Online MSc Marketing Course

Principles of Marketing Management

You'll work through the main theories and principles of marketing for the marketing manager or business leader, understanding how those theories and principles can be applied in practice to a range of business contexts; from business-to-consumer, business-to-business, charities, arts, to tourism and service-based industries. You'll focus particularly on global business challenges; competition and defining value; a digitally based economy; and societal marketing (corporate social responsibility, sustainability, morals and ethics) whilst also understanding the legal framework that impacts marketers and marketing practices such as consumer and data protection laws. This module will challenge you to examine marketing problems that have been faced by brands and organisations to critically analyse their approach and suggest new alternatives. You'll gain a firm grasp of the scope of marketing in general business management and leadership roles as well as a clear understanding of the specialist areas of study and work as you plan your lifelong career in this very broad industry.

Integrated Marketing Communications

You'll use the full range of promotional mix tools, media and messages to examine the field of marketing communications, both online and offline. You'll be encouraged to appreciate the art of advertising by examining iconic print and TV advertising campaigns as well as examples of digital, viral and experiential communications. With a strong focus on employability, you'll develop an understanding of digital marketing tools and techniques, and how traditional channels can support digital to achieve brand objectives. Legal and regulatory aspects of marketing communications will be covered, and you'll critically analyse communication campaigns across a range of contexts from business to consumer, business to business, charities, arts, tourism, public service, etc.

International Marketing and Brand Management

In today’s digital world, big brands are known and coveted by consumers around the world. In fact, social influencers can create a desire for a brand or a product in countries where it is not even available! In this module, you'll learn the techniques of international marketing and how brands can appeal to consumers in different markets, including how to assess market opportunities and develop brand strategies appropriate for a variety of international markets. In particular, you'll learn more about brand management theory and analyse why some brands manage to cut through cultural boundaries to target a broader consumer base. This will involve deconstructing brands to understand the value they create for the consumer and the essence of their appeal. Brand listings will also be examined to understand what makes a brand valuable, how to increase brand equity, and how other brands can improve their ranking.

The Experiential Consumer

This module offers an expanded view of consumer behaviour covering not only the study of what and how we buy, but also how marketers influence the behaviour of consumers through marketing mix design and implementation. The module is informed by psychological and sociological models and theories and by emerging consumer psychology research. You'll critically analyse these theories and models using practical examples of the day-to-day marketing activities of product and service providers with a strong focus on the retail and experience sectors, experiences being taken to mean museums and other visitor-based attractions. Finally, the module explores how consumption affects our environment with a discussion of societal marketing principles.
You'll understand the theory and concepts behind the marketing decisions intended to influence consumer behaviour, but also be able to propose improvements in the way companies communicate with consumers by applying those theories and concepts. This is particularly pertinent in our digital world when consumers can directly, and publicly, communicate with brands via digital channels. Digital consumer behaviour will be an important topic covering issues such as communities, tribes, personas, trolling and fake behaviour, and customer comments/reviews. A growing social and commercial issue is the use of negative comments online to attack businesses, including fake reviews. Debates around how to manage these issues will be explored via emerging literature and company strategies.

Marketing Major Project

This major project module allows you to engage in a substantial individual research project focussed on a topic relevant to current role, subject specialism or area of interest under the supervision and guidance of a member of academic staff. Supervisors will discuss with you the contemporary research problems and issues based on your research and practice, and you will conduct literature reviews, evaluate and critically appraise a range of information, investigate and adopt suitable theoretical frameworks, research methodologies and methods, and process and analyse data to produce a coherent and justified solution to the problem(s) identified. Throughout the module, your supervisor will support you in terms of content and skills development so that you can work semi-autonomously on your individual research project. This is achieved through regular supervisory meetings throughout the year, which will allow for individual discussion of the tasks that will have to be completed to develop the project smoothly.

Modules are subject to change and availability.