DIGITAL MARKETING COURSE

Collaboration is the foundation of Squared Online. This is what makes the programme different and creates powerful agents of change within the digital marketing industry.

Each project will have a different focus, from understanding how to grow a business to serving clients at an agency.

You’ll generally have one hour long live class per week, with occasional interactive workshops of up to 90 minutes. These sessions are delivered by the Squared Online tutors whom are all industry experts and leaders in their field.

This is the central hub of Squared Online. The Virtual Campus allows for a blend of individual work, team collaboration, discussions, live classes and streamed content, alongside forums moderated by the support team.

Our friendly, knowledgeable Squared support team will be your first port of call for any questions and queries, whether it’s about the classes, projects, group work or anything more personal you may want to discuss. They will be your guides through each module, drawing on our tutors and subject matter experts throughout to provide the information you need.

The programme includes highly popular guest speakers at various points throughout the course, in addition to the normal weekly classes. These industry experts will share their knowledge through live and pre-recorded sessions, giving an additional perspective and sharing interesting stories.

There are no exams in Squared Online and no final mark. Instead, you’ll be continually assessed via project work, self-reflection, team feedback and completion of online activities and live classes.

Each module comprises a series of online learning activities and student-led discussions which are designed to develop your knowledge and prepare you for the live classes. After the class you will have another activity which usually relates directly to your project work, often in collaboration with your group.

If you’re a member of a professional body, you can use the time you spend studying as part of your continued professional development!

Gain an insight into the rise of digital, and how businesses have harnessed new digital marketing technology to disrupt traditional industries and shake up the way organisations interact with end users.

In this module you’ll map the customer journey and explore how it informs brand values, content and social strategies, and you’ll be developing your leadership skills by creating a seamless customer experience in organisations that often work in silos.

In this module your team will use multiple channels and technology to reach customers at the right time across their journeys, while developing your leadership skills by learning to integrate digital specialist knowledge and business objectives to optimise the customer journey.

Module 4 is where you’ll use analytics and data to evaluate marketing efforts and generate insights, adopting a single customer view mindset throughout and developing your leadership skills by tackling data fragmentation – how to enable integrated data systems with a single customer view in mind.

In the final module, your team will evaluate how technology developments will further transform marketing practice and bring together skills and knowledge and you’ll develop your leadership skills by learning to harness new technology developments that drive marketing change.

The course provides a strategic overview of the digital landscape and focuses on helping students to join the dots and understand how the various elements fit together.

Squared Online covers a variety of topics from the nature of digital disruption and social consumerism, to digital integration, gaining insights from data and trend spotting.

Along the way we’ll dip into specific platforms, such as AdWords and Analytics, to provide an introduction to these valuable tools. However, the course is not tactical so if you want to become an expert in a particular channel then you may wish to continue your studies in that area after finishing Squared Online.

Since launching in 2013, Squared has seen success with employers who send their people on the programme, and some of their testimonials feature on the website. Squared Online as a curriculum is also crowd-sourced and based on what employers in the digital marketing industry have told us they want from their teams. But what do our graduates say? From our latest survey of Squared Online alumni:

• 2 in 3 were promoted or took on more responsibility within three months
• 96% feel more confident discussing digital strategy
• 82% would recommend Squared Online to a friend.

(Sample size of 155, 2014).

We’ll give you digital marketing projects to work on which are real or based on real-world scenarios. This is to make sure your time on the course is as practical and relevant as possible, and you have a chance to apply the knowledge you gain through your live classes. As an example, we have given previous students access to our own Analytics account, so they have an opportunity to analyse real data-sets within the tool.

Google leads the digital marketing programme but designed it in partnership with the industry. The Squared team is committed to providing an independent perspective and discussing a good representation of core digital products and services in our curriculum.

The digital revolution is fast-moving, and you’re responsible for your own learning. We give you a framework but Squared Online is all about finding the answers for yourself and active, ongoing participation. You will be continually placed in situations where you are required to research, collaborate, debate and share information. We believe that this is a robust approach that ensures you’ll be well prepared to adapt to the constant change you’ll be challenged with. So if you want to just sit in lectures, take notes and work through a reading list, this course probably isn’t quite right for you.

Specifically, the course is split into modules which in turn are broken down into weeks. Each week comprises a set of required online activities and an online live class covering a particular topic. These classes are interactive and discursive sessions in which students are encouraged to share their views and questions based on the activities associated with that week.

Running alongside this weekly activity are projects that have to be completed during each module. Four out of five Squared Online projects are completed within groups and require the submission of a collective piece of work.

Personal and group reflections are also required elements of each module and form an essential aspect of the assessment criteria.

The Squared Online support team is key to the whole experience. They are available by phone, email or forums on the Virtual Campus to answer queries, provide assistance and stimulate conversations.

We understand that life sometimes gets in the way of study, so they are the first port of call if you experience a situation that may affect your ability to complete the course. They’re also the people who help keep the group work flowing smoothly and who are involved in every live class alongside the tutor where they respond to questions and facilitate some of the activities.