Digital Marketing 101

** FRESHLY UPDATED FOR 2025 **

Too many NZ businesses still aren’t online (47% of small businesses, according to a recent MYOB “State of the Digital Nation” Special Report). And even those who are online have only a limited understanding of Digital Marketing and how they can promote their business through digital activities.

Digital Marketing is now New Zealand’s most important advertising medium.

According to the NZ Interactive Advertising Bureau, New Zealand digital advertising revenue now represents more than 60% of total NZ advertising expenditure.

Here’s how the medium has grown over the past several years, in terms of advertising turnover:

NZ Advertising Industry Expenditure 2012-2023 (Millions)

 

In other words, Digital Marketing is now the most important skill to master.

So we’ve drawn on our (gulp!) 30 years of online experience to introduce a course for relative beginners, DIGITAL MARKETING 101, to take participants from a standing start (knowing very little about Digital Marketing) through to more advanced topics building on earlier lessons.

 

DIGITAL MARKETING 101 runs for 13 weeks, and covers:

  1. Introduction to digital marketing
    The basics of Digital Marketing and what you need to know to promote your organisation and your brand online. In this lesson, we cover Digital Marketing Options available in the NZ marketplace and discuss which are the most important (based on your target market and your brand objectives).
  2. Developing a web presence
    In Lesson Two we discuss the various ways in which you can build your presence online (we assume that, like most NZ businesses, you’re operating on a shoestring so mostly we talk about free or low-cost options). We also look at the key online elements you should claim to ensure that you own your brand identity online.
  3. Claiming your Google Business Profile page
    In Lesson Three we cover the strategic importance of your Google Business Profile page (formerly called Google My Business) — it’s how you tell Google your key information — and exactly what you need to do to claim that page.
  4. Understanding the customer journey
    The customer journey (also Customer Journey Experience, Customer Engagement Cycle) refers to the stages customers travel through in their relationship with a specific brand (as defined by DJS Research). In this lesson, we step you through what you need to know to map out your brand’s customer journey and market accordingly.
  5. What you need to know when using AI
    AI has blossomed as a marketing tool in the last few years. In this lesson, we explore exactly how you can use AI to write content, create images, logos and other designs, generate videos or just make your marketing efforts much more productive.
  6. Creating a digital marketing calendar
    As you market online, you’ll quickly realise that you constantly need to create fresh content, to feed your web pages, your emails, your social media posts, press releases and other online information — Google loves fresh and so do your customers. But what can you talk about (you can’t only talk about yourself, as you’ll soon discover). In this lesson, we talk about how to create a digital marketing calendar (and what to talk about).
  7. Mastering email marketing
    It’s the oldest digital marketing tool of all, but it’s still the most effective for most target audiences. In this lesson we talk about email marketing strategies and best practices, and the tools you should use to promote your business as effectively as possible through email.
  8. Search engine optimisation (SEO)
    Turns out that there’s quite a science to being found online (and an industry has grown up around the challenges of what’s now known as Search Engine Optimisation). In essence, if you want your prospects to find your web pages, those pages need to contain content that prospects are looking for. In Lesson Nine, we explore the How, What, When, Where & Why of SEO.
  9. Pay per click search advertising
    Not every page can be Number One on Google. So if you want to hit the top of the search engine rankings (especially for the most popular search phrases), sometimes you have to pay. In this lesson, we talk in detail about Google Ads (previously branded as Google AdWords) and other Pay Per Click advertising tools.
  10. Social media marketing explained
    Once upon a time — up until about 2012 — if you had a Facebook page and posted content to that page, all of your followers would see it. Sorry, not any more. In this lesson we explore exactly what you need to do to build an effective presence in social media.
  11. The basics of video marketing
    Online Video is a powerful way to communicate your brand story, explain your value proposition, and build relationships with your customers and prospects. This lesson introduces you to the basic principles and explores some of the available tools.
  12. The principles of selling online
    More than half of New Zealand (58%) now buys products online! Seven out of ten Kiwi internet users aged 25-44 purchase online — and 94% of NZ web users who research items online (even if they eventually buy the products offline). In this lesson, we introduce you to the principles and practices of effective ecommerce.
  13. Mastering Google Analytics
    It’s free, and it’s packed full with information that can transform your digital marketing efforts. We’re talking Google Analytics, and a great many online marketers use the free Analytics service to track the performance of their digital marketing. In this lesson, you’ll discover exactly what you can learn from Google Analytics and how to master it (even if you hate maths and stats).

Please note: all materials are online and can be accessed anytime 24/7, so you don’t have to make yourself available at a specific time to take this course.

 

WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS COURSE

Any NZ marketer or business person who needs to understand and master Digital Marketing.

WHAT CUSTOMERS ARE SAYING ABOUT OUR COURSES

Here’s a sampling of the feedback we’ve received from those who’ve taken our courses:

  • Thanks for an informative and interesting [Facebook Accelerator] course. Your presentation held a good balance of theoretical and practical information and was clear and simple enough for a non IT Facebook novice like me to follow. There are many ideas that I have gained that I will attempt to incorporate in the overall marketing plan my team is currently developing for our brand. Facebook can offer so much more than I thought as a medium for communicating with our current and prospective customers. Julie D
  • I found this course fantastic, i started off knowing very little about facebook (just how to run my own personal page) to now having a thorough understanding of ALL the things you can (and there is a lot). The course format was great and allowed knowledge to be built up over time. Course length was great and this will definetly be something i come back to constantly as we develop our facebook pages more within my company. Aleisha H
  • I have really enjoyed the course and the way it was structured. It was informative and interesting – liked the way you incorporated slide-shows, video, statistics and different forms of media to provide information. Lisa C

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COURSE CREATION AND TUTORING

This course has been created and is tutored by Michael Carney.

Michael is a veteran marketer with an insatiable passion for whatever’s new, different, exciting or interesting in the world of communications (and especially in the digital space). Michael has been in the marketing game since 1971, online since 1987 — and can be variously described as a digital marketing trainer, adman, media director, strategist, researcher, copywriter, consultant, playwright and dad.

He is probably best known for his many years as Media Director of a number of leading NZ advertising agencies, including MDA Mackay King (now Saatchi & Saatchi) and HKM Rialto (since merged with Colenso BBDO). More recently he worked in strategic roles with MediaCom New Zealand and Grey Worldwide and was Strategic Planning Director for the Media Counsel before setting up Netmarketing Courses.

Michael is also the author of “Trade Me Success Secrets: How To Buy and Sell Effectively on NZ’s Favourite Auction Site”, now in its second edition.

Michael was chairman of the NZ Marketing Association’s Network of Digital Marketers from 2009 until March 2013.

 

TIMING

This course begins on Wednesday 01 January, 2025.

 

INVESTMENT

This ongoing online training course is available for $897+GST. However we offer an EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT of $100 +GST — pay just $797+GST for bookings received by the end of Wednesday 25 December, 2024.

Bookings are confirmed on receipt of payment. We can raise an invoice in advance if you need it.

To reserve your place in this course, please pay by credit card through PayPal by clicking here:

sign up now

If you require an invoice, please send an email to info@netmarketingcourses.co.nz with your requirements.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

You’ll receive our emailed confirmation of your booking. Then on the first day of the course we’ll follow up with details of your Login and Password, along with an Enrolment Key for the Digital Marketing 101 online training course.

If you have any questions, or would like more information, please email us at info@netmarketingcourses.co.nz