MSc Marketing

Teaching & Learning

Independent study is a crucial part of learning at university and you will be required to undertake many hours of self-directed research and reading, and preparation and writing of assessments. Your course is delivered through several modules, which will help you to plan your time and establish a study routine. Outside of your lectures, workshops and tutorials, a range of support is available to assist with your independent study. Our subject-specific librarians will be on hand to direct you to specialist learning and study-skill resources. You’ll also be assigned an academic advisor to give you tailored feedback and support.

Core Modules

What You'll Learn

Marketing in the Post-Digital Era

Technological change is taking marketing from the digital age towards the post-digital era. Digital is now in many cases the 'price of admission for doing business' rather than a differentiation advantage (Accenture, 2019). We are now operating in an era where marketing is digital, digital is marketing, and there is no longer a distinction between "digital" and "traditional". This module will introduce you to core marketing theories, principles and techniques.

Strategic Communications Planning & Management

Study the essentials of planning and managing the strategic communication of an organisation and the steps required to plan a campaign. This module will examine how these steps are applied in various contexts within the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. You'll also explore how strategic brand communication plays a vital role in achieving an organisation's KPIs. You'll apply your knowledge by developing a communication plan for a real client.

Consumer Behaviour & Culture

Develop knowledge of the psychological and sociological concepts and frameworks upon which consumer behaviour is based. You'll learn to appreciate the importance of consumer behaviour for retail organisations and develop your analysis of influences on consumer behaviour patterns. Consumption choices range from small, insignificant purchases to large, once-in-a-lifetime occasions. It covers goods and services but also experiences, ideas and thoughts. You'll explore how Increasingly these purchases are across a range of retail vehicles both online and offline.

Social Media Marketing & Management

Study how social media fits into and complements the marketer’s toolbox. This module combines theory with practical application and covers core skills such as strategic planning for social media applications, incorporating these platforms into the brand’s marketing communications executions, and harnessing social media data to yield customer insights. You'll study the 'Four Zones' of social media that marketers can use to achieve their strategic objectives, as outlined in Tuten and Solomon (2014). These include community (e.g. Instagram), publishing (e.g. Tumblr), entertainment (e.g. Candy Crush Saga), and commerce (e.g. Groupon).

Strategic Brand Management

Study the role branding and brand management play in today's dynamic and highly competitive marketing environment. You'll understand the importance and value of brands to organisations, consumers and society, and identify the characteristics of successful brands in different contexts. You'll critically analyse, evaluate and apply a range of theoretical concepts and special interest areas used to build, manage, and strategically develop brands. Critically evaluate the role of brand management and demonstrate a full appreciation of the need for a wide-lens, integrated and strategic approach to branding decisions. Understand the need for – and mechanisms of - measurement of brand performance.

Marketing Project

Undertake a marketing-based project where you'll propose, produce and defend an extended piece of research. You'll have the choice of two tracks: 'Academic' – where you'll address a research problem grounded in academic literature as per traditional dissertations, or 'Applied' – where you'll adopt a company-based consultancy approach and focus on a decision problem.

Option modules

What You'll Learn

Choose one of:

Marketing Metrics

Explore the importance of managing marketing data and its use in effective marketing decision-making. You'll study the role of marketing metrics within organisations and you will understand how a range of measurement techniques can enable organisations to achieve marketing insights and strategic decision making.

Global Marketing

Explore the world of global and international marketing. You'll construct a critical understanding of key theoretical concepts that underpin the discipline. You'll practically apply those concepts to case studies and exercises that feature live companies and current developments.

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Critically evaluate, synthesize, and apply advanced and contemporary theories, debates, and techniques to a range of complex and open-ended issues, problems, and situations in the field of marketing.

• Demonstrate analytical and evaluative skills in the application of marketing theory and concepts.

• Learn independently and interdependently, accepting responsibility for subsequent career and continuing professional development.

• Critically apply relevant marketing theory to complex, open-ended marketing problems, utilizing a full range of transferable professional skills to generate innovative solutions.

• Make informed decisions and recommendations, sometimes based on incomplete data, within a given marketing environment.

• Conduct an extended research project, adhering to ethical considerations and research methodologies.

Completing this advanced and challenging course will provide a gateway to your next professional marketing role. You’ll have the confidence to apply your knowledge in a range of diverse and complex real-world marketing settings.

Leeds Beckett postgraduate marketing graduates have entered a wide range of marketing roles or have followed a route into further studies.