Digital Marketing

with a Foundation Year

How do businesses function effectively in a global context? How do they understand their markets and consumers while managing and leading responsibly?

You’ll address these questions by exploring the importance of globalisation to business and finance. You’ll learn about the dynamic nature of marketing through concepts such as the marketing mix and in the process develop a holistic understanding of what is happening in the rapidly-changing global marketplace.

By taking a case-study based approach, you’ll gain essential insights into the contemporary business world and develop critical skills and confidence to prepare you for the rest of your degree.

Unlock your potential and gain the essential skills for academic success at university. You’ll develop effective study habits, learn to manage your time, and gain strategies for independent learning. You’ll conduct academic research, by learning to find, evaluate, and use academic sources, while avoiding plagiarism. Your writing skills will be developed through extended writing activities, referencing, proofreading, and editing. You’ll also improve your communication skills by learning how to structure a presentation and use visual aids. You’ll develop your critical thinking through analysis, evaluation, and argumentation. By the end of this module, you’ll be building towards working at Level 4. 

How do businesses operate today? What are their key functions and how are they organised? Most importantly, what do managers need to know in order to make sound decisions?

You’ll develop a broad understanding of essential business management and accounting models, exploring theories that are integral to how businesses work. By looking at fundamental business strategies and different tools of analysis – like break-even calculations, ratio analysis, capital appraisal models, and decision trees – you’ll develop your understanding of the basics of business and start building up your skills in Excel.

Throughout the course, students actively engage in discussions and practical applications, preparing them to confront complex global economic challenges armed with a data-driven approach. By the end of the course, students emerge equipped with the necessary skills to analyse economic data effectively and contribute meaningfully to informed decision-making in the global economic landscape.

Dive into a project that sparks your curiosity and hones your academic skills, as you choose a topic you’re passionate about and transform your research into a compelling essay. This module allows you to develop and apply the learning from your Autumn term module ‘Academic Skills Development’.  You will improve your research and writing skills further and refine your use of sources. While you conduct your reading and research, you’ll engage in reflective practices improving your ability to assess and evaluate your learning using various reflective models.  Independence and time management are key skills you’ll develop as you navigate this module.  To maximise your experience, you are expected to prepare and actively participate in our regular tutorials.  These are designed to provide invaluable opportunities to seek guidance and develop your project. 

Excel is the industry standard software for data processing and modelling, so if you want to hit the ground running in your career, mastery of Excel is crucial. You'll learn the techniques of Excel and spreadsheet modelling through realistic problems and extensive exercises, giving you real hands-on experience to make rapid progress.

By the end of the module, you wont only have mastered excel to report, model and forecast for businesses, you'll have also developed the confidence you need to present your insights to managers, stakeholders and business leaders. This makes you a vital asset for businesses focused on growth, and gives you an extra edge when looking to make progress in expanding industries.

Develop the research, analytical and critical-thinking skills to understand audiences, identify digital trends and turn information into insights that support smarter marketing decisions.

Given the startling pace at which human-driven changes are occurring to our social and ecological systems, what skills do you need to be ready for whatever challenges await you when you graduate?

You’ll look at the biggest challenge facing businesses in every industry today: how to organise themselves in ways that ensure a sustainable future for the global community. You’ll look at various case studies to examine the impact climate change is having on business. You’ll also consider the key theories, concepts, and practices of sustainable business, including the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.

In doing this, you’ll develop the skills you need to succeed as you navigate university and professional life, so that you can make a positive impact — both in your local community and globally during your time at Kent, and in your career afterwards.

Explore how businesses can market responsibly, balancing commercial goals with environmental and social impact. Examine ethical challenges, sustainability and changing consumer expectations to develop more responsible marketing strategies.

Understand how businesses record, report and assess financial performance. Learn to interpret financial statements and use financial information to support informed marketing and commercial decisions.

Develop the creative and technical skills to design engaging websites and produce digital content. Explore web design principles, user experience and content creation to build effective online experiences.

As businesses embrace digital marketing as a tool to reach key audiences and deliver results, they need experts in strategy and planning to give their campaigns an edge and ensure they are successful.

Through collaborative projects and hands-on workshops you'll become the kind of expert businesses are looking for. You’ll gain the skills, knowledge and confidence needed to develop, deliver and refine digital marketing strategies to drive results and enhance brand visibility in a competitive landscape.

Being a leader in digital marketing gives you the edge that makes employers sit up and take notice, not only ensuring you’ll jump into a successful and exciting career, but you’ll be a driving force in the field.

Consumer behaviour is a critical exploration of how consumers and organisations engage with products and services. Society, culture, identity, and psychology all influence consumer habits. So, what can marketers learn from the social and cultural world?

You'll discover why consumers from different backgrounds react uniquely to the same products, what drives these consumption patterns, and how culture shapes our buying decisions. You’ll explore the social and cultural intricacies of consumer behaviour and gain the insights needed to connect, engage and succeed in a global marketplace.

By embracing a wide spectrum of philosophical and research perspectives, you’ll gain a multifaceted understanding of the subject, alongside critical thinking skills. This will greatly enhance your employability and prepare you to tackle complex problems as you begin your career.

Marketing research helps businesses to understand their markets and target consumers, and identify opportunities that inform decision-making about the business and customers. 

You’ll learn how to use traditional marketing research techniques to gain insights into consumer behaviour before delving into the analysis of digital data from online sources and interactive dashboards. You’ll gain hands-on experience using analytical software that will give you the skills needed to navigate digital data landscapes, analyse customer behaviour and trends, and extract actionable insights into customers and competitors. 

Embracing this data-driven approach to market research ensures that your marketing strategies are grounded in empirical evidence. This results in meeting customer expectations better, building stronger relationships, and fostering brand loyalty.

How do brands differentiate themselves from their competitors? How do they create competitive advantage in a crowded marketplace? This module covers four main areas: developing brand strategy, implementing brand management, evaluating brand performance, and sustaining brand growth.

By studying these four areas, you’ll gain insights into formulating effective strategies, executing brand management practices, assessing brand effectiveness, and fostering long-term brand growth in dynamic market environments.

You'll delve into real world case studies, engaging discussions and collaborative projects, so you'll not only grasp the theoretical foundations but also cultivate practical insights into the dynamic world of branding. You'll emerge with a profound understanding of how to strategically build and manage brand identities that leave a lasting impact and produce results.

In competitive marketplaces, strategic marketing planning is essential for firms seeking to reach their target customers, foster brand awareness and increase revenue.

In this module, you’ll develop your understanding of marketing strategy and planning by learning how to systematically approach and develop a strategic marketing plan for a commercial or social organisation. Through this process, you’ll learn the tools marketers use to assess market opportunities and evaluate their competition.

You'll also learn by exploring real-world case studies and hearing directly from guest speakers with industry experience. These insights will deepen your appreciation of the challenges, issues, and ethical dilemmas marketers face today. If you're aiming for a career where you lead impactful and successful marketing campaigns, this module is a key step to getting there.

Explore how businesses develop and manage marketing strategies across international markets. Examine cultural differences, global consumer behaviour and competitive environments to understand how brands adapt and succeed worldwide.

As digital marketing and social media become increasingly important to business strategy, knowing how to use analytics to drive success has never been more important. Digital analytics produce a wealth of insights that enable marketing managers to evaluate the success of digital and social media marketing initiatives. They are also useful for forecasting trends to inform future marketing decisions.

You'll learn how to use a range of analytical tools to interpret and evaluate data on consumer behaviour and preferences and social media engagement. You’ll also discover how to use key performance indicators (KPIs) - which are specific to digital and social media campaigns - to help drive improvement and performance.

The module will equip you with the analytical and data skills necessary to interpret digital data, enhancing your employability and preparing your for a range of careers in marketing or business.

Marketing communications serve as the voice of a brand. They create a dialogue that connects businesses with their audiences across various platforms and mediums. This module will examine how advertising fuses creativity and strategy to influence consumer behaviour and perceptions.

You’ll engage with tools like social media and search engine optimisation (SEO) to create conversations and nurture communities. Integrated marketing communications (IMC) ensure consistency across all channels, amplifying the resonance of each message. Ethics and sustainability practices that guide responsible marketing are at the heart of the module: respecting privacy, ensuring transparency and embracing sustainable practices that prioritise long-term well-being over short-term gains.

You’ll enhance your employability by blending practical, applied learning with essential marketing concepts. By engaging directly with current advertising tools, digital platforms and real-world case studies, you’ll be able to apply your knowledge effectively in a professional setting. You’ll learn the theory and strategies to navigate digital landscapes and uphold ethical standards. This hands-on approach, combined with insights into sustainability, prepares you to enter the workforce with the confidence and skills needed to excel in a dynamic industry.

Learn how to develop creative marketing campaigns, from initial ideas and audience insights to campaign planning and execution. Build the confidence to pitch your ideas persuasively and communicate strategies to clients and stakeholders.

Put your digital marketing knowledge into practice by tackling real-world challenges. Apply your skills in campaign planning, content creation and analytics to develop solutions and evaluate their effectiveness.

Explore the emerging trends and challenges shaping digital marketing, from AI and new technologies to changing consumer behaviour, data privacy and ethics. Examine how marketers adapt their strategies in a rapidly evolving digital world.