Digital Marketing for Practitioners
Run a measured campaign for a specialist practice, marked by someone who still buys ads, not a module-quiz diploma.
Taught and assessed by
Nicolas ReevesProfile pending contract
- Live teaching
- 16h
- Self-study
- 32h
- Duration
- 8 weeks
- Weekly load
- ~6h
What you will be able to do
- Write a campaign brief with an audience, an offer and a budget you can defend
- Choose channels from the job, not from a list of logos
- Run a small paid or organic campaign with measurement attached to a decision
- Stop a campaign that is wasting money
- Report without vanity metrics
- Price marketing work for a specialist practice from a costed day rate
Who this is for
- Coaches, therapists and consultants who need clients, not a 'social media manager' title
- In-house people given a digital brief they did not design
- Freelancers whose marketing has been vibes and a logo
- People willing to run a real campaign during the eight weeks
Who this is not for
- Anyone seeking a protected marketing licence — there is not one
- Anyone who wanted a get-rich-on-ads shortcut
- Anyone unwilling to put a small real budget or equivalent organic effort into the assessment
What you need before you start
- A practice, employer or realistic offer to market
- Willingness to spend a modest real or equivalent organic budget
What you will actually learn
8 modules · 8 weeks · 16h live
The job is a decisionMarketing that cannot change a spend is a hobby.
Covered in this module
- Unprotected titles
- What clients actually buy
- Budget as a design constraint
- The assessed campaign
Audience and offerWho it is for, in a sentence a stranger could use.
Covered in this module
- Specialist versus everyone
- Proof you already have
- What you will not claim
- Positioning
Channels from the jobSearch, email, content, ads — picked, not collected.
Covered in this module
- Where your buyer already looks
- Content that can be cited
- When ads are the wrong first spend
- Privacy and consent
MeasurementA number attached to a decision, including the decision to stop.
Covered in this module
- Leading indicators
- Platform metrics that flatter
- UK GDPR and tracking
- The post-mortem format
Paid media without folkloreSmall budgets, honest auctions, no guru settings.
Covered in this module
- Briefing an ad
- Landing pages that match
- When to pause
- Vendor certificates versus judgement
Organic and emailThe work that still compounds when the auction gets expensive.
Covered in this module
- Search intent for a practice
- Email that is not a newsletter for its own sake
- Cadence you will keep
- Campaign draft due
Reporting to a sceptical ownerIncluding when you are the owner.
Covered in this module
- One-page reports
- What you still do not know
- Next test
- Pricing the work
Assessment clinicLive review of campaigns and post-mortems.
Covered in this module
- Common fails
- Resubmission
- Retainer versus project
- First paying marketing client
Dates and timetable
Digital Marketing for Practitioners runs as a live cohort over 8 weeks. Pick the start date that fits — every cohort gets the same tutor, curriculum and assessment.
| Starts | Live sessions | Cap | Status and action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ends | Wednesdays 19:00–21:00 UK, 8 weeks (no session 23 or 30 December) | 20 | Choose this date → |
| Ends | Wednesdays 19:00–21:00 UK, 8 weeks | 20 | Choose this date → |
How you are assessed
A planned-and-run campaign with a brief, a measurement plan and a post-mortem, marked by Nicolas Reeves. Written feedback with one free resubmission. Vanity metrics without a decision attached do not pass.
Our accreditation applications are in progress. We do not display an accreditation mark before it is granted — see the current status.
After you pass
- Campaign brief and reporting templates
- Practitioner directory listing on passing
What is digital marketing training for practitioners?
It is training to brief, run and stop a campaign for a specialist practice — coaching, design, professional services — with measurement attached to a decision. It is not a licence, not a get-rich scheme, and not a quiz on platform logos. Clients buy a campaign they can see working, not a diploma title.
Do you need a licence to practise digital marketing in the UK?
No. Marketing is unregulated. Anyone may charge for it. Platform certificates from Google or Meta prove you passed a vendor test. They do not prove you can brief, budget or kill a campaign that is wasting money. Assessed live work is the filter clients actually use, whether they know the word or not.
Sources
Who is this programme for, and who should skip it?
It is for people with a real offer who need clients, and for in-house staff given a digital brief. Skip it if you wanted a social-media-manager identity with no campaign to run. Skip it if you needed a protected professional title. Skip it if you will not put modest budget or equivalent organic effort into the assessment.
How is this different from a self-paced marketing diploma?
You run a campaign and write a post-mortem a tutor can fail. The tutor still buys media. A self-paced diploma can teach you the names of channels. It cannot tell a client whether you would have stopped an ad set that was burning money on the wrong audience.
Common questions
How much budget do I need?
Enough to learn a decision — often a few hundred pounds, or a serious organic equivalent if paid is not possible. A fictional campaign with invented numbers does not pass.
Will I be a Google Partner or Meta certified after this?
Those are vendor programmes you can sit separately. We may require current ads certification as homework. We do not award Google or Meta status.
Is this growth-hacking or guaranteed leads?
No. Anyone guaranteeing leads from an eight-week course is selling a different, worse product.
Can I pay in instalments?
Yes. Interest-free plans total exactly £399.
Related reading
Digital marketing training in the UK
How to judge UK digital-marketing training for specialist practices, why there is no licence, and when a module-quiz diploma is the wrong buy.
CareerHow to become a digital marketer in the UK
What a digital marketer actually does for specialist practices, why there is no licence, and why a module-quiz diploma is usually the wrong buy.
SubjectBusiness & Creative Craft
Programmes for turning a creative or commercial skill into a business — copywriting, interior design and digital marketing, taught by working practitioners.
ProgrammeFreelance Copywriting Business
A 10-week live programme building a freelance copywriting business — craft, pricing and clients — taught by a copywriter with fourteen years of practice.
AnswerIs digital marketing a licensed profession?
Digital marketing is unregulated in the UK. Platform badges are vendor tests. Clients buy a campaign they can see working, not a diploma title.