Digital Marketing BA (Hons) (with Foundation Year)
UCAS Code: |Duration: 4 years|Full Time|Hope Park
UCAS Campus Code: L46
Work placement opportunities|International students can apply|Study Abroad opportunities
About the course
*This course is for 2025 entry only
Digital Marketing is one of the most challenging, fast-moving and exciting disciplines in the world of business today. Our Digital Marketing degree has a theoretical focus that is combined with practical examples of how companies apply the theory on a day-to-day basis, meaning that what you learn is not only academically sound but also rooted in the realities of today’s dynamic and increasingly digital marketplace.
During your degree, you will be provided with the key skills and knowledge that will enable you to understand the digital marketing context, marketing research and the discipline’s central role to business success, while allowing you to reflect on the moral and ethical implications of marketing behaviour in an increasingly digital world. The ever-advancing fields of Social and Digital Marketing and the importance of areas such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), content marketing, SEO and social media optimisation run through the curriculum as central themes and allow you to reflect on the many challenges and opportunities that the related technological and cultural changes provide. We believe your ability to gain meaningful employment after you graduate is really important, so there is a strong focus on helping you to develop your employability skills.
It has been designed so that you learn from research-active staff while at the same time being mentored and given masterclasses by industry leaders. Digital Marketing focuses on a wide range of organisations, from SMEs to global multinational organisations and across all sectors. Studying such a comprehensive view of the marketing world prepares you for a career in organisations of any type and size.
Course structure
Teaching on this degree is structured into lectures, where all students are taught together, and smaller groups of seminars and tutorials. The lectures will provide you with a general framework in Digital Marketing, whilst the seminar activities and discussions help your understanding and application of the subject. In tutorial sessions you will develop your understanding of Digital Marketing further, by working individually and in groups on industry-specific activities. Seminars and tutorials are also designed to enhance your employability skills.
Studying Marketing as a Combined Honours degree, in your first year of study there are approximately 6 teaching hours each week, which reduces to 5 teaching hours in your second and third years. On top of teaching hours, you are also expected to spend approximately 15 hours studying independently each week. This could include additional research and reading, attendance at guest lectures and industry related events, preparation or completion of set tasks for taught sessions, revision for exams, work for your assessments and participation in group work.
Assessment and feedback
You will have a number of assessments throughout your studies, including marketing campaign pitches, the production of digital marketing content and collateral, reports, individual academic reports, multiple choice tests, group presentations and written exams.
The assessments have been designed to develop your knowledge and skills in multiple ways and provide experience of gaining key skills needed in the competitive world of digital marketing and business. Written feedback will be given to you within four working weeks of the deadline for submission of coursework.
If you would like feedback on your written exams, you can request this from your tutors once exam results have been released. You are also encouraged to make an appointment to personally discuss your feedback with your tutor.
Foundation Year
The Foundation Year is a great opportunity if you have the ability and enthusiasm to study for a degree, but do not yet have the qualifications required to enter directly onto our degree programmes. A significant part of the Foundation Year focuses upon core skills such as academic writing at HE level, becoming an independent learner, structuring academic work, critical thinking, time management and note taking.
Successful completion of the Foundation Year will enable you to progress into the first year (Level C) of your chosen honours degree. Further details can be found here.
Year One
You will be introduced to the underlying principles of both traditional and Digital Marketing and the relationship between Marketing and the global business context. Study of this relationship can help to contextualise Digital Marketing theory and practice and further help you understand the dynamics of contemporary marketing management.
Topics typically studied in this year are:
The Marketing Mix: (8 Ps: Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process, Physical Evidence, and Participation)
How organisations develop and implement their Digital Marketing strategy in order to best serve their target markets.
Customer segmentation
Why and how companies divide the overall market into groups of consumers with similar needs and wants so that specific products or product lines can be presented to them in a way that best appeals to their interests.
Introduction to Economic and Business Management Theory & Practice
To be an effective marketer, one needs a solid understanding of the principles of economics and business and how any good marketing strategy both effects and is affected by the business and economic functions of an organisation.
Year Two
Social Media Marketing
This examines the growing importance of social media marketing. It focuses on social communities and the role that influencers play in affecting consumers’ decisions. The other three zones of social media are also explored: social entertainment; social publishing; social commerce.
Digital Media Marketing
This block provides students with a comprehensive understanding of the dynamic and rapidly evolving landscape of digital marketing strategies and techniques. It is designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate the digital realm effectively, covering key concepts such as search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, email marketing, content creation, and analytics.
Social Marketing
Students will study this fast-growing discipline, which uses principles from commercial marketing and the social sciences to change people’s behaviour for the social good and to benefit both individuals and wider society. Campaigns such as “5 A Day” and “Don’t Drink and Drive” are critically analysed.
Integrated Marketing Communications
Students examine how organisations seek to create and effectively communicate a consistent message across a range of digital and traditional communication tools and channels: advertising; PR; direct marketing,; sales promotions; and personal selling. Effective IMC campaigns of prominent organisations are critically analysed.
Marketing Research
The year ends with the study of marketing research techniques. Students examine how organisations collect and analyse data in order to make effective, evidence-based decisions. Concepts such as sampling, measurement of attitude, and questionnaire design are studied.
Year Three
In addition to further studies in Social Media Marketing and Digital Marketing, the following blocks of study are typical of those undertaken in Year 3.
Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis Methods
In preparation for the integrated dissertation, students study the various quantitative and qualitative data analysis methods. The various hypothesis testing methods are explored, along with an examination of such techniques as content and thematic analysis.
New Product Development
Organisations expend often huge amounts of time and money on ensuring that new products are adopted successfully in the marketplace and provide a suitable return on investment. Students will analyse the many reasons why new products may fail and how organisations can implement systematic methods to ensure that their new products have a better chance of being successful. Patents, trademarks and copyright are also explored as ways of protecting intellectual property rights and ensuring that new products are protected as they enter the market and grow their revenue streams.
Digital Branding
This block provides students with a comprehensive exploration of the strategic and creative aspects of building and managing brands in the digital age. Students will examine the critical elements of brand development, including brand identity, positioning, and storytelling, with a specific focus on leveraging digital platforms.
Sustainability Marketing
This course explores how businesses can create value by integrating environmental, social, and economic considerations into their marketing strategies. Students will delve into concepts such as green marketing, ethical consumerism, and corporate social responsibility, examining how companies can contribute positively to societal and environmental well-being while meeting their business objectives.
Entry requirements
There may be some flexibility for mature students offering non-tariff qualifications and students meeting particular widening participation criteria.
Careers
Past graduates of our Marketing degree have gone on to have careers such as Digital Marketing and Communications Coordinator, Social Media Officer/Manager, Marketing Assistant, Marketing Manager, Content producers, Assistant Commercial Product Manager, and Advice Centre Manager.
The Marketing degree has been designed so progression can be made to Masters or Doctoral studies. Graduates who successfully gain a degree can apply to become full members of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) or the Marketing Research Society.
A number of other professional bodies will also accept holders of a first degree that includes Marketing on to their qualifications at an advanced level, including the Chartered Management Institute’s Diploma in Management Consultancy and the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators’ (ICSA) Postgraduate Certificate in Charity Management.
Enhancement opportunities
Work Placement Opportunities
The Marketing team works very closely with the University’s Business Gateway to source robust and exciting student placement opportunities, along with a wide range of company visits and other events where you come face-to-face with professional practitioners.
SALA
The Service and Leadership Award (SALA) is offered as an extra-curricular programme involving service-based experiences, development of leadership potential and equipping you for a career in a rapidly changing world. It enhances your degree, it is something which is complimentary but different and which has a distinct ‘value-added’ component. Find out more on our Service and Leadership Award page.
Study Abroad
As part of your degree, you can choose to spend either a semester or a full year of study at one of our partner universities as part of our Study Abroad programme. Find out more on our Study Abroad page.
Tuition fees
The tuition fees for the 2024/25 academic year are £9,250 for full-time undergraduate courses.
If you are a student from the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands, your tuition fees will also be £9,250.
The University reserves the right to increase Home and EU Undergraduate and PGCE tuition fees in line with any inflationary or other increase authorised by the Secretary of State for future years of study.
Additional costs
On top of tuition fees, you also need to consider the cost of core textbooks, which we estimate to be around £100.
You will also need to consider the cost of your accommodation each year whilst you study at university. Visit our accommodation pages for further details about our Halls of Residence.
Scholarships
We have a range of scholarships to help with the cost of your studies. Visit our scholarships page to find out more.
International tuition fees
The International Tuition fees for 2024/25 are £13,000.
Visit our International fees page for more information.
Course combinations
This course is also available with Foundation Year as a Combined Honours degree with the following subjects: