Contents
MA Marketing Communications
Rationale
In most organisations, a great deal of responsibility rests on the marketing team. If they don’t get it right, then the company is not likely to survive. Our specialised marketing communications programme will help you develop the skills necessary to succeed not only in your current role but also in reaching your future career ambitions as you climb up to higher levels on the managerial ladder.
Marketing communications (or marcom) are messages and related media used to communicate with a market. Those who practice advertising, branding, direct marketing, graphic design, marketing, packaging, promotion, publicity, sponsorship, public relations, sales, sales promotion and online marketing are termed marketing communicators, marketing communication managers, or more briefly as marcom managers.
Traditionally, marketing communication practitioners focus on the creation and execution of printed marketing collateral; however, academic and professional research developed the practice to use strategic elements of branding and marketing in order to ensure consistency of message delivery throughout an organization. Many trends in business can be attributed to marketing communication; for example: the transition from customer service to customer relations, and the transition from human resources to human solutions. In branding, opportunities to contact stakeholders are called brand touchpoints (or points of contact.) Marketing communication is concerned with the general behavior of an organization and the perceptions of the organization that are promoted to stakeholders through these touchpoints.
Integrated marketing communication presents aspiration for companies to develop an optimal combination of communication elements in order to maximize effects and minimize losses (defined as investment which did not result in goal achievement).
Marketing communications is focused on product/produce/service as opposed to corporate communications where the focus of communications work is the company/enterprise itself. Marketing communications is primarily concerned with demand generation, product/produce/service positioning while corporate communications deal with issue management, mergers and acquisitions, litigation etc.
See also
External links
- The Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications
- Conversations with Customers - A Blog on Marketing Communications
You will study marketing communications as a key management discipline and gain the academic knowledge and practical skills essential for effective communication.
Objectives
The overall objective of the Programme is to critically examine the theoretical foundations and practical application of marketing communications in organisations which includes:
1. A detailed understanding of the economic and behavioural foundations of advertising, public relations and sales promotion.
2. An overview of the nature of promotional institutions and their working arrangements.
3. A fundamental understanding of the promotional planning process including strategy development and the details of the major components of an integrated marketing communications plan.
4. The ability to communicate with the functional of marketing communications and other business specialists
5. A capacity to learn independently via a working knowledge of the prime sources of new developments in the field.
To achieve these objectives, the course has been designed with the recommended texts and their supplements as the organizing core. They provide the basic structure of the programme and the sequencing of topics. The texts are supplemented with subject specific workshops and readings selected from the published research outcomes, marketing communications literature, marketing specialist and practitioners, and international educational institutions' and consultants' relevant published material. The readings serve one or more of the following four objectives:
1. elaborate on important topics that are not covered in the text, update materials that may have changed subsequent to publication of the text.
2. provide alternate points of view on contentious issues.
3. introduce students to the best sources of information for continuing professional development.
Learning Outcomes
A. Knowledge and Understanding
On completion of the programme, the successful student will have knowledge and understanding of:
1. the role of marketing and marketing communications in contemporary organisations
2. the leading models, concepts and theories of strategic marketing management and strategic marketing communications in contemporary organisation
3. the managerial uses of marketing and marketing communication specific research
4. the theories and concepts associated with marketing communication
5. the challenges facing marketing decision makers
B. Cognitive (thinking) skills
On completion of the programme, the successful student will be able to:
1. analyse a marketing communication situation and device alternative response
2. critically appraise the main influences on and characteristics of the promotional mix and its significance in the context of developing effective marketing communications
3. critically evaluate alternative marketing and marketing communication strategies for concepts and theories in the context of organisational practice
4. correctly apply abstract marketing and marketing communication specific models to practical marketing situations
5. identify and solve strategic marketing communication problems
On completion of the programme, the successful student will be able to:
- critically evaluate some of the latest thinking in marketing communication theory
- undertake a thorough scan of the marketing environment of an organisation
- critically evaluate and interpret marketing research data to assist decision making and communication strategy development
- develop strategic options and select between them
- develop a potentially effective marketing communication plan tailored to an organisation's needs and constraints
- implement, manage and critically evaluate a marketing communication programme.
On completion of the programme, the successful student will be able to:
1. critically evaluate and support development of students' graduate skills of personal and career development, effective learning, communication, teamwork, information technology and numeracy.
2. work efficiently and independently, or as a member of a team, to tackle a practical marketing and/or marketing communication problems.
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Teaching and Learning Resources
Indicative Contents
The programme comprises three courses in six core modules. In addition, you will be required to complete a client-based project or dissertation. Each course, leading to the individual postgraduate award can be studied as independent units or to earn credits for a higher qualification. A Postgraduate Certificate is normally considered a junior management level qualification whereas a postgraduate diploma can be a prerequisite for middle management positions.
Each module is worth 20 credits and the MA dissertation/project with research methodology 60. The MA Marketing Communications degree requires an accumulative total of 180 credits.
Each module consists of 36 hours of formal learning, typically supplemented with guided reading, self-directed study, workshops, video presentations and case studies:
MA Marketing Communications Programme
Induction Workshop
Leadership Experience
Our 2-day induction workshop programme is designed to help the participants to develop an understanding of theory while acquiring the necessary skills and insights to become effective leaders in their field. The Leadership Experience text used for the workshop integrates recent ideas and practices with established scholarly research in a way that makes the topic of leadership come alive.
One requirement for leaders and managers in the world today is crisis management. Product defects, shootings, or terrorism can endanger employees or customers. Hear the author of The Leadership Experience discuss this topic here. Please Note: QuickTime is required to view the video clips.
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The
Leadership Experience 3rd Edition Richard L. Daft - Vanderbilt University 0324261276 566 pages Paper Bound 7 1/2 x 9 © 2005 Check the availability and buy your books from our Bookshop. |
Postgraduate Certificate in Marketing Communications
- Marketing
Process
- Case Study Assignment: Specialized Bicycle Components, Inc.
- Integrated
Marketing Communications
- Case Study Assignment: Airwalk, Inc.
- Marketing Research
- Information
Systems and Analysis
- Integrated Marketing Communications Activities
- Research and Analysis Assignment: Seafood Product Market Analysis
Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing Communications
- Advertising
and Sales Promotion
- Case Study Assignment: Fallon McElligott
- Strategic
Marketing
- Case Study Assignment:Yoplait USA
- Public Relations
- Case Study Assignment: Rollerblade, Inc.
- Advertising Principles and Practice
- Business to Business Marketing
- Business Communications
- Business and External Environment
- Business Planning
- Consumer Behaviour
- Contemporary Marketing
- Electronic Marketing
- Gendered Communication
- Global Marketing Management
- Intercultural Communication
- Introduction to Budgeting
- Introduction to Statistical Methods
- Managerial Decision Making
- Marketing: Creating and Delivering Value
- Marketing Intelligence
- Marketing Management
- Marketing Principles and Best Practices
- Principles of Marketing
Assessment Strategy
The modules and courses are assessed on the basis of coursework and an examination. Extensive use is made of case studies in the assessment process.
Postgraduate Certificate in Marketing Communications
- Module Coursework Assignment 20%
- Module Examination 30%
- Graduate Project for Postgraduate Certificate in Marketing Communications Brief 50%
Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing Communications
- Module Coursework Assignment 20%
- Module Examination 30%
- Graduate Project for Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing Communications Brief 50%
MA Marketing Communications
Attendance
The programme normally takes 60 weeks of part-time study or 30 weeks's of full-time study.
Entry requirements
You should possess a regocnised first degree. Your learning centre may also consider mature applicants (21 or over years of age) with non-traditional qualifications including extensive (minimum three years) managerial, administrative or professional experience in sales or marketing.
If your first language is not English or you have not been taught in English medium throughout your academic studies, you must achieve an IELTS score of 6.5 or TOEFL 575 (paper based), 231 (computer based).
Recommended Texts
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Marketing:
Creating and Delivering Value, 4/e
Pascale
Quester, University of Adelaide ISBN:
0074712292
Check the availability and buy your books from our Bookshop
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Marketing
Principles and Best Practices (with
Access Certificate, Xtra!, and InfoTrac)
Check the availability and buy your books from our Bookshop
|
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Essentials
of Marketing Communications, 2/E Check the availability and buy your books from our Bookshop. |
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Marketing
Communications,
Check the availability and buy your books from our Bookshop. |
Resources
Reputation management is the process of tracking an entity's actions and other entities' opinions about those actions; reporting on those actions and opinions; and reacting to that report creating a feedback loop. All entities involved are generally people, but that need not always be the case. Other examples of entities include animals, businesses, or even locations or materials. The tracking and reporting may range from word-of-mouth to statistical analysis of thousands of data points.
Reputation management has come into wide use with the advent of widespread computing. This is evidenced by a recent front page story in the Washington Post[1] featuring several online reputation management firms. Reputation management systems use various predefined criteria for processing complex data to report reputation. However, these systems only facilitate and automate the process of determining trustworthiness. This process is central to all kinds of human interaction, including interpersonal relationships, international diplomacy, stock markets, communication through marketing and public relations and sports.
A number of enterprise reputation management software solutions exist in the international market. These software services are typically designed to connect organisations to their stakeholders, track the orchestration of stakeholder engagement and analyse, measure and manage the results.
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