Course Title: Develop a digital marketing plan

Part B: Course Detail

Teaching Period: Term1 2023

Course Code: MKTG6121C

Course Title: Develop a digital marketing plan

School: 525T Business & Enterprise

Campus: City Campus

Program: C5404 - Diploma of Marketing and Communication

Course Contact: Nick Reynolds

Course Contact Phone: +61 3 9925 0791

Course Contact Email: nick.reynolds@rmit.edu.au


Name and Contact Details of All Other Relevant Staff

Nominal Hours: 50

Regardless of the mode of delivery, represent a guide to the relative teaching time and student effort required to successfully achieve a particular competency/module. This may include not only scheduled classes or workplace visits but also the amount of effort required to undertake, evaluate and complete all assessment requirements, including any non-classroom activities.

Pre-requisites and Co-requisites

None

Course Description

This unit describes the performance outcomes, skills and knowledge required to research, plan, implement and evaluate digital marketing activities.


This unit applies to individuals working in a diverse range of sectors and business contexts. They operate independently, under limited supervision from others, and are responsible for making a range of operational decisions.


National Codes, Titles, Elements and Performance Criteria

National Element Code & Title:

SIRXMKT007 Develop a digital marketing plan

Element:

1. Determine digital marketing requirements

Performance Criteria:

1.1. Determine organisational objectives and priorities for digital marketing activity.

1.2. Confirm available budget for digital marketing activity. 

1.3. Review information on current and past digital marketing activities and their effectiveness. 

1.4. Segment the online market and define target market.

1.5. Research target market and identify suitable digital marketing activities.

1.6. Identify internal and external factors impacting digital marketing activities.  

1.7. Research trends and best practice in digital marketing, tools and software available. 

Element:

2. Develop digital marketing plan

Performance Criteria:

2.1. Confirm and document digital marketing objectives that are consistent with organisational objectives and priorities.

2.2. Determine digital marketing activities to drive targeted traffic to site and generate sales. 

2.3. Document a digital marketing action plan that details key activities, resources and timeframes. 

2.4. Establish performance indicators and evaluation criteria for measuring impact of digital marketing activities. 

2.5. Integrate legal and ethical requirements and considerations into planning.

2.6. Ensure digital marketing plan aligns with organisational objectives, current marketing strategy and budget.  

2.7. Seek required approval for digital marketing plan. 

Element:

3. Monitor digital marketing activity

Performance Criteria:

3.1. Communicate digital marketing plan, responsibilities and expectations to relevant personnel. 

3.2. Oversee digital marketing activity and respond to issues as they arise. 

3.3. Monitor digital marketing content and ensure alignment with digital marketing plans and objectives.

3.4. Track customer traffic and conversion rates to identify trends in customer and digital marketing activity. 

Element:

4. Review digital marketing activities

Performance Criteria:

4.1. Review trends in customer traffic and conversion rates to determine impact of digital marketing activities. 

4.2. Calculate return on investment for any paid digital marketing activities. 

4.3. Identify and evaluate new and emerging digital marketing trends and technologies and consider their use for improved marketing outcomes. 

4.4. Make recommendations for improvements in digital marketing based on review

Learning Outcomes


This course is structured to provide students with the optimum learning experience in order to demonstrate the skills and knowledge required to research, plan, implement and evaluate digital marketing activities. 


Details of Learning Activities

This course is delivered in-person / on-campus, and consists of lectures, tutorials, workshops and personal learning. Some online learning may be required due to circumstances.

Work Integrated Learning (WIL) will be used (TBC) to apply learning to real-life client requirements and forms part of the learning, and Assessment Tasks.


Teaching Schedule

Week 1 - 6 February - Introduction to Marketing fundamentlals

Week 2 13 February - Digital trends and strategy

Week 3 20 February - Personas, touch-points, customer journey mapping

Week 4 27 February - Digital Marketing Tools

Week 5 6 March - Campaign Planning

Week 6 -13 March - Legal, ethics, and codes of conduct

Week 7 20 March - Campaign Performance Measures

Week 8 27 March - Assessment Task workshop /  Campaign Action Plan / Assessment 1 due

Week 9 3 April - AT2-Part A - Delegation email [ Mid Semester Break ]

Week 10 17 April - Campaign analysis and reporting

Week 11 24 April - Campaign analysis and reporting

Week 12 - 1 May - Digital marketing analytics

Week 13 8 May -Digital marketing analytics

Week 14 15 May - AT2 completion workshop

Week 15 22 May - Client Presentations (TBC) / Assessment 2 due

16 29 May - AT2 Resubmissions (if required)


Learning Resources

Prescribed Texts


References


Other Resources


Overview of Assessment


Assessment Methods

Assessment methods have been designed to measure achievement of the requirements in a flexible manner over a range of assessment tasks, for example:

  • direct questioning combined with review of portfolios of evidence and third party workplace reports of on-the-job performance by the candidate
  • review of final printed documents
  • demonstration of techniques
  • observation of presentations
  • oral or written questioning to assess knowledge of software applications

You are advised that you are likely to be asked to personally demonstrate your assessment work to your teacher to ensure that the relevant competency standards are being met.


Performance Evidence

Evidence of the ability to complete tasks outlined in elements and performance criteria of this unit in the context of the job role, and:

  • determine the digital marketing requirements of one organisation and develop a digital marketing plan, to be executed over one sales or promotional period, detailing:
  • digital marketing channels
  • priorities
  • key activities
  • responsibilities
  • performance indicators
  • tracking
  • timelines
  • budgets
  • review digital marketing activity across one sales or promotional period to:
  • determine effectiveness of activities
  • make recommendations for improvements.


Knowledge Evidence

Demonstrated knowledge required to complete the tasks outlined in elements and performance criteria of this unit:

  • key legal and ethical requirements and considerations as relevant to digital marketing:
  • Australian Consumer Law
  • copyright
  • privacy
  • codes of practice
  • current digital marketing trends and technologies
  • customer behaviours and psychology as related to digital marketing
  • traditional and non-traditional digital marketing types and channels:
  • search engine optimisation
  • search engine marketing
  • online advertising
  • email
  • video
  • blogging
  • social media
  • affiliate marketing
  • impressions
  • remarketing
  • the above list of marketing types and channels and their:
  • benefits
  • limitations
  • application and use
  • internal and external operating factors impacting digital marketing
  • techniques for market segmentation and its application to digital marketing
  • techniques and tools for achieving the following through digital marketing activities:
  • increased customer traffic
  • increased engagement:
  • existing customers
  • new customers
  • disengaged customers
  • sales generation
  • consistency in content
  • consistency with marketing strategy
  • digital marketing planning techniques and formats, and key features of a digital marketing plan
  • performance indicators for measuring impact of digital marketing activities
  • tools and methods for tracking digital marketing activity.


Feedback

Feedback will be provided throughout the semester in class and/or online discussions. You are encouraged to ask and answer questions during class time and online sessions so that you can obtain feedback on your understanding of the concepts and issues being discussed. Finally, you can email or arrange an appointment with your teacher to gain more feedback on your progress.

You should take note of all feedback received and use this information to improve your learning outcomes and final performance in the course.


Assessment Tasks

There are two assessment tasks for this Unit of Study.

Assessment Task 1:Determine and Develop a Digital Marketing Plan (Due Week 8)

This is the first of two assessment tasks you must complete for this course. You must be satisfactory in all assessments to be deemed competent in this course.  

This assessment is designed to assess your skills and knowledge developing a digital marketing plan. You will determine digital marketing requirements for a chosen organisation including objectives, priorities, budgets and target markets. You will do this incorporating the changing internal and external digital environment, specifically as it relates to the digital marketing activities as well as tools and software. This will include relevant legislation and regulations. You will explore the range of digital engagement platforms and select those most appropriate for your target audience. 

This is a work integrated learning project (WIL) and you will work on a live client challenge. The client challenge details are included on Canvas under “WIL brief and information”. You will also receive a face-to-face client briefing during the first weeks of class.

Assessment Instructions

You will also develop a digital marketing plan for a client that aligns with the organisation’s objectives, priorities, budgets and target markets and show how this plan will drive traffic and generate sales. This will require research and include the relevant digital marketing strategies and activities to answer the brief provided by the client.

Your report should be approximately 2000-2500 words and include tables and charts included as appropriate.   

Your digital Marketing Plan should follow the Digital Marketing Plan report structure provided in Appendix 6. The questions and activities below, will inform each section of the Digital Marketing Plan.

  1. Review client briefing documents provided by the assessor and determine the organisational objectives and priorities for digital marketing activity over one sales or promotional period. 
  2. Prepare 2 or 3 questions to take to the client briefing session to confirm: 
    • Available budget
    • Current and past digital activities, the digital marketing channels and their effectiveness 
  1. Write a 2- 3 paragraph Introduction on the business – relevant information regarding:
    1. Sales or promotional period that the digital marketing plan will cover
    2. Digital marketing channels 
    3. Challenges from the briefing should be included
    4. Available budget
  2. Prepare a statement of project aims and a set of SMART business objectives (3-4 maximum) for the digital marketing strategy as informed by the client, consistent with organisational objectives and priorities.

Complete an environmental analysis on the key issues and trends apparent in the client’s business space that may impact digital marketing activity. This must include 5, 6, 7 and 8 below: 

  1. A PEST analysis for the business/industry (sample provided in Appendix 1) and how they impact digital marketing activities.
  2. Complete competitor analysis for two (2) companies using SWOT (include their digital/social media tactics if they have any).
  3. Complete a SWOT analysis for the client’s company and one (1) for each of the competitor companies identified above (sample provided in Appendix 2).
  4. Identify how each of the following legislation/regulation may impact the digital marketing content, engagement and distribution for this client: Australian Consumer Law, Copyright, Privacy, Codes of practice (sample table to complete provided in Appendix 3). 
  5. Research and segment the online market and define the target market for the strategy. Prepare a segmentation analysis (in written statement and a graph format) that includes:
    • Customer behaviours and psychology as related to digital marketing 
    • A summary explaining one of the market segments as the focus for the digital marketing activities.

10.   Using the persona building guides and templates provided (refer to Buying Persona Template PowerPoint), prepare two (2) personas that represent selected segment/s. This will be used to plot the customer journey map. 

For each persona you must include:

  • behaviour/purchase habits with the product/brand/concept that you have selected for your campaign 
  • demographic information such as age, gender etc.
  • likes and interests
  • communications tolerances and sensitivities
  • establish the attention span and retention characteristics of alternative content types and engagement patterns
  • digital media consumption habits including triggers and interventions 
  • a stylised or actual image of the persona 

11. Using the journey mapping templates provided in class, develop a journey map with key digital marketing activities including all key touch points: awareness, discovery, purchase, use and bond showing how these activities will drive traffic to the site and generate sales. Identified and explained for each of the 2 personas detailed above. Refer to Appendix 5 Buyer Persona & Customer Journey Map Document for a Sample Journey Map.

  • Research trends and best practice in digital marketing tools and software available to support.

For one Personal/avatar include the following:

  • Include in the digital marketing action plan details of key traditional and non-traditional digital marketing activities and channels that must include: search engine optimisation, search engine marketing, online advertising, email, video, blogging, social media, affiliate marketing, impressions, remarketing. 

For each of these, include their benefits, limitations and applications and use (you may like to use a table to compile this information)

  • Identify the required resources: time and budget, responsibilities, identifiable timeframes. Refer to the Project Plan table in Appendix 4.
  • Identifies KPI’s and evaluation criteria for measuring the impact of the digital marketing activities including: increased customer traffic andengagement for; existing customers, new customers, disengaged customers and conversion/sales.  

Explain how the digital marketing plan aligns with organisational objectives, current marketing strategy and budget. 

 

Assessment Task 2: Monitor and review digital marketing activities (Due week 15)

This is the second of two assessment tasks you must complete for this course. you must be satisfactory in all assessments to be deemed competent in this course. 

This assessment task will assess your skills and knowledge in implementing a digital marketing plan by communicating, overseeing, monitoring, and tracking the digital marketing activity. Then reviewing the success of the digital marketing activities and making recommendations based on data, reports, current trends, and outcomes.

This assessment follows on from Assessment Task 1, as such it is a work integrated learning project (WIL) and you will work on a client challenge. The client challenge details are included on Canvas under WIL brief and information.

Assessment Instructions

This assessment task cannot be undertaken until you have been marked as satisfactory for Assessment Task 1. Satisfactory completion of Assessment Task 1 - Determine and Develop a Digital Marketing Plan is the approval you must seek to start work on Assessment Task 2.

In this assessment you can either use the digital marketing analytics data/reports from a WIL client or the assessor will provide you with sample data/reports.

To complete this task, you will need to seek data, reports, analytics on the digital marketing activity their WIL client has competed in the previous 3 months if this is not possible, your instructor will provide you with sample data.

This Assessment Task is made up of the following parts: 

Part A – Communicate Responsibilities and Expectations

Part B – Review Data, Reports and Analytics

Preparing for the task 

Prior to commencing this assessment task, you need to seek approval from the assessor on the satisfactory completion of the Digital Marketing Plan. (satisfactory completion of Assessment Task 1 can be viewed as assessor approval) 

Part A - Communicate Responsibilities and Expectations

For this part, you will need to prepare emails to relevant personnel communicating the digital marketing plan along with the responsibilities and expectations relevant to the stakeholder the email is addressed. 

Select a group of students to role play as the relevant personnel - as identified in the Project Plan you completed in Assessment Task 1.  

Type an email to send to the appointed personnel (students) to brief them on their roles including their responsibilities and expectations and an overview of their appointed role in the team. i.e., Marketing Manager, Product Manager, Social Media Manager, CEO (this will depend on the organisation you chose and the roles within it as defined in Assessment Task 1 Appendix 4 the Project Plan). 

To complete Part A of this assessment task, you are required to: 

  • Identify the appropriate team members in the organisation to invite to the meeting 
  • Prepare an email to the delegated team members, providing an overview of their role, responsibilities and expectations, the digital marketing plan, the project plan, the budget, and seek confirmation of their understanding and attendance. 
  • Attach the digital marketing plan, the project plan, and the budget.
  • The email must be written using appropriate email software, writing style and structure and includes complete sentences, accurate grammar, spelling and punctuation.
  • Save the email and attachments as a file for submission. 

Part B - Review Data, Reports and Analytics

In this part of the task you will review the data, reports and analytics on the digital marketing activity undertaken by the WIL client in the last 3 months and prepare a presentation based on these findings, calculations and of your understanding of emerging digital marketing trends and technologies and prepare their presentation slides.

Note:

  • If the WIL client is not able to provide the required data because they are a small client/have no digital presence, the assessor will provide sample data.
  • Students are required to provide a hard copy of the slides to the class teacher before the presentation and upload a soft copy of the presentation slides.

  Answer the following questions:

  • Provide an overview of the digital marketing activity including identifying issues and making recommendations on how to address these.
  • Discuss the digital marketing content and explain its alignment with the digital marketing plans and objectives.
  • Track customer traffic and conversion rates to identify trends in customer and digital marketing activity.
  • Review trends in customer traffic and conversion rates to determine impact of digital marketing activities.
  • Calculate return on investment for any paid digital marketing activities.
  • Identify and evaluate new and emerging digital marketing trends and technologies and consider their use for improved marketing outcomes.
  • Make recommendations for improvements in digital marketing based on review.


Assessment Matrix

Assessment Task 1: Due Week 8

Assessment Task 2: Due Week 15

Course Overview: Access Course Overview