Topics in Digital Marketing

Introduction

Please note that this is a preliminary course description. The final version will be published in June 2026.

The proliferation of digital technologies and the growth of data availability have fundamentally reshaped how organizations engage with consumers. Digital marketing has evolved from a supplementary function to a core component of marketing strategy, enabling organizations to reach broader audiences and focus on more data-driven insights to campaign management.

This evolving landscape presents both opportunities and challenges. While marketers gain access to new tools for personalization, targeting, and engagement, they must also navigate fragmented consumer journeys, heightened privacy concerns, and the complexities of integrating digital tools into coherent strategic frameworks. Strategic decisions concerning channel selection, campaign evaluation, and message personalization are increasingly supported by digital marketing metrics such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and multi-touch attribution models. Thus, while many decisions are based on data-driven strategies to personalize and optimize customer touchpoints, and allocate budgets, marketers need to understand the pitfalls and implications of the various marketing metrics.

This course addresses these dynamics by focusing on key strategic decisions in digital marketing and how to utilize academic insights to support these decisions. It draws on current academic research to examine the digital customer journey, the role of performance metrics, and the integration of emerging technologies—such as influencer marketing, artificial intelligence and big data—into digital marketing practices. Furthermore, the course offers critical reflections on the societal and ethical implications of digital marketing, including issues such as consumer privacy, algorithmic bias, and the responsible use of data.

Course content

Digital marketing is a fast-developing field in marketing. This course will cover some selected topics in digital marketing with some deep dives into more specialized and state-of-the art fields of digital marketing research. It is not intended to give a comprehensive introduction to all digital marketing activities although the first two lectures will give some brief overview. The following topics are exemplary and can be subject to change.

1. Digital customer journey
   • Overview of important touchpoints and customer journey models
2. Current trends that are shaping/changing digital customer behaviour
   • e.g., the role of AI in digital marketing
   • Algorithmic bias, filter bubble, etc.
3. Digital marketing metrics and performance measurement
   • Important metrics to evaluate digital marketing
   • Attribution, AB field testing, selection bias, etc.
4. Digital advertising
   • Overview of forms of digital advertising
   • Targeting and personalization
5. Social media marketing
   • Strategic roles of social media
   • Social media engagement and outcomes
   • Social listening
   • Influencer marketing
6. Ethical reflections around digital marketing
   • Data privacy