Marketing Commucations

The MSc in Marketing Communications will give you a solid grounding in marketing, while also allowing you to position yourself as a marketing communications specialist. Whether you choose to go on to work in an agency, in house as part of a communications team, or as a freelance consultant, the course will help you gain the skills and insight needed to establish yourself confidently in this field.

This course can be taken as a one-year full-time programme, which is ideal if you are at the start of your marketing career. It is also of particular interest to professionals in the creative sector, who can choose to take the flexible part-time route, if they wish to study without taking a career break.

We take a structured approach to developing the professional skills you need to be successful in this field. This includes both intellectual skills exploring different ways of thinking; and practical skills, such as communication, numerical and presentation capabilities.

The course draws heavily on real-world issues, so you will learn the theory but also how to apply it to real-life situations. You will also have plenty of opportunity to engage with employers, with guest lecturers from industry, and research opportunities where you can work on real marketing problems.

You will study the following core modules:

• Contemporary Marketing Practice - This module introduces you to the theory and practice of marketing.  It begins by looking at the traditional target marketing approach before looking at more recent developments in marketing thought. This module will also introduce the idea of thinking skills, encouraging you to take a systematic approach to the way you tackle business problems, using theory to structure your approach.
• Strategic Marketing Planning - In this module, you will learn how to analyse an organisation's environment, making decisions on how it can deploy its resources for maximum advantage. The module will review a number of different tools and techniques which aid strategic analysis, strategy development and implementation.
• Principles of Marketing Communications - This module takes an in-depth look at the tools and techniques of promotion. As well as looking at the strengths of weaknesses of different communications media, you will learn the more fundamental principles of message development, framing and delivery, ensuring that communications media are used as effectively as possible.
• Marketing Analytics - Marketing depends on good information about the organisation, its customers and its competitors. In Marketing Analytics, you will learn how to design and implement systems for monitoring marketing activities, integrating financial and non-financial information to support organisational learning.
• Research Methods for Marketing - This module builds on the learning from the Marketing Analytics module.  As well as learning how to define and plan research projects, you will develop skills in gathering data, whether from focus groups, surveys or observation. The focus on this module is primarily on marketing research, but we will also look at the similarities to and differences from academic research.
• Digital Marketing - Digital marketing is integral to marketing in any context, so most modules will contain a substantial element of digital marketing. This module focuses on the planning and execution of digital marketing campaigns, focusing on the practical skills that need to be developed to maximise the benefit derived from digital marketing channels.
• Corporate Communications - This module will help you to understand the practices and processes by which an organisation communicates with its internal and external stakeholders. Building on the Principles of Marketing Communications Module, you will take a more specialist look at topics such as media relations, crisis management and building an internet presence, as well as the principles and practices of internal communications to staff.
• Dissertation Research Methods

You will choose one additional subject from the optional modules* below:

• Customer Relationship Management
• Social Marketing Principles and Policy
• Promotion and Society

* The availability of optional modules is subject to demand.

Dissertation

In addition to these modules, your dissertation gives you the chance to research an area of marketing communications that is of particular interest to you and of relevance to your career or company. You will have the choice of working on an academic-type dissertation or a work-based one, where you will work on a live communications project.

You will attend a number of dissertation workshops to provide you with the research training sufficient to produce a quality dissertation.

You will need:

• A good honours degree (minimum 2:2) from a recognised Higher Education institution or equivalent from a recognised overseas institution, or
• Have a qualification such as the Advanced Certificate in Marketing, a BTEC or HND and have three years' management experience.