Marketing Management Certificate Program

Overview

Marketing Management is a comprehensive overview of how to design and implement effective marketing strategies. Such strategies enable firms to achieve growth within the markets they operate. Our approach will focus on identifying how to create value for specific market segments and how to implement this value. In creating value, the firm will need to understand the sources of competitive advantages that draw on the capabilities of the firm to solve specific customer problems.  In implementing value-delivery, the firm has to leverage a brand’s equity to create a value proposition for their chosen target segments. The key to this implementation is the design of a communication program that will reach the target segments with relevant messages. In addition to mainstream advertising communications, this certificate will also include a course in the burgeoning area of digital marketing, especially social media. Therefore, the Market Management Certificate courses are a blend of best practice tools and frameworks coupled with innovative ideas.

Who should apply?

This certificate is geared towards entry to middle level management.

Program Structure and Delivery

The program will be delivered in a blended format with face-to-face instruction, video conferencing, and web-based learning.

• The program consists of four courses, taught sequentially
• Duration of each course is 12 weeks
• One or two days in-residence

Certificate Credits - 12 Credit Hours

• The MM certificate will be issued by Indiana University
• Up to 12 credits could be transferred to the Kelley School of Business Executive MBA program or the MSIS graduate degree program (subject to admission requirements)

Courses

1. Brand Management Course Description

• Brand management is a central function in many consumer firms.  This course will provide an overview of brand management and its role in fostering growth within firms.  We will develop the notion that brands are assets that need to be developed and nurtured to fulfill the organization’s financial goals.  While the value of brands has been informally acknowledged for many years, brand management frameworks are relatively new.  We will use various frameworks and tools to examine how to assess a brand’s value and how to leverage this value in various brand decisions.

2. Digital Marketing and Social Media Course Description

• From social networks to prosumer content and mobile applications, marketing in the digital age is markedly different than in the past. Students in this course will get hands on experience with many of today’s cutting edge social and digital marketing tools, learn to critique and create digital marketing strategies, and participate in exploratory assignments to test out the theories that make these tools work. Students will read about the functional theories related to social media including network theory, game theory, and collective intelligence.  Afterwards, they will experience these theories first hand and build a campaign of their own design. This course includes a full survey of digital marketing approaches from email to augmented reality with an emphasis on matching technology to specific marketing goals.

3. Marketing Strategy Course Description

• The development and effective implementation of marketing strategy is a pre-requisite to enhancing business performance. However, evidence from practice suggests that marketing strategy is a problem-ridden and difficult management issue in most firms. This course will address marketing strategy from a very “real world” perspective, but draw heavily on appropriate developments in theory and empirical evidence that are often not widely understood and used in practice. Its basic objectives are to increase your understanding of the strategic and managerial issues in formulating and implementing marketing strategy and to provide the tools, concepts, theories, and evidence necessary to make and execute effective strategic marketing decisions.

4. Advertising Management Course Description

• This course offers an overview of advertising strategy and execution utilizing both classic and contemporary advertising. This course hones critical thinking skills related to planning and executing advertising strategy in the larger context of overall firm marketing strategy. The course unfolds in the form of stages of an advertising campaign with a progression of selecting a target for advertising, developing a consumer insight, formulating an effective brand position, executing a strategy, and evaluating the ad campaign’s effectiveness. At each stage, questions faced by brand managers, advertisers, and marketers are addressed.