Welcome to your Digital Marketing Management course

Welcome to the MSc Digital Marketing Management at Staffordshire University. In this course you will gain hands-on and work experience in the field of digital marketing, one of the fastest growing industries of the 21st century. With Staffordshire University, you will deal with real modern world issues and the solutions offered up by contemporary digital marketing strategies and tactics. Through expert guidance, you will gain both technical and critical evaluation skills, and the ability to apply the most up-to-date digital techniques using new and emerging software.

This postgraduate course will offer you the opportunity to keep up-to-date with the capabilities of modern paid online advertising, SEO techniques, influencer marketing, conversion rate optimisation and digital analytics, also, you will gain experience in demonstrating the impact of social media campaigning within organisations.

Your staff team

We want to make sure you know some of our team before you arrive. Hopefully this will help you recognise us and ensure you know who you can contact if you need any additional help and guidance.

Paul Dobson

Senior Lecturer

Senior Lecturer for over ten years, specialising in digital and strategic marketing. This includes Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO), inbound and outbound Marketing, social media and influencer marketing.

Paul's profile

Dr Joe Hazzam

Interim Course Director

Joe is a Senior Lecturer, and course leader of the BSc digital and social media programme. Joe delivers workshops and masterclasses on social media and digital marketing strategies with 17 years of experience in strategic and digital marketing

Joe's profile

Jon FAIRBURN

Emeritus Professor

Professor Jon Fairburn is active in teaching, research, bid writing and public engagement. He has incorporated credited work experience into geography and tourism degrees as well as the MSc Digital Marketing Management.

Jon's profile

Kathryn Mitchell

Senior Lecturer

Lecturer in Digital Marketing, specialising in developing strategy in changing and disruptive environments, assessing occupational competency and using technology to increase operational efficiency. Kathryn joined Staffordshire University in 2019.

Kathryn's profile

First activity

In the first few weeks of university, full time students will be enrolled on the Digital Marketing for SMEs, Global Digital Marketing Decisions and Cross-Cultural Management & Leadership modules. These modules will equip you with an understanding of the principles and theoretical aspects of digital marketing from a consumer and business perspective, both as a small to medium sized organisation to an organisation that is seeking to expand abroad in what can be a turbulent business environment. In addition, you will be studying leadership change and innovation, people management and ethical decision-making, sustainability and inclusion.

Work in Industry

As part of your course, you will have the opportunity to work in a variety of roles with local and national organisations, including website development, social media marketing, search engine optimisation (local, national, international and social media eg YouTube SEO).

When you are not on placement, you can take the expert advice from practitioners and be offered additional practical experience to develop your skills and practice throughout your course.

Tell us what you know

Our staff are continually pursuing research interests in their areas of expertise. Paul Dobson has authored a number of book chapters focusing on Digital Marketing for SMEs. He is also an active practitioner working with local and national business plus supports local charities with their digital marketing. This includes enabling influencers develop over 196K subscribers on YouTube and turning a loss-making business to a profit in eight weeks.

Staff across the Business School are also active bloggers and regularly contribute to the local news media on areas of specific interest related to their expertise.

Here are a few of Paul's blogs:

Top tips on how to be an influencer

10 Top Tips for restaurants and takeaways to prepare for the new normal after the Covid-19 lockdown

Preparing for the New Normal – How accommodation providers in France are rethinking and adapting their services and what can we learn from this?

Pre-arrival activities

Understanding Digital Marketing – Some Basics

Please watch the video, Marketing 101 and answer the following questions:

What is involved in marketing planning?
What is in a basic marketing plan?
What is the difference between B2B and B2C
How do you segment your market? Can you think of examples?
What is Targeting and Positioning following segmentation? give examples.
Describe the 4Ps, then research what the 7Ps are.
Give examples of KPIs and explain why you’re using these.

Why Digital Marketing Is a Great Career in 2022

Video Activities

Please watch the following short video, which provides an introduction to digital marketing: What is Digital Marketing? | Types of Digital Marketing | Traditional Marketing vs Digital marketing
5 HUGE Digital Marketing Trends To Watch In 2022
Digital Marketing In 5 Minutes | What Is Digital Marketing?

Undertake Google Courses – These are free and please give yourself plenty of time for this.

Digital Marketing is great for employment

According to Linkedin and Google, digital marketing is one of the most in-demand careers with the greatest number of job openings.

See https://skillcrush.com/blog/how-to-start-a-digital-marketing-career/

What kind of skills do you need to succeed in digital marketing? Some include:

SEO – Search Engine Optimisation - You might enjoy many jobs in SEO, such as SEO specialist, SEO analyst, content writer, link builder, and SEO consultant.
PPC – Pay Per Click - You probably found a pay-per-click sponsored ad when you searched on google. Marketers will pay to have their products or services show up when searching for what they offer. Marketers will use platforms like Google, FaceBook, or Instagram to reach their potential customers. Pay-per-click advertising has many areas like search, display, social media, remarketing, sequential, and Google shopping. PPC jobs include PPC specialist, PPC analyst, Google ads specialist, and social media marketing.
Social Media - What is the first thing you do when you go to Instagram? You’ll scroll down and maybe “like” a post or maybe comment on it… then you encounter a brand that talks about a product… Then you click on the link to check it out and become a customer. Social media jobs include content marketer, social media specialist, social media analyst, public relations, brand managers, digital media manager, and social media strategist.
Email Marketing – You probably signed up to get the latest updates, promotions, coupons, etc. This is still one of the most effective ways for a business to continue building customer relationships and acquiring sales. Email Marketing Jobs include Email marketing specialist, Email marketing manager, and Email marketing coordinator.
Remember that there’s other skills such as Video, Inbound marketing, website development, data analytics.

General advice and guidance at the start of your academic journey:

Angela Lee Duckworth: Grit: the power of passion and perseverance
I really recommend this talk it shows that learning comes with effort and hard work, and that working hard is the key to success. Developing the mindset that hard work and determination make a huge impact is a great start to your university life.

Drew Dudley: Everyday leadership
Small acts of kindness can change lives, each person in their own way positively affects the people around them. I love this funny talk and the message Drew Dudley is trying to spread is fantastic.

Check out our blog

We have a large selection of blogs written by both staff and students for you to browse through. They cover a wide variety of topics such as student projects, study trips, staff research, business advice and even where to go for great food in the local area.

Take a look

Academic skills

Whether you're joining us from school or college, or you're returning to education after some time away, everyone can benefit from the Academic Study Skills resources provided by the University library.

The Academic Skills team is here to support you throughout your academic journey and to help you gain the skills you need to reach your full potential. They can assist with academic reading and writing skills, give advice on how best to plan assignments, and help improve your time management.

The library's Academic Skills Guides offer the key information to make studying easier and give a comprehensive guide to the learning resources and services we offer.

Staffs CampusConnect

Staffs CampusConnect is our student-led community app for new students. Connect with other people from your course, hometown or country, and even those with similar interests.

To register, please ensure you use your Applicant ID (Student Number) that you received in your offer letter, and the email address you used in your application to us.

Register for CampusConnect

Welcome website

Our welcome website will provide you the link to your new student life. It's all about how you find your place at university, including everything from how to meet friends, feel confident in doing your academic work, being a member of your Student Union and getting involved in Union Societies, Academic Societies, Sports, Volunteering or representing your peers in your School.

Part of this Welcome Week - we have an exciting program of University and course level activities planned for you for your first week in September. We are also building an extended program for you to join a series of events throughout the first half of the autumn term. Further details will be shared with you via the Welcome website and Students' Union pages over the coming weeks.

Welcome website

Campus map

Use our campus map to familiarise yourself with our campus before you arrive.

Campus map (PDF)

Check your email

Please make sure you check your personal email account regularly over the next few weeks. We will be sending you lots of information about Welcome Week.

We are really looking forward to you joining the School of Justice, Security and Sustainability in September. If you have any questions, please contact your Course Leader, Paul Dobson (paul.dobson@staffs.ac.uk)