Claire Ma (MSMA ’16) first considered a career in marketing analytics during her internship at Hearst Magazines.
As part of this Digital Marketing internship, her goal was to perform a simple demographic analysis on an online survey to more strategically plan customer events. At the time she was completing a Bachelor of Commerce degree, but her curiosity as to what other answers laid in the data led her to pursue a Master of Science in Marketing Analytics (MSMA).
The internship showed Ma the power in understanding data. In today’s technology-driven world, companies can collect more information on customers — and potential customers — than ever before. Ma wanted to harness this power and learn to better understand her customers.
Using Data to Enhance Marketing
Coming into the master’s program from a background in marketing, Ma knew the value that data analysis would provide her as a marketer. A key aspect to succeeding in marketing is being able to spot trends and adapt accordingly; utilizing data begins to eliminate the human error in that process.
“I believe in order to be successful in marketing, one should not only be able to catch the trend but also be able to translate the trend from a data standpoint,” explains Ma. “Analytics can give my decisions solid supports.”
Her desire to learn more about the analytics field brought Ma to Bentley University for a Master’s in Marketing Analytics. For Ma, the decision to study at Bentley was threefold: the curriculum, Career Services, and location.
Choosing Bentley
The business world, as Ma knew, is about real-world applications of theories. She wanted a university that would allow her to deepen her knowledge in marketing and begin using her new analytical skills before graduation. She had this opportunity through Bentley’s many course projects, which often included real clients and “tightly related to real life.”
In addition, Ma applied her learnings to on-the-job experiences. While at Bentley she worked as an email platform development intern at Turbine and as a web marketing intern at inSegment, using tools vital to the field of marketing analytics, such as SQL.
She also attended many Career Services events, which she says were especially important to her as an international student. She attended seminars on how to speak and behave in interviews, watched panels where those in the field explained the various opportunities within the career, and met contacts at many networking events.
And of course, Bentley being located just a few miles away from the plethora of resources in Boston didn’t hurt either.
Working in Analytics
Ma cites her business background at Bentley as being key to her success at her current job as a business analyst at Wayfair.
Her job consists of cleaning data and selecting the right data, which requires considering the context in which she finds it. For Ma, it’s a challenge she enjoys because it “requires business acumen to recognize what’s right, what’s wrong, what’s useful, and what’s outdated.”
Ma is excited by the rapidly growing field of analytics. She expects more people to enter the field as the need for analysts increases with our growing access to data. The types of analysts needed will vary, from text mining to picture analytics to voice analytics. With all these new opportunities, keeping a business mindset when approaching data will continue to be essential to interpreting data in a way that is beneficial to a company.