The Communication and Media department and the Center for Research Regional Education and Outreach (CRREO) worked together to develop a non-credit professional certificate program in Digital Marketing Communication for students who want to sharpen their skills in digital communications and marketing strategies.
“We saw an opportunity to offer a professional certificate program, unique to the Hudson Valley Region, in state-of-art digital marketing communication skills,” said Daniel Schackman, one of the creators of the program.
Schackman, along with Greg Bray and Jason Wrench, of the Communication and Media Department, have been developing this program with CRREO on campus since fall 2010. CRREO approached the Communications and Media department to develop a certificate program designed to build skills in a specific area.
“Together we decided that there might be a need for a specific kind of program in digital marketing communications,” said Schackman. “[This is] because of the increasing importance of social media and social networking for marketing campaigns.”
The professional development program is offering three hybrid summer courses that will help students enhance their marketable skills and gain an entrepreneurial understanding of media.
The three classes will be offered over the course of an eight-week period, said Schackman. The courses will begin on June 6 and end Aug. 12.
The objective of this program is for participants to gain expertise in developing and assessing the input of marketing campaigns using social and viral media marketing strategies rooted in the classic principles of marketing, said Schackman.
Joan Schuman, an expert in investor relations, Internet marketing and consumer product promotion, is designing and teaching the class Preparing Digital Media Marketing Communication Campaigns, one of the courses offered through the certificate program.
“I’ll take the students through the process of creating a marketing plan from situation analysis to executive summary,” said Schuman. “[There will also be a] focus on digital marketing all along the way.”
The other two courses that will be offered are Pitching and Assessing Digital Marketing Communication Campaigns and Producing and Distributing Digital Marketing Communication Campaigns.
Students interested in a career in marketing, social media or business are great candidates for this program.
“We intend for the program to attract New Paltz alumni and other people in the area who want to learn how to develop marketing campaigns using new technology platforms and social media applications,” said Schackman.
The complete program costs $2,200. Two of the three courses may be taken independently for $875 per course. This does not include the 10 percent discount for SUNY New Paltz students, alumni and faculty, said Schackman.