MBA Digital Marketing Syllabus: Everything You Should Know

India is currently the second-largest online market in the world. With increasing mobile connectivity and internet penetration, the digital space is likely to experience a dynamic growth in both urban and rural regions: The number of internet users is estimated to reach 974 million by 2025. And this is excluding the possibilities that lie beyond the national border. 

In this article, we will look at some of the up and coming areas where digital marketing is gaining traction globally. We will cover the fundamental subjects and skillsets of MBA Digital Marketing, connecting the curriculum with the career avenues. Whether you are a fresh graduate, an entrepreneur, a sales professional, or a communication manager, the following list will help you make an informed decision about your higher education. 

MBA Digital Marketing Syllabus

Before we begin describing different subjects included in an MBA Digital Marketing course, let us give you a brief about the primary skill sets they emphasize.

• Content Marketing: SEO, SEM 
• Social Media Management
• Branding & Communications
• Marketing Analytics

Typically, the MBA digital marketing syllabus engages students in such lectures, activities, and projects that develop the above skills. This helps you prepare and qualify for a wide array of jobs. Here are some examples of prospective roles: 

• Content Manager
• Social Media Manager
• SEM Manager
• SEO Specialist 
• Digital Brand Manager
• E-commerce Analyst
• Marketing Strategy Professional

A recent LinkedIn study indicates that digital marketing careers are among the leading occupations in India, especially since digitization has picked up in the country. 

Now that we have brought you up to speed on the relevance of a postgraduate degree in digital marketing, here are some specific aspects of the curriculum. 

1. Fundamentals of Marketing

Like any other MBA course, the learning begins with introducing some basic business concepts: the principles of marketing, types of marketing channels, customer centricity, CRM, etc. These topics are taught with a special focus on the evolving digital landscape, including the operation of online communication channels like e-commerce, chatbots, digital ads, social media, and so on. 

At this stage, the program should also break down certain key themes like content and video marketing, SEO, SEM, link building, influencer marketing, referrals, online advertising, and pay-per-click. The next step typically takes you through the activities and tasks within these building blocks of digital marketing. 

2. Practical Aspects of Digital Marketing

The practical modules generally focus on teaching some leading techniques of digital marketing. This encompasses building a web presence, running a brand’s social media account, optimizing the website content for better search engine results, nurturing online user leads, and much more. Many programs take up specific tools like Hub Spot, Facebook ads, and Moz in class to give the theoretical foundation with a more hands-on approach. 

If you are interested in pursuing only a few areas of the vast digital marketing domain, you should go for a course with specialized tracks. Consider the above exercise as a refresher for that in-depth training. Your choice would largely depend on where you are in your career journey.

If you are looking to upskill and apply for managerial positions or thinking of transitioning from traditional marketing into the digital arena, you can check out the online PG Certification in Digital Marketing & Communication offered by MICA, a leading B-school in India. 

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3. Marketing Analytics and Strategy

As a manager, formulating plans and strategies for your brand is one of the most crucial parts of your job. You have to obtain a ‘big picture’ view of the business or brand, evaluate the success of promotional campaigns, and then recommend the way forward. And the solutions are hard to arrive at without the knowledge of marketing analytics. 

Therefore, MBA digital marketing syllabus should provide an inside look into the platforms currently being used in the industry. These may include Google Analytics (to track and report website traffic) or tools like Firebase (to develop quality apps, grow the online customer base, and increase profitability). 

You can also choose a specialized program that gives you a deeper perspective on marketing analytics. Such MBA courses usually cover data integration, exploratory data analysis, predictive analytics, and tools like Excel, MySQL, CleverTap, etc. 

4. Digital Branding & Communications

In a highly-competitive business environment, brand communication plays a critical role in building and sustaining customer relationships. It takes place every time someone from the target audience—a potential customer—interacts with a brand.  

Any business aims to present such visuals and content that capture interest and keep users engaged. From the logo to website layouts to newsletters and other marketing collaterals, the branding needs to be consistent and effective. Therefore, MBA digital marketing syllabus equips future managers with these capabilities. 

The standard coursework has sub-topics like brand positioning, user engagement, and branding with respect to international markets. Some institutions of study may also cover elements of copywriting, graphic design, and video creation. You should give preference to programs that impart in-demand industry skills via class activities, projects, and real-life case studies. 

5. Social Media Marketing 

Social media has emerged as a significant subfield within the online marketing ecosystem in the last few years. The attraction of social networking platforms is expected to multiply in the coming years, in India as well as abroad. 

Furthermore, today’s consumers are active and aware. They can view the online presence of a business with a single click on their smartphones, tablets, or laptops. If the brand doesn’t seem credible on its online communication channels, they are quick to jump to conclusions about its image and customer experience. And that is why modern organizations pay attention to how their vision is reflected across digital mediums. 

Anyone handling posts and managing conversations on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn or any other channel needs to be well-versed with the good practices, algorithms, and technicalities to avoid any grave errors. 

Important Subjects in Digital Marketing

The MBA digital marketing syllabus will focus on the following areas of marketing. 

Search Engine Optimization

SEO or search engine optimization aims to improve the website so that the website organically ranks high and shows up on the first search engine result page (SERP). You will be focusing on two types of SEO – off-page and on-page. You will also learn various SEO techniques to improve the rankings and visibility of the website.

Search Engine Marketing 

SEM or search engine marketing focuses on the paid efforts carried out to increase the search engine rankings of your website. SEO and SEM are two of the most important marketing tools in today’s digital world. The main difference between SEO and SEM is the former works on organic rankings, and the latter focuses on paid marketing. 

The digital marketing MBA syllabus will teach you how to use CTA, pay-per-click ads, SEM strategies, and more. You will learn to operate Google Ads since 60% of website owners use it to optimize their websites. 

Website Creation

All businesses aim to have a digital presence, which has increased the demand for websites. Having an online presence means having a website that is easy to navigate and answers the visitor’s queries. You will learn website development, where you will design its layout and key elements. You will also learn how to use content management systems like WordPress.

Marketing Campaign 

Before launching any marketing campaign, conducting thorough research and planning is essential. One of the key components of this process is analyzing a hypothetical client brief and devising strategies to meet the desired goals and objectives. Persuasive presentations and data analysis will help you impress potential clients and secure their business. Knowing how to plan a campaign is extremely important in digital marketing. 

Content Marketing

You will learn how to create content for the target audience, how to promote it in a way that monetizes your efforts and which platforms you should use for it. 

Good content is the biggest contributor to organic marketing. When you post engaging content that is valuable to the customer or the audience, you effectively communicate and connect with them. Once you post quality content, you must also try to boost its visibility and reach. All of this will be taught in content management and marketing.

Email Marketing 

Before the advent of social media, email was the primary tool for digital marketing. It is a highly effective and reliable form of marketing that can be easily measured. Email marketing is an important component of the digital marketing syllabus MBA where you will gain knowledge on how to create and execute successful email marketing campaigns. Moreover, you will also learn how to conduct a post-launch analysis to gain insight into areas that can be improved and adjusted.

Web Analytics

To create effective marketing campaigns, you need to learn how to evaluate web analytics. It is used to track and analyze their behaviour and journey. Web analytics tools like Google Analytics can help track navigation habits and metrics like bounce rate, page views, and sessions. It can give you valuable insights about the audience. With access to various reports, you can learn how to analyze them and use your findings to optimize your website, content and marketing strategy accordingly.  

Conclusion

If you are interested in venturing into social media management as a full-time job, you can select a specialization in the second phase of your digital marketing course. Such immersive learning pathways facilitate experiential learning for using Instagram, Hoot Suite, etc. 

Beginners can sometimes feel lost in the decision-making process, while mid-career professionals may not know the benefits of particular learning areas within marketing, which are essential for leadership roles. In any case, it is best to educate yourself about these things before you commit your time and money.

It is also advisable to pick accredited degrees, for example, the Global MBA (Digital Marketing) offered by Deakin Business School & MICA. This program gives personalized offerings to candidates, depending on their experience and requirements. 

With this, we have explained the major components of a standard MBA digital marketing syllabus. We recommend that you use these insights to evaluate your career trajectory, matching your interests and needs with the right learning program!