Digital Marketing Course Syllabus – Updated for 2024

The digital industry is growing at a rate of 14% annually, making it the most desirable career in today’s scenario. If you wish to find out the skills that should be covered in a basic digital marketing course syllabus in India or anywhere around the world, then reading this blog will help. 

Before we delve into the advanced digital marketing course syllabus, be sure to check out the scope of digital marketing in 2024 and what the future holds.

With the digital revolution, technology has opened a new door for marketers. What we market may not have changed but how we market has indefinitely changed. The evolved study of marketing, known as digital marketing, has opened new opportunities for businesses and aspiring digital marketers. 

Thus, now is the perfect time to kick-start your career in digital marketing. 

In this blog, we’re going to list out all the digital marketing modules and skills which hold immense importance and thus, must be included in the digital marketing course you choose.

But before we begin, if you have 45 minutes to spare during the day, we’d recommend you attend this Free Masterclass on digital marketing basics after which it will get easier for you to understand the syllabus.

Advanced Digital Marketing Course Syllabus Overview

A digital marketing course syllabus covers 2 main important skills – executive/technical skills and managerial skills. With a combination of these 2, it prepares you to face the corporate world’s challenges and opportunities.

While any course may equip you with digital marketing skills, it is equally important to receive training on how to apply those skills in real-life scenarios. Read this blog on 7 Tips to choose the best digital marketing course to gain a better understanding of how to evaluate and choose the right course. 

Another important factor is to consider a course that updates its digital marketing course curriculum year after year by keeping the latest trends in mind. This means a digital marketing course with the syllabus of 2022 may be slightly outdated and needs to be updated with industry-relevant topics of 2024.

Bonus: If you wish to learn only a few of the below-mentioned digital marketing skills and create a niche in them, we have linked out the related courses to help you with that so make sure to check them out. 

Let’s dive into what a complete digital marketing course syllabus must have:

Digital Marketing Course Syllabus  

Without further ado, let’s look at the digital marketing course subjects:

Executive Skills

1. Introduction to Digital Marketing

In this module, you will be introduced to digital marketing from the very beginning. Keeping in mind the diverse background of students, courses equip students right from the basics of digital marketing. Following are some important topics covered here:

• What is digital marketing?
• Importance of digital marketing
• Difference between traditional and digital marketing
• Discuss the recent trends and current scenario of the industry 
• How digital marketing has been a tool of success for companies?
• How to use digital marketing to increase sales
• How to conduct a competitive analysis?
• Case studies on digital marketing strategies

2. Website Planning and Creation

Businesses create a website to generate leads, increase their credibility among consumers, and deliver their marketing messages. Today, no matter how small-scale a business is, they still have a website. Because of its growing importance, the right course will teach you to create a website from scratch on WordPress. 

In this module, the topics covered are the various elements of a website and every function WordPress can perform along with all the information you need to know to build a website.

Here’s a list of topics that should be covered in your curriculum – 

• Understanding the functionality of WordPress
• How to develop a website
• How to incorporate different design elements into your website
• How to add content
• Install and Activate plugins
• The functionality of different plugins

Related Course: Online WordPress Course

3. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Search Engine Optimisation or SEO is essentially making alterations to your website, so it organically ranks first on a search engine’s results page (SERP). It is arguably the heaviest part of the course, however, certain institutes teaching methods and support make it easier for students. 

In this module, you will learn about the various search engines and their algorithms. 

Here’s a list of topics that should be covered in your curriculum – 

• Introduction to Search Engine Optimization
• How does Search Engine work 
• On-page SEO –  concepts like content research, keyword research, meta tags
• Off-page SEO – link building 
• Keyword Research
• Factors affecting the rank of a webpage

Related Course: Online SEO Course 

4. Search Engine Marketing

Search Engine Marketing or SEM involves the advertising of a company’s website by increasing its visibility on a search engine’s result page (SERP) principally by paid efforts. Most of the courses will teach you how to carry out SEM activities via the Google Ads platform.

Here’s a list of topics that should be covered in your curriculum – 

• Features of the Google Ads platform and its algorithm
• Creating campaigns
• Search volume 
• Google Adwords
• Ad Creation
• Site & Keyword Targeting
• CPC, CPA & CPM-based Accounts
• Demographic Targeting
• Google Keyword Planner
• Concepts of CPM, CLV and other such metrics

As a part of the course module, an advanced comprehensive course will also teach how to write a compelling ad copy, URL, ad description, and call-to-action (CTA). 

Related Course: Online Google Ads Course

5. Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing (SMM) involves paid as well as organic marketing techniques on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and more to drive traffic to a company’s website. In this module, you will learn to create effective social media strategies on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, Snapchat, etc. 

Here’s a list of topics that should be covered in your curriculum – 

• Understanding how SMM works & how businesses leverage social platforms
• Targeting Demographics through social media
• Metrics like cost-per-click (CPC), cost-per-view (CPV), cost-per-impression (CPM), and more.
• Social Media Analytics
• Social Media Advertising

Related Course: Online Social Media Marketing Course.

6. Content Marketing & Strategy

Content Marketing is the comprehensive strategy to attract or retain a target audience by creating and sharing relevant and valuable content; eventually impelling a profitable action. This module comprises exhaustive training sessions that delve into content marketing and its importance.

Here, you will learn in-depth about the various types of content and how to capitalize on trending topics. 

Here’s a list of topics that should be covered in your curriculum – 

• Content bucketing
• Creating a social media content calendar for a brand
• Content marketing tools
• Guest Blogging

Related Course: Online Content Marketing Course.

7. Web Analytics

Web Analytics is analyzing a website visitor’s behaviour. In this module, you will learn how to track and analyze a website visitor’s actions via Google Analytics. Web analytics is the process of tracking the metrics of a website and interpreting the data to gain user insights. 

Here’s a list of topics that should be covered in your curriculum – 

• Google Analytics 
• Concepts of bounce rate, page view, session time
• How to optimally use Google Analytics
• Behaviour, and acquisition reports

By the end of the module, you will learn how to track a website visitor down the conversion funnel and what information to extract from it.

Related Course: Online Google Analytics Course 

8. Digital Media Planning and Buying

Media Planning is determining when, where, and how often to advertise to maximize conversions and ROI. Media planning aims at maximizing the effectiveness of advertising by reaching the right audience at the right time and right context.

Here’s a list of topics that should be covered in your curriculum – 

• Concept of Media buying and its types
• Concepts of cost-per-install (CPI), cost-per-order (CPO), cost-per-acquisition (CPA), click-through-rate (CTR), etc. 

You will also delve into platform-based Ad space, and media planning and budgeting. You will be adept at building an effective media planning and buying strategy by the end of the course.

Related Course:  Online Media Planning Course.

9. Web Remarketing

Web Remarketing is the process of using a JavaScript tag to serve targeted ads to consumers who have visited your website or taken action on it. The main aim of web remarketing is to reconnect with past visitors and deliver relevant advertisements or messages to encourage them to revisit the website.

Here’s a list of topics that should be covered in your curriculum – 

• Basics of remarketing 
• How to create a remarketing list
• How to create remarketing lists on Google Ads
• How to use Google Ads tag and on Facebook using their Facebook Pixel code.

In addition to this, certain courses also delve into dynamic remarketing and case studies on it. 

If you are a graduate and want to pursue an MBA in Digital Marketing, here’s a complete guide on MBA in Digital Marketing that will definitely help you.

10. Email Marketing

In layman’s terms, email marketing is the process of using electronic mail to communicate commercial messages to a current or potential consumer. In this module you will learn about the types of emails and how to create an appealing email; essentially to drive conversion or an action from a consumer. 

Here’s a list of topics that should be covered in your curriculum – 

• How to build the right subscriber list
• Build a database by segmenting based on demographics, mode of acquisition, target group
• Finessing email marketing tools and software
• Designing email copies & automating emails
• Extracting information from email campaign analytics

Related Course: Online Email Marketing Course

11. Design Essentials

To become a successful digital marketer, you need to understand the importance of the role played by design. It includes fundamental principles, elements, and techniques that form the foundation of effective design across various disciplines, such as graphic design, web design, or industrial design.

Here’s a list of topics that should be covered in your curriculum – 

• Characteristics of an ad
• How to create attractive creatives
• Color theory 
• Designing tools
• Understanding aesthetics,
• Understanding design essentials – typography, colors, and themes

Related Course: Online Ad Design Course

12. Mobile Marketing

As the name suggests, mobile marketing is the act of promoting your business via mobile. Another aspect of mobile marketing training focuses on conducting mobile web analytics and mobile display advertising which very few courses cover.

Here’s a list of topics that should be covered in your curriculum – 

• How to increase an app’s engagement through in-app advertising
• In-app messaging
• Push notifications
• Creating copies
• App store optimization
• Analyze app metrics
• Increase app installations
• Strategizing & planning to increase app installations and promotions

13. E-Commerce Management

E-Commerce Management is the act of managing an e-commerce store and its activities to ensure a positive customer buying experience. In this module, you will delve into e-commerce, its types, and how to create an e-commerce website from scratch.

Here’s a list of topics that should be covered in your curriculum – 

• Essentials of e-commerce
• Product keyword research
• Inventory management
• Supply chain management
• Packaging & shipping
• Selling on online platforms
• Uploading products to an online marketplace
• Business processes

Related Course: Online E-Commerce Course

14. Online Reputation Management

Online Reputation Management or ORM is the act of controlling or influencing the perception of a brand, company, or individual over the Internet. The right course will being with introducing you to ORM and help you explain its importance by providing you with negative conversations or poor ORM examples of brands. 

Here’s a list of topics that should be covered in your curriculum – 

• Understanding the concept of Online Reputation Management
• How to tackle negative reviews
• Crisis management

Related Course: Online ORM Course

15. Adsense, Blogging, and Affiliate Marketing 

Through this module, you will learn how to monetize a blog or a website through Adsense and affiliate marketing. Bloggers can use Adsense to monetize their blogs by displaying relevant ads on their websites. They are paid based on the number of ad impressions or clicks generated by their audience. 

Here’s a list of topics that should be covered in your curriculum – 

• Understanding tools like Google Adsense and Youtube Adsense
• How to generate revenue from websites and blogs
• Write creative content which is SEO-friendly. 

16. Google Tag Manager

Website owners can think of Google Tag Manager (GTM) as their virtual assistant. It makes it simple for them to install and update scripts and tracking codes on their website without having to tamper with the website’s real code. GTM also makes it easier to manage and update the tracking portion of GA4 without having to deal with difficult code modifications. 

Here’s a list of topics that should be covered in your curriculum – 

• Fundamentals of Google Tag Manager.
• How to set up GTM for seamless tag management.
• How to Integrate Google Analytics with GTM for enhanced tracking.
• Core components of GTM and their functions.
• How to track user interactions with videos, links, elements, and scrolls.
• How to implement eCommerce event tracking to measure sales and conversions.
• How to set up Facebook Pixel using GTM.

17. App Store Optimization 

App Store Optimization (AOS) involves making a mobile app more discoverable and visible in app marketplaces (such as the Google Play Store or Apple App Store). To improve an app’s rating and draw in more users, ASO entails optimizing a variety of components, including the title, description, keywords, and images.

Here’s a list of topics that should be covered in your curriculum –

• Art of ASO
• How to Optimize your app like a pro.
• How to increase app downloads.
• How to do both app store listing optimization and external promotion.
• How to use data and tools for app success.
• How to Boost with Paid Campaigns.
• iOS App Store Optimization
• How to tap into Facebook and Google for audience reach.
• How to collect positive user feedback for trust and visibility.

18. Google My Business (GMB)

Google My Business (GMB) helps businesses can handle their online presence on Google with the help of this web tool offered by Google. Businesses can manage customer reviews, create and update their business information, and engage directly with consumers through Google Maps and Search by using Google My Business.

Here’s a list of topics that should be covered in your curriculum –

• How to Set up a GMB Account.
• How to Optimize your GMB listing.
• How to turn GMB into a lead-generating machine for your business.
• How to collect organic reviews and build trust with local users.
• How to tackle negative reviews strategically and protect your reputation.
• How to manage multiple GMB listings with ease and efficiency.

19. Video Marketing

In this module, you will learn script writing and execution of a video and how to market it using the right platforms. You will learn how to strategize video content that will result in positive brand awareness for a company. You will understand which elements are important in videos going viral and thus be able to apply those key elements for yourself.

20. Marketing Automation, Influencer & Podcast Marketing

Influencer Marketing, Podcast Marketing, Marketing Automation, etc are a few digital marketing subjects that have recently been picked up and are highly effective but are not offered by all courses currently. Thus make sure to choose a course that includes these topics as they’re highly in demand today. 

Managerial Skills

1. Introduction to the Agency

Here, students learn agency skills and corporate communication skills. Before students step into an agency, a course must give them a basic understanding of the horizontal and vertical management flow of information and reporting.

2. The Art of Pitching

To excel in the digital marketing field, you should know how to communicate your ideas to your client. Hence, students must learn the art of pitching. The right course begins by teaching students how to analyze a client’s requirements and then how to curate an appropriate plan. Besides this, students should know how to effectively present their service plan with the necessary documentation.

3. Client-Oriented Strategy

As a digital marketer, you will create strategies for multiple clients, however, to make a strategy you should know your client first. Thus, courses train students to conduct complete market research for a client; studying a complete competitive analysis. Further, you will learn how to use their analysis to create a constructive service strategy.

4. Campaign Creation for Client

In this module, you will be trained to create a successful campaign for a client by mapping their requirements and then curating a specific plan to meet their objectives. You also learn how to execute your strategies through industry-level presentations and documentation.

5. Reporting and Evaluation

Here students are trained to conduct thorough research on market plans. Further, you will draw valuable inferences from your research and test multiple solutions for the problem at hand. 

6. Soft Skills 

Interview training, resume building, presentation skills, advanced Excel and PPT skills, etc are some of the vital soft skills required by a student. Just like digital skills, these are equally important so that when you apply to a company for a job, you are up-to-date with the expected scope of work. The right digital marketing course will equip you with soft skills as well.

Some Digital Marketing Books & Channels you can check out:

Here are some Digital Marketing books you can read to get started –

You can check out these Youtube channels –

 

Conclusion

We just saw the list of 20+ advanced digital marketing topics which must be a part of the digital marketing course syllabus you opt for. The right course will equip you with all of them in the right sense and hence, get you ready to enter the corporate world as an all-rounder digital marketer. 

If you have made up your mind about learning digital marketing and would like to learn all the skills mentioned above, check out IIDE’s Online Digital Marketing Course in India. 

It is a comprehensive course led by industry experts and professionals who teach what they have learned in the corporate world. The course follows an advanced teaching methodology which includes watching high-quality self-paced video courses followed by weekly live online sessions to solve queries and learn through fun activities.

Further, students can avail themselves of 1-on-1 mentoring sessions to solve further doubts and queries. Thus, this is the most personalized form of learning. This course also offers 100% placement assurance. 

PS: If you want to learn digital marketing at a postgraduate level, check out our 11-month MBA-Level Post Graduation in Digital Marketing. To know about this diploma in digital marketing course syllabus & fees, connect with us at admissions@iide.co. 

Through these digital marketing course modules, brands have created sound digital marketing strategies. By mastering all the mentioned digital marketing modules, you can reshape yourself into a successful digital marketer.

Lastly, if you have any doubts about the digital marketing course syllabus, feel free to leave a comment below.