Certificate Course in Marketing Management

Duration 10 days 20 modules · 65 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Marketing Managers, Product Managers and others
Fee from USD 2,200 KSh 190,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-M-030

Before you join: Participants should have basic workplace experience in marketing, sales, product management, communications, customer service or commercial planning.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Marketing teams are expected to produce measurable demand, protect margin, strengthen customer relationships and explain how spend supports business priorities. This requires more than promotional activity. Managers must make informed choices about which customers to serve, how to position an offer, what price to set, which channels to use and how to measure commercial results. Weak customer insight, unclear value propositions and disconnected campaign activity commonly result in wasted budget and inconsistent market performance.

This certificate course develops practical marketing management capability across market analysis, segmentation, targeting, positioning, customer value, product and service decisions, pricing, channels, communications, digital marketing, sales alignment and performance measurement. Participants use established frameworks including STP, PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces, the marketing mix, customer journey mapping, BCG Growth-Share Matrix and marketing return on investment analysis. They learn to turn market evidence into a defensible marketing strategy and an actionable plan.

Instructor-led delivery combines focused briefings, sector cases, group decision-making, campaign simulations and individual application planning. Participants progressively build sections of a marketing plan using a selected product, service, programme or business unit from their own work context. The final capstone brings these sections together into a reviewed marketing plan, including target segments, positioning, objectives, channel choices, budget, implementation actions and measurement criteria. The programme runs for 10 days, either in a classroom in more than 50 cities or live online, and awards a certificate of completion.

The course suits marketing professionals, commercial managers, product leaders and business managers who need a firm working command of marketing management and a plan they can apply immediately.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess market attractiveness using PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces and competitor analysis
  • Define priority customer segments using segmentation criteria, personas and buying behaviour evidence
  • Create positioning statements and value propositions that distinguish an offer from competitors
  • Design product, service, pricing, channel and communication decisions using the marketing mix
  • Develop measurable marketing objectives, customer journey actions and integrated campaign plans
  • Construct marketing budgets and evaluate performance using funnel metrics and marketing ROI
  • Align marketing activity with sales processes, account priorities and customer retention goals
  • Present a complete marketing plan with implementation milestones, risks and governance measures

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Build a credible marketing plan for a current product, service or business unit
  • Make clearer targeting and positioning recommendations to senior commercial stakeholders
  • Evaluate campaign proposals using objectives, funnel metrics, budgets and return measures
  • Improve collaboration with sales, product, finance and customer service teams
  • Gain a certificate of completion evidencing structured marketing management capability

For your organisation

  • Improved allocation of marketing budget toward priority segments and channels
  • Clearer value propositions that support conversion, retention and margin protection
  • More consistent marketing plans across products, territories and customer groups
  • Stronger sales and marketing coordination around lead quality and pipeline outcomes
  • Better reporting of campaign performance, customer response and marketing return

Course modules

20 modules over 10 days

Participants can explain marketing's contribution to revenue, margin, retention and customer value.

  • Marketing's role in demand creation, retention, margin and customer value
  • Customer orientation compared with product, production and sales orientations
  • Marketing management decisions from market choice through performance review
  • Value creation, value communication and value delivery within marketing strategy
  • Commercial objectives translated into marketing objectives and measurable priorities
  • Ethical marketing decisions, customer trust and responsible claims management

Participants can assess market conditions and identify external factors affecting marketing choices.

  • PESTLE analysis of political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental forces
  • Porter's Five Forces assessment of industry profitability and competitive pressure
  • Market size, growth rate, penetration and demand trend calculations
  • Category boundaries, substitutes and adjacent markets shaping customer choice
  • Competitor mapping by target customer, offer, price, channel and message
  • Assumptions register distinguishing known facts, estimates and market uncertainties

Participants can define research needs and interpret evidence for marketing decisions.

  • Research brief specifying decision, audience, evidence need, method and timing
  • Primary research methods: interviews, surveys, observation, focus groups and experiments
  • Secondary data sources including industry reports, CRM records and web analytics
  • Sampling basics: population, sample frame, sample size and response bias
  • Questionnaire design using neutral wording, logical sequence and answer scales
  • Insight statements separating customer evidence, interpretation and commercial implication

Participants can define viable segments and select target markets using explicit criteria.

  • Segmentation bases: geographic, demographic, psychographic, behavioural and needs-based variables
  • Business market segmentation by industry, size, application and purchasing approach
  • Segment profiles built from needs, behaviours, value and accessibility evidence
  • Evaluating segments for size, growth, profitability, fit and competitive intensity
  • Targeting approaches: undifferentiated, differentiated, concentrated and micro-marketing strategies
  • Priority segment scorecard supporting transparent target market selection

Participants can analyse how individuals and organisations make purchase decisions.

  • Consumer decision process: need recognition, search, evaluation, purchase and post-purchase behaviour
  • Buying roles: initiator, user, influencer, decider, buyer and gatekeeper
  • Business buying centres, procurement stages and evaluation criteria
  • Functional, emotional and social drivers influencing customer choice
  • Perceived risk, switching costs and trust in purchase decisions
  • Jobs to Be Done framing for unmet customer needs

Participants can develop differentiated positioning and evidence-based customer value propositions.

  • Positioning statement structure: target, frame, benefit, reason to believe
  • Points of parity and points of difference against priority competitors
  • Perceptual maps using customer-relevant attributes and competitor perceptions
  • Value proposition canvas matching customer jobs, pains and gains
  • Message hierarchy linking functional benefits, emotional benefits and proof
  • Claim substantiation using product evidence, customer evidence and legal review

Participants can make brand decisions that support recognition, trust and portfolio clarity.

  • Brand identity elements: name, symbols, tone, associations and visual cues
  • Keller's Customer-Based Brand Equity model applied to brand decisions
  • Brand promise translated into customer experience and employee behaviours
  • Branded house, house of brands and endorsed brand architecture
  • Brand extension assessment using fit, credibility, cannibalisation and customer expectations
  • Brand consistency controls across communications, channels and partner touchpoints

Participants can manage product and service portfolios through lifecycle and investment decisions.

  • Product levels: core benefit, actual product and augmented product
  • Service characteristics: intangibility, inseparability, variability and perishability
  • Product lifecycle decisions for introduction, growth, maturity and decline
  • BCG Growth-Share Matrix for portfolio investment and resource allocation
  • New product development stages from idea screening through commercialisation
  • Service blueprinting across customer actions, frontstage processes and backstage support

Participants can select pricing approaches that reflect value, costs, demand and competition.

  • Pricing objectives: survival, profit, market share, quality leadership and penetration
  • Cost-plus pricing using fixed costs, variable costs and target margins
  • Value-based pricing linked to customer outcomes and willingness to pay
  • Competitor-based pricing using price corridors and relative value assessment
  • Price elasticity interpreted through demand response and revenue implications
  • Discount, rebate, bundle and payment-term controls protecting realised price

Participants can select channel structures and manage trade-offs between reach, cost and control.

  • Direct, indirect, digital and hybrid routes to market
  • Channel functions: information, promotion, negotiation, delivery, financing and risk bearing
  • Channel selection criteria covering coverage, customer preference, cost and control
  • Omnichannel customer journeys across physical, digital and assisted interactions
  • Channel conflict causes, partner incentives and territory management responses
  • Distribution service levels: availability, delivery speed, assortment and convenience

Participants can design coordinated communications that support specific audience and commercial objectives.

  • Communication objectives using awareness, consideration, conversion and retention measures
  • AIDA model applied to message sequencing and creative choices
  • Paid, owned, earned and shared media roles within campaign planning
  • Message consistency across advertising, public relations, events and sales materials
  • Media selection using audience reach, frequency, cost and contextual fit
  • Creative brief specifying audience insight, proposition, support and desired response

Participants can plan digital activity using audience intent, content roles and conversion paths.

  • Digital channel roles: search, social, email, display, website and mobile
  • Search intent mapped to informational, comparative, transactional and retention content
  • Content funnel planning for awareness, consideration, conversion and loyalty
  • Email campaign design using audience lists, triggers, offers and calls-to-action
  • Landing page fundamentals: relevance, value, proof, friction and conversion
  • Digital governance covering consent, privacy, accessibility and brand safety

Participants can map customer journeys and prioritise experience improvements affecting loyalty.

  • Customer journey maps from trigger through purchase, use and advocacy
  • Touchpoint inventory covering people, processes, channels, content and physical evidence
  • Moments of truth identified through customer effort and emotional impact
  • Customer experience metrics: NPS, CSAT, CES, churn and retention rate
  • Root-cause analysis of complaints using five whys and process evidence
  • Closed-loop feedback processes connecting insight, ownership, action and follow-up

Participants can align marketing activity with sales priorities, lead handling and account growth.

  • Shared revenue objectives linking marketing activity, pipeline and sales conversion
  • Lead definitions: inquiry, marketing-qualified lead, sales-qualified lead and opportunity
  • Lead scoring criteria based on fit, intent, engagement and readiness
  • Service-level agreements for lead handover, follow-up timing and feedback
  • Account-based marketing for priority organisations and buying groups
  • Sales enablement materials: battlecards, case evidence, objection responses and presentations

Participants can build measurement frameworks that connect marketing activity to commercial results.

  • Marketing funnel metrics: reach, engagement, leads, conversion and retention
  • Dashboard design linking objectives, key performance indicators, targets and owners
  • Campaign attribution models: first-touch, last-touch, linear and position-based approaches
  • Customer acquisition cost, customer lifetime value and payback period calculations
  • Marketing return on investment using incremental contribution and campaign costs
  • Test-and-learn plans using hypotheses, controls, sample periods and decision rules

Participants can prepare marketing budgets and prioritise investment against expected returns.

  • Objective-and-task budgeting built from required activities and unit costs
  • Percentage-of-sales and competitive-parity methods compared with objective-and-task budgeting
  • Budget phasing by campaign timing, seasonality, procurement and payment terms
  • Scenario planning for base, upside and downside demand assumptions
  • Resource allocation using expected impact, confidence, effort and strategic fit
  • Budget governance covering approvals, commitments, actuals and variance explanations

Participants can structure a marketing plan from diagnosis through implementation and control.

  • Marketing plan structure: situation, objectives, strategy, tactics, budget and control
  • SMART marketing objectives linked to revenue, volume, retention or adoption
  • SWOT analysis converted into priorities, choices and risk responses
  • Strategy-on-a-page summarising segments, position, objectives and marketing mix
  • Implementation roadmap with milestones, dependencies, owners and decision gates
  • Risk register covering market, execution, compliance, reputation and budget risks

Participants can apply governance controls to marketing decisions, claims and customer data use.

  • Marketing approval workflows for claims, pricing, promotions and customer communications
  • Consumer protection principles affecting transparency, fairness and misleading claims
  • Data protection principles: purpose limitation, consent, minimisation and retention
  • Accessibility checks for marketing content, digital journeys and customer communications
  • Influencer and partner controls covering disclosure, contracts and brand conduct
  • Issue escalation protocols for complaints, reputational risk and regulatory concerns

Participants can adapt marketing strategy to tender-led, regulated and business-to-business markets.

  • Tender market analysis linking buyer needs, evaluation criteria and stakeholder influence
  • Public sector marketing within procurement rules, public value and accountability
  • Regulated market communications balancing customer clarity, evidence and approval controls
  • Long sales cycles managed through account plans, nurture paths and stakeholder mapping
  • Market entry screening using demand, barriers, partners, risks and route-to-market options
  • Scenario responses for competitor moves, price pressure and demand disruption

Participants can build, review and present a complete marketing plan for a selected offer or business unit.

  • Market diagnosis combining external analysis, customer insight and competitor evidence
  • Priority segments selected through attractiveness, fit and accessibility criteria
  • Positioning and value proposition supported by customer needs and proof
  • Marketing mix decisions covering offer, price, channels and communications
  • Implementation plan integrating budget, milestones, responsibilities, risks and controls
  • Executive presentation defending assumptions, choices, measures and expected commercial outcomes

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Marketing plan template
  2. Segment attractiveness scorecard
  3. Positioning statement and value proposition model
  4. Customer journey mapping template
  5. Integrated campaign planning checklist
  6. Marketing performance dashboard template

Who should attend

  • Marketing Managers — need to plan, coordinate and measure multi-channel marketing activity
  • Product Managers — need stronger market insight, positioning and go-to-market decisions
  • Sales Managers — need closer alignment between demand generation and sales conversion
  • Business Development Managers — need structured methods for targeting priority markets and accounts
  • Communications Managers — need to connect messaging, channels and commercial objectives
  • General Managers — need to assess marketing plans, budgets and market growth choices

Skills and tools covered

Market analysisCustomer segmentationBrand positioningMarketing planningCampaign measurementCustomer journey design

Tools and standards

PESTLE analysis, Porter's Five Forces, BCG Growth-Share Matrix, Value Proposition Canvas

How the course runs

Training methodology

The programme uses short instructor briefings to introduce marketing methods, followed by cases drawn from consumer, business-to-business, public sector and service settings. Participants assess market evidence, make trade-off decisions in groups, test messaging and channel choices through simulations, and critique sample plans. Individual application planning starts in the first week and develops through each module. Facilitators provide structured review against commercial objectives, customer evidence, feasibility, budget discipline and measurement criteria. Online cohorts use live breakout rooms, shared templates and instructor-led review sessions.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic workplace experience in marketing, sales, product management, communications, customer service or commercial planning. They should be comfortable discussing customers, products, competitors and business objectives, and able to work with simple percentages, budgets and spreadsheet data. Prior responsibility for a marketing budget is useful but not essential. No marketing degree, specialist software expertise, formal statistics training or previous study of marketing theory is required. Participants should bring knowledge of one product, service, programme or customer group they can use for application work.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should have basic workplace exposure to customers, products, sales, communications or commercial planning. No marketing qualification or prior responsibility for a marketing budget is required.

Bring information about a product, service, programme, customer group or market challenge relevant to your work. You may also bring non-confidential campaign results, customer feedback or competitor information for use in planning activities.

It is designed for marketing managers, product managers, sales managers, business development professionals and general managers. It also suits professionals moving into marketing responsibilities from communications, customer experience or commercial roles.

This programme covers the full set of marketing management decisions, including market selection, positioning, products, pricing, channels, communications, budgeting and measurement. Digital marketing and brand management are covered as parts of an integrated marketing plan rather than as specialist subjects alone.

Participants build a marketing plan around a real or realistic work priority throughout the programme. Templates for segmentation, positioning, customer journeys, budgeting and measurement can be reused with teams after the course.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The first week establishes market, customer and offer decisions; the second week develops channels, campaigns, measurement, governance and the final plan presentation.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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