Best Online Bachelor’s in Marketing and Advertising Degree Programs for 2026

Badge for BEST ONLINE BACHELOR'S IN MARKETING &-ADVERTISING

By Dr. James Barham
Reviewed By Jenn Finley

Updated: Mar 25, 2026

Find top-ranked online bachelor’s in marketing and advertising degree programs to prepare students for roles like market research analysts, advertising sales agents, and public relations specialists.

Key Takeaways

The best online bachelor’s programs for marketing and advertising often include specialized courses in social media strategy, content creation, and data analytics, preparing students for the evolving digital landscape.
Many of the programs in our ranking integrate real-world projects, case studies, and virtual internships, allowing students to apply their knowledge directly to current marketing and advertising challenges.
The best online bachelor’s in marketing and advertising are designed for engaging, interactive learning experiences, often including group projects, virtual labs, and access to digital tools used in the industry, accommodating students’ diverse schedules and learning styles.

Table of Contents

Top 10 Online Bachelor's in Marketing Programs in 2026

University of Alabama
Florida International University
University of Memphis
+1
University of Alabama at Birmingham
–1
Florida Atlantic University
Thomas Jefferson University
University of Alaska Fairbanks
+1
Mercer University
–1
East Carolina University
Old Dominion University

Featured Programs

Best Online Bachelor’s in Marketing and Advertising Degree Programs

Career Outlook for Students with Marketing Degree

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Marketing/Marketing Management

Degree Level: Bachelor's

Location: The U.S. (Private Schools)
Avg. Cost of Degree*: $11,202
Avg. Expenses*: $17,257
Avg. Starting Salary*: $44,832
Avg. Salary after 4 Years*: $55,851
Avg. Cost Recoup Time**: 10 years
Job Growth: 8.11%
Number of Jobs: 1,526,000
* denotes ‘annually’
** denotes ‘at 15% of annual salary’

Career Salaries

Career	Job Growth	Avg. Salary
Marketing Managers	8.15%	$157,620
Sales Managers	5.87%	$135,160
Advertising and Promotions Managers	-2.25%	$131,870
Fundraising Managers	6.02%	$119,200
Web and Digital Interface Designers	7.93%	$98,540
Business Teachers, Postsecondary	6.67%	$97,130
Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists	8.29%	$74,680
Fundraisers	5.88%	$64,160
Survey Researchers	No data	$60,960

Top Industries

Industry	Avg. Salary
Marketing Managers	$157,620
Sales Managers	$135,160
Advertising and Promotions Managers	$131,870
Fundraising Managers	$119,200
Web and Digital Interface Designers	$98,540
Business Teachers, Postsecondary	$97,130
Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists	$74,680
Fundraisers	$64,160
Survey Researchers	$60,960

Data from The Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Department of Education College Scorecard, The Department of Education NCES, and The Council for Community and Economic Research.

Frequently Asked Questions About Marketing and Advertising Degrees

Why get a bachelor’s in marketing and advertising?

A bachelor’s degree in marketing and advertising is a great way to put your social media knowledge, creativity, and analytical skills to professional use. With programs available both online and in person, students can earn the roughly 120 required credits in an environment that best suits their needs.

What skills are developed while getting a bachelor’s in marketing and advertising?

This four-year degree challenges students to think strategically and creatively while they take courses covering topics like consumer behavior, business ethics, advertising, and market research. Students may also have the option to choose a concentration, such as social media marketing or business analytics.

What can you do with a bachelor’s in marketing and advertising?

Career opportunities in this field can be lucrative, and graduates with this degree are often prepared for roles like market research analysts, advertising sales agents, and public relations specialists.

A bachelor’s degree in marketing is one of the most popular college degrees for entrepreneurs. E-Business or E-Commerce is also one of the best new college majors.

Learn more about how to major in marketing.

How do we determine the best online marketing and advertising bachelor's degree programs?

Methodology

Pursuing your degree online doesn’t mean you need to settle for an inferior school. Today, most universities and colleges offer online degrees, and many respected schools are seeing significant growth in their numbers of online students.

The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great. This is why influence — i.e., the academic impact of faculty and alumni associated with a school — gets at the heart of what is truly best in education. The combined influence score of a college or university’s top academic influencers is the best indicator of academic excellence. For our online degree rankings, we focus on the academic influence of faculty and alumni in the specific disciplines we’re ranking.

If you are serious about finding the best online colleges, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching, and whether their graduates themselves are advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence. Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Influence, as measured by our InfluenceRanking engine, provides a ranking that is free from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.

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Online Degree Frequently Asked Questions

If this is your first time taking an online course, the experience may require a time of adjustment. Although you’ll typically learn the same material and take the same exams as your on-campus peers, going online will require greater independence and responsibility than going in person. You’ll be accountable for your own time management, for harnessing the online educational technology that you’ll need to use, and for completing the course requirements, such as listening to lectures, learning lessons, reading texts, and handing in assignments. This means you’ll need to create a suitable workspace for yourself, maintain a realistic schedule, and take the initiative in building relationships with your instructors and classmates. With online college, your goal is to find a balance between independence and engagement.

No. The only part of online education that’s easier than campus-based education is ease of access: all you need is a computer and an internet connection for online education. But even this seeming advantage of online education can be misleading: what’s easier, studying online with your computer and internet connection from your home where you need to cook, clean, pay rent, and maintain a job? Or studying on campus in a dorm where all your living needs are handled by the school, and college staff are there to help you every step of the way?

If you take the commute to campus out of the equation, campus-based education is easier. All the support structures available on campus for students, especially with real people to help you in person, are not there online. The demands on you as an online student will largely be the same as for your campus-based counterpart, but without the same helps.

In general, your online courses will present the same material and test you in the same way as traditional in-person courses. In many cases, you’ll even have the same instructors as your on-campus counterparts. In fact, if you are adjusting to the experience of independent learning with remote educational technology for the first time, online college may be considerably more challenging than campus-based college. For a few insights on how to manage this new online experience, check out our 10 Tips for Adjusting to School Online.

Accreditation is especially important when it comes to online college. This is because the online education landscape is a mix of highly-reputable non-profit institutions on the one end and less-than-reputable for-profit institutions on the other end. Accreditation gives you the power to identify the more reputable actors in online education. Accreditation is a stamp of approval from an independent accrediting agency indicating that a college or university is meeting standards of quality and credibility. School-wide accreditation falls into two major categories: regional and national accreditation. Regional accreditors generally hold jurisdiction only over schools in the states comprising their region, whereas national accreditors hold jurisdiction over schools in all states. Regional accreditation is widely regarded as a more rigorous standard of quality and credibility than national accreditation.

Attending a college or university that is not regionally accredited could limit your opportunities. For students seeking an online education, we strongly recommend that they opt for regionally accredited schools. Regional accreditation ensures eligibility for federal loans and grants, ensures your college credits can be transferred between schools, and ensures that your degree credits can be accepted if you wish to earn an advanced degree. For more on this important topic, check out our What is Accreditation and Why Does It Matter? College & University Accreditation Guide.

As long as your online college degree is regionally accredited (see the previous point), you should have little difficulty transferring most of your credits or credentials to another regionally accredited undergraduate school. Every school carries its own standards and procedures for granting a transfer of credits. In many cases, you will encounter some bureaucratic haggling in which some of your credits will be transferred and others may be refused. However, provided that you have attended an online school with recognized regional accreditation, you should be in good shape in transferring your credits earned online.

In most cases, as long you graduate from a well-regarded, regionally-accredited online college, prospective employers won’t look sideways at your degree. In fact, unless you attend an exclusively online college or university, there will likely be no specific indicator on your degree, transcript, or resumé differentiating your school from its brick-and-mortar counterpart. This means that your employer will likely only differentiate between an online and in-person degree if you mention this distinction.

Some employers may express the concern that because you did your degree online, you may need to transition from an online education experience to in-person workplace experience. But in an age of Covid, that concern seems much diminished. The fact is that much employment these days is remote. And collaboration increasingly happens online over Zoom. Many employers will therefore view your online degree as evidence of valuable 21st century professional skills such as independence, self-motivation, time management, and tech savvy.

If you are a student who thrives on the dynamic energy of in-person discussion, who requires the physical surroundings of a classroom to feel engaged, or who considers the social aspects of education to be of equal importance to the actual content of your courses, online education will be less than ideal for you (though depending on your circumstances, it may also be the only viable option).

While there is much in traditional campus-based education that can be substituted or simulated through the online medium, some students may find that there is nothing that can replace the conversation, collaboration, and motivation that occur in an actual in-person classroom setting. As you transition to online education, one of the biggest challenges you will likely face in getting the most out of your online classes is overcoming this difference between “real reality” and “virtual reality.” Fortunately, we’ve got some great Tips for Online Education Beginners.

The advantages of online classes are many. Above all, online courses give you the freedom and flexibility to attend class from anywhere that works for you, whether you’re at home, in a coffee shop, or in a quiet conference room at work. In many cases, you’ll also enjoy the convenience of asynchronous learning opportunities-educational experiences that you can complete at your own pace and on your own schedule. This may include pre-taped lectures, ongoing chat-board discussions, and 24/7 access to digital materials. And of course, just as there are some learners who prefer the energy of a live classroom, there are those who learn best when working in their own personal space, free from distractions. If this sounds like you, you might find the solitude of online learning to be a major advantage.

Whether you’re just getting started on your college search, you’re looking for survival tips on your way to a bachelor’s degree, or you’re preparing for the transition into grad school, we’ve got guides, how to’s and tons of other valuable resources to keep you moving forward in your educational journey.

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Best Online Bachelor’s in Marketing and Advertising Degree Programs for 2026

Key Takeaways

Top 10 Online Bachelor's in Marketing Programs in 2026

Featured Programs

Best Online Bachelor’s in Marketing and Advertising Degree Programs

Last Year’s Ranking:

Career Outlook for Marketing degree at University of Alabama

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Career Outlook for Marketing degree at Florida International University

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Career Outlook for Marketing degree at University of Memphis

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Career Outlook for Marketing degree at University of Alabama at Birmingham

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Career Outlook for Marketing degree at Florida Atlantic University

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Career Outlook for Marketing degree at Thomas Jefferson University

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Career Outlook for Marketing degree at University of Alaska Fairbanks

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Career Outlook for Marketing degree at Mercer University

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Career Outlook for Marketing degree at East Carolina University

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Career Outlook for Marketing degree at Old Dominion University

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Career Outlook for Marketing degree at Missouri State University

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Career Outlook for Marketing degree at Elon University

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Career Outlook for Marketing degree at University of Central Oklahoma

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Career Outlook for Marketing degree at Baker University

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Career Outlook for Marketing degree at University of Central Missouri

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Career Outlook for Marketing degree at Benedictine University

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Career Outlook for Marketing degree at Northwood University

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Career Outlook for Marketing degree at Mercy College

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Career Outlook for Marketing degree at National University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Students with Marketing Degree

Marketing/Marketing Management

Degree Level: Bachelor's

Career Salaries

Top Industries

Frequently Asked Questions About Marketing and Advertising Degrees

Why get a bachelor’s in marketing and advertising?

What skills are developed while getting a bachelor’s in marketing and advertising?

What can you do with a bachelor’s in marketing and advertising?

Online Marketing Programs Looking for You