Business & Digital Marketing BSc(Hons)

During the first year of your digital marketing degree, you'll explore the key industry elements, the challenges in the current landscape, and upcoming trends. By looking into data, information and intelligence, you'll get to grips with finance and marketing, and develop an ability to understand and influence people. And by presenting and pitching ideas as a team, you'll improve your decision-making and relationship-building skills.

Modules

Market Intelligence

In this module, you’ll develop a working knowledge of market research methods, learning how to interpret examples of market research from the real world. You’ll be introduced to primary and secondary modes of market research and gain an understanding of how to segment markets and analyse trends using different analytic methods. 

You’ll also get a crash course in Big Data, learn how to present information to different audiences and explore how market intelligence is essential in market sensing, back-casting and futurecasting. 

Present and Future of Marketing Communications

Here, you’ll explore the key concepts of marketing communications, focusing primarily on the practical and creative components of marketing. Through a series of lectures, seminars and tutorials, you’ll develop an understanding of strategy, operations and economic sectors and business models.  

You'll also be introduced to the principles of web and app design, looking at user experience, information and content architecture, alongside visual aesthetics. Through the exploration of contemporary theories, you’ll also learn how marketing drives value in business. 

The Art of Strategy

In this module, you’ll learn how to think strategically about business objectives by engaging with a variety of case studies spanning different sectors. You’ll also explore different perspectives and theories on strategy, critically considering source and cultural context.  

Decision Making and Consumer Behaviour

You’ll explore how factors such as psychology, sociology and culture have the power to influence and shape consumer behaviour, familiarising yourself with aspects of decision-making relevant to product development, branding and sales. You’ll also explore customer experience using wide-ranging theory and data from real-world scenarios, drawing insights from a number of schools of thought to understand why consumers behave as they do. 

Design Thinking

In this module, you’ll explore design thinking methodology as a problem-solving framework used across multiple sectors from business to international relations. Looking at contemporary issues such as – but not limited to – poverty, gender inequality, healthcare and cybersecurity, you’ll work in groups to collaborate on a design-centric problem-solving process.  

Navigating Uncertainty

You’ll learn to operate in always-uncertain contexts, where traditional modes of practice (predictability, commitment, linear planning) are replaced with skills of agility, resilience and systems thinking. You’ll also look at uncertainty as opportunity, where change often indicates the emergence of new questions and consumer needs, as well as providing new tools for addressing these. 

Expanding on your specialist skills and knowledge, you'll better understand the core ideas behind successful digital marketing. You'll also study project management and explore team learning and performance. As your expertise grows, you'll implement your business plan and pitch your marketing skills to your target market.

Modules

Complex Problem-Solving

In this module, you’ll practice multiple methods of complex problem-solving and explore outcomes through simulation. You’ll be introduced to systems thinking, a necessity for contemporary business leaders who will be working in environments of densely layered interdependencies and networks. Systems thinking and systems approaches to problem-solving will provide a framework for understanding and managing complex situations in business. 

B2B and the Marketing Ecosystem

During this module, you’ll gain a working knowledge of B2B (Business-to-Business) contracts and standard arrangements. You’ll engage in industry-level and sector-level networking activities that is an introduction to building a client base and could help you find your own clients and partners. You’ll also analyse readings in business networking theory and apply these ideas.  

Intelligent Brand Building

You’ll gain an understanding of the key elements of branding and brand identity, exploring product identity and sub-brands in relation to company and corporate branding. Your learning will be underpinned and driven by theory and research in branding psychology and the importance of emotion and you’ll learn multiple ways you can use consumer data to make branding decisions and enhance a brand’s evolution over time.

Demonstrating Sustainability

In this module, you’ll explore the sustainability opportunities and practices within experience activities, as well as the devastating effects of unsustainable practice. You’ll select a particular sustainability-related issue that you are passionate about and discuss this within a blog format. You’ll also utilise examples of best practice to inform and justify proposals designed to address the issue that you have identified. 

Financial Insights

Here, you’ll explore the basic principles of finance across a range of business sectors and build integrated knowledge of how finance impacts business operations. You’ll acquire an understanding of financial terminology, to the level whereby you can confidently debate the financial health of a business or sector. 

Collaborative Project: Marketing in Digital Environments

In this module, you’ll be responding to a marketing brief in a real or realistic context. Briefs are likely to vary widely in nature and industry sectors. In all cases, you’ll deliver outcomes through informed, strategic project management and high-quality digital campaign outputs. This will require you to carry out research and develop an informed strategy for design and delivery. You’ll also pitch your strategy, clearly outlining tactics and justification.

You can choose to take an optional placement year after your second year on a three-year programme. 

You’ll be responsible for finding your own placement, with support from the RealWORKS employability team. 

Choosing this option will enhance your industry experience and skills while studying. 

How you’ll study during your placement year 

You’ll spend time working in a professional context, as part of a business or organisation. This can be in one role, or up to three, and must be for a minimum of 24 weeks. 

You’ll develop in-demand workplace skills, deepen your insight into industry and grow your network of contacts, all of which could help you get ahead in your career after graduation. 

Throughout this year, you’ll develop a portfolio of work that includes critical self-reflection on what has been learned from the experience. You’ll be required to evidence your experiences, the skills you’ve learned and your professional growth. 

As you develop your marketing solutions portfolio, you'll take on a piece of academic work – either an applied project, a work placement or a dissertation. This will be reinforced by subjects like applied advertising and branding, creative leadership, and sustaining and growing businesses.

Modules

Creative & Ethical Leadership

Here, you’ll further develop your industry experience through the completion of a micro-placement opportunity, where you’ll participate in a 360-degree appraisal. You’ll also increase your understanding of creative and ethical leadership and build a portfolio to showcase the range of experiences and attributes that you have developed throughout your degree.

DataLab: Generation, Analysis, Iteration

In this module, you’ll build skills in analysing data in the pursuit of business goals. You’ll examine the effects of data on business models, product development and customer engagement and consider this from the perspective of managers, marketers and entrepreneurs. You’ll look at data in relation to project parameters and you’ll explore how data can help us effectively futurecast in many scenarios. 

Consumer Psychology and Emotion by Design

Building on what you learned in Decision-Making and Consumer Behaviour, you’ll explore the effects of human interaction on individual and group behaviour, including dynamics of groups, family, culture and social class. You’ll also explore the topic through the lens of psychological theory, and you’ll apply recent research findings to your studies.  

Finally, you’ll build a systematic knowledge of the application and limitations of various research paradigms and techniques in relation to consumer behaviour. 

Crafting Your Future: Professional Practice and Research

In this module, you’ll put together a professional portfolio with the aim of showcasing your best work, skills and core interests. Your portfolio will be made up of three components: a digital showcase of professional practice, a personal development plan and an industry analysis essay focusing on the sector you wish to enter. Your portfolio will enable you to reflect on everything learnt during your degree and help you establish yourself as a professional within your preferred sector. You’ll be supported by weekly lectures, seminars and one-to-one supervision. 

Social Action Project

In this module, you’ll be tasked with developing a social enterprise concept in response to a ‘wicked problem’ posed at the start of the module. You’ll work in groups to co-develop your concept and you’ll consider the challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and a range of societal challenges. You’ll be expected to produce and share research on relevant audiences and markets and you’ll be assessed based on a critical journal and presentation.