CIM COURSES
Professional Certificate in Marketing
If you are in a junior marketing position, aspire to a career in marketing or are moving into marketing from another background, this level may be for you. Many people who enrol on this course are marketing assistants and personal assistants. You will need to discuss your level of entry with us.
Why study at this level?
- Learn about the whole spectrum of marketing activity at a hands-on level.
- Gain a greater understanding of best practice in marketing.
- Gain a professional marketing qualification to help you in career progression.
The objectives of the CIM Professional Certificate in Marketing are:
- To understand the role of marketing in business, recognising its development and implications for the organisation.
- To utilise marketing research to improve customer communications and analyse and interpret written, visual and graphical data.
- To recognise the importance of collecting relevant data, and the variety of information sources, both primary and secondary.
- To distinguish between the types of organisation within the public, private and voluntary sectors, understand their objectives and the influences upon them.
- To understand the impact of the external environment on an organisation.
- To understand how to recognise and maintain stakeholder relationships.
Are you a Graduate
CIM syllabus changes - This may impact on you!
A new Professional Diploma in Marketing will be introduced in September 2009 and open to students with a business degree with one third marketing content. This means that if you are a non business degree graduate with little or no marketing understanding you will be asked by most colleges to do the new Professional Certificate in Marketing which is being launched this coming academic year. Some colleges may already be suggesting to non business studies graduates that they do the Professional Certificate now.
Please note that Oxford College of Marketing will still be offering the Professional Diploma to its non business studies graduate students in 2008 - BUT in 2009 we will offer graduates who feel they know enough about marketing, but do not have any marketing in their degree, the chance to take a cramming session to be able to pass the CIM Level 6 test (Professional Diploma) should they wish to enter at a higher level or be given access to catch up materials.
We will offer access to our on line learning system so that non business degree graduates will be able to self study with specially designed material and catch up on what they feel they may not know enough about. Please register with us if you would like to self study, materials will be ready in March 2009.
But for some people from September 2009, it will be better for them to take a more thorough approach, start at a lower level and do the CIM assessments as the basic learning on marketing will be covered there.
You will be able to see if you are ready to enter on to the NEW Professional Diploma in September 2009 as there will be a test to see if you know enough about marketing to enter at this level. Otherwise you will have to complete the Professional Certificate in Marketing in order to gain entry to the Diploma and Chartered Post Graduate in Marketing qualifications.
We will be happy to advise you about your level entry after we know a little more about you.
Entry requirements
- Two "A" Levels or any general bachelors or masters degree
- Introductory Certificate in Marketing.
- NVQ or SVQ Level 3 in Marketing(equivalent to NQF Level 3) .
- NVQ or SVQ Level 4 in any other subject(equivalent to NQF Level 4 and above) .
- International baccalaureate (equivalent to NQF Level 3 and above)
- Other appropriate qualifications approved by CIM.
Please note that our courses do not fulfil requirements for UK student Visas.
How will I be assessed?
This level is taught by module. Two modules are assessed by examination and two by assignment.
Examination or assignment?
Exams
You will be prepared to take the CIM exams for Marketing Essentials and Assessing the Marketing Environment.. Each module is examined twice a year in June or December. People who are happy with the exam route and who have in the past done reasonably well in exams will continue to do so. Oxford College of Marketing is a top performing college and will help to prepare you for the exams should you decide on this route. Exams can be taken at any of CIM's 300 centres around the world including our Oxford centre.
Assignments
You will complete a CIM assignment for Marketing Information and Research and Stakeholder Marketing. There are two assignments each year with strict guidelines on submission dates. People who choose the assignment route often do so because they don't enjoy exams or prefer the experience of an assignment-based project. With this option you need the time to produce fairly long reports. Some students find they need to complete the study for the module including the reading before they are able to tackle the assignments. As a result they may take longer to complete their qualifications.
Course structure
There are four modules to study for this level
Marketing Essentials
By the end of this module you should be able to:
- Understand the development of marketing and its changing role within a variety of organisations.
- Understand the various tools of the marketer and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses.
- Recognise the impact achievable through modifying the marketing mix for (re)positioning the product and service offerings.
- Understand the importance of planning in the management of the marketing activity.
- Develop an awareness and understanding of the technological advances in marketing and the impact of information technology on marketing mix decisions.
- Understand the importance of customers and their behaviour relating to marketing decisions.
Assessing the Marketing Environment
By the end of this module you should be able to:
- Understand the nature of the marketing environment and its relevance for the organisation and marketing practice.
- Examine the various types of organisation, their objectives and the interface between marketing, internal functions and external influences.
- Identify and interpret the marketing implications of significant changes in an organisation's wider environment.
- Understand the complex, dynamic and uncertain nature of the external environment and how it might be best managed in marketing terms.
Stakeholder Marketing
By the end of this module you should be able to:
- Recognise organisations as open systems and explain the importance of relationships between the organisation and its suppliers, intermediaries, customers and other key stakeholders in a changing environment.
- Recognise the importance of building relationships with relevant stakeholders.
- Develop relationships inside and outside the organisation.
- Utilise the marketing mix to support stakeholders
- Explain the elements of the promotional mix and its fit with the marketing planning process.
- Explain why it is important for marketers to understand consumer and industrial buying behaviour for marketing decisions.
- Explain the advantages and disadvantages of the range of communications tools available to an organisation.
- Develop internal and external communications using appropriate tools to suit a variety of target audiences using an understanding of customer behaviour and customer information.
- Select appropriate verbal and non-verbal communications with people inside and outside the organisation.
- Demonstrate the importance of customers and customer service and apply customer care principles to create positive relationships with customers in a variety of contexts.
Marketing Information and Research
By the end of this module you should be able to:
- Identify appropriate marketing information and marketing research requirements for business decision-making.
- Plan for and manage the acquisition, storage, retrieval and reporting of information on the organisation's market and customers. Understand, develop and maintain databases
- Explain the process involved in purchasing market research and the development of effective client supplier relationships.
- Write a research brief to meet the requirements of an organisation to support a specific plan or business decision.
- Develop a research proposal to fulfil a given research brief.
- Evaluate the appropriateness of different qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to meet different research situations.
- Design and plan a research programme.
- Design a questionnaire and discussion guide.
- Interpret quantitative and qualitative data and present coherent and appropriate recommendations that lead to effective marketing and business decisions.
- Critically evaluate the outcomes and quality of a research project.
- Explain the legal, regulatory, ethical and social responsibilities of organisations involved in gathering, holding and using information.
Study options
This level is offered at Oxford College of Marketing via part-time evenings Brighton, Gatwick, Oxford, Reading and London via intensive weekends in Reading, Sheffield, Liverpool, London, Milton Keynes and Gatwick and via online distance learning.
Timetable
Discuss this course
To discuss this programme in more detail please contact us
Telephone: 01865 515255 Email: janeyenquiries@oxfordcollegeofmarketing.ac.uk