Marketing Communications Course

Is marketing communications essentially just to do with sales and profits and activities such as advertising? Certainly, you learn in this course that sales and profits, together with the tools and techniques of advertising, are important considerations and tools of marketing communications.

Virtually all organisations at some time need effective marketing communications. This need cuts across different types of organisations from profit seekers to not-for-profit organisations, across different types of situations and problem areas such as the need, say, to minimise adverse publicity through to the need to increase public donations. And it encompasses the relatively small local company through to the major multi-nationals operating on a global basis.

Effective marketing communications has become even more important to organisations, but at the same time, more complex and difficult to plan.

Unit 1: Marketing Communications: Nature, Purpose and Process

• Introduction
• Objectives
• Exchange Processes and Marketing Communications
• Marketing Communications Mix
• Managing and Planning Marketing Communications: Key Tasks
• Communication Theory: Models of Communication
• Buyer Information Processing
• Factors Affecting Buyer Information Processing
• Summary
• Further Reading

Unit 2: Advertising

• Introduction
• Objectives
• What is Advertising?
• Theories and Models
• Message Design
• Media Planning
• Elements of Media Planning
• Concepts and Techniques in Media Planning
• Evaluating and Controlling Advertising
• Summary
• Further Reading

Unit 3: Sales Promotion and Personal Selling

• Introduction
• Objectives
• Overview of Sales Promotion
• How Sales Promotion Works
• A Strategic Approach
• Sales Promotion Methods
• Other Issues in Sales Promotion
• Personal Selling
• Sales Force Management
• Summary
• Further Reading

Unit 4: Sponsorship, Public Relations, Direct Marketing and Interactive Tools

• Introduction
• Objectives
• Public Relations
• Nature, Purpose and Uses
• PR Methods
• Conventional PR Tools
• Newer PR Tools
• Planning and Managing PR
• Sponsorship
• Types of Sponsorship
• Planning and Managing Sponsorship
• Direct Marketing and Interactive Communications
• Direct Marketing
• Methods of Direct Marketing
• Future of Direct Marketing
• Interactive Marketing Communications
• Summary
• References
• Further Reading

Unit 5: Planning Marketing Communications

• Introduction
• Objectives
• Integrated Marketing Communications
• What does an Integrated Approach Mean?
• Advantages of Integration
• Problems in Achieving an Integrated Approach
• Achieving Integration
• Marketing Communications Planning Framework
• Applying the Framework
• A Concluding Note
• Summary
• Further Reading

Unit 6: Further and Future Issues

• Introduction
• Objectives
• Ethical Issues in Marketing Communications
• What is Ethical?
• Schools of Thought in Business Ethics
• Criticisms of Marketing Communications Ethics
• Internal Marketing Communications
• Growth of Internal Marketing
• Uses of Internal Marketing Communications
• Planning and Implementing Internal Marketing Communications
• Communications Industry
• Agencies in the Industry
• Industry Regulations: Issues and Concerns
• International Marketing Communications
• Coping with a Different Environment
• Standardisation Versus Adaptation
• Growth of a Global Industry
• Summary
• Further Reading

For a more detailed syllabus on this course, click here

On completion of your course, you will receive two qualifications:

Qualification 1: Marketing Communications Diploma

Marketing Communications Diploma issued by Stonebridge Associated Colleges, entitling you to use the letters SAC Dip after your name.

Qualification 2: ASET Level 4 Marketing Communications Award

This Course leads to an ASET Level 4 Award Certificate for successful learners. That means that it is independantly accredited at a level of learning equivalent to level 4 on the National Qualifications Framework (NFQ) for England, Wales and Northern Ireland (in which case GCSE's are at levels 1 and 2 and A Levels are at level 3).

The Award has been designed by a learning provider to meet specific learners' or employers' requirements and as such is not listed as a qualification on NQF. While the duration, content or assessment may vary from similar national qualifications, in accrediting the programme at level 4, ASET attests that its learning outcomes are at an equivalent level to a level 4 national qualification.

In order to offer our students the most convenient and flexible distance learning courses, Stonebridge Associated College offers you the option to study for your course via two methods:

• 1. Via the traditional paper-based method.
• 2. Through the online method via ElearnUK.

When you study through ElearnUK you can quickly access your course material online and submit all of your question papers to your tutor online, using your unique student account. You have access to all of your course material immediately, and when you submit question papers, your tutor sends you an email containing your results and feedback.

At the end of the course you will receive an award issued by Stonebridge Associated College, and also gain full ASET accreditation for the course.

With this course you will have unlimited access to your own personal tutor who specialises in their field of study. It is your personal tutor's role to ensure that you receive constructive feedback and to deal with any queries you may have. You are more than welcome to telephone, fax or email your personal tutor.

You will also have access to a dedicated and friendly team of administrators and course advisors who offer sound and professional guidance and advice when you need it. This ensures that you will never feel neglected and that you will always succeed!

There is no experience or previous qualifications required for enrolment on this course. It is available to all students, of all academic backgrounds.

This is only an approximate figure and is dependant upon how much time you can dedicate to your studies and how well you grasp the learning concepts in the course material. Furthermore, at the end of each lesson there is a question paper that needs to be completed and returned to your tutor. You should allow at least 1 - 2 hours of study to complete each question paper.

The approximate amount of time required to complete the course is: 180 hrs.

Assessment Method

After each lesson there will be a question paper, which needs to be completed and submitted to your personal tutor for marking. This method of continual assessment ensures that your personal tutor can consistently monitor your progress and provide you with assistance throughout the duration of the course.

What's Included

• All study materials
• Study Guide
• Full Tutor and Admin support
• The course fee includes the ASET registration and certification fee (valued at up to £30.00).

What is ASET

ASET is a recognised National Awarding Body.

This course is accredited by ASET. ASET are a leading National Awarding Body, recognised in the U.K by the Department for Education and Skills (DfEs), Learning Skills Council (LSC) and the Qualifications & Curriculum Authority (QCA). ASET specialise in providing, quality-assuring and certificating vocational learning programmes.

For more information on this award, click here

Course Textbooks

For this course you will be required to purchase the following textbooks:

• Marketing Communications: Contexts, Contents and Strategies, Chris Fill (1999) second edition, Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall Europe.
• Principles and Practice of Marketing, David Jobber, second edition, Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill (1998)