Digital Marketing Strategy Syllabus

Digital Marketing Strategy is an online course that equips professionals with the tools, mindset, and trends to make decisions about digital
marketing strategy and tactics, including how to position a product or service for success, acquire and engage customers, and measure both
performance of near-term campaigns and longer-term customer value.

Leaders Interviewed

• Tarang Amin, CEO, e.l.f. Cosmetics • Ann Lewnes, CMO, Adobe

• Jill Avery, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Harvard Business School
• Julie Bornstein, Co-Founder and CEO, THE YES
• Darren Brown, Head of Marketing, OOFOS
• Paul Brown, Co-Founder, OOFOS
• Gayitri Budhraja, Chief Brand Officer, e.l.f. Cosmetics
• Ekta Chopra, Chief Digital Officer, e.l.f Cosmetics
• Robin Cohen, Executive Vice President of Integrated Media Investment
and Media Planning Practices, Rain the Growth Agency
• Suze Dowling, CBO and Co-Founder, Pattern Brands
• Asmita Dubey, Chief Digital and Marketing Officer, L’Oreal
• Steve Gallo, President, OOFOS
• David Huang, Founder, Perfect Diary
• Ben Kirshner, Founder and Former CEO, Tinuiti
• Kate Laliberte, Head of E-Commerce, OOFOS
• Erica Ligenza, Blogger, Podcaster, and Social Media Influencer
• Nicholas Ling, CEO and Co-Founder, Pattern Brands
• Maggie Malek, CEO, MMI Agency
• Simeen Mohsen, Senior Managing Director, HBS Online
• Shantanu Narayen, CEO, Adobe
• Lou Panaccione, CEO and Co-Founder, OOFOS
• Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer,
Mastercard
• Bianca Reed, Vice President of Client Service and Inclusion Marketing,
Rain the Growth Agency
• Maninder Sawhney, Vice President of Digital Media, Digital Go-to-Market,
and Sales, Adobe
• Emmet Shine, Co-Founder, Pattern Brands
• Rodrigo Stockebrand, Vice President of SEO, Univision
• Robyn Wysk, Director of Media Planning, Rain the Growth Agency

Modules Takeaways Key Exercises

• Explain how digital technologies and innovations • Evaluate and compare innovations and challenges faced by
introduced by direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands have both direct-to-consumer (DTC) and legacy companies across
reshaped marketing practices. various stages of the value chain.
Module 1

• Describe the risks and challenges of certain direct-to- • Assess legacy companies’ responses to DTC brands.
Marketing in the
consumer marketing innovations; explain why certain
Digital Era
traditional marketing practices should stay in place.
• Discuss how incumbent brands should reshape their
marketing practices to compete with new entrants.

• Understand the key strategic considerations for • Advise a company on the fundamentals of its marketing plan.
creating a digital marketing plan.
• Consider which stage of the marketing funnel to prioritize
• Set relevant, obtainable, and measurable marketing given key business objectives.
goals.
Module 2

Crafting a Digital
• Determine and understand target audiences.
Marketing Plan
• Craft a compelling value proposition.
• Understand the role metrics play within a marketing
plan.

For more information, visit online.hbs.edu or email us at hbsonline@hbs.edu

© Copyright 2023. President and Fellows of Harvard College. All Rights Reserved.
Digital Marketing Strategy Syllabus

Modules Takeaways Key Exercises

• Describe and distinguish between the three customer • Quiz yourself on the most important paid media channels.
acquisition methods: paid, owned, and earned media.
• Explore the optimal use of different paid media channels.
• List the most important paid media channels and
• Determine which metrics a company should use to measure
explain the situations in which they can be more
Module 3

Acquiring useful and less useful.

success of its campaigns, and practice calculating their
Customers, Part 1: effectiveness.
Paid Media • Explain the purposes to which paid media is best
• Discuss balancing brand-building and performance
suited.
marketing.
• Understand the strategic considerations behind the
creative choices in advertising.

• Understand owned media and explain how firms use • Explore the unique advantages owned media presents to
them to acquire customers. marketers.
• Identify situations for which owned media is best • Test your knowledge of the fundamentals of content strategy.
suited.
• Work through the key actions for effectively utilizing earned
• Identify earned media’s unique benefits and its media.
Acquiring
Module 4

synergy with paid and owned media.

Customers, Part • Draw on your own experience to discuss the nature of online
II: Owned and • Understand how a company can strategically relationships between influencers, consumers, and brands.
Earned Media incorporate earned media into its marketing plan
• Understand the process of working with influencers,
and how to manage and measure their impact.
• Understand the synergy between paid, owned, and
earned media.

• Explain why it is critical that companies not only • Investigate reasons for customer churn, and discuss how
acquire new customers, but also retain existing ones. companies can increase retention.
Module 5

• Understand and describe different digital media • Unpack strategies for increasing engagement, including
Engaging strategies that can help companies engage personalization, story-making, and building and managing
Customers consumers to reduce churn. brand communities.
• Apply these strategies in different contexts. • Discuss your own experience with brand engagement.

• Understand and describe how to measure the success
of digital marketing campaigns.
• Describe the limitations of return on investment as a
metric and explain how attribution can help measure
success more accurately.
• Describe additional factors that organizations must
Module 6
• Evaluate a digital marketing budget to account for customer
acquisition cost, return on investment, attribution, and other
factors.
• Calculate and identify means of maximizing the Lifetime
Value (LTV) of various customer types.
• Practice budget allocation across the customer journey using

Allocating Budget account for when creating a digital marketing budget. Adobe’s data driven operating model (DDOM) simulation.
and Measuring
Success • Understand customer lifetime value and how it • Offer your perspective on the future of digital marketing.
impacts marketing decisions.
• Differentiate between metrics that capture short-term
vs. long-term campaign effectiveness and explain the
key considerations in calculating each of them.
• Describe major trends that may impact the digital
marketing landscape in the years ahead.

Learning requirements: In order to earn a Certificate of Completion, participants must thoughtfully complete Modules 1-6 and exercises
therein by stated deadlines.

For more information, visit online.hbs.edu or email us at hbsonline@hbs.edu

© Copyright 2023. President and Fellows of Harvard College. All Rights Reserved.