Improve your skills with our free Digital Marketing short courses.
Abertay University has four free credit-bearing courses to help individuals develop their digital marketing abilities, and support businesses. They are delivered online and include live teaching sessions.
Learn about a key area of marketing where there is a definite skills gap. One set to become even more important in the new digital way of working post pandemic.
These skills are in short supply. Organisations and businesses everywhere need better digital marketers. Our short courses aim to give you essential digital marketing skills valued across all sectors of business. They are:
Digital Marketing Audit - auditing digital marketing environments.
Digital Marketing Toolkit - creating successful digital marketing campaigns.
Digital Marketing Strategy - developing creative and effective digital strategies.
Digital Marketing Metrics - analysing digital data and metrics.
If you are working, furloughed, self-employed or not currently employed, you can take these courses. They are designed to help upskill you in your current job, prepare you to take on new responsibilities or in your search for a new career.
Anyone with an interest in gaining new digital marketing skills can sign up. All it takes is the enthusiasm and commitment to complete all four courses.
There are no academic entry requirements, but you must be living in Scotland.
Each short course runs over two weeks, during which there are four live teaching sessions. The courses are a mix of video and live interactive learning, practical activities and self-study. Assessment is by quiz. You will be taught by experts from Abertay's Business School. Expect to invest 50 hours of learning spread over the two weeks.
A reliable internet connection is essential.
The courses build on each other to create a complete digital marketing skillset. They are designed to be taken in sequence. Applicants are expected to complete all four courses.
Places are now full for the June and July runs of the the Digital Marketing Audit and Digital Marketing Toolkit courses. Due to their popularity they will be run again in October 2020. See below to register your interest in attending them and the other courses in the series - Digital Marketing Strategy and Digital Marketing Metrics which will also run later this year.
If you successfully complete all four courses, you will have 20 credits in the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF). The SCQF supports all learners in Scotland for all levels of qualifications.
You will also have the opportunity to take two more short courses in Digital Business and Managing Transformational Change, giving you 20 credits for each course.
Completing the whole series successfully will give you 60 SCQF credits. This means you will be awarded a Graduate Certificate in Digital Business. This is a credited university qualification.
These courses are fully funded by the Scottish Funding Council so we can offer them free to applicants. See below for more information about each course and to register interest.
5 SCQF credits | level 8
Explore the digital environment and learn about the foundations of digital marketing.
This short course introduces you to the function and role of digital marketing within an organisation. You will learn how organisations create digital marketing strategies. Explore strategies for auditing company performance on digital media, and understand the behaviours and requirements of the digital consumer.
Topics include:
Introduction to Digital Marketing.
The Digital Marketing Environment.
Conducting a Digital Audit.
Understanding the Digital Consumer.
Tuesday, 23 June
10.30am–11.00am. Live session with course tutor. An introduction to the course with time for questions.
Two hours of audio-visual content - engage at your own rate before tomorrow’s live session.
Wednesday, 24 June
11.00am–12.00pm. Live interactive one-hour session with course tutor.
Practical activity for 1.5 hours – work independently.
Rest of week 1
Independent study for the rest of the week.
Tuesday, 30 June
10.30am. Live clinic with course tutor and time for questions.
Two hours of audio-visual content - engage at your own rate before tomorrow’s live session.
Wednesday, 1 July
11am–12.00pm. Live, interactive one-hour session with course tutor
Practical activity for 1.5 hours – work independently
Rest of week 2
Independent study for rest of week
Assessment by quiz.
5 SCQF credits | level 8
Learn about the digital tools that support marketing and communications requirements.
This short course covers how to select and manage the appropriate tools for digital marketing. Develop new skills in content creation, social media marketing and search engine optimisation (SEO).
Topics include:
Social Media Marketing
Mobile Marketing
SEO, Email and Content Marketing
Online Advertising
Tuesday, 7 July
10.30am–11.00. Live session with course tutor. An introduction to the course with time for questions.
Two hours of audio-visual content - engage at your own rate before tomorrow’s live session.
Wednesday, 8 July
11.00am–12.00pm. Live interactive one-hour session with course tutor.
Practical activity for 1.5 hours – work independently.
Rest of week 1
Independent study for the rest of the week.
Tuesday, 14 July
10.30am. Live clinic with course tutor and time for questions.
Two hours of audio-visual content - engage at your own rate before tomorrow’s live session.
Wednesday, 15 July
11am–12.00pm. Live, interactive one-hour session with course tutor.
Practical activity for 1.5 hours – work independently.
Rest of week 2
Independent study for rest of week.
Assessment by quiz.
Learn the basics and understand how effective digital marketing strategies are created.
This short course introduces you to the creative and strategic processes that support effective digital marketing. Examine the media and tools used for creating digital marketing campaigns, and how to position digital marketing within the overall marketing strategy.
Topics include:
The Planning Process
Media and Tools Planning
Digital Marketing Communications Campaigns
Learn the basics of digital analytics, and how to measure the success of digital marketing campaigns.
This short course equips you with the skills needed to monitor digital campaigns, and how to use those insights to make critical business decisions.
Topics include:
Digital Campaign Tracking
Metrics and Analytics
Creating Reports
Data-Driven Decision-Making