Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing

Whether you’re a business owner who wants to improve your online engagement or a complete beginner, this diploma is perfect for you.

The Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing is our cornerstone certification and can provide you with an introduction to key digital specialisms, from mobile and social media marketing to Email, PPC and SEO.

COURSE OVERVIEW

Who is this course for?

The Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing is ideal for anyone involved in the planning, implementation or measurement of digital strategies – or anyone who would like to pursue a career in this area.
The Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing course is a rounded introduction to all the core digital marketing disciplines, and will prepare you to take up a more specialist role within the overall marketing domain.

What can you expect?

Through dynamic lectures, case studies and small group discussions, you will be exposed to the latest methods, techniques and tools for improving your organisation’s Digital Marketing and brand-building efforts.

What will you learn?

The Digital Marketing Institute’s panel of practitioner-lecturers has specifically structured the curriculum to focus on current trends and best practices in Digital Marketing. As well as creating innovative strategies, you will also learn how to leverage these strategies to gain competitive advantage for both your business and your career.

The Professional Diploma course focuses on the planning, implementation and measurement of your Digital Marketing strategy.

There are ten modules in the course:

Module 1 Introduction to Digital Marketing
Module 2 Search Marketing (SEO)
Module 3 Search Marketing (PPC)
Module 4 Digital Display Advertising
Module 5 Email Marketing
Module 6 Social Media Marketing (Part 1)
Module 7 Social Media Marketing (Part 2)
Module 8 Mobile Marketing
Module 9 Analytics
Module 10 Strategy & Planning

MODULE 1  – Introduction to Digital Marketing

The Introduction to Digital Marketing module enables you to harness the power of Digital Marketing as a core driver of the marketing strategy for your organisation. You will understand the foundation principles of Digital Marketing, and be able to distinguish how it differs from traditional marketing.

This module will also introduce you to the Digital Marketing Institute Methodology, an iterative framework that outlines the foundation tenets of Digital Marketing and the visual scheme that provides the basis for implementation of the different channels.

MODULE 2 – Search Marketing (SEO)

The Search Engine Optimisation module examines the various tactics for enhancing your website’s position and ranking with search engines.

The module covers the key concepts and terminology used within the field of SEO and equips marketing professionals with the technical know-how, understanding and insight to build and maintain an effective SEO strategy.

You will learn about the range of specialist tools that are available to help common search engines find, view and rate websites. With this in mind, you will learn about on-page optimisation techniques and understand the process of effective keyword research and selection.

You will understand the importance of content updates and will learn about applying appropriate meta tags in order to drive site optimisation. Students will understand the concept of ranking and be able to perform a range of off-page optimisation activities to improve your site ranking and positioning, such as link building.

At the end of this module, you will be able to monitor and manage your SEO activity by setting a baseline and regularly measuring activity against expectation. You will also be aware of data protection and privacy issues associated with SEO.
MODULE 3 – Search Marketing (PPC)

The Pay Per Click module demonstrates how to implement and manage search advertising campaigns. Lectures will cover the key concepts and terminology used within the field of PPC and will equip you with the technical understanding and skills to build and maintain an effective PPC strategy.

You will understand the fundamentals of search marketing and appreciate the mechanics of how PPC systems function. Students will develop advanced keyword research and selection skills and learn how to apply these to Adwords campaigns.
You will be able to analyse current Search Marketing activity and target your campaign to key audience groups in order to enhance and improve click through rates. You will recognise the features of strong ad copy, and develop your skills in writing compelling ads.

Learn how to set and manage budgets for Adwords campaigns, and measure and analyse their effectiveness by exporting detailed campaign management reports in order to see how they align with established baseline expectations. You will also be aware of relevant data protection and privacy issues associated with PPC.
MODULE 4 – Digital Display Advertising

The Digital Display Advertising module equips you with the skills and knowledge to implement and manage effective digital display campaigns.

The module covers the core concepts and terminology associated with digital display advertising, and explores what is involved in developing and managing effective ad campaigns.

You will develop a comprehensive understanding of the creation and deployment of digital display advertising, learning about the wide range of ad display formats and how to select the most appropriate ad format for your campaign target audience.

You will be able to develop clear campaign objectives and measure and optimise your campaign based on firm results analysis. Students will be able to research and use a range of campaign publishers, and know what pricing metrics such as CPM, CPC, CPL and CPA entail commercially.

You will also learn how to use the standard Digital Media Planning Process to obtain the best possible return on your digital display advertising efforts.

MODULE 5 – Email Marketing

The Email Marketing module covers industry best practices for creating and delivering effective email marketing campaigns.
The module covers the four foundational aspects of email marketing: Subscriber Management, Email Design, Delivery and Reporting. You will learn how to develop and manage a subscriber database, and become familiar with the features within third party email systems and solutions.

You will be able to plan a marketing segmentation strategy for your target audience and recognise what makes for good email design in terms of user centric content, coherent layout and an attractive design.

Students will understand what split testing entails, and will be able to use key metrics to report on the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns, including open rates, click-through rates, unsubscribes and bounces.

You will be able to monitor and evaluate email marketing analytics, and be aware of data protection and privacy issues associated with email marketing.

MODULE 6 – Social Media Marketing (Part 1)

The first Social Media Marketing module enables you to effectively engage with customers across a diverse range of social media platforms.

You will appreciate the emerging trends in the social media space and the opportunity afforded by the ‘always connected’ social consumer. You will recognise the suitability of different social platforms for your aims and objectives, and appreciate the challenges of social media.

You will be able to select and prioritise different goals for your organisation, your customers and your products and services, as well as recognise the different social media communication styles that apply to different audiences.

This module covers the key concepts and terminology used in social media, and you will be able to configure social media accounts across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Google +, as well as learning about the new emergent social platforms.

Understand how to implement appropriate privacy settings across your social media, and develop profiles that engage across a range of social media platforms.
MODULE 7  – Social Media Marketing (Part 2)

The second Social Media Marketing module explores how to implement social advertising features to build and sustain relationships with customers. You will appreciate the challenges of implementing an effective Social Media strategy for your business, with a focus on the importance of listening as the critical starting point.

Addressing social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, you will learn how to use advanced features such as Events, Groups, Promotions, Offers and Jobs. You will also be able to implement social plug-ins and integrate third party applications, such as ecommerce.

Learn how to set suitable goals for your chosen social media platforms, and create and manage your campaigns to budget and schedule.

You will be able to accurately measure the effectiveness of your social media campaigns using analytics, and be able to evaluate information about budgetary spend against baseline expectations.
Lastly, you will be aware of privacy and data protection issues associated with social media marketing.

MODULE 8 – Mobile Marketing

The Mobile Marketing module focuses on utilising the power of mobile technologies as a way to access increasingly mobile consumers.

You will understand emergent trends within the mobile space, and recognise the new opportunity afforded by “always on” mobile devices when interacting with specific audiences based on context and location.

This module covers the key concepts and terminology used within the field of mobile marketing and will equip you with the technical knowledge and skills to build and maintain an effective mobile marketing strategy.

Learn how to run effective SMS campaigns and explore technologies such as NFC, Mobile Sites, Apps and Bluetooth. You will recognise the importance of suitable campaign messaging, and the need to validate marketing activity with campaign trials, review and ongoing analytics measurement.

Apply our six step process for designing and developing effective Mobile Apps and understand how mobile marketing integrates with the latest advances in social media marketing. The module also covers data protection and privacy issues associated with mobile marketing.
MODULE 9 – Analytics

The Analytics module enables you to fully measure, monitor and optimise your Digital Marketing activities.

You will learn how to build an online reporting structure for your business, and learn about the range of specialist tools that are available to help you understand how to measure and monitor online traffic.

You will understand the rationale and business benefits of adopting a formal analytics programme, and learn how to set up accounts, profiles and permissions to apply analytics tracking across your websites.

Discover how to align business KPIs with your analytics goal configuration, and utilise the features of Google Analytics to develop a detailed profile of your target audience’s location, demographics, technology, devices, interests and more.

Learn how to assess the effectiveness of your website’s technical performance and download speed, and how to measure levels of user engagement and conversion by tracking activities such as downloads, video views, purchases and registrations etc.

Create and schedule customised reports and explore the real time and intelligence reporting capabilities of Google Analytics. As with the other modules, you will also be aware of data protection and privacy issues associated with website analytics.

MODULE 10  – Strategy and Planning

The Strategy and Planning module provides a structured approach for bringing together all the strands of the Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing, to create a coherent Digital Marketing Plan.

This module is based on the Digital Marketing Institute Methodology, which incorporates a nine step process based on three distinct parts. Part one includes a situation analysis exercise, a formal information gathering process, and an audience definition exercise.

Part two develops a set of clear and meaningful objectives for the Digital Marketing Plan. Appropriate tools are selected on the basis of the anticipated audience(s), and objectives and budget are set based on the channels detailed within the Digital Marketing Institute Framework.

An action plan is developed to provide a coherent project structure, including milestones, deliverables and resources. Part three of the Digital Marketing Institute Methodology emphasises the importance of an iterative process of monitoring, analysis and enhancement based on performance.

The Strategy and Planning module provides you with the skills to create a formal Digital Marketing plan for your organisation, which will allow you to implement a successful and effective Digital Marketing strategy.