Foundations of Digital Consumer Search and Marketing

Overview

This course will develop your understanding of the fundamentals of digital marketing and how it transformed the marketing landscape. By the end of this course, you will have developed your understanding of key topics such as: the fundamentals of content marketing, digital consumer engagement, journey mapping, lifecycle and value proposition. You will also have the opportunity to discuss topics such as digital consumer experience management, competitor benchmarking and creating a digital customer journey map with your peers. Throughout the course, you will be prompted to consider how the topics relate to a company or brand of your choosing. You will be asked to analyse how successfully the company has implemented these topics and identify areas that can be improved. In the end-of-course assignment, you will reflect on the key points from this course, and consider how they can be applied in a real-life context. Completing this course will count towards your learning in the Digital Consumer Search and Marketing Specialization.

Syllabus

Week 1

This week focuses on the foundations of digital marketing and how it transformed the marketing landscape. You will begin with a reflection on your motivation for joining the courses and expectations for your studies. We will then focus on concepts relevant to digital consumer engagement, including: Consumer Journey Mapping (CJM) and competitor benchmarking.

Week 2

This week builds on the foundations of digital consumer search and marketing. You will begin the second week with an introduction to digital marketing communications. This week discusses various digital marketing channels, as well as push and pull digital marketing approaches. Additionally, the concept of digital consumer lifecycle is discussed and digital interactions are considered at the level of Business to Consumer (B2C), Consumer to Consumer (C2C), Business to Business (B2B) and Consumer to Business (C2B). The week finishes with a discussion on the digital consumer value proposition.

Week 3

This week focuses on the forces of the external environment. You will consider the role of technology, as well as theories regarding adoption and diffusion of innovations, before analysing the role of competition and the influences of the economic environment. You will then look at Porter’s 5 Forces Model and the influences of the social and cultural environment. The week ends with a discussion of the influences of the legal and political environment, and how PESTLE analysis is applied in digital marketing strategy.

Week 4

This week, you will further your understanding of the digital consumer and consider both demand analysis and conversion. You will then look at situation analysis and digital consumer profiles, before studying the concept of digital consumer experience management. This week provides a more focused look at competitor benchmarking and digital consumer journey maps. The final assessment of the first course is at the end of this week.