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Join our two-year, industry recognised, CIM accredited Digital Marketing Masters. Focus on developing a better understanding of the role digital marketing plays in contemporary marketing.

Delivered in collaboration with leading marketing professionals this Masters is relevant to those from any undergraduate background who want to develop their knowledge of innovative digital marketing strategies. 

Why study Digital Marketing?

As the digital era develops and our reliance on digital technology increases. The industry needs marketing professionals to innovate with digital and online marketing strategies to ensure businesses remain ahead of their game.

Our two-year, industry recognised postgraduate MSc Digital Marketing course focuses on developing a better understanding of the role digital marketing plays in contemporary marketing. The course focuses on the importance of marketing metrics, using analytic techniques to measure effectiveness.


What can I expect from this course?

The course will also cover themes such as location-based marketing, user experience, customer journey mapping and mobile marketing.

During your time on the MSc Digital Marketing, you will cover a range of practical digital marketing topics, which includes:

  • Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
  • Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising
  • Content Marketing
  • Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)
  • Social Media Strategy
  • Paid Facebook Advertising
  • Google Analytics and Search Console
  • Google Tag Manager
  • Google Data Studio

Regardless of the topic, you will be given a firm grasp of the subject, through a mix of lectures, seminars, and practical workshops that utilise real data.

Our Digital Marketing masters also addresses consumer behaviour and how profiling is used to understand lifestyle characteristics and how this helps deliver personalised, tailored communication.

 

Why study Digital Marketing at Northumbria University?

This Digital Marketing course is accredited by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) and the Institute of Data & Marketing (IDM), two of the world's leading professional bodies in the marketing field. The accreditation's provide the chance to work towards professional marketing qualifications upon graduation through the CIM's IDM graduate gateway.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) is the leading professional body for marketers worldwide and exists to develop the marketing profession, maintain professional standards and improve the skills of marketing practitioners. Northumbria University has joined forces with CIM to give students the opportunity to gain professional qualifications through the CIM Graduate Gateway. CIM qualifications are highly sought after by employers, and their content is reflected in our own degrees which ensures we are equipping students with the best opportunities for a successful marketing career

You will also have the chance to complete a Master’s consultancy project in place of a dissertation, and we will discuss that option with you towards the end of your first semester.

We also have options to study a digital marketing course online that provides the flexibility to learn at your own pace while gaining practical skills essential for navigating the dynamic landscape of online marketing.

Find out more about why you should study Digital Marketing here.

 

Course Information

Level of Study
Postgraduate

Mode of Study
2 years full-time (with study abroad in second year)
2 other options available

Department
Newcastle Business School

Location
City Campus, Northumbria University

City
Newcastle

Fee Information

Module Information

Discover more / Digital Marketing

Watch Programme Leader Craig Bradshaw talk about this Masters in a Minute (or so), and hear Digital Marketing MSc student, Hannah Kagalwala, discuss why she chose to study the course.

Course lead Craig Bradshaw gives a brief summary of Digital Marketing MSc at Northumbria University.

Digital Marketing student Hannah talks about her interests in the ever-growing digital marketing world, and how the course at Northumbria University is preparing her to achieve her career goals. Find out more about the course here: https://bit.ly/334hW2h

Funding and Scholarships

Discover the funding options available to you.

Discover NU World / A virtual journey through everything Northumbria has to offer.

Explore our immersive 360 tours, informative subject videos, inspirational student profiles, ground-breaking research, and a range of life at university blogs videos and articles.

Entry Requirements 2024/25

Standard Entry

You should hold a first degree in any discipline (the normal entry requirement is a honours degree, minimum lower second class), whilst others are welcome to apply because of their relevant work experience.  You must have a clear commitment to a professional career in the marketing profession, particularly in its digital areas of application.

Plus one of the following:

  • International/English Language Requirements:

    International applicants are required to have one of the following English language qualifications with grades as shown below.

    • A British Council International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score of 6.5 (or above) with a minimum score in each component of Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking of 5.5
    • Pearson Academic score of 62 (or above) with a minimum score in each component of Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking of 51

    The University also accepts many other English language qualifications and if you have any questions about our English Language requirements please contact the International Admissions Office and we will be glad to a

Fees and Funding 2024/25 Entry

Full UK Fee: TBC

Full EU Fee: TBC

Full International Fee: TBC



Scholarships and Discounts

Click here for UK, EU and International scholarship, fees, and funding information.

ADDITIONAL COSTS

There are no Additional Costs

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How to Apply

Please use the Apply Now button at the top of this page to submit your application.

Certain applications may need to be submitted via an external application system, such as UCAS, Lawcabs or DfE Apply.

The Apply Now button will redirect you to the relevant website if this is the case.

You can find further application advice, such as what to include in your application and what happens after you apply, on our Admissions Hub Admissions | Northumbria University



Modules

We are currently reviewing modules which provide opportunities to work with industry to gain real experience. Modules will be updated in due course.

Module information is indicative and is reviewed annually therefore may be subject to change. Applicants will be informed if there are any changes.

BM9706 -

Marketing Metrics and Analysis (Core,20 Credits)

In this module, you will explore the important role of the website in an organisation’s digital marketing strategy.

You will learn the principles of website evaluation and will use analytic tools for the analysis of web data to help measure the effectiveness of web marketing and improve the user experience.

The module will aim to give you:

An Introduction to Web Marketing
Website Evaluation – comprising Context of Use & Usability, Layout & Navigation, Home Page & Testing.
Application of web marketing including search engine optimisation, pay per click, conversion rate optimisation
An introduction to Web Analytics, with particular reference to an industrial standard application (most likely Google analytics). This will cover determining how the software application works, data collection, analysis and reporting.
Campaign Metrics and Measurement.
Multichannel Metrics.
Consolidation and/or assessment.
At the end of the module you may be in a position to take the Google Analytics Individual Qualification (GAIQ) test as part of your broader Continual Professional Development.

More information

BM9718 -

Research Methods and Analytics for Business Practice (Core,20 Credits)

In this module you will learn about a comprehensive range of research methods and business analytics techniques. This will equip you with the knowledge and practical skills necessary for you to conduct research at Masters’ level and prepare you to complete a Master’s Dissertation, Consultancy Project or Management Enquiry. By the end of the module you will know how to apply both quantitative and qualitative data collection and business analysis techniques. In quantitative techniques you will learn about sampling, questionnaire design, statistical inference, and hypothesis testing while qualitative techniques covered will include methods such as interviewing and focus groups. Analysis methods such as content analysis and thematic analysis will also be covered. In addition, you will gain some understanding of research philosophy (positivism and interpretivism) and research ethics and you will be able to write a research proposal to bring these ideas together.
Furthermore, this module will provide clear, critical, and analysis of data, you will also be able to consider the use of analytics implementation skills, where you will be introduced to analytics software such as SPSS. SPSS statistics analysis is one of the powerful solutions that is designed to help businesses and researchers to solve problems by various methods (geospatial analysis, predictive analytics and hypothesis testing).

More information

GA7000 -

Academic Language Skills for Postgraduate Business Students (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)

Studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This

module is designed to support your transition to postgraduate level study in the use and practice of subject specific skills around assessments

and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to further develop your abilities to read and study effectively

for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your

use and application of language and communications skills suitable for a postgraduate level of study.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding postgraduate assignment briefs.

• Developing advanced academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.

• Practising advanced ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’

• Planning and structuring postgraduate level academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).

• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.

• Speaking in postgraduate seminar presentations.

• Presenting your ideas

• Giving discipline-related postgraduate level academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.

• Postgraduate level speed reading techniques.

• Developing self-reflection skills.

More information

MK9700 -

Strategic Marketing in the Digital Era (Core,20 Credits)

In this module you will learn to appreciate the role of a strategic manager of a modern day manufacturing and sales business in the context of an increasingly digitalised consumer-environment. You will be introduced to Marketing at a strategic level of a business, and understand how marketing decisions are made in the context of other essential business functions; i.e. financial planning, operations and supply chain management, and human resource management. In addition, you will learn to appreciate the digital nature of modern day business operations and marketing strategy.

The module will cover the following themes:

• Marketing planning and implementation – Includes market research, identifying good business opportunities, 4Ps of marketing management, and the basics of creating and delivering value to customers.
• Competitive market strategies – Covers different approaches to competing in a marketplace, how to be better than your competitors, developing sustainable competitive advantage.
• Product development – basics of new product development.
• Routes to market and multichannel marketing – Retailing and sales channel selection and management.
• Operations and supply chain management – managing the distribution network, stock management, managing the production output.
• Financial planning for operations and growth - Pricing decisions and cost management, basics of balance-sheets and profit & loss accounts, activity-based costing, investing in R&D projects.
• Managing employees for competitive advantage – How employees can be the source of sustainable competitive advantage, employee development and empowerment to foster creativity and breakthrough ideas, rewards & recognition.
• Introduction to promotional strategy – Introduction to marketing communications, and different promotional methods /tools.
• Introduction to digital and social-media marketing – Covers the digital consumer-space, and how to engage customers and build brands online.
• Marketing-related legislation – Deals with legal aspects of marketing, and basics of marketing ethics.

More information

MK9701 -

The Digital Customer Journey: Data, Profiling and CRM (Core,20 Credits)

This module is designed to provide you with an introduction to how consumers behave in the digital domain and the opportunities this presents for organisations targeting them. At the heart of this is the concept of consumer behaviour, which has been revolutionised by emerging technologies, offering new opportunities for communication with companies and fellow consumers. This will be complemented by an in-depth review of how consumers can be profiled based on their lifestyle characteristics, and an acknowledgement of the role of database marketing in collating, updating and using data to deliver personalised communications messages.

Throughout the module you will cover the following themes:

• Consumer Decision Making: understanding how consumers choose between brand offerings, and specifically how their use of digital channels has changed their consumer behaviour. This will link closely with multi-channel marketing strategy you will address in MK9700 (which is delivered concurrently).

• Journey Mapping: an appreciation of how consumers make decisions as they progress through their everyday lives, what influences these decisions and the critical company-consumer touch points.

• Customer Profiling: investigation of a range of criteria that can be used to segment and profile consumers, ranging from demographics to psychographic and geo-demographic data.

• Database Marketing: introduction to principles of database marketing, understanding the processes of data acquisition and data cleansing (linking with marketing legislation in MK9700 where appropriate).

• Customer Relationship Marketing: understanding how personal data can be used to forge customer relationships via permission marketing and personalisation. This will also address important decisions such as key account management and demarketing.

More information

MK9702 -

Digital Campaign Management and Media (Core,20 Credits)

This module is designed to equip you with an overview of managing a digital marketing campaign alongside opportunities to utilise a range of digital media. At heart of the module is digital campaign management, which is continually evolving due to consumers’ digital media usage, offering interactive opportunities for businesses to communicate. You will explore this in the module by completing a group-based live marketing project which is a part of the Institute of Direct Marketing (IDM) National Student Competition, covering digital campaign management, developing content for digital platforms, the user experience through the digital area, the role of social media marketing, deploying email marketing, and affiliated marketing’s role in a digital campaign.

Throughout this module you will cover the following themes:

• Campaign Management: understanding the fundamentals of campaign management and specifically from a digital perspective and how evolving digital media can be utilised in a digital campaign. This will link closely with digital marketing strategy addressed in MK9700 and customer journey addressed in MK9701 (which are delivered in semester one).

• Content Management: an appreciation of delivering content through a variety of digital platforms including website, mobile, social media and email.

• User Experience: investigating what constitutes for a positive user experience through digital platforms, and how this will manifest itself on different platforms. This will link closely with website design and usability addressed in linking with customer relationship marketing in MK9701 where appropriate.

• Social Media Marketing: explore social media campaigns and appreciate what influences successful campaigns and their implementation.

• Mobile Marketing: investigate the growing importance mobile marketing plays within a digital campaign and its role within the customer journey. This will link closely with customer journey addressed in MK9701 (which is delivered semester one).

• Email Marketing: investigate strategies for email marketing and its ability to forge customer relationships, due to its personalised nature and its target approach (linking with customer relationship marketing in MK9701 when appropriate).

• Affiliated: appreciation of the role of affiliation marketing and how it can be used as part of relationship with external suppliers to drive traffic through SEO, PPC, email marketing, display advertising (linking with SEO and PPC in BM9700 when appropriate).

• Measurement: understand methods of measuring campaigns in order to value and judge success, allowing for development within future campaigns (linking with metric in BM9706 when appropriate).

More information

MK9711 -

Developing Leadership Capability for Professional Practice (Core,20 Credits)

This module engages you in personal and professional development in order that you develop and hone your teamworking, management and leadership skills, capabilities and attributes, and in so doing, enhance your employability. On this module, you will not only prepare for your first job after you graduate but also kickstart your commitment to life-long personal and professional learning. In the first part of the module you will be supported in a self-analysis by a range of activities, including the completion of self-administered tool-kits to demonstrate an increased self-awareness and self-understanding. This will also involve applying theoretical frameworks and researching contemporary literature for a more in-depth understanding of self. A key outcome of this process is how you will be able to exploit this development in order to lead, and manage, more effectively in your future careers. The second part of the module contains activities which enable you to build on your self-analysis and explore further your strengths, weaknesses and areas for development in the context of your career development plans. You will receive guidance on how to craft professional, postgraduate CVs, LinkeIn profiles, and supporting documentation to meet the needs of employer. Furthermore, you will use your understanding of self to help you to understand the key issues and specific challenges that you face, with your skills profile, in relation to your employability prospects in your target profession/industry/sector. This will also include the development of knowledge into the global graduate market, (including routes such as self-employment and developing your career with an existing employer) drawing upon local, national and international examples.

More information

NX0470 -

Applied Management Work Investigation (Optional,60 Credits)

You will undertake a group consultancy project within the Business Clinic during the first semester of your second year of Masters’ study (NX0479). Through your work-based experience, you will develop ability as a problem solver with valued investigative, theoretical and practical business skills. This will last the length of the semester and involve the examination of a complex organisational problem or commercial opportunity. This second semester module will involve the development of the client oriented management report and presentation alongside an individual literature review and personal reflection.

The content of the management report will be unique. The nature and scope of the area of your investigation will be defined and agreed in collaboration with the organisation and the University supervisor. The syllabus will include:

• Conducting research in organisations.
• Identifying researchable questions.
• Consultancy and project management skills.
• Research methods and doing a literature review
• Presentation, communication and report writing skills.
• Analysing findings.
• Writing recommendations and action plans.
• Reflecting on work based experiential learning.

In undertaking this project based module, you will critically reflect and evaluate upon organisational practices and their relation with academic theory, and in doing so, provide practical and actionable recommendations through an investigative management report.

The assessment for your module consists of a Group Consultancy Report (7,000 words) and Final Client Presentation, weighted at 60%, alongside an Individual Assignment comprising a Literature Review (4000 words) and a Reflective Learning Statement (2,000 words), weighted at 40%.

More information

NX0478 -

Masters' Study Abroad (Optional,60 Credits)

Within this module, you will record your learning experience gained by undertaking a semester outside of the UK as part of your Masters’ programme by means of academic study at a partner institution and it will enable you to recognise the differences between a business and management academic experience between Northumbria and your chosen overseas academic institution.

Your programme of study will vary according to the country and institution in which you study, but each programme offered will meet the following general requirements:
• The study programme will be last one at least one semester in duration.

• You will attend all mandatory classes.

• You will undertake normal module assessments required by the host institution.

• You will study subjects approved by the NBS Study Abroad Programme Leader. Subject areas may be in any business discipline, foreign language, culture or politics.

More information

NX0479 -

Business Clinic PG Group Consultancy Project (Optional,60 Credits)

As a student enrolled on one of the 2-year Advanced Practice Programmes you may undertake a group consultancy project within the first semester of your second years of Masters’ study. Through your work-based experience, you will develop abilities as a problem solver with valued investigative, theoretical and practical business skills. This work-based experience will last the length of the semester and involve the examination of a complex organisational problem or commercial opportunity. By undertaking this module, you will have enhanced your individual skills, knowledge, effectiveness and employability by locating learning and development within a work-based context and will have critically reflected and evaluated upon organisational practices and the relation with academic theory.

The content of the work-based experience will be unique to you as a group of participants. The nature and scope of the area of student investigation will be defined and agreed in collaboration with the organisation and the University supervisor. The syllabus will include:

• Conducting research in organisations.
• Identifying researchable questions.
• Consultancy and project management skills.
• Research methods and doing a literature review
• Presentation, communication and report writing skills.
• Analysing findings.
• Writing recommendations and action plans.
• Reflecting on work based experiential learning.

Assessment will be both formative and summative and incorporate self, peer, and tutor evaluation. You will present your work-based findings to academic mentors (oral presentation) and an interim report written on behalf of the host organisation or sponsoring project client. In the follow-up module (NX0470), you will provide a substantial management investigation report on the business related issue emerging from this consultancy, alongside a personal reflective statement.

*Those students who do not achieve a mark 80% or more will not progress to NX0470 but will progress to the Masters Dissertation or Management Enquiry Module.

More information

NX0480 -

The Newcastle Business School Masters Dissertation (Optional,60 Credits)

In this module you will gain an understanding of the academic skills that are required to produce a Masters Dissertation. By the end of the module you will have written a 15000 word Masters dissertation. The areas included are:

• Justification for the choice of topic
• Appropriate understanding, awareness and critical analysis of existing and up to date literature evidenced by a comprehensive and well-referenced literature review with an extensive reference list
• Selection, justification and application of an appropriately rigorous methodology - including limitations of the approach selected
• Clear statement of the findings of the research
• Critical analysis of the findings
• Explicit links between the analysis and the conclusions supported by critical argument
• Evidence of original work or thought for example in the form or context of the data collected, analytical process or application of findings

More information

NX9734 -

Masters' Management Enquiry (Optional,60 Credits)

The Masters’ Management Enquiry module is a student-led individual project that enables you to undertake a significant piece of assessed

work commensurate with a capstone module and is offered as an alternative to the Masters’ Dissertation and Masters’ Consultancy Project.

The module aims to provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate an authentic engagement with managers and/or professionals in your

discipline (this enquiry has to be discipline specific), and to integrate the knowledge you have developed during your programme to explore

the theory in practice. The learning on this module is experiential and problem based, where the focus is upon you discovering, probing and

questioning key practice-based issues. Through the module you will be offered the opportunity to develop and enhance key transferable

employability skills including; time management, project management, communication (written, aural and verbal), negotiation, persuasion and

influence, discovery, initiative, problem-solving and analysis.


The module has five thematic areas; explore, review, engage, reflect and connect. These form the key elements of the assessed submission

which is a single 15,000 word report.


Part A (35%, 5,000-5,500 words)

Explore: Interviewing a manager and/or professional in your discipline. In this interview you will either explore a key issue which you feel the

discipline is facing or, alternatively, explore with the manager or professional the key issues that they feel they are facing in practice. It is

expected that you will apply non-verbatim documented conversation and provide evidence of the key ideas emerging within the submitted

enquiry report (e.g. within the appendices).

Review: Critically examining the academic and practitioner literature to support the exploration, displaying an ability to critically assess and

appraise the knowledge of your discipline related to a specific key issue arising from your exploration.


Part B (65%, 9,500-10,000 words)

Engage: Displaying an authentic engagement with the discipline problem/issue identified in Part A, by collecting/generating and analysing

further live data (beyond the initial interview) regarding the discipline problem/issue. This live data may be primary data (e.g. further interviews

with, or questionnaire to, managers and/or professionals in practice) or secondary data (e.g. industry data). Application of appropriate,

ethically-considered, research methods and appropriate qualitative or quantitative data analysis.

Reflect and Connect: Demonstrating an ability to critically evaluate and reflect on the issues arising from the Management Enquiry.

Demonstrating how you have connected and fed-back to the participants of the Enquiry (usually the manager and/or participants) your key

findings to provide clear prioritised, well-justified, practical and actionable recommendations for change/enhancement/improvement to existing

practice to show how the recommendations would potentially affect workplace professional decision making.

More information

Modules

We are currently reviewing modules which provide opportunities to work with industry to gain real experience. Modules will be updated in due course.

Module information is indicative and is reviewed annually therefore may be subject to change. Applicants will be informed if there are any changes.

BM9706 -

Marketing Metrics and Analysis (Core,20 Credits)

In this module, you will explore the important role of the website in an organisation’s digital marketing strategy.

You will learn the principles of website evaluation and will use analytic tools for the analysis of web data to help measure the effectiveness of web marketing and improve the user experience.

The module will aim to give you:

An Introduction to Web Marketing
Website Evaluation – comprising Context of Use & Usability, Layout & Navigation, Home Page & Testing.
Application of web marketing including search engine optimisation, pay per click, conversion rate optimisation
An introduction to Web Analytics, with particular reference to an industrial standard application (most likely Google analytics). This will cover determining how the software application works, data collection, analysis and reporting.
Campaign Metrics and Measurement.
Multichannel Metrics.
Consolidation and/or assessment.
At the end of the module you may be in a position to take the Google Analytics Individual Qualification (GAIQ) test as part of your broader Continual Professional Development.

More information

BM9718 -

Research Methods and Analytics for Business Practice (Core,20 Credits)

In this module you will learn about a comprehensive range of research methods and business analytics techniques. This will equip you with the knowledge and practical skills necessary for you to conduct research at Masters’ level and prepare you to complete a Master’s Dissertation, Consultancy Project or Management Enquiry. By the end of the module you will know how to apply both quantitative and qualitative data collection and business analysis techniques. In quantitative techniques you will learn about sampling, questionnaire design, statistical inference, and hypothesis testing while qualitative techniques covered will include methods such as interviewing and focus groups. Analysis methods such as content analysis and thematic analysis will also be covered. In addition, you will gain some understanding of research philosophy (positivism and interpretivism) and research ethics and you will be able to write a research proposal to bring these ideas together.
Furthermore, this module will provide clear, critical, and analysis of data, you will also be able to consider the use of analytics implementation skills, where you will be introduced to analytics software such as SPSS. SPSS statistics analysis is one of the powerful solutions that is designed to help businesses and researchers to solve problems by various methods (geospatial analysis, predictive analytics and hypothesis testing).

More information

GA7000 -

Academic Language Skills for Postgraduate Business Students (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)

Studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This

module is designed to support your transition to postgraduate level study in the use and practice of subject specific skills around assessments

and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to further develop your abilities to read and study effectively

for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your

use and application of language and communications skills suitable for a postgraduate level of study.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding postgraduate assignment briefs.

• Developing advanced academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.

• Practising advanced ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’

• Planning and structuring postgraduate level academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).

• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.

• Speaking in postgraduate seminar presentations.

• Presenting your ideas

• Giving discipline-related postgraduate level academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.

• Postgraduate level speed reading techniques.

• Developing self-reflection skills.

More information

MK9700 -

Strategic Marketing in the Digital Era (Core,20 Credits)

In this module you will learn to appreciate the role of a strategic manager of a modern day manufacturing and sales business in the context of an increasingly digitalised consumer-environment. You will be introduced to Marketing at a strategic level of a business, and understand how marketing decisions are made in the context of other essential business functions; i.e. financial planning, operations and supply chain management, and human resource management. In addition, you will learn to appreciate the digital nature of modern day business operations and marketing strategy.

The module will cover the following themes:

• Marketing planning and implementation – Includes market research, identifying good business opportunities, 4Ps of marketing management, and the basics of creating and delivering value to customers.
• Competitive market strategies – Covers different approaches to competing in a marketplace, how to be better than your competitors, developing sustainable competitive advantage.
• Product development – basics of new product development.
• Routes to market and multichannel marketing – Retailing and sales channel selection and management.
• Operations and supply chain management – managing the distribution network, stock management, managing the production output.
• Financial planning for operations and growth - Pricing decisions and cost management, basics of balance-sheets and profit & loss accounts, activity-based costing, investing in R&D projects.
• Managing employees for competitive advantage – How employees can be the source of sustainable competitive advantage, employee development and empowerment to foster creativity and breakthrough ideas, rewards & recognition.
• Introduction to promotional strategy – Introduction to marketing communications, and different promotional methods /tools.
• Introduction to digital and social-media marketing – Covers the digital consumer-space, and how to engage customers and build brands online.
• Marketing-related legislation – Deals with legal aspects of marketing, and basics of marketing ethics.

More information

MK9701 -

The Digital Customer Journey: Data, Profiling and CRM (Core,20 Credits)

This module is designed to provide you with an introduction to how consumers behave in the digital domain and the opportunities this presents for organisations targeting them. At the heart of this is the concept of consumer behaviour, which has been revolutionised by emerging technologies, offering new opportunities for communication with companies and fellow consumers. This will be complemented by an in-depth review of how consumers can be profiled based on their lifestyle characteristics, and an acknowledgement of the role of database marketing in collating, updating and using data to deliver personalised communications messages.

Throughout the module you will cover the following themes:

• Consumer Decision Making: understanding how consumers choose between brand offerings, and specifically how their use of digital channels has changed their consumer behaviour. This will link closely with multi-channel marketing strategy you will address in MK9700 (which is delivered concurrently).

• Journey Mapping: an appreciation of how consumers make decisions as they progress through their everyday lives, what influences these decisions and the critical company-consumer touch points.

• Customer Profiling: investigation of a range of criteria that can be used to segment and profile consumers, ranging from demographics to psychographic and geo-demographic data.

• Database Marketing: introduction to principles of database marketing, understanding the processes of data acquisition and data cleansing (linking with marketing legislation in MK9700 where appropriate).

• Customer Relationship Marketing: understanding how personal data can be used to forge customer relationships via permission marketing and personalisation. This will also address important decisions such as key account management and demarketing.

More information

MK9702 -

Digital Campaign Management and Media (Core,20 Credits)

This module is designed to equip you with an overview of managing a digital marketing campaign alongside opportunities to utilise a range of digital media. At heart of the module is digital campaign management, which is continually evolving due to consumers’ digital media usage, offering interactive opportunities for businesses to communicate. You will explore this in the module by completing a group-based live marketing project which is a part of the Institute of Direct Marketing (IDM) National Student Competition, covering digital campaign management, developing content for digital platforms, the user experience through the digital area, the role of social media marketing, deploying email marketing, and affiliated marketing’s role in a digital campaign.

Throughout this module you will cover the following themes:

• Campaign Management: understanding the fundamentals of campaign management and specifically from a digital perspective and how evolving digital media can be utilised in a digital campaign. This will link closely with digital marketing strategy addressed in MK9700 and customer journey addressed in MK9701 (which are delivered in semester one).

• Content Management: an appreciation of delivering content through a variety of digital platforms including website, mobile, social media and email.

• User Experience: investigating what constitutes for a positive user experience through digital platforms, and how this will manifest itself on different platforms. This will link closely with website design and usability addressed in linking with customer relationship marketing in MK9701 where appropriate.

• Social Media Marketing: explore social media campaigns and appreciate what influences successful campaigns and their implementation.

• Mobile Marketing: investigate the growing importance mobile marketing plays within a digital campaign and its role within the customer journey. This will link closely with customer journey addressed in MK9701 (which is delivered semester one).

• Email Marketing: investigate strategies for email marketing and its ability to forge customer relationships, due to its personalised nature and its target approach (linking with customer relationship marketing in MK9701 when appropriate).

• Affiliated: appreciation of the role of affiliation marketing and how it can be used as part of relationship with external suppliers to drive traffic through SEO, PPC, email marketing, display advertising (linking with SEO and PPC in BM9700 when appropriate).

• Measurement: understand methods of measuring campaigns in order to value and judge success, allowing for development within future campaigns (linking with metric in BM9706 when appropriate).

More information

MK9711 -

Developing Leadership Capability for Professional Practice (Core,20 Credits)

This module engages you in personal and professional development in order that you develop and hone your teamworking, management and leadership skills, capabilities and attributes, and in so doing, enhance your employability. On this module, you will not only prepare for your first job after you graduate but also kickstart your commitment to life-long personal and professional learning. In the first part of the module you will be supported in a self-analysis by a range of activities, including the completion of self-administered tool-kits to demonstrate an increased self-awareness and self-understanding. This will also involve applying theoretical frameworks and researching contemporary literature for a more in-depth understanding of self. A key outcome of this process is how you will be able to exploit this development in order to lead, and manage, more effectively in your future careers. The second part of the module contains activities which enable you to build on your self-analysis and explore further your strengths, weaknesses and areas for development in the context of your career development plans. You will receive guidance on how to craft professional, postgraduate CVs, LinkeIn profiles, and supporting documentation to meet the needs of employer. Furthermore, you will use your understanding of self to help you to understand the key issues and specific challenges that you face, with your skills profile, in relation to your employability prospects in your target profession/industry/sector. This will also include the development of knowledge into the global graduate market, (including routes such as self-employment and developing your career with an existing employer) drawing upon local, national and international examples.

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NX0470 -

Applied Management Work Investigation (Optional,60 Credits)

You will undertake a group consultancy project within the Business Clinic during the first semester of your second year of Masters’ study (NX0479). Through your work-based experience, you will develop ability as a problem solver with valued investigative, theoretical and practical business skills. This will last the length of the semester and involve the examination of a complex organisational problem or commercial opportunity. This second semester module will involve the development of the client oriented management report and presentation alongside an individual literature review and personal reflection.

The content of the management report will be unique. The nature and scope of the area of your investigation will be defined and agreed in collaboration with the organisation and the University supervisor. The syllabus will include:

• Conducting research in organisations.
• Identifying researchable questions.
• Consultancy and project management skills.
• Research methods and doing a literature review
• Presentation, communication and report writing skills.
• Analysing findings.
• Writing recommendations and action plans.
• Reflecting on work based experiential learning.

In undertaking this project based module, you will critically reflect and evaluate upon organisational practices and their relation with academic theory, and in doing so, provide practical and actionable recommendations through an investigative management report.

The assessment for your module consists of a Group Consultancy Report (7,000 words) and Final Client Presentation, weighted at 60%, alongside an Individual Assignment comprising a Literature Review (4000 words) and a Reflective Learning Statement (2,000 words), weighted at 40%.

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NX0478 -

Masters' Study Abroad (Optional,60 Credits)

Within this module, you will record your learning experience gained by undertaking a semester outside of the UK as part of your Masters’ programme by means of academic study at a partner institution and it will enable you to recognise the differences between a business and management academic experience between Northumbria and your chosen overseas academic institution.

Your programme of study will vary according to the country and institution in which you study, but each programme offered will meet the following general requirements:
• The study programme will be last one at least one semester in duration.

• You will attend all mandatory classes.

• You will undertake normal module assessments required by the host institution.

• You will study subjects approved by the NBS Study Abroad Programme Leader. Subject areas may be in any business discipline, foreign language, culture or politics.

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NX0479 -

Business Clinic PG Group Consultancy Project (Optional,60 Credits)

As a student enrolled on one of the 2-year Advanced Practice Programmes you may undertake a group consultancy project within the first semester of your second years of Masters’ study. Through your work-based experience, you will develop abilities as a problem solver with valued investigative, theoretical and practical business skills. This work-based experience will last the length of the semester and involve the examination of a complex organisational problem or commercial opportunity. By undertaking this module, you will have enhanced your individual skills, knowledge, effectiveness and employability by locating learning and development within a work-based context and will have critically reflected and evaluated upon organisational practices and the relation with academic theory.

The content of the work-based experience will be unique to you as a group of participants. The nature and scope of the area of student investigation will be defined and agreed in collaboration with the organisation and the University supervisor. The syllabus will include:

• Conducting research in organisations.
• Identifying researchable questions.
• Consultancy and project management skills.
• Research methods and doing a literature review
• Presentation, communication and report writing skills.
• Analysing findings.
• Writing recommendations and action plans.
• Reflecting on work based experiential learning.

Assessment will be both formative and summative and incorporate self, peer, and tutor evaluation. You will present your work-based findings to academic mentors (oral presentation) and an interim report written on behalf of the host organisation or sponsoring project client. In the follow-up module (NX0470), you will provide a substantial management investigation report on the business related issue emerging from this consultancy, alongside a personal reflective statement.

*Those students who do not achieve a mark 80% or more will not progress to NX0470 but will progress to the Masters Dissertation or Management Enquiry Module.

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NX0480 -

The Newcastle Business School Masters Dissertation (Optional,60 Credits)

In this module you will gain an understanding of the academic skills that are required to produce a Masters Dissertation. By the end of the module you will have written a 15000 word Masters dissertation. The areas included are:

• Justification for the choice of topic
• Appropriate understanding, awareness and critical analysis of existing and up to date literature evidenced by a comprehensive and well-referenced literature review with an extensive reference list
• Selection, justification and application of an appropriately rigorous methodology - including limitations of the approach selected
• Clear statement of the findings of the research
• Critical analysis of the findings
• Explicit links between the analysis and the conclusions supported by critical argument
• Evidence of original work or thought for example in the form or context of the data collected, analytical process or application of findings

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NX9734 -

Masters' Management Enquiry (Optional,60 Credits)

The Masters’ Management Enquiry module is a student-led individual project that enables you to undertake a significant piece of assessed

work commensurate with a capstone module and is offered as an alternative to the Masters’ Dissertation and Masters’ Consultancy Project.

The module aims to provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate an authentic engagement with managers and/or professionals in your

discipline (this enquiry has to be discipline specific), and to integrate the knowledge you have developed during your programme to explore

the theory in practice. The learning on this module is experiential and problem based, where the focus is upon you discovering, probing and

questioning key practice-based issues. Through the module you will be offered the opportunity to develop and enhance key transferable

employability skills including; time management, project management, communication (written, aural and verbal), negotiation, persuasion and

influence, discovery, initiative, problem-solving and analysis.


The module has five thematic areas; explore, review, engage, reflect and connect. These form the key elements of the assessed submission

which is a single 15,000 word report.


Part A (35%, 5,000-5,500 words)

Explore: Interviewing a manager and/or professional in your discipline. In this interview you will either explore a key issue which you feel the

discipline is facing or, alternatively, explore with the manager or professional the key issues that they feel they are facing in practice. It is

expected that you will apply non-verbatim documented conversation and provide evidence of the key ideas emerging within the submitted

enquiry report (e.g. within the appendices).

Review: Critically examining the academic and practitioner literature to support the exploration, displaying an ability to critically assess and

appraise the knowledge of your discipline related to a specific key issue arising from your exploration.


Part B (65%, 9,500-10,000 words)

Engage: Displaying an authentic engagement with the discipline problem/issue identified in Part A, by collecting/generating and analysing

further live data (beyond the initial interview) regarding the discipline problem/issue. This live data may be primary data (e.g. further interviews

with, or questionnaire to, managers and/or professionals in practice) or secondary data (e.g. industry data). Application of appropriate,

ethically-considered, research methods and appropriate qualitative or quantitative data analysis.

Reflect and Connect: Demonstrating an ability to critically evaluate and reflect on the issues arising from the Management Enquiry.

Demonstrating how you have connected and fed-back to the participants of the Enquiry (usually the manager and/or participants) your key

findings to provide clear prioritised, well-justified, practical and actionable recommendations for change/enhancement/improvement to existing

practice to show how the recommendations would potentially affect workplace professional decision making.

More information

Study Options

The following alternative study options are available for this course:

Any Questions?

Our Applicant Services team will be happy to help.  They can be contacted on 0191 406 0901 or by using our Contact Form.



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Northumbria University is committed to developing an inclusive, diverse and accessible campus and wider University community and are determined to ensure that opportunities we provide are open to all.

We are proud to work in partnership with AccessAble to provide Detailed Access Guides to our buildings and facilities across our City, Coach Lane and London Campuses. A Detailed Access Guide lets you know what access will be like when you visit somewhere. It looks at the route you will use getting in and what is available inside. All guides have Accessibility Symbols that give you a quick overview of what is available, and photographs to show you what to expect. The guides are produced by trained surveyors who visit our campuses annually to ensure you have trusted and accurate information.

You can use Northumbria’s AccessAble Guides anytime to check the accessibility of a building or facility and to plan your routes and journeys. Search by location, building or accessibility feature to find the information you need. 

We are dedicated to helping students who may require additional support during their student journey and offer 1-1 advice and guidance appropriate to individual requirements. If you feel you may need additional support you can find out more about what we offer here where you can also contact us with any questions you may have:

Accessibility support

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All information is accurate at the time of sharing. 

Full time Courses are primarily delivered via on-campus face to face learning but could include elements of online learning. Most courses run as planned and as promoted on our website and via our marketing materials, but if there are any substantial changes (as determined by the Competition and Markets Authority) to a course or there is the potential that course may be withdrawn, we will notify all affected applicants as soon as possible with advice and guidance regarding their options. It is also important to be aware that optional modules listed on course pages may be subject to change depending on uptake numbers each year.  

Contact time is subject to increase or decrease in line with possible restrictions imposed by the government or the University in the interest of maintaining the health and safety and wellbeing of students, staff, and visitors if this is deemed necessary in future.

 

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