PE7053 - Strategic Marketing in the Digital Era

You will learn through taught online workshops, tutor guidance and feedback, and independent directed and self-directed learning.

The interactive workshop sessions provided online via the module Blackboard portal will provide you with a theoretical underpinning of the module content, supported by online interactive discussion. These workshops will cover a range of key theoretical concepts in Marketing (with a special focus on digital marketing) and how they link to Business Strategy, Operations & Supply Chain Management, Financial Planning, and Human Resource Management. This is in recognition that you may have joined this course from a variety of non-business, as well as business disciplines. The workshops therefore will take an introductory and strategic management outlook to essential business management functions.
The module has a supporting reading list that provides you with an opportunity to see how theories from these different areas can be applied to build and enhance strategic marketing development. Your directed study will support the work you have undertaken in the interactive sessions. Independent learning time is set aside for learning activities, self-identified by you, to gain a deeper and broader knowledge of the subject. You may undertake further reading. Independent learning will be based upon your own initiative in further exploring and researching areas of interest including strategic marketing, business strategy, and digital marketing. Reflective learning and regular discussions with peers, tutors, and industry professionals (where possible) will be an integral part of independent learning

The continuous practical nature of the interactive workshops and the online discussion boards means that tutor (formative) feedback will be received continuously, via the online discussion board and Blackboard Collaborate. Discussion board evaluations, tutor and peer feedback and directed learning activity provide formative assessment.

Your learning is supported by a Teaching and Learning Plan, offering guidance on reading to prepare for workshops and help with the completion of the assessment. Within this plan there are also suggested learning activities, which guide you in your independent learning. These activities allow you to reflect and evaluate your knowledge and skills and in this area. Throughout, the emphasis will be on high levels of student participation, both individually and within small groups or teams via the discussion board and Blackboard Collaborate.

Support will be provided to you by a member of academic staff leading the module and providing the interactive workshop input. The module tutor will support the online discussion board and may be contacted individually or by groups of students via the discussion board and Blackboard Collaborate. This support is part of the module’s e-learning portal, which houses workshop materials, case studies and how-to multimedia & text files.

You will also receive with a wide-ranging electronic reading list that comprises of various books, conference papers and journal articles that showcase the application of various enterprise skills in the module.

The module assessment consists of a 4000-word individual report, which will be distributed at the start of your teaching semester. You can develop the report through ongoing discussion and support by means of the discussion board and Blackboard Collaborate. This will encourage your active participation in the learning process throughout the semester. Your report represents 100% of the assessed work on this module.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

Knowledge & Understanding:
• MLO1: Gain a critical understanding of strategic business functions and particularly how marketing decisions fit into the context of business strategy.
• MLO2: Critically appraise the opportunities and challenges posed by the digital marketplace.

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
• MLO3: Design, implement, and evaluate marketing strategies that are integrated with key business functions.

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
• MLO4: Critically evaluate the impact that marketing decisions has on related business functions
• MLO5: Develop an awareness of and critically appraise the regulatory and ethical landscape faced by digital marketing professionals.

Formative assessment will take place through group work, assignment discussion and reflection, case study activity, and interactive (discussion board based) theory/practice related discussions.

Criteria will be provided to enable you to understand what is expected in the assignment and how you will be assessed on your performance.

The summative assessment is an individual assignment. The assessment is a written business report providing an evaluation of a chosen area of digital marketing strategy, based on independent market research. (4,000 words) which is submitted at the end of the module. This assessment component is worth 100% of the module mark. This assesses MLO1-MLO5 inclusive.

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Strategic Marketing broadly includes, market research and assessing the business environment, developing lucrative products, and appropriately promoting and delivering this product to the customer. However, there are many other business functions that play a role in all of this. For example, the finance department will have to monitor and manage the organisation’s costs and revenues; the HR department will have to recruit and develop suitable staff. Most importantly, digital technologies now play a key role in the success of a business.

This module will give you the ability to take an overarching (strategic) perspective of an organisation and its operations. You will develop an appreciation for making different types of business decisions and assess their impact on your business’ performance through a series of interactive workshops, supported by online discussion with the module tutor and fellow students. The aim is to develop you to become modern-day business managers who can appreciate the complexities of business decision-making in an increasingly digital world.

All activities contribute towards a final assessment, which is a 4,000-word individual report providing an evaluation of a chosen area of digital strategy.