Digital Marketing Course Onboarding Guide
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Digital Marketing ✹Course
Section 1: Digital Audit
In this section we’ll evaluate where your current digital marketing and e-commerce efforts stand. We’ll dive deep into the data to uncover where your gaps are (aka where you’re losing customers) and where your opportunities are (areas to scale). In other words - this is where you WOW your employer or client by pulling out some stats on their business that will make them feel embarrassed they didn’t know it before AND also establish YOU as an essential team member. Starting a business from scratch? No problem! This audit can be done on a quarterly basis and will be a great tool for evaluating your first 3 months of business.
Level 1: Connecting the Dots
Let me save you the hefty tuition and sleepless nights in business school — there are a few things I remember to this day and one of them I have used with almost every client and employer — the Digital Marketing Funnel — Awareness > Acquisition > Education. It’s simple, but it instantly connects the dots and builds a story around digital efforts where most people felt they were throwing spaghetti at walls waiting for something to stick.
What you’ll learn:
Examples of each funnel level
❓Quiz:
Digital Marketing Funnel
Level 2: Identifying Your KPIs
Now that we have the Digital Marketing Funnel, let’s get into KPIs. What key metrics can we use to measure the success of our digital marketing efforts? There are a lot out there, so I’ve compiled my tried and true KPIs that you’ll use in both the audit and any reporting for ongoing services.
What you’ll learn:
What a KPI is
KPIs to know for each platform
Benchmarks for measuring success
Making yourself an indispensable resource — the “funnel fueler”
❓Quiz:
Digital Marketing KPIs and Benchmarks
Level 3: Dig up the Data
Let’s get into that data! But first. Where is the data? There are many sources for finding data on your website and inbound marketing efforts - every e-commerce platform has some level of reporting, however, if we’re going to dive deep we want to go with the most widely used and robust analytics platforms out there - Google Analytics.
What you’ll learn:
Google Ana-what? — A quick background on Google Analytics (GA)
You’re in! But what does it all mean? Narrow in on the tools / metrics that matter.
Assignment:
Got your own website without GA? Parents have a small business? Friend sells graphic tees on the side - find a guinea pig site to practice GA setup and navigation with.
Level 4: Beautify the Data
Now that you’re a data nerd (just embrace it) it’s time to make that data digestible — it’s time to “beautify the data.” I’m not talking about just stacking numbers in a bar graph — I’m talking about on-brand color coordinated graphs and fonts, eye-catching headlines, enticing insights, and embraceable action-items. A report your client or employer can walk away with feeling like it was made just for them, a true reflection of their brand and business needs. And Looker Studio is the perfect tool for it.
What you’ll learn:
Paint a picture with numbers — A quick background on Looker Studio
Integrating Google Analytics with Looker Studio
Setting up your audit report — we got you with the template 😉
Analyzing the data, adding insights, action items
Finessing the design — the final step in beautification and branding
Assignment:
Complete a Looker Studio Audit Report with your guinea pig site.
Digital Marketing ✹Course
Section 2: Digital Marketing Strategy
The marketing strategy is a neatly packaged plan to bring a new product, collection, or business to market. Another way at looking at it — a pitch you get paid for. You’ll learn how to put together a deck that will impress your clients or employer and ultimately get them convinced they need you in the long-run (hello retainers!). We’ll share our template and an example marketing strategy for a CPG business. Remember that Digital Marketing Funnel? Your strategy won’t only be informative and actionable, but will also engage the client by helping them visualize how their customers will embrace their product / brand in our now-familiar funnel format.
Level 1: Assess the Situation
If you’re going to talk confidently about what your client and employer should do for their marketing strategy it’s essential that you understand their current efforts (if applicable) and what the competition is doing. This will act as the opener for your Digital Marketing Strategy Deck — essentially a mini audit without digging into the data, a great outward-facing evaluation of the current landscape.
What you’ll learn:
Questions to ask your client / employer for context
Identifying your competition’s strategy on Instagram
Tools for snooping on your competition (emails and ads)
The search test - aka how the brand is presented in the major digital channels
Translating your findings for the deck
Assignment:
Pick any brand and do your own “Digital Snoop”
Level 2: Build the Strategy
This is the meat of your Digital Marketing Strategy deck, sliced into 3 sections (you already know it): Awareness > Education > Acquisition > Retention. We’ll give you a stack of strategies for each funnel level that you can select from and tweak depending on the client / employer. In this level you'll identify the gaps, in the next level, you’ll learn how to fill them in with actionable solutions your client / employer will be drooling over. But before anything… Let’s make that moula! Learn how to build a quote for your client before you dive into any work.
What you’ll learn:
Awareness strategies — Meta ads (Top Funnel), Google Display Ads, TikTok Ads, Snapchat Ads, YouTube Ads
Education strategies — SEO, Google Search Ads, Organic Social Media, Landing Page Optimization, Drip Emails
Acquisition strategies — Meta Ads (Mid Funnel), Product Page Optimization, Abandoned Cart Emails, Payment Options
Retention strategies — Meta Ads (Bottom Funnel), Reviews, Replenish Emails
Assignment:
Put that Digital Marketing Strategy deck together!
Digital Marketing ✹Course
Section 3: Digital Marketing Tool Kit
So your Digital Marketing Strategy deck left them wanting more — they’ve seen you talk the talk and now you gotta walk the walk. In this section you’ll learn the fundamentals of the essential digital marketing tools that allow you to put those strategies into action. Create a digital marketing calendar and put it to action via three core platforms; Meta Ads, Instagram, Klaviyo, and Shopify.
Level 1: Digital Marketing Calendar
It can be overwhelming with so many action items and ongoing strategies – enter the Digital Marketing Calendar. This calendar will be your hub to make sure you’re hitting each digital touchpoint consistently and will also allow you to visualize how each channel works together in painting a bigger picture; around a campaign or product launch.
What you’ll learn:
Identifying your core channels
Spacing out your digital activities to stay top of mind without being annoying
Assignment:
Build your own Digital Marketing Calendar.
Level 2: Shopify and SEO
This is often the last touchpoint in your digital marketing funnel, but it is perhaps the most important one. What’s the point of driving all the traffic if your website sucks! Imagine finding all these potential customers and throwing them into a sieve instead of a bucket. Your website needs to be a bucket - no leaks here! We’ll walk you through selecting a Shopify template, structuring your homepage, collection page, and product page to optimize for conversions. Most importantly, we’ll show you the top SEO (Search Engine Optimization) best practices to apply as you go. We’ll also share our list of top Shopify apps and integrations that can help amplify your digital marketing efforts.
What you’ll learn:
Shopify templates – how to select the right one for your business
Customizing your Shopify template
Applying SEO best practices
The best apps to amplify your website conversion rate and digital marketing efforts
Level 3: Email Marketing with Klaviyo
Klaviyo is the leading email marketing platform that all major CPG brands are flocking to. It’s easy to use, has great templates and design capabilities, and integrates with major e-commerce platforms. There are 3 core email types that you’ll get familiar with and will feel confident building templates for. You’ll also learn how to optimize your subscriber list to ensure healthy open and click-through rates. Don’t know what those are? We’ll cover the core metrics too.
What you’ll learn:
Core metrics and benchmarks for measuring email success
Campaign Emails: transactional vs. educational
Drip Emails: welcome series
Trigger Emails: abandoned cart, review request, replenish
Assignment:
Create a Klaviyo account and set up your core campaign templates, drip emails and triggers. (Klaviyo only charges for subscribers and sends, so you can do all this for free!)
❓Quiz:
Type of Emails
Level 4: Google Ads
We’ll walk you through how to set up a Google Ads account from scratch and get 3 essential campaigns up and running; Branded Search Terms, Non-Branded Search Terms, Shopping. These 3 campaigns will get you the coverage you need to stand out in the most critical space of Google search results.
What you’ll learn:
Setup a Google Ads account
Connect Google Ads to Google Analytics
Setup branded and non-branded search campaigns
Assignment:
Create a Google Ads account with a branded search, non-branded search, and shopping campaign — you don’t need a real business, a shell account will do for practice setup!
❓Quiz:
Google Ads
Level 5: Meta Ads
We’ll walk you through how to set up a Meta Ads account from scratch and get 3 essential campaigns up and running; Top Funnel (find new customers), Mid Funnel (convert those familiar with the brand), Bottom Funnel (build loyalty and repeat customers). This is your fool-proof structure that has worked for countless CPG brands.
What you’ll learn:
Setup a Meta Ads account
Setup your Meta Ads pixel
Create key audiences
Learn best performing ad creative, copy, and formats for each funnel
Setup Top, Mid and Bottom funnel campaigns in Meta Ads
Assignment:
Create a Meta Ads account with a Top, Mid, and Bottom Funnel campaign — you don’t need a real business, a shell account will do for practice setup!
❓Quiz:
Meta Ads Audiences
Understanding Funnels
Level 6: TikTok Ads
We’ll walk you through how to set up a TikTok Ads account from scratch and get 1 essential campaign up and running, but most importantly the type of ads that work best.
What you’ll learn:
Setup a TikTok Ads account
Setup your TikTok Ads pixel
Create key audiences
Learn best performing ad formats
Assignment:
Create a TikTok Ads account with a Top, Mid, and Bottom Funnel campaign — you don’t need a real business, a shell account will do for practice setup!
❓Quiz:
TikTok Ads
Level 7: Harvest the Fruit of Your Labor
What is the point of your efforts if there is no evidence of the impact it’s making? We’ll walk you through a Weekly Digital Marketing Report template that you can use to present your weekly digital impact. Don’t let them forget how invaluable you are.
What you’ll learn:
Creating a weekly digital report in Google Sheets to present to client / employer
Assignment:
Setup your own Weekly Digital Marketing Report using Google Sheets.
Digital Marketing ✹Course
Section 4: Freelancing + Business
Wrap up this course with a series of interviews with Ceilidh reflecting on her 10+ years in Digital Marketing. Learn about the current state of the digital marketing industry and how to carve out your space to create a path for success. Let’s talk about interviews, salaries / rates, job opportunities and more. You’ve got your new found digital marketing tool kit and you’re ready to take it to market.
Level 1: Digital Marketing Industry
Learn why the digital marketing job market is one of the best ones to be in. Interested in working in-house? We’ll cover the difference between working at a small company vs. a large one and what your career path could look like if you’re starting from the ground up.
What you’ll learn:
Current digital marketing landscape and job opportunities
In-house salaries and pitching yourself for a promotion
Finding your fit for in-house positions and nailing the interview
Level 2: Working Freelance
Think freelancing is more your jam? In level 2 Ceilidh shares her experience transitioning from an in-house role to a full-time freelancer. Learn how to build structure with your schedule, manage expectations, and juggle multiple clients. Most importantly — let’s talk about how to get those clients in the first place!
What you’ll learn:
Freelancing — finding clients and establishing your rate
Managing clients and expectations
Working for a remote digital agency
Keeping up with the industry
Assignment:
Use the Digital Marketing Services Pricing Estimate spreadsheet to build out a proposal for a prospective client.
Course Certificate
To earn your certificate of completion, you must pass all 8 quizzes and fill out the form after the last video in the course.
Filling out the form will give us the information we need to put on your certificate.
Once you’ve received your certificate, you’ll be eligible for a special course bonus! Get personalized feedback from Ceilidh’s 10+ years of real-world experience to boost your confidence and competence as a digital marketer. You’ll receive a screenshare video from Ceilidh with tips and tactics to enhance your Digital Audit Report, Weekly Report, or Strategy Deck. When you’ve got your report(s) and/or deck ready, email hello@ilovecreatives.com with your document links and any specific Qs for Ceilidh — we’ll coordinate from there.
Digital Marketing ✹Course Syllabus
✹ This course is entirely self-paced so it can be flexible with your schedule. This is our recommendation on how to pace the course if you are able to work on it at least 25 hours a week.
Add all the events to your Google Calendar
Week 1:
Digital Marketing Funnel and KPIs
Understand the funnel stages and expand your vocab with client-impressing terminology to get you in that digital-marketing-nerd mindset.
Assignments:
Quiz — Digital Marketing Funnel
Quiz — Digital Marketing KPIs and Benchmarks
Week 2:
Google Analytics and Google Looker Studio
Get familiar with the most widely used and robust analytics platforms out there. Understand how to dig up the data to analyze your marketing efforts and then turn it all into a beautiful client-facing report
Assignments:
Setup GA4 for your website, a friends website, anyone willing to be your guinea pig!
Complete a Looker Studio Audit Report with your guinea pig site.
Week 3:
Digital Snooping and your Digital Marketing Strategy
Identify what your competition is doing for digital marketing and build out a custom strategy for your client that will help them stand out.
Assignments:
Pick any brand and do your own “Digital Snoop”
Start putting that Digital Marketing Strategy deck together!
Quiz — Digital Marketing Strategies
Week 4:
Shopify and SEO + Klaviyo
Select a Shopify template, structure your homepage, collection page, and product page to optimize for conversions and learn the top SEO best practices. Get setup in Klaviyo with a subscriber list and your core templates and automation.
Assignments:
Create a Klaviyo account and set up your core campaign templates, drip emails and triggers. (Klaviyo only charges for subscribers and sends, so you can do all this for free!)
Quiz —Email Types
Week 5:
Digital Ads — Google Ads, Meta Ads, TikTok Ads
Get familiar with the 3 top social ad platforms and the essential campaigns for success.
Assignments:
Create a Google Ads account with a branded search, non-branded search, and shopping campaign — you don’t need a real business, a shell account will do for practice setup!
Create a Meta Ads account with a Top, Mid, and Bottom Funnel campaign — you don’t need a real business, a shell account will do for practice setup!
Create a TikTok Ads account with a Top, Mid, and Bottom Funnel campaign — you don’t need a real business, a shell account will do for practice setup!
Quiz — Google Ads
Quiz — Meta Ads
Quiz — TikTok Ads
Week 6:
Harvest the Fruit of Your Labor — Reporting
Setup a Weekly Digital Marketing Report that you can use to present your weekly digital impact to your manager, execs, or client! Then wrap up this course with tips on pricing, pitching and exploring a career path as a digital marketing professional.
Assignments:
Setup your own Weekly Digital Marketing Report using Google Sheets.
Use the Digital Marketing Services Pricing Estimate spreadsheet to build out a proposal for a prospective client
ℭommunity ℰvents
Bonus Workshops
and Course Events↘
Here is a calendar of ALL events at ilovecreatives. Look for DMC (Digital Marketing✹ Course) and if you would like to add this Calendar to yours, click here. You can also RSVP in Discord Events.
✦ Office Hours with Ceilidh
(Thursdays @ 10:00am PT on Discord)
If you have questions about the curriculum, Ceilidh will be online to answer at this time.
✦ Super Productive Time
A digital co-working session with awesome creatives!
✹ To add this calendar to yours, click +Google Calendar ↖