From the first day of your marketing degree course, you will begin to learn the skills to develop from student to marketing expert. You will have access to excellent facilities, resources and extensive information technology to support your learning journey. External marketing professionals will be invited to deliver sessions to develop your wider real-world knowledge and contacts. You can also take advantage of the work placement option where you will be fully supported to secure a 10-12 month work placement to develop your employability profile.
Teaching is delivered through a combination of lectures, workshops and seminars. You can expect to have a minimum of 12 hours contact time during each teaching week. You will also be expected to undertake independent study and group work, and participate in online activities and discussions using our virtual learning environment.
In your first year, you will learn fundamental marketing concepts and thinking, alongside practical application, and start to build your professional portfolio with real live marketing projects.
In your second year, you will build upon and integrate the knowledge and skills gained to examine a range of key marketing functions, with a focus on the role of digital media. You will acquire additional skills across operational and strategic aspects of marketing, as well as the role of marketing in relation to other key business functions.
In your third year, you will develop your expertise in a more challenging way. You will take an increasingly strategic view of marketing to apply to your learning, and to develop skills to cope with real-life challenges professional marketers face in the global digital age. Working in groups, you will participate in an online marketing simulation package which will provide you with the experience in making marketing decisions based on your analysis of market and company data.
What will you study on this course?
Year 1 Compulsory Modules:
Professional Marketing Skills
This module is an introduction to generic academic and professional skills, applied in the context of Marketing. The academic skills will include the sourcing of information for research (including library, databases and search engines); the use and interpretation of evidence (including quotation, citation and plagiarism); essay and report preparation and writing (including the development of academic argument); oral presentation; and group work. Professional Marketing skills include career awareness, CV preparation, developing social media profiles, teamwork, idea generation and personal and professional development planning.
Marketing in Practice
This module will apply core marketing concepts and to reflect on how well theory applies in practice. Students will gain experience of making marketing decisions and an understanding of the challenging nature of a dynamic business. The module will revolve around a game simulation (e.g., MyMarketingExperience) where students will work together in groups to make decisions over a number of rounds of the simulation exercise. A relevant field trip which examines the marketing function of an organisation will also be a feature of the module. This module aims to guide students through the marketing planning process and enables them to gain an in-depth understanding of the marketing mix in an applied context.
Digital Marketing Essentials
This module covers a broad range of topics to provide an overview of digital marketing. The fundamentals of digital marketing are introduced, and the analysis of the online marketplace and digital macro-environment. The process of developing data-driven digital marketing strategy is then explored with a focus on the selection of appropriate digital media, specification of the marketing mix, and the use of relationship marketing on digital platforms. The use of big data analytics is also examined.
Foundations of Marketing
This module covers a wide range of topics which include introducing the 7 pillars of marketing (7 Ps: product, price, promotion, place, packaging, positioning and people) and enables students to understand why each pillar is important and how they support the marketing process. This module covers key marketing functions and processes, including segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP), as well as important theoretical concepts such as SWOT analysis, PESTEL analysis, the Consumer Decision Making Models, Porters Five Forces, and the value proposition offered by the firm.
Year 2 Compulsory Modules:
Consumer Behaviour
This module will cover consumer decision-making including the use of decision rules. The module will focus on understanding the consumer as an individual, including topics such as learning, attitudes, identity, emotions, and personality. But the module will also concern group behaviour and the role of culture in shaping consumption. Finally, it is important to consider the impact of marketing activities on consumers' well-being.
Marketing and Social Media Communications
This module covers marketing communications theories and the various tools available to marketers in communicating their messages to their audiences. There is a particular emphasis on the challenges and opportunities of social media communications including how to use social media effectively. Traditional marketing communication tools such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations and exhibitions, branding and sponsorship will be examined in relation to their evolution with the rise of social media.
Services and Experiential Marketing
A range of topics will be covered including a focus on understanding and framing service and experiences against product marketing. The first part of the module covers services marketing with contents addressing key issues such as: consumer evaluation of services including measuring Service Quality and related constructs; understanding key issues and challenges in delivering value; service failure and recovery processes. The second part of the module covers experiential marketing with contents covering: key experiential concepts such as the 7 E’s of the Experiential Marketing Mix; experiential touchpoints and value; online and virtual experiences; as well as customer experience management.
Marketing Research and CRM
This module will provide an introduction to marketing research and the techniques involved, as a means of enhancing marketing decisions by providing relevant, timely and accurate information. It will introduce the concept of customer relationship management from the perspectives of organisations and consumers, covering both for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. Specific quantitative data analysis skills based on SPSS will be developed.
Year 3 Compulsory Modules:
Marketing Performance Monitoring and Analytics
This module will cover a wide range of topics including: Key metrics for marketing decision-making in different areas such as financial metrics, customer metrics, and metrics linked to implementation of the 7Ps.
Marketing and Society
This module will cover a wide range of topics including marketing for specific purposes outside of commercial (for-profit) marketing. Additionally, there is a focus on the triple (social, environmental and financial) bottom line, and therefore on sustainability and social issues, as well as consumer welfare (including well-being and protection themes).
International Strategic Marketing
This module will cover a wide range of interlinked topics to encourage strategic thinking in assessing the international marketing environment.
Consumer Insight Project
An extended marketing research activity focusing on key marketing outcomes, and to make relevant recommendations to relevant stakeholders. Topics may include: Issues in undertaking market research activities; Development and administration of fieldwork for quantitative customer survey; Analysis of quantitative survey data; Reporting and presentation of strategic recommendations.
Course content is for guidance purposes only and may be subject to change.
