Marketing

This module examines the principles of marketing, from theoretical and practical perspectives, which enables students to develop understanding of applied marketing and build a solid foundation for tackling future marketing modules.

This module introduces some of the main concepts within customer research and customer insights, exploring different types of customer insights and research methods employed by marketers. This module will explore consumer behaviour and wider macro-marketing theories to understand consumer trends and how these inform marketing decision making. The module will enable students to conduct elements of a marketing audit and adopt user-orientated approaches to collecting and evaluating customer insights.

The module will cover the following areas:

• consumer behaviour theories
• customer segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP)
• customer actions, preferences or perceptions in various channel contexts
• current trends in theory and marketing practice, including marketing dashboards and metrics in marketing decision making.

This module looks at how marketers can create distinctive, sustainable and differentiated brands, by helping students to develop the knowledge and skills required for a career as a Brand Manager. The module explores the role of brands and how they relate to customers and society. Exploring contemporary brand management from both a theoretical and practical lense, students will explore brand theory, key principles in brand management and innovation, and the role and significance of brands, whilst examining strategies to build, grow and reposition brands.

The aims of this module are:

• to define the scope of marketing research;
• to provide an understanding of the key concepts and techniques used in marketing research;
• to develop skills for evaluating marketing research data including those of marketing metrics.

This module aims to develop students’ understanding that organisations carry responsibility for how their marketing activities impact society. The module will explore marketing ethics and ethical decision making, to consider how marketers can respond to change in a responsible manner.

The module will use academic theory and professional insights to examine important topics in this area, including corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the context of marketing, principles of social marketing, sustainable marketing, legislation/regulation and societal well-being. In considering the important role marketing plays in encouraging attitudinal and behavioural change, the module will encourage students to reflect on the importance of marketers developing both empathy, competencies and skills required to be a successful and responsible marketer.

This module aims to develop students’ understanding that organisations carry responsibility for how their marketing activities impact society. The module will explore marketing ethics and ethical decision making, to consider how marketers can respond to change in a responsible manner.

The module will use academic theory and professional insights to examine important topics in this area, including corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the context of marketing, principles of social marketing, sustainable marketing, legislation/regulation and societal well-being. In considering the important role marketing plays in encouraging attitudinal and behavioural change, the module will encourage students to reflect on the importance of marketers developing both empathy, competencies and skills required to be a successful and responsible marketer.

The aims of this module are:

• to give a comprehensive understanding of digital and social media marketing techniques applicable to marketing theory, practice and research;
• to equip students with an in-depth knowledge of the principles and drivers of digital marketing, social media platforms and applications;
• to provide an understanding of current research in digital and social media, evaluating the effectiveness of different digital tools and technologies in contemporary marketing;
• to be able to measure and make recommendations for digital and social media marketing campaigns.

This module builds on students' understanding of marketing and develops a critical appreciation of the role of marketing communications (as both a concept and process) in the success of marketing strategies.

Strategic marketing is how brands and organisations provide value and put the customer at the heart of all they do, thereby differentiating themselves from their competitors. A marketing plan is a written document or blueprint which governs an organisation’s marketing activities (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick, 2020). Of all the management functions, marketing has traditionally had the most difficulty in finding and defining its place in an organisation.

In this module we will explore the practices of marketing management in alternative contexts, how to produce (and implement) marketing plans, whilst also evaluating potential strategic options and decision-making in a complex and changing global world.

The aims of this module are:

• to present a range of issues affecting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs);
• to develop both written and oral communication skills;
• to encourage enthusiasm and self-motivation.

The aims of this module are:

• to provide an understanding of the key concepts and core issues in global and international marketing, and understand the difference between the two constructs;
• to widen the students’ knowledge of marketing from the principles learned in semester one.

Public Relations (PR) is the discipline which looks after reputation – for individuals, products, brands, organisations, governments and even countries. Reputation is increasingly important for marketers and businesses; it’s influenced by performance, behaviour, and the way organisations communicate. This module is relevant to students who want to equip themselves for a career in marketing communications, from either an agency or client-side perspective. The module examines the theory of public relations and the application of tools and techniques in building and maintaining reputation. Combining theoretical perspectives and practical application, the module considers a range of specialisms and market sector applications within the PR domain.

The module includes key areas of PR practice, communication theory and key topics such as internal communications, reputation management, ethics, corporate social responsibility, stakeholder management, setting communications objectives and creativity in PR.

This module is an opportunity to tackle a real organisational problem in a specific discipline, as prescribed by a 'client' company, working in a group. The aims are:

• to apply discipline-specific knowledge, covered in the postgraduate programme, in addition to knowledge gained from previous studies (if relevant) to a real-world problem/situation;
• to undertake business consultancy across the entire lifecycle of a project from inception to delivery;
• to develop consulting skills, including those related to academic research, such as effective communication with the company, choosing appropriate theories/frameworks and effectively collecting and using data as needed;
• to effectively work in a group;
• to deliver a range of agreed outputs to a deadline.