A free mini course. Fourteen lessons in a sensible order, from what marketing actually is, through the environment and the customer, to the marketing mix and reviewing a strategy. Work through them in order if you are new to marketing, or take the section you need — every lesson stands on its own, and many have an exercise and a worked answer. There is nothing to enrol in, no sign-up and nothing to pay. This is a route through the archive rather than all of it, so each section links on to everything else we have on that subject.
Looking for a certificate? The paid courses are separate, and assessed.
1. Marketing Foundations
Start with what marketing actually is, and how it differs from just selling or advertising.
- What Is Marketing? – the core definitions and ideas behind the subject.
2. The Marketing Environment
Every marketing decision is shaped by forces inside and outside the business.
- The Marketing Environment – the internal, micro and macro forces that shape every marketing decision.
More on the marketing environment
3. Knowing Your Customer
Marketing starts with understanding who the customer is and how they actually decide to buy.
- What Is a Customer? – the starting point for everything else in this stage.
- The Buyer Decision Process – the five stages a buyer moves through before, during and after a purchase.
4. Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning
Once you understand buyers, the next step is deciding which of them to focus on, and how to stand out to them.
- Segmentation – dividing a market into groups of buyers with similar needs.
- Targeting – choosing which segment(s) to focus marketing effort on.
- Positioning – deciding how you want to be seen relative to competitors.
5. The Marketing Mix
With a target and a position chosen, the marketing mix is how a business actually delivers on it.
- The Marketing Mix – an overview of the four (and extended seven) Ps.
- Three Levels of a Product – the core, actual and augmented product.
- Pricing Strategies – the main approaches to deciding what to charge.
- Place – how a product reaches the customer.
- Promotion – the tools used to communicate with the market.
6. Reviewing Your Strategy
The path closes with the tools marketers use to step back and check a strategy is still working.
- The Marketing Audit – a structured review of marketing activity against objectives and environment.
- SWOT Analysis – summarising strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
Finished? Try the exercises. Most lessons above have a practice question and a worked answer, and the answers show the reasoning rather than just the conclusion.
The other free mini courses: Digital and Social Media · Customers · Business and Organisations · Strategy and Analytics.
What’s next? The certificated course is live. Foundations of Marketing takes these fundamentals into structured modules, with quizzes and a certificate of completion.