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Open Educational Resource · Free to read

Digital Marketing Essentials Read the free OER textbook online

Targeting before tactics. Every module follows the customer one step further, builds a Skills Track you can use in any marketing career, and closes with an optional Client Track for students who want to do marketing for paying clients.

4 parts
8 modules
24 lessons
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Part I

Discover: Understanding the Modern Buyer

See how people really decide to buy now, then learn exactly who you are trying to reach before you spend a dollar or post a word.

  1. Module 1 · The Digital Marketing Mindset and the Modern Buyer Journey

    1.1 Marketing in a Digital World

    Skills Track · What is marketing really for, and why does digital change how it works?

  2. 1.2 How Buyers Decide: The Consumer Decision Process

    Skills Track · How do people move from a problem to a purchase, and what happens in their heads at each step?

  3. 1.3 Touchpoints and the Customer Journey

    Skills Track · Where does a buyer meet a brand along the way, and which moments actually move the decision?

  4. Module 2 · Customer Insight and Research

    2.1 Segmentation: Dividing a Market That Makes Sense

    Skills Track · How do I split a market into groups that behave differently enough to market to differently?

  5. 2.2 Targeting and Personas

    Skills Track · Which segment should I choose first, and how do I describe one real person in it?

  6. 2.3 Voice-of-Customer Research and Jobs to Be Done

    Skills Track · What does my customer need to believe, and how do I find out in their own words?

Part II

Design: Building the Strategy

Decide why anyone should choose you over everything else in their feed, then build the owned home base where customers find and trust you.

  1. Module 3 · Strategy, Positioning and the Offer

    3.1 Positioning and the Value Proposition

    Skills Track · Why should anyone choose this over everything else in their feed?

  2. 3.2 Designing an Offer People Want

    Skills Track · What exactly am I asking people to say yes to, and why would they?

  3. 3.3 Objectives, KPIs and the One-Page Strategy

    Skills Track · How do I turn ambition into goals I can measure?

  4. Module 4 · Owned Media: Website, Content and SEO

    4.1 Websites and Landing Pages That Convert

    Skills Track · What does a business need to own so customers can find and trust it?

  5. 4.2 Content Strategy: Pillar Content and Long-Term Assets

    Skills Track · What content keeps working for me long after I publish it?

  6. 4.3 Search: SEO Basics and AI-Powered Search

    Skills Track · How do people find answers now, and how do I become the answer?

Part III

Reach: Earning and Buying Attention

Earn attention on platforms you don't control, and learn when it is worth paying for it, using the targeting the platforms already give you.

  1. Module 5 · Social Media and Community

    5.1 Choosing Platforms and Reading the Algorithm

    Skills Track · Where does my audience actually spend attention, and how does each platform decide what they see?

  2. 5.2 Hooks, Formats and Short-Form Content

    Skills Track · How do I earn the next three seconds of someone's attention?

  3. 5.3 Community, Creators and Influencer Marketing

    Skills Track · How do I earn trust in places I don't control?

  4. Module 6 · Paid Media and Advertising

    6.1 How Ad Platforms Target: Search, Social and Audiences

    Skills Track · How do Google and Meta find the right person, and what do they need from me?

  5. 6.2 Writing and Testing Ads

    Skills Track · What makes someone stop, read and click, and how do I prove it?

  6. 6.3 Budgets, Bids and Customer Acquisition Cost

    Skills Track · When is it worth paying for attention, and how do I avoid wasting money?

Part IV

Grow: Turning Attention into Loyalty

Turn strangers into subscribers, subscribers into customers and customers into advocates, then prove what worked and tell that story.

  1. Module 7 · Email, Automation and the Customer Lifecycle

    7.1 Lead Magnets and List Building

    Skills Track · Why would a stranger trade me their email address?

  2. 7.2 Welcome Sequences and Marketing Automation

    Skills Track · What should happen in the first days after someone says yes?

  3. 7.3 Retention, Loyalty and Referral

    Skills Track · How do I turn a customer into someone who brings others?

  4. Module 8 · Analytics, Experimentation and the Integrated Campaign

    8.1 Web Analytics and the Metrics That Matter

    Skills Track · What is really happening on my site and in my campaigns?

  5. 8.2 A/B Testing and Conversion Rate Optimization

    Skills Track · How do I know a change worked, and wasn't just luck?

  6. 8.3 Attribution and the Integrated Campaign Story

    Skills Track · How do I prove what worked, and tell that story?