• Prepare to enter the field of marketing and communications
• Advance your marketing and communications career
• Obtain a recognized credential
• Build your knowledge and skills for today’s strategic marketing world

Foundations of Social Media for Business
Analyze the role of social media in business and explore the power of these tools to build relationships with your customers.

Marketing and Strategic Communications
Be introduced to contemporary marketing and strategic communication fundamentals. Examine key principles and concepts, and understand emerging tools and trends. Investigate the evolving role of today’s marketing professional. Topics include marketing strategy, branding, customer experience, digital and social media, content marketing, and Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC).

Brand Strategy
Developing and marketing a brand has become increasingly complex. Explore key strategies and steps for defining, building and managing a strong brand. Using case studies and practical real-world exercises examine characteristics of great brands, and learn to develop and execute a brand strategy.

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)
Developing a strategic Integrated Marketing and Communication (IMC) plan is critical to building a brand, creating relationships, reaching target markets, and being able to measure and evaluate results. Understand the key components of Integrated Marketing Communications, including researching, planning, organizing, budgeting, managing and evaluating marketing communication plans. 

Digital Marketing Research
Explore various online research methods and tools for gathering and analyzing data to support marketing plans. Understand consumer needs, behaviour and trends, and learn to align research objectives with business goals. Practical learning techniques include keyword search, blogs, online surveys, customer profiling and database research.

Word-of-Mouth Marketing (WOMM)
Companies that garner positive word of mouth have a competitive advantage over those that don’t. Marketing strength lies with customers who choose to share engaging content with friends, family and even strangers. Through case studies, examine powerful brands and companies that have grown via word of mouth.

Content Marketing Strategy
Promote brand awareness and build loyal communities by creating compelling content, sharing powerful stories and engaging in meaningful conversations. Develop a strategic content marketing strategy and create effective content for various channels, including print and web, blogs, online seminars and videos, infographics, and e-mail.

Aly Hasham    BA, MBA
Aly’s career in digital strategy began with Moët Hennessy • Louis Vuitton in Paris, France. Since becoming a digital strategist with Critical Mass, he’s had the opportunity to work with a diverse roster of brands spanning a variety of industries. Clients include AT&T, Nissan, Infiniti, Coles Australia, Clorox and Luxottica. He’s worked on range of projects, including loyalty programs, mobile payments, UX strategy, campaigns, social media initiatives and new business pitches.

Aly holds a Master of Business Administration degree from EMLYON Business School as well as Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and Economics from the University of Calgary.

In his spare time, Aly enjoys basketball, snowboarding, 90s hip hop and post-colonial literature. His favourite book is The Count of Montecristo.

Jenelle Peterson B.Comm, MBA
What does Oil and Gas, IT, Duct Tape or Dental Products have in common? Seemingly not much, but Jenelle’s diverse career path has lead her to believe that a defined brand voice and strategic marketing planning will lead to measurable results - regardless of the industry or product portfolio. She brings an extensive background in developing strategic plans and executing marketing campaigns on both client and agency sides - from startups to multinational organizations.

Jenelle’s career in marketing was born from a passion for balancing art and commerce, it began at EnCana (Cenovous) with a communications focus but lead to product and brand management roles with 3M Canada managing well-known portfolios like Scotch® Tape, Command™, Tekk Safety and ESPE Dental. After working as an account director for a local agency focused on B2B clients, Jenelle is now the Director of Marketing & Business Development for Mount Royal University’s Faculty of Continuing Education. Jenelle holds a B.Comm in Marketing from University of Calgary and an MBA from Queens University.

Jenelle loves the outdoors, making bad art and all things Sci-Fi. 

Karen Richards
As the Word of Mouth Marketing Strategist at Mount Royal University, Karen combines marketing, grassroots community initiatives, a love of brand, technology and social media to ensure she, and the university, are always ahead of the curve. Karen's passion is embracing and creatively implementing word of mouth marketing principles to meet business goals while cultivating a loyal community in person and online that help spread the good word about MRU.

Karen holds a Bachelor degree in Psychology from the University of Calgary, is an active member of the international Word of Mouth Marketing Association, presenter and workshop facilitator and is personally very active in the Calgary community using social media to create unique events and connect people with businesses, charities and each other.  

Robert Schmidt    B.Sc., MBA
Robert Schmidt loves to stand out. He’s like Mr. Incredible meets Mr. Spock meets Mr. Dressup. Visionary, analytical and ultra-creative; without the tights, the ears or the tickle-trunk.

With a B.Sc. in Molecular Biology and Genetics (University of Calgary), years of study on buyer psychology, and an executive MBA (Haskayne School of Business) focused on innovation, Robert combines the analytical rigour of science with the openness of psychology and the practicality of business.

He is a marketing and strategy professional whose experience has taken him to the executive suites and political boardrooms of organizations based in Canada, the United States, Southeast Asia and South America. His client list includes billion dollar corporations as well many start-up and mid-sized companies.

Robert's work has been profiled in journals and in academic settings and he has addressed diverse corporate and entrepreneurial audiences at Mount Royal University, the Haskayne School of Business, Edwards School of Business and numerous business organizations.

Today Mr. Schmidt positions his own marketing communications firm, reBox Creative Inc., to stand out well beyond their crowded market space.

Dalyce Semko Suanez    BA(Hons), MBA
Dalyce Semko Suanez has over 10 years of experience in international communications. After completing her BA Honours degree at the University of Saskatchewan, Dalyce went on to obtain an MBA at Schiller International University in Heidelberg, Germany and Madrid, Spain.

Kicking off her professional career in Paris, France, Dalyce was the Northern Europe Team Manager at Open2Europe, a multinational media relations agency. In 2006, Dalyce relocated to Canada and founded the North American operations of the group, Open2America.

Dalyce leads teams of international communication professionals and specializes in localizing European and Chinese companies for the North American market. Her diverse client base includes private companies in the high-tech, solar, tourism and design industries. Dalyce has also worked in the public sector, bringing visibility to international delegations and government groups.

Dalyce is a true teacher at heart and enjoys sharing her knowledge with her students. 

Nancy Smith

Nancy Smith loves to help businesses understand and develop strategies for social media. As an early adopter and avid social media user, it has been a natural transition for her to apply knowledge from her marketing career to assist brands such as Travel Alberta, SportChek, and Samsung.

As a passionate advocate for social media, Nancy has been an instructor at Mount Royal University since 2015 in the Social Media and Marketing and Strategic Communications programs. Nancy is also an acclaimed speaker, with more than 10 years of experience providing workshops and sessions at large-scale conferences dealing with issues related to social media.

As the mother of a teen, Nancy can also relate to the challenges parents face in today’s digital world. Realizing that there was a gap in the information available for generating positive discussions, she has recently launched SocialCitizens.ca as a resource for parents in order to provide the practical advice that parents were looking for—and that kids needed. She enjoys helping adults learn about the positive aspects of social media and working with kids on how they can be responsible social citizens in a rapidly changing global environment. She is an author of a book, Social Citizens: A Positive Approach to Social Media & Parenting in a Digital World.