MSc Digital Marketing with Advanced Practice

This module is the first of two that prepares you to be highly employable, and enables you to demonstrate your ability to make an immediate impact on your organisation of choice.

It develops key hard and soft skills which have been identified by current research as those necessary for postgraduate students seeking work.

In this module you will learn to appreciate the role of a strategic manager of a modern day manufacturing and sales business in the context of an increasingly digitalised consumer-environment. You will be introduced to Marketing at a strategic level of a business, and understand how marketing decisions are made in the context of other essential business functions; i.e. financial planning, operations and supply chain management, and human resource management. In addition, you will learn to appreciate the digital nature of modern day business operations and marketing strategy.

The module will cover the following themes:

• Marketing planning and implementation
• Competitive market strategies
• Product development
• Routes to market and multichannel marketing
• Operations and supply chain management
• Financial planning for operations and growth
• Managing employees for competitive advantage
• Introduction to promotional strategy
• Introduction to digital and social-media marketing
• Marketing-related legislation

This module is designed to provide you with an introduction to how consumers behave in the digital domain and the opportunities this presents for organisations targeting them.

At the heart of this is the concept of consumer behaviour, which has been revolutionised by emerging technologies, offering new opportunities for communication with companies and fellow consumers.

This will be complemented by an in-depth review of how consumers can be profiled based on their lifestyle characteristics, and an acknowledgement of the role of database marketing in collating, updating and using data to deliver personalised communications messages.

Throughout the module you will cover the following themes:

• Consumer Decision Making
• Journey Mapping
• Customer Profiling
• Database Marketing
• Customer Relationship Marketing

In this module you will learn about a variety of different research methods. This will equip you with the knowledge and practical skills necessary for you to conduct research at Masters’ level and prepare you to complete a Masters dissertation or consultancy project. By the end of the module you will know how to apply both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis techniques.

You will undertake the following support sessions across each of the three semesters of your study.

In the first semester, the emphasis in terms of skills will be around the development of reflective practice including its practical deployment, experience of writing critically and being able to demonstrate reflective practice and experiential learning within the development of this writing, but equally, explicit development of and practice in everyday academic skills such as presentation preparation and doing, time management.

In the second semester the module will continue to provide sessions for you to see your Programme Leader on a regular basis so your relationship is maintained. The emphasis of many of the sessions will be on enhancing your employability.

In your final semester the focus will be on ASk tutors supporting you during the undertaking of your dissertation.

Developing Global Management Competencies II facilitates and supports you to develop and refine relevant and up-to-date employability skills, and in so doing enables you to recognise and articulate how you can demonstrate your potential added value to organisations.

You will learn about the development of practical skills and the techniques required by businesses to help in project management and the implementation of data management and data analytics solutions. The module will introduce some project management processes, frameworks and methodologies e.g. PRINCE2, Agile, PMBOK as well as some database principles and data analytics.

This module is designed to equip you with an overview of managing a digital marketing campaign alongside opportunities to utilise a range of digital media.

At heart of the module is digital campaign management, which is continually evolving due to consumers’ digital media usage, offering interactive opportunities for businesses to communicate.

You will explore this in the module by completing a group-based live marketing project which is a part of the Institute of Direct Marketing (IDM) National Student Competition, covering digital campaign management, developing content for digital platforms, the user experience through the digital area, the role of social media marketing, deploying email marketing, and affiliated marketing’s role in a digital campaign.

Throughout this module you will cover the following themes:

• Campaign Management
• Content Management
• User Experience
• Social Media Marketing
• Mobile Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Affiliated
• Measurement

In this module, you will explore the important role of the website in an organisation’s digital marketing strategy.

You will learn the principles of website evaluation and will use analytic tools for the analysis of web data to help measure the effectiveness of web marketing and improve the user experience.

Students completing the Advanced Practice Masters programme can choose to complete a 12-15 week internship, worth 60 credits. This internship can be sourced by the student or by the university. It may be paid or unpaid. Most internships are unpaid. Students will be supported in the process of applying for an internship during their first year of study and equipped with the necessary internship application and selection skills, e.g. CV writing, interview technique. All internships will be approved by the university to ensure they are providing an appropriate learning experience and working environment. Students will be allocated an internship tutor who will work with them throughout the internship period. This will include visits and support in completing the internship assessment.

The module is assessed by a 4,000 word reflective portfolio which is focussed on your development from the perspective of gaining particular skills relating to employability and being employment prepared, engagement in further self-development from the perspective of employment potentially in a new or international context and further demonstration of cultural and ethical awareness through broader experience of working in a cultural diverse groups and teams via this employment opportunity.

You will design a research project, assessed through a proposal and will then work under supervision of a member of academic staff to use and extend the knowledge and skills that they have acquired during your programme of study to complete a dissertation. You will use appropriate research methodologies and data collection methods to critically synthesise a body of knowledge relevant to the taught programme.

On successful completion of this module, you will be able to conduct research and organise the findings into a comprehensive and explicit structure that is critically assessed and is linked to the conclusions drawn. You will demonstrate this ability by identifying an appropriate research topic, critically selecting and applying an appropriate research methodology and data collection method(s) to your chosen research topic, demonstrating a rigorous understanding of the theory and literature relevant to the issues under investigation, and showing how these link to the research method(s). You will also critically reflect on how their research contributes to the understanding of the topic area.

Some students may choose to base their topic on their internship.

As a student enrolled on one of the Advanced Practice Programmes you may undertake a group consultancy project within the first semester of your second years of Masters’ study (the alternative is an Internship). Through your work-based experience, you will develop abilities as a problem solver with valued investigative, theoretical and practical business skills. This work-based experience will last the length of the semester and involve the examination of a complex organisational problem or commercial opportunity. By undertaking this module, you will have enhanced your individual skills, knowledge, effectiveness and employability by locating learning and development within a work-based context and will have critically reflected and evaluated upon organisational practices and the relation with academic theory.

The content of the work-based experience will be unique to you as a group of participants. The nature and scope of the area of student investigation will be defined and agreed in collaboration with the organisation and the University supervisor. The syllabus will include:

• Conducting research in organisations
• Identifying researchable questions
• Consultancy and project management skills
• Research methods and doing a literature review
• Presentation, communication and report writing skills.
• Analysing findings
• Writing recommendations and action plans
• Reflecting on work based experiential learning

Assessment will be both formative and summative and incorporate self, peer, and tutor evaluation. You will present your work-based findings to the host organisation (oral presentation) and an interim report written on behalf of the host organisation or sponsoring project client. In the follow-up module, Applied Management Work Investigation, you will provide a substantial management investigation report on the business related issue emerging from this placement or consultancy, alongside a personal reflective statement.

This follows your group consultancy project during the first semester of your second year of Masters’ study.

In this module you will take the skills you developed as a problem solver of a work based project and develop a client focused management report and presentation alongside an individual literature review and personal reflection.

The content of the management report will be unique. The nature and scope of the area of your investigation will be defined and agreed in collaboration with the organisation you worked with on the group consultancy project and your University supervisor. The syllabus will include:

• Conducting research in organisations.
• Identifying researchable questions.
• Consultancy and project management skills.
• Research methods and doing a literature review
• Presentation, communication and report writing skills.
• Analysing findings.
• Writing recommendations and action plans.
• Reflecting on work based experiential learning.

In undertaking this project based module, you will critically reflect and evaluate upon organisational practices and their relation with academic theory, and in doing so, provide practical and actionable recommendations through an investigative management report.

The assessment for your module consists of a Group Consultancy Report (7,000 words) and Final Client Presentation, weighted at 60%, alongside an Individual Assignment comprising a Literature Review (4000 words) and a Reflective Learning Statement (2,000 words), weighted at 40%.

You will design a research project, assessed through a proposal and will then work under supervision of a member of academic staff to use and extend the knowledge and skills that they have acquired during your programme of study to complete a dissertation. You will use appropriate research methodologies and data collection methods to critically synthesise a body of knowledge relevant to the taught programme.

On successful completion of this module, you will be able to conduct research and organise the findings into a comprehensive and explicit structure that is critically assessed and is linked to the conclusions drawn. You will demonstrate this ability by identifying an appropriate research topic, critically selecting and applying an appropriate research methodology and data collection method(s) to your chosen research topic, demonstrating a rigorous understanding of the theory and literature relevant to the issues under investigation, and showing how these link to the research method(s). You will also critically reflect on how their research contributes to the understanding of the topic area.

Some students may choose to base their topic on their internship.