CIM Certificate in professional & digital marketing

Level 4 | Foundation Degree |7/8 SQA
Advance your marketing expertise
Develop practical skills and strategic confidence to manage campaigns and deliver results. Achieve a respected CIM qualification and elevate your marketing career.

Free DMI Track course up to £430 if you enrol by 12 September

and more ...

Accredited qualification

Digital Marketing Institute
Format
Live online
Start anytime
Live cohort start dates
October 8 2025,
January, April, June 2026
Duration
18 weeks
CIM Membership
Required (£65)
Course fee

£2,545 +VAT
Plus Institutional fees
Course Lead
Karen Barrie
*Team discounts and payment options available

Get a recognised qualification

Join a 300,000 strong digital marketing community!

Over 75,000

Learners

5.0 (62 reviews) 

Why learn with nesma ?

We offer personalised learning that adapts to your changing situation at work and home, and more tutor hours to make sure you achieve your learning goals faster! 

Plus using our exclusive SkillsView™ and dedicated advisors, we work with you to help you build learning pathways to help you get that promotion! 

To learn more about the nesma Way!  ...watch our video!


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Unique offers for this programme: 

We provide a unique range of offers to support your learning experience when completing this qualification:
  • Flexible dual award options to enhance your qualification portfolio
  • Free access to the Skills Lounge for revision sessions and networking.
  • Earn nesma credits for smoother progression to other programmes.
  • Dedicated expert support available throughout your learning journey.

Course description

Advance your marketing career with the CIM Level 4 Certificate. Develop practical skills in campaign planning, digital and traditional marketing channels, and data-driven decision-making.

With nesma, you’ll benefit from expert tutor support, interactive learning, and a clear pathway to a respected professional marketing qualification.

Ideal for marketers ready to take on more responsibility and confidently manage marketing activities that deliver real business results.
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What you'll learn

No matter which modules you choose, you’ll gain core skills to plan, execute, and evaluate effective marketing campaigns that deliver business impact.
Plan and manage integrated marketing campaigns across digital and traditional channels
Analyse marketing data to inform decisions and optimise performance
Develop customer-focused strategies that align with business objectives
Measure and evaluate campaign effectiveness using relevant tools and techniques

Your course includes

  • 18 weeks of expert-led live online classroom sessions
  • Interactive quizzes and practical assignments
  • Revision sessions with tutors 
  • Live online learning with lifetime access 
  • Qualification Certificate

Fast-track your marketing skills, your way!

This course is ideal for marketing assistants, coordinators, executives, and professionals looking to specialise or step up.

Choose the modules that best fit your career ambitions and develop skills to understand customers, plan campaigns, select the right channels, and apply marketing principles in real-world scenarios.

By the end, you’ll confidently contribute to marketing teams or manage your own campaigns, earning a globally recognised qualification.

With nesma, you’ll qualify faster and get expert support every step of the way—better than any other study centre.

Modules

4 Modules are required to gain this qualification:
  • Marketing impact  and
  • Planning integrated campaigns and/or
  • Responsible marketing or
  • Content marketing or
  • Search engine optimisation (SEO) or
  • MarTech or
  • Social media marketing

All of our learners gain access to the nesma learning hub via your own homepage.

From here you can access all of your courses, materials and activities, see your progress and work with other students. 

The platform provides broader benefits including skills passport, activity badges, and access to skills intelligence, offers and news!

Aims

You’ll develop the practical knowledge, core marketing skills, and strategic awareness to excel in a professional marketing role.

In short, you’ll become a CERTIFIED marketing professional, equipped to plan campaigns, engage audiences, and make a measurable impact in any organisation.

Certification exam 

To complete the course, you’ll take four online assessments—one for each module. Each assessment includes 45 questions to complete in 90 minutes, with a mix of multiple choice, scenario-based, and single best answer formats. Achieve 60% or higher in each assessment to pass and earn a CIM Award for each module—building towards your full Certificate.


We’ll set you up with a sample test and provide a focused revision session shaped around the topics you and your cohort want to revisit. By the end, you’ll be confident, exam-ready, and on your way to becoming a certified marketing professional.

CIM Membership  & Assessment Fees

We handle all the admin – you focus on learning
We’ll arrange your CIM membership (£65) , register you for assessments (£135 per module), and help you prepare with practice tests and revision sessions.
Plus, as a CIM member, you gain exclusive access to industry insights, practical toolkits, expert webinars, networking events, and career support resources—all designed to accelerate your marketing career and keep you connected to a global community of marketing professionals.
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Who is it for?

This course is designed for aspiring marketers and professionals ready to take the next step in their career with a solid grounding in marketing and digital strategy.

It’s ideal for marketing executives, team leaders, career changers, and small business owners looking to gain a recognised qualification and the skills to plan and manage effective campaigns.  If your not sure talk to us  

Entry requirements

To study the Certificate in Professional and Digital Marketing, you’ll need to have a minimum of one year’s experience in the industry or a relevant level 3 qualification.

If English is not your first language, you will need to demonstrate you’ve achieved an equivalent qualification.  If your not sure talk to us  

Your course tutors

Jo Dolezal

Marketing Strategy & Digital Communications Expert

Jo is a senior tutor for nesma and an experienced marketing consultant with expertise in strategy, digital marketing, and communications. As founder of Dolezal Consulting and a Chartered Marketer, she brings over 20 years of hands-on experience helping businesses create and deliver effective marketing strategies. Her teaching blends practical insights with academic rigour, empowering learners to apply their knowledge to real-world challenges. Jo plays a key role in guiding students through CIM qualifications, making complex marketing concepts clear and actionable.

David Colley

 Branding & marketing communications specialist 

David is a seasoned branding and marketing communications expert with a PhD and extensive academic experience. Formerly a Senior Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, he combines deep theory with practical insight to help CIM students master branding strategy and deliver impactful campaigns. His background in design authenticity and community engagement enriches his teaching, making complex concepts relevant and actionable for marketers.

Scott Goodacre

 Digital marketing & CIM specialist

Scott is a qualified teacher and digital marketer with experience since 2006. He delivers CIM digital modules and helps businesses track and improve their online marketing. He runs his own consultancy and writes a sports marketing blog, The Online Rule. He enjoys solving marketing challenges across diverse sectors.

Steven Parker

Digital marketing strategist

Steven is an experienced marketing consultant and CIM tutor specialising in strategy, digital marketing, and business growth. With over 20 years in senior marketing roles, he supports learners in developing practical skills to drive real-world results. Steven runs his own consultancy, helping organisations improve marketing performance and digital presence. He brings a wealth of knowledge across sectors and is passionate about helping businesses and individuals unlock their full potential.

Karen Barrie

Strategic marketer & brand specialist

Karen is a highly experienced strategic marketer and CIM tutor with expertise in brand development, marketing planning, and customer engagement. She delivers CIM qualifications with a focus on applying strategic thinking to real business challenges. With a strong background in senior marketing roles, Karen helps organisations shape their brand and marketing strategies for measurable success. She enjoys inspiring learners to think creatively and strategically about marketing’s role in driving growth.

Mark Davis

Digital Marketing Specialist & CIM Tutor 

Mark is a digital marketing specialist and experienced CIM tutor with a strong background in data-driven strategy, campaign planning, and digital transformation. He delivers CIM qualifications with a focus on turning insights into action and helping marketers build confidence in digital tools and platforms.

With a career spanning both agency and client-side roles, Mark combines strategic thinking with hands-on expertise across SEO, PPC, analytics, and content marketing. He’s passionate about helping learners stay ahead in a fast-changing digital landscape and brings real-world experience to every session.

Deb Sharratt

PR & Communications specialist

Deb is a Chartered PR Practitioner and award-winning communications consultant with over a decade of independent experience. She delivers CIPR qualifications and bespoke Influencer Marketing training with nesma, alongside teaching at university level.

With a strong track record across the public, private and third sectors, Deb brings strategic insight and hands-on expertise to every project. She is an active CIPR Council Member and co-chairs the Influencer Relations panel. A published blogger and passionate communicator, Deb enjoys helping professionals grow their confidence, skills and impact through creative, practical learning.

Learning outcomes


Course options

Pathway to achieving your qualification

Earn 50 credits by completing four modules. With nesma, start anytime and choose the order that suits you—flexibility to shape your own learning journey.

Marketing impact (mandatory module)

Learn how marketing drives business success and gain the skills to create, manage, and measure impactful marketing plans.
Learning outcomes
  • Understand the purpose of marketing and how it supports overall organisational goals, such as brand building and revenue growth.
  • Analyse market environment factors and trends, using tools like marketing audits and competitor analysis to inform smart decisions.
  • Evaluate customer and consumer buying behaviours, for example, distinguishing between impulse and considered purchases to tailor strategies.
  • Develop comprehensive marketing plans, including selecting strategies, channels like social media or email, and crafting content that meets campaign objectives.
  • Coordinate marketing implementation and use key performance indicators (KPIs) such as conversion rates and ROI to track and improve results
Find out more about what you’ll learn in Marketing impact →

Responsible marketing and/or

Explore how marketing can positively influence society and the environment while driving commercial success. Learn to embed ethical, sustainable, and inclusive practices into every stage of your marketing.
Learning outcomes
  • Analyse how external factors like climate change, stakeholder expectations, and internal culture shape ethical and sustainable marketing decisions.
  • Understand marketing’s role in advancing an organisation’s social, ethical, and environmental agendas, from product development to communications.
  • Learn to adapt the marketing mix to meet both societal needs (e.g. inclusivity, sustainability) and business goals, using practical tools to measure success.
Find out more about what you’ll learn in Responsible marketing →

Planning integrated campaigns or

Learn how to create customer-focused campaigns that combine digital innovation with traditional marketing. Understand how audiences interact with content and channels across the customer lifecycle, and gain the skills to design, deliver, and measure integrated campaigns that make an impact.
Learning outcomes
  • Explore how organisations engage with customers and assess innovations in digital marketing techniques shaping today’s campaigns.
  • Understand customer behaviour with digital and offline media and the crucial role of content at every stage of their journey.
  • Design integrated communications campaign plans, selecting the right channels, messages, and metrics to engage audiences and measure success.
Find out more about how this module develops your campaign planning skills →

Content marketing or

Discover how to plan, create, and manage content that drives customer engagement and supports business goals. Learn to select the right formats for different stages of the customer journey and explore how emerging technologies are transforming content creation. Finish by developing a content plan aligned with organisational objectives.
Learning outcomes
  • Understand the scope of content marketing and how it supports digital marketing strategies.
  • Explore different content formats and their role in meeting audience needs at key touchpoints.
  • Learn to create a content marketing plan, using new technologies and measurement techniques to ensure success.
Find out more about how this module develops your content marketing skills →

Social media marketing or

Learn how to create and deliver effective social media strategies that engage audiences and support wider business goals. Explore the role of different platforms, develop impactful content, and gain the skills to plan, implement, and measure successful social media campaigns.
Learning outcomes
  • Understand the scope of social media marketing and its influence on consumer behaviour.
  • Explore how different platforms and content types can support organisational objectives.
  • Develop a practical social media plan with clear goals, tactics, and metrics to track success.
Find out more about how this module develops your social media marketing i skills →

MarTech or

Discover how to harness MarTech—including AI, AdTech, and CRM tools—to power smarter campaigns, streamline customer journeys, and deliver measurable results. Learn to analyse web analytics data and make informed recommendations to drive future marketing success.
Learning outcomes
  • Understand the scope of MarTech and how AI is transforming marketing activities across organisations.
  • Explore applications of MarTech tools like AdTech, social media management, and CRM systems to enhance customer relationships.
  • Learn to interpret web analytics data and use insights to shape more effective marketing strategies.
Find out more about how this module develops your MarTecht skills →

Search engine optimisation (SEO)

Master the essentials of search engine marketing to boost visibility and drive results. Learn SEO success factors, from keyword research to on-page and off-page techniques, and develop the skills to create and measure effective paid search campaigns..
Learning outcomes
  • Understand the scope of search engine marketing and the importance of keyword research in building a strong foundation.
  • Explore key SEO success factors, including content optimisation and off-page strategies to improve rankings.
  • Learn to design, launch, and measure paid search campaigns to achieve specific marketing objectives.
Find out more about how this module develops your SEO skills →

What our learners say

Helped secure a promotion!

This qualification advanced my marketing knowledge and allowed me to put these skills into practice

Step up your game!

Your commitment, passion, and delivery were really amazing. We had a great start and the speed as well as intensity with which we rolled out globally over 3 years was unbelievable.

Concise and practical content

I learned a lot and now feel ready to implement these techniques into my organisation. 

Very Professional!

It was an excellent training program, and I am very pleased. The instructors were very knowledgeable, and the content was relevant to our industry.

Simple to understand!

Armed with the knowledge and techniques obtained from your school, I feel more equipped to navigate the challenging social aspects of the real world and become a professional in my field of choice.

Excellent Training Program!

The presenters were amazing. They were engaging, timely, and knowledgeable

5% off for nesma students and alumni!

If you have registered or attended a course
with us before, copy/ use the promo code
on the right when you enrol*
*We will of course verify you have previously learnt with us
Use promo code:

nesmaAlumni2025

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