Online Digital Marketing Fundamentals Professional Certificate

Curriculum

Live sessions are every week on Wednesday @ 8:00pm EST but the first week there are two live sessions. The Intro and Overview session is on Monday night to kick off the program @ 8:00pm EST.

This curriculum is subject to change based on instructor availability.  All modules will be offered and do not need to be in sequential order.

Intro and Overview

Instructor: Erik Harbison

Module description: In this week, students will be on-boarded to the program’s planned curriculum, as well as a macro view of the current Interactive Marketing landscape.  This session will provide valuable context around each module and corresponding channels.  An emphasis will be placed on industry research, trends, compelling stats, and examples of each channel. Students will also be provided an overview of the program’s certification project along with necessary timelines.

Note: The first live session will be on Monday @ 8:00pm EST

Learning Objectives:

• Identify key trends within the Digital Marketing landscape
• Explain the holistic impact of all Digital Marketing channels
• Showcase an example of each Digital Marketing channel
• Evaluate expectations and timelines for the course project

Search Engine Optimization

Instructor: Bill Rowland

Note: The second live session will be on Wednesday @ 8:00pm EST

Module Description:  During this week students will gain a solid understanding of the critical position Search Engine Optimization plays in any online presence. Emphasis will be placed on fundamental topics that transcend the constantly shifting nature of “search” to deliver actionable knowledge that every online marketer will be able to use. Specific examples of strategy and tactics will be presented and discussed.

Learning Objectives:

• Articulate SEO’s position as a fundamental building block for online marketing
• Grasp fundamental factors that result in achieving top search engine rankings
• Assess a website’s ability to rank well
• Develop the ability to create an Optimization Plan
• Live and Recorded Sessions

Paid Search

Instructor: Kim Jones

Module description: Paid Search marketing, often referred to as Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or Pay-per-click (PPC), is the process of driving site visitors or gaining visibility through paid advertisements on Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines. Paid search marketing is a flexible and cost-effective vehicle to help businesses achieve their goals (sales, leads, traffic, enquires, etc.) The purpose of this course will be to provide an overview of the functions of search engine marketing, strategy, performance analysis, and real-life execution.

Learning Objectives

• Examine what paid search is, what it isn’t, and where ads appear
• Identify typical goals advertisers may have when running paid search campaigns
• Learn how paid search works within a typical auction-based bidding system
• Explain the basics of quality score and its role within paid search

Analytics

Instructor: Krista Park

Module Description: Analytics plays a critical role in interactive marketing, and this course will provide an overview of the basic functions of analytics, and how analytics can be used to drive business decisions.  This will encompass measurement strategy, goal setting, tracking, data analysis, and performance reporting. The course will also touch at a high level on how to pull actionable insights from data and make recommendations for site design and marketing initiatives.

Learning Objectives:

• Provide an overview of the various analytics data types: Specifically, the dimensions & metrics of the data Google Analytics provides
• Explain the basics of data analysis including assessing items like:
  • User engagement and user value
  • Interactions of a variety of marketing channels
  • Detailed data e.g. device type, geographic locations, etc.
  • Developing an analytics strategy: Setting & measuring KPIs based on the data

Email Marketing

Instructor: Liz Willits

Module description: In this week, students will be exposed to the foundations of successful digital communications strategies including email and SMS.  We’ll start with building an email list, to getting to the inbox, to Email ROI and complex strategies.

Learning Objectives

• Develop an email and sending strategy that adheres to email compliance best practices
• Utilize specific email formats to maximize email performance
• Create an accurate email data list to get emails into targeted inboxes
• Identify SMS strategies
• Develop effective email and sending strategies
• Compare and contrast when to use email or SMS marketing

Social Marketing

Instructor: Tyler King

Module Description: In this week, students will learn the history of social technology, gain an understanding of social marketing strategy, and see examples of tactical execution. An emphasis will be placed on social and mobile, and understanding the impact of the transition from social marketing on the desktop to social marketing via mobile platforms.

Learning Objectives:

• Examine what social media is, what it isn’t and how it can be used for marketing
• Explain the difference between, and the convergence of, paid, owned, and earned media
• Describe the function of community management and explain its importance to a social media marketing strategy
• Analyze brand examples across social media platforms against best practices
• Analyze the role that social media marketing plays in the digital landscape and marketing mix
• Define the difference between goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics
• Map out social media marketing goals to tie back to overall business objectives
• Identify popular strategies and tactics currently being executed in the industry
• Explain the importance of measurement and analysis for continually evolving social media marketing strategies

Display Advertising

Instructor: Aaron Levy

Module description: The free web as we know it is powered by display advertising. Newspapers and content providers simply wouldn’t be able to give their product away unless they knew they could monetize it. Today’s digital display ads are the modern version of yesterday’s billboards, television commercials, and bus wraps, all combined around sophisticated targeting options and pricing structures.

This portion of the course will provide a high-level overview of the different types of display ads that advertisers can create, and what the steps are required to make sure they’re in line with best practices. We’ll also touch on what pricing models exist, how they can be related to traditional media buys, and how you as a marketing professional, can get the best value for your ad dollars.

Learning Objectives:

• Utilize the different methods of targeting and buying display media. DSP’s vs. Programmatic vs. CPM vs. Direct buys.
• Develop success metrics for a notoriously difficult to track advertising medium and why click-throughs are not the best metric
• Evaluate the pricing models for display and target what works best for your budget
• Track and identify ways to optimize the performance of display campaigns

Mobile Marketing

Instructor: Mollie Sheridan

Module Description: Over 25 percent of internet traffic in the US alone is driven by mobile and tablet users. Mobile is the next frontier for marketers. In this week students will learn the history of mobile, how the technology has grown at a rampant rate, and what it means for marketers and consumers today. The course will overview the latest technologies built into devices and in the cloud. This course will also look at design principles on mobile and how they affect a marketer’s ability to connect with a mobile customer. Lastly, the class will overview the impact of location-based services.

Learning Objectives:

• Examine the evolution of mobile and identify how it has shaped the consumer landscape today
• Explore how mobile technology and the mobile field is evolving faster than any other technology platform
• Highlight the basic mobile technologies, both in the hardware and in the cloud, and identify how they create opportunities for marketers to interact with mobile users
• Review the basic principles of design and how analytics, research, and validation are impacting decision making at every level
• Dive into mobile applications & marketing on the whole and opportunity areas based on current technology, demographic data, new technology in development, and possibilities on the horizon

Final Week: Capstone Project

Project Overview

Students will be expected to develop and present a digital ​marketing plan that includes and references learning gained from each session. The presentation of the plan will be recorded via screencast software and will be a maximum of 12 to 15​ minutes long.

The content of their project will be comprised of three random variables (a brand, a marketing challenge, and a core initiative) that will determine the basis for their marketing objectives, strategies, goals, and tactics. The students will know their variables before the start of the Week Two module.

Students will also be able to select their existing company, or competitive company, as the focus brand for their projects. Students will be able to apply strategies and tactics learned through weekly assignments and the final project immediately to their day-to-day marketing campaigns.​

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Gain experience in developing an executable​ digital marketing plan.
• Gain experience with time management around meeting project deadlines.
• Develop their own presentation/speaking styles and learn effective methods of doing so through feedback on their presentation, as well as observation of other student presentations.
• Gain an understanding of the​ value a ​holistic digital marketing approach will deliver.
• Apply creative flexibility in the development of their final ​project content.

Students will have the ability to begin crafting their plan during weeks one through eight. They will then have week 8 to compile thoughts, conduct follow-up Q&A with instructors, develop the plan, complete the screencast, and post to Blackboard.

Bonus Modules

Equip yourself with knowledge on the key trends that will be impacting how brands think, and how marketers execute.

Advanced Digital Marketing Analytics

Instructor: Krista Park

Students will learn how to effectively leverage attribution analysis to optimize marketing channels, understand key terminology and tools for this purpose, and explore various use cases and examples. The module will enable students to make data-driven decisions for improved marketing performance. The hands-on exercise will help them apply these concepts to real-life situations.

Learning objectives:

• Understand the context and setup of attribution analysis and its importance in acquisition and conversion.
• Becoming more familiar with marketing analytics tools, key terms, and definitions such as ROAS, ROI, and channel grouping.
• Explore various attribution models, their pros and cons, and current best practices.
• Analyze the impact of different models on marketing channels through examples and case studies.
• Apply the concepts through an exercise using a sample dataset in Excel and interpret insights from different models.

A.I. Marketing

Instructor: Erik Harbison

Students will learn about various AI tools that can support marketing functions, understand key concepts such as NLP and Machine Learning, and explore real-life use cases and examples. The module aims to help students harness the power of AI to optimize marketing operations and establish more efficient processes. Through hands-on exercises, students will gain experience in using AI tools to generate valuable content for various marketing tasks.

Learning objectives:

• Understand the types of AI tools that support marketing functions and their importance in enhancing the customer journey and operations.
• Becoming more familiar with common AI marketing tools and key terms such as NLP (Natural Language Processing) and ML (Machine Learning).
• Explore various use cases for AI in marketing, including copy creation, ad generation, and image processing.
• Learn the importance of crafting effective prompts and discover resources that provide specific prompts for marketing tasks.
• Apply AI tools, such as ChatGPT, Writesonic, or Rytr, to generate content for marketing tasks like emails, LinkedIn posts, and blog posts.

Influencer Marketing

Instructor: Tyler King

Students will learn how to develop and execute effective influencer marketing campaigns, while understanding the legal, ethical, and performance measurement aspects. The module will provide an in-depth understanding of influencer marketing strategies, platforms, and case studies. The applied learning exercise will allow students to apply these concepts in a real-world scenario around developing an influencer marketing campaign strategy.

Learning objectives:

• Grasp the importance of influencer marketing and its historical context.
• Develop an influencer marketing strategy, including target audience identification, influencer selection, and setting campaign goals and metrics.
• Understand and compare popular influencer marketing platforms, key features, pricing, pros and cons.
• Learn about legal and ethical issues in influencer marketing, including disclosure requirements, intellectual property, and FTC regulations.
• Measure campaign effectiveness through relevant metrics, tools, and best practices for evaluating ROI, supported by case study analysis.

TikTok Marketing

Instructor: Tyler King

Students will comprehend the rise and importance of TikTok as a prominent marketing platform, explore its diverse content formats, and understand the monetization and advertising opportunities it offers. They will delve into various video categories popular on TikTok and learn from their practical examples. The exercise at the end will allow students to create their own TikTok videos, incorporating the knowledge gained throughout the module.

Learning objectives:

• Understand TikTok’s emergence, its global prominence, key demographics, strategies to attract and retain users, and the impact of its influencer culture and viral challenges.
• Explore TikTok’s evolution in terms of features and functionality, its shift from a lip-syncing platform to diverse content formats, and monetization options for content creators.
• Understand the popular video categories on TikTok, such as trending sounds, challenges, hashtag-driven content, influencer collaborations, lip-syncing videos, and tutorials.
• Analyze real-life examples of different TikTok video categories to comprehend effective marketing strategies.
• Apply knowledge by creating TikTok videos in different categories, learning to maintain optimal video length, aspect ratio, and effectively using Canva templates.

YouTube Marketing

Instructor: Tyler King

Students will learn about YouTube as a dynamic marketing platform, its ability to engage audiences, and its role in the customer journey. They will also discover various types of effective video content and explore examples of successful YouTube marketing campaigns. The practical exercise will enable students to create their own YouTube video, and tangibly convert theory into practice.

Learning objectives:

• Understand YouTube as a marketing platform, its reach, audience, and benefits, while examining successful marketing campaigns.
• Learn about the customer journey stages and how YouTube fits into the awareness and consideration stages.
• Get acquainted with the best types of video content for YouTube, including how-to guides, product reviews, unboxing videos, and educational videos.
• Analyze real-life examples of different types of YouTube videos to understand effective marketing strategies.
• Apply knowledge through creating a YouTube video using Canva templates, learning to maintain optimal video length, aspect ratio, and incorporate a clear call to action.

Creating a Marketable You

Instructor: Erik Harbison

Learning objectives:

• Take inventory of all areas tied to providing the more marketable you
• Identify opportunities for further skill building
• Discover the brand pillars that make up your personal brand

Career Acceleration for Marketing Professionals

Harbison has been building teams, strategies, and solutions for 25 years in the advertising and digital marketing industries. He’s worked with leading brands in the retail, consumer packaged goods, finance, travel, and technology sectors. He now focuses on supporting marketing professionals at all levels as an instructor at UVM, career coach and mentor through his company TheMarketingHelp.co.