According to Adweek, 81 percent of shoppers conduct research online before making a purchase. As a marketer you should meet prospective customers and engage the loyalty of current customers where they are most likely to notice.

Content marketing drives sales, customer loyalty and brand awareness by providing potential customers the information they are using to evaluate your brand, product and service before they ever speak with a sales representative. In this six-week certificate program, you will discover how to use this marketing approach to expand brand awareness and transform a person who is just aware of your products or services into a purchaser.

The Content Marketing Certificate Program will help you learn how to master the marketing technique that’s driving optimal growth and return on marketing investment for brands in every industry.

Programs Associated with this Course

• Certificate in Content Marketing Strategy
• Certificate in Digital Marketing Strategy Certificate Program
• Certificate in Integrated Marketing Communications

Who Should Attend

This certificate program is ideal for marketers who want to gain working, practical knowledge of a new skill that will increase their value in the marketplace.

Benefits

You will gain working, practical knowledge of a new skill that will increase your value in the marketplace as more and more companies hire content marketing staff. According to a recent LinkedIn career report, in 2017:

• 89 percent of B2B companies are using content marketing
• 75 percent of companies increased their production of content marketing
• 51 percent of companies had a content marketing manager on staff—up from 42 percent in 2016

 

Topics/Syllabus

Week 1: Foundational overview of content marketing

• Content marketing defined
• The difference between content marketing and advertising
• A timeline of content marketing through the years
• Content marketing’s top channels
• The 10 benefits of content marketing
• Content marketing best practices

Week 2: Building a content marketing strategy

• Content marketing business models
• Using content across the customer journey
• The content marketing campaign process
• Marketing objectives of content
• The “Create Once, Publish Everywhere” approach
• How to brainstorm content marketing ideas

Week 3: Developing content for marketing campaigns

• Roles & responsibilities in content marketing
• Planning content marketing campaigns
• Best practices when working with creators & artists
• Overview of best practices with content marketing channels

Week 4: Promoting and syndicating content marketing

• Developing the content marketing distribution strategy
• Leveraging owned media for content distribution
• Building paid media campaigns for content distribution
• The value of earned media in content syndication
• Master headlines that will be shared

Week 5: Measuring impact and optimizing content marketing campaigns

• The questions you should always ask yourself about your content programs
• Content marketing measurement best practices
• The most important metrics and KPIs of marketing measurement
• Optimizing content marketing programs
• How to write effective calls-to-action (CTAs)

Week 6: Hands-on project to build a content marketing plan

In this final class, students will apply everything they’ve learned in the previous lectures to develop a step-by-step content marketing program for a fictitious brand of their choice. This is a working session with all students filling out and sharing their work with their peers.

 

FAQ

Do I get DePaul credit for this class?
No, this is a professional education class with different requirements than courses taken for academic credit.

How big is the class?
Class size is limited to allow for a more interactive environment in the classroom. Most classes have fewer than 20 students.

Will I have to write papers and take exams?
You will have to create a content marketing editorial plan aligned to the stages in the buyer’s journey hackathon. You must successfully complete the project presentation to receive the certificate.

What is the difference between a certificate and a certification?
A certificate is earned after completion of a course or a series of courses. Certificates are usually awarded by a training provider or an educational institution. Certification typically includes an experience, an educational component and requires passing an exam. Certifications are awarded by governmental and/or professional agencies and often require recertification to remain certified.