Principles of marketing/PMKT103/Course guide/Course aims

Aims

Launching products and generating market demand is a free open online course designed for students who want to learn about the basics of branding products, promotion tools and digital marketing for incorporation into a marketing plan to promote a product or service.

This course will help you to:

1. Understand product branding and distribution channels.
2. Be aware of the range of marketing communications and promotion techniques.
3. Be aware of the range of digital marketing tools.

Learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of this micro-course, you will be able to:

1. Apply marketing concepts and processes to develop a product brand for the promotion of a product or service taking into account distribution channels, cost effective promotion tools and digital marketing.
2. Design a marketing plan for a product or service and justify improvements to early drafts.

Learning objectives

In this micro-course, you will learn how to:

1. Explain product branding and its characteristics.
2. Identify the components of the distribution process, its complexities, pain points and opportunities for increasing sales.
3. Critically think about distribution channels for different products at different stages in their life cycle (i.e., warehouse shipping, distribution to sellers, product returns and restocking).
4. Explain product promotion and its characteristics.
5. Identify the key elements of a promotional strategy for a product at different stages in its life cycle.
6. Explain how guerrilla marketing can expand the reach and cost-effectiveness of a promotional campaign.
7. Explain digital marketing, social media and its strengths and weaknesses.
8. Identify the key elements of a digital marketing strategy for a product at different stages in its life cycle.
9. Explain how digital marketing can expand the reach and cost-effectiveness of a promotional campaign.
10. Discuss the implications of digital promotions and social media for marketing planning.