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Benefit from professional skills workshops
Explore the theory and practice of digital marketing
Hear from expert industry speakers
Develop key leadership skills
MSc
Digital Marketing
Key Information
Academic Year
Course Overview
The evolution of the internet and the way technology is forever revolutionising the way products and services are consumed in both their ideology and their functionality has fundamentally changed the strategies and tactics used within marketing. The connected consumer is the new norm where people constantly split their attention between devices and the world around them. Human attention is now at a premium as advertisements vie for visibility in a landscape populated by an expanse of everyday people passing on their own ideas and persuading others to think the same way. Building and growing a brand is not just a challenge of visibility, it is also creating something that resonates with the consumer.
Digital marketing is a component of marketing that applies digital mediums to realise marketing goals. The fundamental shift in consumption habits has expanded the ways marketers can understand consumer behaviour and they ways in which they can reach customers and build relationships. The strategies and tactics used within digital marketing is always changing and evolving with the advent of new technologies and the impact they have on consumer behaviour and consumption habits.
The role of the digital marketer is diverse. They develop, implement, and manage digital marketing campaigns which play a major role in enhancing brand awareness. They harness different digital mediums for advertising and build relationships with customers digitally while evaluating their campaigns using analytics and metrics. The skills required to enter the marketing industry are specialist where in many instances, the digital marketer is expected to be proficient at them all.
MSc Digital Marketing is a specialist programme designed for graduates wanting to practice digital marketing and move into future leadership roles. It has been developed to meet the needs of employers seeking candidates with digital marketing skills that add immediate value to both the workplace and to your own entrepreneurial activities.
How You Study
The programme is composed of eight core modules plus a Final Project. It is delivered using a combination of lectures, seminars, and Professional Skills Workshops.
Weekly contact hours on this programme may vary depending on the module and the stage of study. Postgraduate level study involves a significant proportion of independent study, exploring the material covered in lectures, seminars, and Professional Skills Workshops. As a general guide, for every hour spent in class, students are expected to spend at least two hours in independent study.
Expanding Knowledge
The Marketing Research Group is a community of experts involved in exciting research across areas such as AI, virtual reality, social media, digital advertising, relationship marketing, and consumer behaviour.
Modules
Module Overview
The relationships between customers and brands has evolved with the development of digital technology. In the world of digital marketing, it is data that drives customer understanding which in turn provides the underpinning for creating meaningful value offerings that ultimately drives competitive advantage. The ethical accumulation of customer data has become so embedded in everyday marketing activities that marketers are faced with volumes that can no longer be managed by human labour alone. Artificial Intelligence is therefore called upon to mine this wealth of data to unearth new customer insights in a timely manner. Brands now look to these insights to inform their decision making when developing responsible solutions for their customers. By making ethical judgements when managing, using and handing data, digital marketers are able to drive shared values with their customers through the design and delivery of their digital marketing campaigns. In the midst of digital transformation, the inevitable challenges related to acquisition, validity, quality and accuracy of big data require ethical and sustainable data management and governance. To embrace the power of AI and move in the digital future, businesses will need to leap from using machine learning tools to automated processes.
This module will introduce students to the concept of big data and how it is mined using artificial intelligence to uncover customer insights that will drive competitive advantage. It will explore the various sources of customer data and how they are ethically collected and stored in a centralised location. Students will learn how blockchain and AI processes produce meaningful insights out the data and how digital marketers use them to inform their decision making when developing responsible solutions within their wider marketing strategy. The skills developed in this module may be useful for students to select and apply appropriate technologies to support reasoned decision making. Students can also develop ability to apply data analytics to tackle and solve demanding problems in marketing practice.
Module Overview
Customer databases, often called Customer Relationship Management systems (CRM), form the nucleus of many digital marketing strategies. While some efforts are aimed at attracting new customers, its main focus is building meaningful relationships with existing customers to promote brand loyalty, positive word-of-mouth and to extend the customer lifetime value. By ethical collecting and responsibility leveraging customer data, marketers are better positioned to deliver personalised, relevant and effective marketing messages to their customers. Email remains one of the most effective ways to create leads and build customer loyalty as it delivers the marketing message direct to the consumer.
This module will introduce students to relationship marketing by focusing on how databases and email marketing artificial intelligence are responsibly leveraged to establish, maintain and enhance relationships with customers and other stakeholders. It will consider areas such as the motivations for forming relationships, the strategic implications of relationship stages and the strategies used for customer retention and loyalty. Students will consider the ethical collection of data and the responsible judgements made when handling and managing its use. Using metrics and analytics to support decision making, this module offers an in-depth insight in the development of the database and how email is strategically used to build and maintain relationships.
Module Overview
A brand is the myth created by an organisation to promote a recognisable feeling by those who perceive it. Brands are not just products and services, they embody a wider set of meanings that must be carefully crafted and managed so they continue to be relevant and meaningful in the constantly changing marketplace. The evolution of the internet and the way technology is forever revolutionising the way brands are consumed in both their ideology and their functionality, is an ongoing challenge for marketers. The connected consumer is the way our consumers live their everyday lives; constantly splitting their attention between devices and the world around them. Not only do today’s customers expect a brand to have a digital presence, they want to engage in real-time interactivity and two-way dialogue to realise the full brand experience.
This module will introduce students to branding strategy and the way digital technologies are responsibly used to build brand awareness and knowledge, shape attitudes, and improve recognition and recall. By harnessing online tools such as social media, search, mobile, online advertising, email marketing, customer relationship management databases, and automated marketing, marketers are able to strategically develop their brand story to create a coherent digital identity and increase customer engagement. Students will look to future trends of digital consumption while considering the marketing capability of the organisation when making responsible and sustainable decision making. Using metrics and analytics to support decision making, this module offers an in-depth insight in way online is used to strategically build, maintain, and make visible the digital brand myth.
Module Overview
An effective digital marketing strategy helps businesses make the right decisions to be successful online. Where the internet has blurred geographic boundaries, digital marketers must consider their value offering within the global marketplace. By establishing the businesses current market position and identifying responsible value offerings, a digital marketer uses data driven decision making to identify potential responsible business opportunities and sets objectives to guide the planning process. The digital plan considers the marketing capabilities of the business and outlines all key online activities and the resources needed for its implementation. Only once the plan has been developed can all the digital touch points be managed in a coherent and coordinated way.
This module lays the foundation for budding marketers to confidently plan and deliver a successful digital strategy. By evaluating the drivers and barriers to responsible value creation and considering the ethical issues when formulating the digital marketing plan, students are introduced to digital marketing practices that manage resources in a socially responsible way. Using digital marketing strategy models, theories and concepts, students are introduced to frameworks that encourage logical and ethical decision making during the development of effective digital plans. This top-down approach to the digital marketing operation allows students to take a bird’s eye view of the complete digital marketing journey.
Module Overview
The growing popularity of ecommerce means businesses must learn digital marketing strategies to attract, convert and retain customers from a globalised marketplace. Website design has never been so important to maintain customer attention and guide them through an engaging purchasing process. Although without a robust SEO strategy particular to the focus country, even the very best websites selling the very best products and services become lost in the noise of search engine results. The omnichannel customer journey is now more diversified than ever before with multiple touchpoints and higher than ever customer expectations. To gain competitor advantage marketers need to navigate the constantly shifting landscape to maintain website relevancy and visibility.
This module will introduce students to ecommerce business models to inform the strategic approach to wider business objectives. Sustainable supply chains from both the local and global perspectives will be considered. The online servicescape will be explored and in particular, how it can be manipulated to create the desired customer experience and promote engagement. Students will learn how to embed the website into the customer journey while also contributing to a wider SEO strategy and be introduced to a range of metrics and analytics that can be used to inform decision making. Value creation through the tactical use of digital media in the SEO process will also be unpacked to collectively provide students with the strategic tools to maintain visibility in what is a crowded market place.
Module Overview
The final project provides an opportunity for students with a range of experiences and interests to apply and develop their existing skills and knowledge to an independent study project, which affords an opportunity for both the expression of original thought and creativity, together with the application of analytical skills and critical reasoning. Our approach to research projects is to facilitate innovative approaches and diverse pathways to the final assessed piece of work.
Module Overview
This module is designed to provide students with a conceptual and theoretical background in leadership, and an opportunity to develop leadership competencies in themselves and others. It covers topics such as leadership style, followership, ethical and responsible leadership, gender and leadership, and cross-cultural leadership. Over the course of this module, students will gain an understanding and appreciation of the impact interpersonal skills have on leadership effectiveness. This module has an applied focus and requires students to reflect on and apply theories and techniques to their personal real-world context in order to enhance their leadership practice.
Module Overview
This module aims to equip students for the business environment by incorporating a range of practical and professional skills. Students have the chance to be coached through the process by a team coach and receive mentoring support from academics and business representatives. The topics are selected and designed in close collaboration to industry in order to prepare students for a dynamic work environment.
Module Overview
Social media marketing and digital advertising are pivotal components of a digital marketing strategy. Effective social media marketing can improve a business’s online presence increasing brand awareness, improving engagement, building brand loyalty and increasing online conversions. While digital advertising is the art of leveraging different mediums such as social media, search engines, mobile apps and websites, it is the strategies and tactics used to cut through the noise and gain attention from customers that becomes critical for success. By employing a global mindset, digital marketers are able to create social media and digital advertising strategies that will create value for their target customers on platforms particular to that country.
This module explores the way earned, paid and owned digital media are collectively leveraged to meet digital marketing objectives through the vehicles of social media and digital advertising. Students will be introduced to the co-creation of value through brand communities and consumer tribes as a way of building brand equity and customer retention. Advertising theories, concepts and models will be evaluated with particular consideration of consumer trends in the consumption of content. It provides a critical appraisal of popular social platforms, adblocking, mobile advertising, display advertising and PPC advertising and the role of creative copywriting used to gain consumer visibility and promote engagement.
† Some courses may offer optional modules. The availability of optional modules may vary from year to year and will be subject to minimum student numbers being achieved. This means that the availability of specific optional modules cannot be guaranteed. Optional module selection may also be affected by staff availability.
What You Need to Know
We want you to have all the information you need to make an informed decision on where and what you want to study. In addition to the information provided on this course page, our What You Need to Know page offers explanations on key topics including programme validation/revalidation, additional costs, and contact hours.
Professional Skills Workshop
Our Professional Skills Workshops introduce you to commonly used industry platforms including Google Analytics, websites, sentiment analysis, and trend software. Where possible, digital marketing and business experts will also be invited to the workshops to deliver interactive support and guidance in addition to imparting industry insights and good practice.
How you are assessed
A range of assessments methods are used in this programme, including presentations, reports, essays, business proposals, reflective commentaries, and portfolios which may include brief writing, pitch presentation, infographic creation, website planning, and content writing.
All modules are mapped to programme-level outcomes and assessment activities are designed to be relevant, inclusive, and diverse. These prioritise authentic real-world, live challenges, and experiential learning, fostering global mindsets and problem-solving skills, active learning, critical thinking, effective communication, and independence in learning. The assessment activities include measurement of student performance and retained learning, enabling compliance with AACSBs Assurance of Learning. Formative assessment is embedded within all modules with the aim of providing students with feedback on how to improve and develop their assessments and other activities. It is designed to support the student's learning journey in becoming more self-directed and self-evaluative, capable of setting their own goals and overseeing their own progress.
The University of Lincoln's policy on assessment feedback aims to ensure that academics will return in-course assessments to students promptly usually within 15 working days of the submission date.
How to Apply
Postgraduate Application Support
Applying for a postgraduate programme at Lincoln is easy. Find out more about the application process and what you'll need to complete on our How to Apply page. Here, you'll also be able to find out more about the entry requirements we accept and how to contact us for dedicated support during the process.
Entry Requirements 2025-26
Entry Requirements
Applicants would be expected to have a minimum 2:2 honours degree in marketing, business, or management. Accredited prior learning (APL) with significant marketing experience will also be considered.
Applications from individuals with alternative UG study area degrees who have least 2-3 years' experience in a marketing role and/or a professional marketing qualification will be considered on an application by application bases, and interviews will be held where appropriate.
If you have studied outside of the UK, and are unsure whether your qualification meets the above requirements, please visit our country pages:
https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/studywithus/internationalstudents/entryrequirementsandyourcountry/ for information on equivalent qualifications.
Overseas students will be required to demonstrate English language proficiency equivalent to IELTS 6.0 overall, with a minimum of 5.5 in each element. For information regarding other English language qualifications we accept, please visit the English Requirements page:
If you do not meet the above IELTS requirements, you may be able to take part in one of our Pre-session English and Academic Study Skills courses.
These specialist courses are designed to help students meet the English language requirements for their intended programme of study.
Course Fees
You will need to have funding in place for your studies before you arrive at the University. Our fees vary depending on the course, mode of study, and whether you are a UK or international student. You can view the breakdown of fees for this programme below.
The University offers a range of merit-based, subject-specific, and country-focused scholarships for UK and international students. To help support students from outside of the UK, we offer a number of international scholarships which range from £1,000 up to the value of 50 per cent of tuition fees. For full details and information about eligibility, visit our scholarships and bursaries pages.
Funding Your Study
Postgraduate Funding Options
Find out more about the optional available to support your postgraduate study, from Master's Loans to scholarship opportunities. You can also find out more about how to pay your fees and access support from our helpful advisors.
Career Development
Postgraduate study is an investment in yourself and your future. It can help you to further or completely change your career, develop your knowledge, enhance your salary, or even prepare you to start your own business. Postgraduate students at the University of Lincoln benefit from inspirational teaching combined with high-quality facilities and learning spaces, great industry links, and unique research opportunities, all of which are designed to help you stand out from the crowd and make the most of your time with us.
Academic Contact
For more information about this course, please contact the Programme Leader.
Dr Caroline Glowka
KGlowka@lincoln.ac.uk
Working in Partnership
Lincoln International Business School works with students and organisations to enhance the contribution of business to society. For students, that means developing their business skills and knowledge to improve their career readiness.The University of Lincoln is a member of AACSB, a global nonprofit association connecting educators, students, and businesses to achieve a common goal: to create the next generation of great leaders.
Postgraduate Events
To get a real feel for what it is like to study at the University of Lincoln, we hold a number of dedicated postgraduate events and activities throughout the year for you to take part in.
