Course overview

Develop practical digital marketing skills and gain a comprehensive understanding of how marketing operates in today’s digital world.

Digital media and communications have transformed marketing and advertising, creating exciting potential career options for creative and talented graduates, making it an exciting time to kick-start your career in digital marketing with Coventry University.

Learn about marketing, social media and digital technology, using a variety of analytical tools to critically evaluate digital marketing problems and develop appropriate solutions for organisations to manage their online presence.
Enhance your understanding of digital marketing generally and gain skills to prepare you for potential future career options in marketing communications, advertising, PR, digital marketing, multimedia production or digital graphic design.

What you'll study

The main study themes covered on the course are:

Marketing - You will study topics such as consumer behaviour, brand communications and strategy as well as specialist options such as creative advertising development and campaign management.
Communications - You will study concepts such as stakeholder communications and communications analysis techniques to support your digital marketing practices.
Digital Marketing - You will study topics such as website design, web analytics and social media integration, creating and implementing digital marketing campaigns, as well as having the chance to develop your copywriting and blogging skills.
Research - This forms an important part of your course, aiming to give you skills in primary and secondary research. You will put this into practice by undertaking an independent and in-depth study of a digital marketing topic of your choice. This will form the basis of your final year dissertation.

All of our Marketing degrees share some first year modules, designed to develop your understanding of the fundamental theoretical concepts that underpin the marketing function, in particular the role of consumer behaviour in marketing and selling situations. We’ll then explore the applications of marketing through digital tools, covering most of the aspects of deploying e-business and e-commerce within an organisation. All year one modules are mandatory.

Modules

Marketing Research and Data Analysis

The aim of this module is to introduce you to the wide range of secondary information that is relevant to marketing decision making. The difference between primary and secondary research is explored and applied in various business scenarios. The module also introduces you to basic techniques to analyse secondary sources of information. You will be given an opportunity to base your research presentation on a business case study or your work-embedded experience.

Compulsory

Marketing Principles and Practice

This module aims to develop your knowledge and understanding of the fundamental theoretical concepts that underpin the marketing function. You will develop an understanding of key marketing theories related to the marketing mix, consumer behaviour, market research, marketing strategy, ethics and digital marketing which will act as a foundation of your future study.

Compulsory

Employment and Academic Skills

This module aims to introduce you to a range of learning and communication skills and enable you to develop into an active learner. The module intends to drive skills through the overall course syllabus. You will also be expected to start planning for your future career. Skills gained on this module will enhance your career prospects which you can then apply later in your studies and optimise your possibilities for finding fulfilling employment.

Compulsory

Introduction to Integrated Marketing Communications

This module will introduce you to Integrated Marketing Communications. The module is designed to explore the range of communication tools, such as Advertising, Direct Marketing, Personal Selling, PR and publicity available to practitioners for developing effective communication/promotional material. The module is focused on application and will therefore involve a significant amount of practical work applying different writing skills and innovative marketing communications skills to real life cases and exercises.

Compulsory

Organising for Business

The aim of the module is to provide you with an introduction to the key principles of business organisation and management, which are required to achieve business objectives in competitive markets. The module will give you the opportunity to comprehend and discuss how market-led businesses organise themselves to achieve competitive success.

Compulsory

Introduction to Digital Marketing

This module is intended to guide students on the applications of marketing through digital tools. It covers all the aspects of deploying e-business and e-commerce within an organisation. The module builds on existing theories and concepts and questions the validity of these models in the light of the differences between digital and traditional media. It investigates the different strategies of developing and implementing digital marketing and e-commerce to different organisational settings.

Compulsory

During your second year, you’ll have the opportunity to develop more specialist knowledge, understanding and skills in key areas like advertising and website design. You’ll have the opportunity to learn how to manage social media, build online communities, create and implement digital campaigns, as well as exploring the impact of key developments in digital and social media on organisations, particularly within the communications and retail industries.

Modules

Marketing Management

This module will enhance your knowledge of marketing principles and practices by enabling you to apply these concepts to the marketing planning process framework. This involves the analysis of marketing data to make effective marketing decisions and develop medium term marketing plans. The module utilises a marketing simulation game operating on a web-based software platform.

Compulsory

Consumer Behaviour

This module aims to provide you with an insight into how consumers make buying decisions and the various factors, both psychological and social factors that influence the decision-making process. The module provides a sound basis for further study in marketing, advertising and communication psychology.

Compulsory

Applied Advertising and Campaign Management

This module is intended to give you the knowledge and skills needed to understand the creative process. You will examine the relationship between organisations and advertising agencies and will learn how to develop appropriate creative ideas in response to a creative brief. You will learn how to apply creative ideas across a range of media in integrated marketing campaigns. This module will also help you to understand that integrated campaigns are the result of successful management of the campaign across various types of marketing communications agencies.

Compulsory

Digital Analytics

This module will address today’s business challenges associated with digital analytics. With the revolution of e-commerce and digital economy Digital Analytics has become a key framework for the corporate world and small businesses in twenty-first century. It has become an essential tool for crafting actionable strategy, measuring social media and multichannel effectiveness, and leveraging success through optimal experimentation using correct analytical techniques. Data driven marketing and analytics lies at the heart of twenty-first century business and marketing. This module will help you to understand the fundamentals of digital analytics, such as optimal search engine, everyday clickstream analysis, data capture mechanism, data segmentation, analytics vendor, along with actionable outcome and recommendations.

Compulsory

Career Preparation

This module aims to enable you to acquire the confidence and appropriate skills to make an effective transition from education to work. The module has a dual focus: Firstly, you are encouraged to know yourself, to know what kinds of employment you are suited to, and secondly, you are encouraged to develop an awareness of employment markets/potential employers. Skills gained on this module will enhance your career prospects and optimise your possibilities for finding fulfilling employment. You are encouraged to consider, plan and apply for a placement opportunity or work experience.

Compulsory

Designing Online Presence

This module is designed to allow you the opportunity to apply knowledge of web design and principles of digital marketing into a practical project of designing an online presence for a client, according to a brief. You will learn to critically evaluate the client brief and audit their situation and needs, and address them in your practical project.

Compulsory

In your final year, you’ll have the chance to further develop your creative problem-solving skills and will be given the opportunity to assess ‘real’ design briefs for a range of media formats, using major high street brands as examples. You’ll also be able to choose an optional module, which aims to allow you to focus on the creative side of advertising, or on exploring the skills needed to set up your own business in future.

Modules

Contemporary Marketing Issues

The aim of this module is to enable you to investigate and discuss the latest developments in the academic thinking and practice in marketing and business practice. The module will encourage you to use a range of academic literature to increase your awareness of contemporary marketing issues.

Compulsory

Career Development

This module aims to enable you to develop and refine skills, allowing you to gain the confidence and the competences needed to make an effective transition from education to employment. Learning gained on this module will enhance your career prospects and optimise your possibilities for finding, and succeeding in, graduate employment and your subsequent career development.

Compulsory

Social Media and Online Reputation

This module aims to develop your knowledge of social media channels, their role in integrated marketing presence of companies and evaluation of their effectiveness. You will gain the knowledge of managing the brands reputation online through use of a variety of tools with a specific focus on social media. You will learn to evaluate the impact of social media activities for brands and how it can support the brand marketing strategy.

Compulsory

E‐CRM and Strategy

This module intends to guide you in understanding and analysing the importance of E-CRM for organisations and their marketing strategy. The module will offer new frameworks derived from current cases and applications of E-CRM within the emerging field of Digital Marketing. Each lesson will take a collaborative approach towards understanding the topic area beyond its analytical and operational perspectives.

Compulsory

Project

This module aims to provide you with an opportunity to apply and develop your research skills and to extend your knowledge, understanding and ability to critically analyse in a specialist area of interest. You will choose an academic area related to your programme of study and apply your independent learning skills to research this area in depth. You will receive academic support through a series of group supervisions and will be allocated a project supervisor.

The module includes three routes, and you will be given the opportunity to select your preferred route, although all project titles must be approved by the project supervisor in advance of commencing the project. The three routes are:

Route 1: An individual research-based dissertation
Route 2: An individual project report
Route 3: A group project report. Where work is completed as part of a group, each group may have no more than five members.

Compulsory

Optional modules

Choose 1 from the following:

Creative Advertising Development
The aim of this module is to enable you to develop your creative problem-solving skills using realistic communication design briefs. You will be given the opportunity to assess ‘real’ design briefs for a range of media formats. You will engage in continual developmental work that will allow you to develop a range of ideas, responses and alternative creative solutions.

Enterprise and Entrepreneurship
This module aims to develop your understanding of business enterprise, entrepreneurship, start-up processes, effectual and critical thinking as applied to business innovation and creativity. Innovation, creativity and their applicability to entrepreneurship are essential skills for the marketer and business management. The module seeks to provide an academic and experiential perspective in the processes of managing enterprise entrepreneurship.

Optional

We regularly review our course content, to make it relevant and current for the benefit of our students. For these reasons, course modules may be updated.

How you'll learn

The fast-paced world of marketing typically involves tight deadlines and pressure from clients to complete work with short turnaround times. To an extent, our teaching and learning style has been designed to emulate this in order to communicate the reality of work life, so you’ll have the opportunity to work on ‘live’ projects with a set brief, budget and timescale.

Focus on practical marketing skills development and emerging themes in marketing, such as E‐CRM, social media, online reputation and digital analytics.
Develop your creative skills by using real-life briefs from the D&AD awards, practical challenges, responding to creative briefs or examining topical ‘live’ case studies, such as John Lewis and Amnesty International.

Teaching contact hours

The number of full-time contact hours may vary from semester to semester, however, on average, it is likely to be around 12 contact hours per week in the first and second year dropping to around 8 contact hours per week in the third and final year as you become a more independent learner. The contact hours may be made up of a combination of face-to-face teaching, individual and group tutorials, and online classes and tutorials.

Additionally, you will be expected to undertake significant self-directed study of approximately 12 hours each week, depending on the demands of individual modules.

As an innovative and enterprising institution, the university may seek to utilise emerging technologies within the student experience. For all courses (whether on-campus, blended, or distance learning), the university may deliver certain contact hours and assessments via online technologies and methods.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are prepared for courses due to start in or after the 2022/2023 academic year to be delivered in a variety of forms. The form of delivery will be determined in accordance with Government and Public Health guidance. Whether on campus or online, our key priority is staff and student safety.

Due to the ongoing restrictions relating to COVID-19, some facilities (including some teaching and learning spaces) and some non-academic offerings (particularly in relation to international experiences), may vary from those advertised and may have reduced availability or restrictions on their use.

Assessment

This course will be assessed using a variety of methods which will vary depending upon the module.

Assessment methods include:

Formal examinations
Coursework
Group reports
Presentations

The Coventry University Group assessment strategy ensures that our courses are fairly assessed and allows us to monitor student progression towards achieving the intended learning outcomes.

Entry requirements

Contact PSB Academy

Fees and funding

Student	Full-time	Part-time
International	Contact PSB for fees per year	Not available

Careers and opportunities

On successful completion of the course, you will be able to:

Analyse customers and stakeholders and their role within the digital marketing environment.
Understand, evaluate and apply the principles and latest developments in theory of digital marketing.
Identify and apply an appropriate depth of analysis and interpretation of data from relevant sources of marketing information and research techniques by using digital analytical tools.
Understand and apply selected specialist sub-disciplines within digital marketing, advertising and management.
Understand and apply creativity to design and evaluate ethical and sustainable solutions for a range of digital marketing situations.
Evaluate and apply tools used in digital and social media marketing using appropriate software.
Demonstrate a professional level of transferable, practical and cognitive skills to address complex problems in response to different digital marketing challenges.
Develop international and cross-cultural perspectives on the opportunities and challenges of digital marketing, and apply management and operational plans to achieve digital marketing goals in these diverse contexts.
Act as an independent learner, communicate to an audience effectively in written, verbal or electronic format and demonstrate effective interpersonal skills and intercultural competence to work in a team.

Where our graduates work

Some of our previous graduates have gone on to a range of careers in marketing, advertising, PR, brand management, marketing research, digital marketing, sales and general management with a wide range of large and small organisations such as T-Lab Professional.

Further study

Upon successful completion of our Digital Marketing BA (Hons) course, you may wish to continue to further your studies at postgraduate level. You can do that right here at Coventry University, with our Digital Marketing Management MSc. You could continue to build on what you have learnt, further exploring how digital marketing strategies are produced, how digital marketing is measured and optimised, and how you can lead in the industry, through modules focused on how to manage global teams and oversee the entire digital marketing process.

We also offer alternative postgraduate degrees if you decide to take a slightly different route. You can explore all of your options using our postgraduate course search tool.