Marketing Online Graduate Certificate

Application of communications theory and research findings in advertising, sales promotion, publicity, personal selling; planning, conduct, and administration of programs of information and persuasion.

This course is designed to introduce students to the complexities of social media marketing through revealing foundational theories and associated concepts of collective behavior, social influence, and social media marketing. This is essentially a marketing strategy course. 

The primary focus of this course will be on understanding: consumers, social interactions, the impact technology has on marketplace relationships, the various social media channels available to marketers, how to build social media marketing strategies, and how to track their effectiveness. Our levels of analysis will shift from individuals to collectives. You will be responsible for conducting primary and secondary research, recognizing course theories in action, creating effective social media marketing campaigns, and managing social media marketing efforts.

The key objective of this graduate-level course is to understand the development and implementation of a comprehensive long-term marketing strategy for a company or business organization by focusing on its customers, competitors, and market opportunities. The course will provide students with an opportunity to broaden their understanding of competitive marketing strategy and to develop skills in formulating, implementing, and monitoring it. 

Through readings, lectures, and cases we will cover a variety of topics including understanding & delivering customer value, understanding customer loyalty & its implications, choosing an appropriate position in the value chain, implementing effective segmentation and competitive positioning strategies, and designing effective pricing, channels, branding, and digital marketing strategies in a wide variety of consumer, industrial, and service industries as well as for new and old-economy businesses. The course will be of value to students interested in brand management & digital marketing, technology marketing & management, sales & distribution, entrepreneurship, management consultants, & corporate strategy.

Great products/services supported by attractive advertising and distribution create value for the customer while effective pricing captures value for the company. Although pricing cannot fully compensate for poor product development, promotion and distribution, ineffective pricing can surely prevent those efforts from resulting in financial success. Many companies create great value for their customers yet fail to capture that value in their earnings due to a lack of integration between their value creation activities and their pricing decisions. 

Experts say that for marketing strategists, pricing is the moment of truth. The purpose of this course is to make sure that when you reach that moment of truth you know 'what' to do and 'how' to do it. To equip you with the required expertise, this course covers theories, conceptual frameworks, and analytical tools used to make effective pricing decisions.

Specification of management information needs, evaluation of research proposals and findings, methods of gathering and analyzing data, administrative aspects of research, and decisions.