. Due to the individually tailored and student-oriented research projects, each student engages in very different work, which results in very different final deliverables.
Admission Requirements
Applicants must have:
- A bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university, or foreign equivalent.
- For international applicants, a valid score on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), International English Language Testing System (IELTS), or Pearson Test of English (PTE).
Application Materials
Complete and submit your Graduate Admissions Application online. Within the application, you will need to provide the following application materials:
- Résumé: Up-to-date professional résumé or curriculum vitae
- Letters of Recommendation: Two professional letters of recommendation are required, but you may submit three. Academic letters are acceptable for applicants with limited professional experience. Select your recommenders based on their ability to give in-depth insights about the quality of your work. Recommenders should not be peers or subordinates.
- Writing Sample: One writing sample is required, but you may submit up to three. These could be published pieces, or be academic or professional in nature.
- Statement of Purpose: One to two page essay addressing why you are pursuing your MSMCM degree, how your professional experience will contribute to the program, how a master’s will help you in your career, and why the program at USC Annenberg is a good fit for you.
- Transcripts: Open, scan and upload official transcripts from each postsecondary institution (undergraduate and graduate) you have attended directly to the application portal.
Ready to Get Started?
Academic Calendar
Spring 2026
Application Deadline:
December 5, 2025
Upcoming Start Date:
January 5, 2026
Cost of Attendance
Tuition
Per Unit Cost: $2,467
Total Tuition Cost: $78,944 (32 units)
Fees
Application Fee: $90, non-refundable fee.
Books/Supplies: Students can expect to spend approximately $300-$600 for textbooks and other course materials per semester.
Graduate Student Fees: $31 per semester.*
**Graduate Student Fees are charged per semester and are comprised of a $20 Graduate Student Programming Fee and an $11 fee for the Norman Topping Student Aid Fund. Students enrolled in the program full time will pay approximately $124 in Graduate Student Fees ($31 per semester x 4 semesters), whereas students enrolled in the program part time will pay $248 ($31 per semester x 8 semesters) over the course of their program.
Graduate Student Fees & Tuition are subject to change.
For more information on applying for financial aid, please visit USC Financial Aid. USC Financial Aid.
Faculty
Accomplished and Diverse Faculty
Frequently Asked Questions
