Professional Certificate in Marketing

The Professional Certificate in Marketing gives you the practical skills and knowledge to devise and execute marketing activities and gain marketing credibility. It also aims to provide a practical insight into the principles and application of marketing at a tactical level.

“The Chartered Institute of Marketing has been one of the most astonishing experience for me. It is the most powerful marketing weapon which made me change the way I think, overcome the challenges in the workplace and come with new ideas. It opened my mind and made me think outside of the box. This further assured me that I am in the right place to pursue my goals and career development “Hana Hoxha, Kosovo

Learning outcomes

Develop a rigorous approach to the acquisition of a broad knowledge base
Employ a range of specialised skills, determining solutions to a variety of unpredictable problems
Generate a range of responses to a limited number of unusual problems, with the solution being innovative too well defined
Exercise appropriate judgement in planning, selecting and presenting information, methods or resources
Evaluate information, using it and plan to develop investigative strategies.

Syllabus & reading lists

Our syllabus & reading lists will provide you with a complete overview of the content and structure of the Professional Certificate, together with a list of core and supplementary reading texts.

The syllabus & reading lists contain a summary of each unit’s characteristics, overarching learning outcomes and the mark weighting that has been allocated to each – a good indicator of how much time to spent on each topic.

Reading list Syllabus guides

What does it cost?

To take this qualification you need to be a Studying Member. Cost: £140 per year. (£100 if you live outside of the UK and Western Europe).

Assessment fees for the four units are:

Marketing Essentials (Exam) £70
Assessing the Marketing Environment (Exam) £70
Marketing Information and Research (Assignment) £70
Stakeholder Marketing (Assignment) £70

Find enough time to study

Take advice from your tutor about how much time you should give to your studies, for attending college (if your mode of learning requires this) and for reading and personal study. It is hard to give precise guidelines because everyone is different, and the amount of personal study required, increases as you progress up the levels of the qualification, but the total amount of study time required should be considered. We recommend:

Qualification	Study hours (Guided learning/contact hours plus personal study) per unit	Total for qualification
CIM Level 4 Professional Certificate in Marketing	40 GLH + 60 = 100hrs (ratio:1:1.5)	100×4 = 400 hrs

Exams

Marketing Essentials	3 hour exam Part A: 10 short questions (4 marks each) Part B: 3 questions (20 marks each based on a case study)
Assessing the Marketing Environment	3 hour exam based on a case study that is released to students electronically on the Friday of the fifth week before the exam. Students analyse the case and bring in with them 4 pages of basic analysis (SWOT and PESTEL) Part A: 5 short questions (8 marks each) Part B: 3 questions (20 marks each based on a case study

Hints and tips on taking exams

Assignments

Date	Units assessed by assignment	Nature of tasks
Please contact your Study Centre	Marketing Information and Research	Three tasks, all compulsory but task two usually has a choice. Word count is 2,500 words plus a set number of pages for the proposal and questionnaire (if part of brief)
Please contact your Study Centre	Stakeholder Marketing	Two options from which students have to choose one. Total word count: 4,000 words plus audit of up to 4 sides of A4

Hints and tips on writing assignments

Senior Examiners’ Reports

The Senior Examiners’ reports are available free of charge, you will find these very helpful in your preparation for your assessments. It is good to familiarise yourself with the format of questions, how subjects might be tested and Senior Examiners’ comments on how well (or not) questions were answered; all of this information is useful in preparing yourself for what to expect when completing your assignments or siting exams. The Senior Examiners’ reports also flag up emerging trends and possible topics in their “future themes’, so it is worth looking at these as well.

Marketing Essentials
March 2010 June/September 2010 December 2010 March 2011 June/September 2011 December 2011 March 2012 June 2012 September 2012 December 2012

Assessing the Marketing Environment
March 2010 June/September 2010 December 2010 March 2011 June/September 2011 December 2011 March 2012 June 2012 September 2012 December 2012

Marketing Information and Research
December 2009/March 2010 June/September 2010 December 2010/March 2011 June/September 2011 December 2011 March 2012 June 2012 September 2012 December 2012

Stakeholder Marketing
December 2009/March 2010 June/September 2010 December 2010/March 2011 June/September 2011 December 2011 December2011/March2012 June 2012 September 2012 December 2012