Professional Diploma in Marketing

Progress your career and understanding

Overview

This qualification is ideal for marketers who are concerned with managing the marketing process at an operational level, as well as those who are looking to build on the knowledge gained at Professional Certificate level with a future marketing management role in mind. The content of the course has been put together following consultation with employers to ensure that they gain relevant competencies for various stages of their marketing career.

The focus moves from the theoretical aspects of marketing towards the many skills needed to manage the function itself – including elements ranging from channel management to communications, along with specialist areas like new product development.

Who is it for?

This qualification is aimed at those marketers responsible for managing the marketing process at an operational level. These include those moving into a mid-level marketing position and marketers who are looking to build on knowledge gained at certificate level.

The Professional Diploma in Marketing is ideal for marketers with operational responsibilities and an eye on management including the following:

• Marketing executives
• Business development managers
• Departmental managers
• Product/ brand managers
• Marketing managers
• Account managers 
   

What will you learn?

By the end of this qualification you should be able to:

• Evaluate the role of the marketing planning process and implementation in a range of marketing contexts including organisational strategy, culture and the broader marketing environment
• Develop and manage a brand and product portfolio in the context of the organisation’s marketing strategies and objectives
• Recommend how a marketing function should be structured to deliver competitive advantage, marketing and organisational success
• Identify the organisation’s information needs, scope of research projects and resource capability to underpin the development of a business case to support marketing projects

Qualification content

Unit 1 - Marketing Planning Process

By the end of this unit you should be able to:

• Evaluation of the marketing planning process and its implementation in a range of marketing contexts including a detailed analysis of the internal and external marketing environments
• Conduct a marketing audit and assess the findings in order to develop a marketing plan that is responsive to market and organisational changes and underpins the organisation’s marketing strategy
• Determine the importance of segmentation, targeting and positioning to develop effective strategies which are innovative, cost effective, valuable and maximise the potential of marketing opportunities successfully
• Recognise the significance of retaining customers through relationship marketing

Unit 2 - Delivering Customer Value through Marketing

By the end of this unit you should be able to:

• Develop and manage a brand and product portfolio in the context of the organisation’s marketing strategies and objectives
• Develop and implement an effective and efficient channel management strategy reflecting the needs of stakeholders
• Develop an effective and innovative communications strategy and plan that clearly delivers the organisation’s proposition to the market, through effective segmentation and targeting of internal and external markets
• Utilise an innovative and effective integrated marketing mix to reinforce the organisation’s brand values, overall marketing proposition and competitive advantage
• Determine customer requirements for product and service delivery to ensure the marketing proposition is customer-focused, efficient and effective

Unit 3 - Managing Marketing

By the end of this unit you should be able to:

• Recommend how a marketing function should be structured and managed to deliver competitive advantage
• Prepare plans for showing how a team should be structured, selected, formed, managed and developed to demonstrate effective performance against objectives
• Critically assess the organisation’s resource needs and capabilities for the marketing team to manage marketing activities effectively and efficiently
• Prepare appropriate budgets and accounting documentation to support the financial management of the marketing function its associated activities
• Critically assess the ongoing financial situation including manageability of the budget, financial stability and success of the marketing function

Unit 4 - Project Management in Marketing

By the end of this unit you should be able to:

• Identify the organisation’s information needs, scope of research projects and resource capability to underpin the development of justified business cases, including risk assessment and mitigation strategies, to support marketing projects
• Using project management tools and techniques, design, develop and plan significant marketing programmes effectively, in terms of quality, resource and delivery
• Integrate a range of marketing tools and techniques to support the development and implementation of marketing projects
• Monitor and measure the outcomes of marketing projects through the end-to-end project process

Do you qualify?

As a minimum, the following qualifications or experience is recommended as the prerequisite for entry onto the Professional Diploma in Marketing:

• The CIM Professional Certificate in Marketing (either 2002 syllabus or the 2008 syllabus)
  OR
• Any business or marketing Bachelors or Masters Degree (or an equivalent qualification) where a minimum of one third of credits come from marketing (ie 120 credits in Bachelors degrees or 60 credits with Masters Degrees)
  OR
• Experience in a marketing management role that has provided potential students with ability to be able to demonstrate that they can meet the learning outcomes of the CIM Professional Certificate in Marketing if required to do so and is sufficient to pass the Entry test to Level 6

Note: Entry level is dependent upon the currency and relevance of your qualifications and experience. If English is not your first language, you will also need to provide evidence of at least IELTS 6.5 or Trinity ISE III/IV.

How will you be assessed?

It's possible to qualify within a single academic year studying part time. You will be assessed across the four units using a blend of two basic methods:

1. By formal examinantion
2. By assignments such as coursework and case studies that require longer answers and will often be based on various findings and recommendations within your own company (or a company of your choice)

How and where can you study?

This qualification is available in all modes of study, however, you need to check with your chosen Accredited Study Centre in the first instance.

What does it cost?

Please contact your chosen Accredited Study Centre for information regarding their fees.

Study centres