IDM introduces Integrated Marketing Diploma

The Institute of Direct Marketing has launched the UK's first Integrated Marketing Communications Diploma to help marketers understand the new customer-driven interactive economy.

Marketers say that understanding how Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) works is their number one worry.

Now, for the first time in the UK, there is a solution - the Institute of Direct Marketing's brand new qualification, the IDM Diploma in Integrated Marketing Communications.

In a recent survey, top marketers in the US named IMC as their biggest issue, ahead of accountability, innovation and building strong brands.

In the UK, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising has said: "Over 80% of both clients and agencies agree they need more learning in the area".

The IDM Diploma in IMC has been developed to fill this significant gap in the UK marketplace.

It is the first and only professional qualification designed specifically for today's customer-driven, interactive economy.

Don Schultz, Professor of Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University in Chicago and the globally acknowledged founding father of IMC, endorses the new IDM Diploma: "The customer can now seek out a myriad products, services and suppliers via a multitude of communication channels.

"As a result, every marketer, every agency now faces the 'integration challenge'.

"They must learn a new approach that aligns, combines and integrates every form of communication".

IDM Managing Director Derek Holder commented: "To win in today's market requires a new approach to marketing.

"All communications and processes must be designed from the customer's viewpoint and interwoven to form a coherent whole.

"For many marketers, this means developing a new mindset and a new set of skills".

Media fragmentation, global connectivity, and the shift in power from business to consumer make learning about IMC vital for businesses.

Old-style mass marketing has given way to targeted, one-to-one communications, and marketers must balance 'push' and 'pull' to create marketing messages that consumers accept or even actively welcome.

To do that successfully, all parts of an organisation must pool their knowledge about customers and use that combined knowledge to drive their communications strategy.

The new IMC Diploma course has been carefully developed by the IDM with the help of Professor Angus Jenkinson of the UK's first and only Centre for Integrated Marketing.

Significantly, over 70% of the course material is completely new and original and will not be found on the syllabus of any other marketing qualification in the UK.

The IDM has also recruited 20 eminent marketers from major customer-focused organisations to form the IMC Council of Management, which will provide guidance on content and ensure the course remains relevant in the future.

The prospectus for the new IDM Diploma in Integrated Marketing Communications is available now.

The Institute of Direct Marketing has 20 years of experience anticipating and addressing the need for professional training in ever-more targeted and accountable marketing.

The first IDM Diploma launched in 1982 and has been continually updated and reworked, existing today as the IDM Diploma in Direct and Interactive Marketing.

In 2005 the IDM Certificate and IDM Diploma in Digital Marketing were launched, and, in recognition of the growth in stature of the business to business space, the Institute launched new B2B qualifications earlier this year.

About the IDM The IDM is the professional development body for individuals and companies that wish to improve their direct, data and digital marketing effectiveness.

It delivers world-class knowledge and skills to fuel enhanced business performance in the areas of direct, data and digital marketing.

The IDM is a not-for-profit organisation, an educational trust, a membership organisation, and a registered charity.

It offers events, information, courses and qualifications spanning every aspect of business and technology.

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