The Integrated Marketing Communications Professional Program

Explore the key differences between Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) and traditional marketing master’s programs.

Discover the key trends shaping the current and future demands of successful CMOs today.

This article explores the evolving landscape of integrated SEM and the impact of emerging technologies on search engine marketing.

Discover SEM's indispensable role in modern marketing strategies, its seamless integration within IMC, and how it drives success in today's dynamic digital landscape.

Read on to delve into the fundamentals of digital marketing, its significance and its evolution over time.

Find out about the many benefits of 5-day immersive courses for experienced marketers, an exclusive feature of the Medill IMC Professional program.

In our increasingly diverse society, understanding culture and inclusion is foundational for successful marketing and long-term brand success. Learn more about the power of culture and inclusion in marketing.

Integrated marketing communications, or IMC, is a strategic approach to marketing communications grounded in consumer behavior and psychology. It leverages the full power of current marketing technologies and helps businesses and nonprofit organizations align their marketing efforts across multiple channels to break through clutter and achieve strategic objectives.

Marketing is more important to successful business operations now than ever. Businesses prioritizing integrated marketing communications (IMC) have a clear advantage, as do marketers with the right skills. Read about how a master's in integrated marketing communications can help you get essential skills to become a marketing leader.

In an era when data is king and customer engagement is paramount, the right MarTech stack can make or break the success of your marketing operations. But there's no need to feel overwhelmed by the volume of data and the number of MarTech tools available. Read more here about how to take your MarTech stack from the planning stage to a game-changing reality.

If you’re considering a master’s degree in integrated marketing communications, you’ll be very interested in what Kelly Gallagher thinks about this topic. Gallagher is a 2022 IMC Professional program graduate and vice president at Ketchum, a global communications consultancy. Read her comments here.

A distinctive and consistent brand has become an essential business asset in today's highly competitive and advertising-saturated marketplace. Brand management is more than marketing and advertising; its benefits reverberate throughout an organization. Read more here about the primary considerations of brand management and how it can help you drive business value.

What do a beauty brand, an upscale outdoor brand, a beverage brand and a sportswear brand have in common? This post introduces some concepts presented in Medill's Advanced Brand Management course and discusses how the brands have used them to drive brand equity and business value.

Angel Martinez, a student in Northwestern University’s Medill IMC Professional program, is a strategic communication specialist for the Network for College Success. In a recent interview, Martinez related how Medill’s emphasis on supporting art with science in marketing is helping him on his journey as a strategic marketer in the non-profit arena.

“Brand managers have a duty to serve as a lighthouse in the organization,” Ryan Reis, branding consultant and Medill IMC Professional adjunct lecturer, said. “They provide clarity as to what a brand stands for and what all company activity should support.”

People who can translate data into strategic or tactical direction are uniquely valuable. Read more about how the IMC Professional program trains marketers for success at the intersection of data and marketing.

Learn how Northwestern University’s Medill IMC Professional program helped Tifair Hamed become a CMO driving economic growth for the City of Chicago. Hamed, who credits the Medill IMC Professional program with giving her the skills and confidence to become the Chief Marketing Officer of a technology-focused Chicago nonprofit, nearly dropped out of the program.

In our technology-rich time, it can be valuable to consider how we completed certain tasks before we could rely on powerful handheld computers. How did we get to new places without GPS, choose hotels or restaurants without apps, or keep track of peoples’ contact information without smartphones?

As marketers, we all understand the incredible power of data. We have a wealth of data and most of us use some kind of data nearly every day in our jobs. Typically, we are leveraging that data to understand and analyze business, industry, customers, initiatives and more. We use data as information.

In December, 15 Medill IMC Professional students gathered in San Francisco for the Design Thinking immersive course, which teaches how to focus marketing work on customer needs. Learn more about transformational learning this course and the strategic value of this approach to designing marketing communications.

Panelists discussed the role of social media in shaping digital and national narratives surrounding race during Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications’ February event.

Scholar, author and civil rights lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill headlined Northwestern University’s 2023 MLK Dream Week with a keynote conversation at 5 p.m., Monday, Jan. 23 at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall.

Roy Wollen, marketing expert and instructor in Medill’s IMC Professional Program, knows that successful marketing begins with using data to understand the client’s needs and uses data-derived insights to drive action. Learn more here about the thoughts he shared in a workshop for the Chicago chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA).

Danielle Robinson Bell, an accomplished integrated marketing communications practitioner and a Northwestern University alumna and faculty member, was named director of the IMC Professional Program at the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications in September 2022. She shared her thoughts about the program and the future of integrated marketing communications at Medill during an interview in October 2022.

Northwestern University has received the 2022 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. The HEED Award is the only national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion across their campuses. This is the second consecutive year Northwestern has received this honor.

We hear and see these phrases frequently, but what exactly is digital marketing and what are digital marketing skills?

As technology advances in a mobile-first environment, customers have access to a seemingly unending supply of products, services, information and ads. End-users on any channel encounter constant marketing efforts that may or may not be relevant for them.

The concept of brand trust can often be overlooked in favor of short-term goals, but it’s a crucial piece of marketing strategy. Trust and loyalty often go hand-in-hand and will cement your brand in customers’ minds; when they’re looking for a product or service, they’ll know exactly where to go.

In today’s industries, marketing technology (or MarTech) is no longer suggested, it’s expected. Whether it’s an email to confirm a payment, or an ad for a wedding dress after you’ve googled “engagement rings,” organizations of all kinds are deploying new and unique ways to reach potential customers.

Christopher Isit, IMC ‘22, recently spoke with us about Medill’s Master of Science in Integrated Marketing Communications Professional program. With an impressive, multifaceted career to his credit, he’s currently the Content Director for Power Equipment Direct, and he offered specific praise for the immersion-course experience at Medill.

A formal interview is a standard part of the application process for graduate school. It’s an opportunity for the admissions committee to learn more about you and your career goals, and it’s your chance to ask a few questions—to get a feel for the program and its expectations.

The professional world and the world of graduate school have many things in common, and one trait they share is that relationships matter. When you’re applying to graduate school, recommendation letters carry a lot of weight.

Good news for potential graduate school applicants: the professional statement doesn’t need to be the most daunting part of your application package. While it may be some time since you’ve sat down to write an essay, particularly if you’ve already been in the professional workforce for several years, the essay you’ll write to accompany your master’s degree application should be a rewarding challenge.

It’s a general truth about resumes that they should always strive to speak to a specific opportunity. While the resume you use for professional opportunities may be fairly consistent if you apply to multiple jobs in the same industry, your resume for graduate school poses a different challenge.