Faculty of Business and Law

Department of Marketing, International Business and Tourism

Assessment Brief 2023/2024

Unit Code: 5X7V0042

Unit Name: Organic & Paid Digital Practice
Unit Leader: David Edmundson-Bird
For contact information please see Moodle.

Submission Date: See date on Moodle Feedback Return Date: See date on Moodle
Digital Submission Instructions: Please Feedback Return Information: Please see
submit via the Moodle submission point Moodle for the return date for feedback and
for the unit marks

Key task and word count (or equivalent):

For this assignment, you need to identify the preferred digital audiences for a given page
or app screen, evaluate current on-page and off-page performance, and propose
measures for improvement for a real-world client.

Deliverables

You need to make recommendations for an organisation on how it will promote a single
web page or app screen:

 Task A1: 2 x single A4 sides MAX using the template format provided for Task A1
 Task A2: A maximum of 10 elements of improvement using the assessment on-
page audit template
 Task A3: A maximum of 5 elements of improvement using the assessment off-page
audit template
o There is no specific page count or word count for Task A2 or Task A3 due to
the nature of the audit template being used
o You will need to complete a single audit template for Task A2 and another
separate audit template for Task A3
 The assessor will only assess 2 A4 sides for Task A1
 The assessor will only assess a maximum of 10 elements for improvement in the
template for Task A2
 The assessor will only assess a maximum of 5 elements for improvement in the
template for Task A3
Unit Learning Outcomes:
1. Identify different target audiences using digital-first appropriate segmentation
2. Evaluate channel capability in reaching target audiences
3. Apply best practice in the use of organic and paid digital approaches to driving
traffic to digital assets

This assessment will contribute to the achievement of the following Programme

Learning Outcomes:

1. PLO 1.1.1 Identify and interrogate relevant data and literature sources using
methods appropriate to level of study and to discipline
2. PLO 1.1.2a Apply theory to discussion and analysis
3. PLO 2.1 1 Organise work in a logical structure in order to draw conclusions that
follow from line of argument
4. PLO 2.1.2 Apply consistent and appropriate referencing and in text citations
5. PLO 2.1.3 Demonstrate digital skills appropriate to level and to discipline

Assignment Details and Instructions

This is an individual piece of work. There is no groupwork component.

You need to identify the preferred digital audiences for a given page or app screen,
evaluate current on-page and off-page performance, and propose measures for
improvement for a real-world client.

Your goal is:

a. Make recommendations for an organisation in how it will promote a single web

page or app screen
b. Provide a prioritised series of preferred digital target audiences, on-page change
recommendations, and off-page recommendations

You’ll do this by:

a. Evaluating and providing a prioritised series of preferred digital target audiences

for a single web page or app screen for an organisation
b. Auditing performance and providing broad on-page recommendations for
improving visibility in Search for a single web page or app screen across a
maximum of 10 elements
c. Auditing performance and providing broad off-page recommendations for
improving visibility in Search for a single web page or app screen (and/or the site
or app as a whole) across a maximum of 5 elements
To gather extensive initial data about preferred audiences, we recommend you conduct a
data collection exercise using the provided “audiences data collection” form on Moodle,
and place this document as an appendix item to which you refer in the assessable part of
your submission

Task A1: Identify a prioritised series of preferred digital target audiences for an
organisation’s single web page or app screen (30%)

To do this task, you should:

a. Provide a preferred array of search behaviour, digital behavioural, geo-locational,

or psychographic profile audiences that you could target with digital and social
media approaches
b. Evaluate the pros and cons of each digital target audience
c. Justify the inclusion of each digital target audience
d. Prioritize the audiences that you will target, and provide a justification of the
order of priority
a. The number 1 priority audience should be the search behaviour that forms
the primary key phrase or topic for the subsequent on-page audit
b. The remainder audiences should be off-page audiences you would like to
attract to your single web page or app screen
e. Identify the issues and risks associated with targeting each audience

To gather insight about the performance of your single web page, you will need to
conduct extensive on-page audit and off-page audit exercises using the provided audit
forms on Moodle. You can choose to include these as appendix items.

Task A2: Make recommendations for on-page changes for an organisation’s single web
page or app screen that will improve its visibility in Search (40%)

To do this task, you should:

a. Make it clear which primary key phrase or topic is being targeted

b. Identify a maximum of 10 broad on-page recommendations for changes to the
page or app screen based around on-page elements from the SEO Periodic Table
for a primary key phrase or topic (and only if appropriate - broad on-page
recommendations for change on the whole site or app and how it relates to this
specific page)
c. Justify the changes you recommend with reference to specific on-page elements
d. Identify any issues and risks associated with changes that would be made based
on your recommendations for this page/app screen and the site/app as a whole

Task A3: Make recommendations for off-page actions for an organisation’s single web
page or app screen that will improve its visibility in Search and drive traffic (30%)
To do this task you should.

a. Identify a maximum of 5 broad off-page recommendations for actions based

around off-page elements from the SEO Periodic Table that target specific
audiences from your analysis in Task A1
b. Justify the changes you recommend with specific reference to off-page elements
c. Prioritize the actions you will take and provide a justification of the order of
priority
d. Identify the issues and risks associated with taking these actions

Deliverables

You will produce a single PDF file containing Tasks A1, A2 and A3.

What do I need to make sure I am submitting in the assignment?

 Task A1 Digital Target Audiences

 Task A2 On-Page Recommendations
 Task A3 Off-Page Recommendations

What are the regulations and rules for the assignment?

 A single PDF file

o 1 x word processed report responding Tasks A1, A2 and A3

 Task A1 using the using the template format provided for A1

o 2 x A4 sides max for Task A1
 Task A2 using the assessment on-page audit template
o MAX 10 elements for Task A2
 Task A3 using the assessment off-page audit template
o MAX 5 elements for Task A3

 You must submit as a PDF file. It must not be in any other format.
 The minimum font size is 10 point
 You must use a san-serif style font – please do not use Times Roman
 Borders, headers and footers should be a minimum of 2.54cm (the standard size in
the normal MS Word template)
 Clearly identify your name and ID on a title page - this does not count in your page
count
 You must use the Cite Them Right Harvard Referencing standard
 You must supply separate page that contains a list of your references - these do
not count in your page count
 You must supply a separate appendix page (or pages) which contain(s) any data to
which you refer in the body of your content - these do not count in your page
count
 You must supply a separate appendix page which contains explanations of any
assumptions you make in the body of your proposal or justifications - these do not
 count in your page count
 You may refer to any information in any appendix but please note that any
material on any appendix page will not be considered in the assessment grading

How do you do choose what to work on?

You can choose to do this work on any one of the following opportunities – these are in
order of desirability:

 Work on a page and recommend changes for our client organisation

We can provide data and insight for our client organisation, and we recommend you
choose this option.

 Work on a page and recommend changes for the organisation you work for
 Work on a page and recommend changes for an actual client of an agency you
work for
 Work on a page and recommend changes for a prospective client of an agency
you work for

We cannot provide data and insight for an organisation that you choose, and you are
solely responsible for providing and accessing this data. You could find it difficult
accessing key data in these circumstances which could affect your performance in the
assessment.

 Work on a page and recommend changes for a competitor of a client of an

agency your work for
 Work on a page and recommend changes for a competitor of the organisation
you work for
 Work on a page and recommend changes for the organisation of one of the other
students in the cohort
 Work on a page and recommend changes for a business you or your employer
might like to start-up

Finally – and as a last resort only when other options have been completely exhausted:

 Work on a page and recommend changes for an organisation that you are
interested in

We cannot provide data and insight for an organisation that you choose, and you are
solely responsible for providing and accessing this data. You will find it extremely difficult
or even impossible accessing key data in these circumstances which could affect your
performance in the assessment.

How do I deal with data?

At the end of the written element of the assignment you should have 3 clear reference-
style appendices.

The first appendix (called references) should contain references to any of the secondary
data (things that other people have written in any format) to which you have referred in
the main body of the proposal and justification. You should use standard MMU Harvard
Referencing for this

The second appendix (called data) should contain any data you have generated yourself
to which you have referred in the main body of the proposal and justification. This
includes any screen grabs or any other data that you yourself have generated. Each piece
of data should be clearly labelled and numbered in an order that you can refer to in the
main body of the report.

The third appendix (called assumptions) should contain assumptions you have referred to
in the main body of the proposal and justification. You should only make assumptions
where you do not have access to data. Assumptions are best laid out as a list in a 2-
column table, with each assumption clearly shown and the reasons/justifications for the
assumption.

How should I manage theory, practice and referencing?

The assignment contains a business document and dummy examples for use in a real-
world context.

 We expect you to know and understand business models by using them, and this
will be clear in the way you conduct your assessment
 We do not expect you to describe the models or their authors. However, you will
need to consider their appropriateness of use and any issues they present
 Citations should be used to support assumptions and are often best used to refer
to credible academic, industrial or business evidence
 You must use Cite Them Right Harvard referencing in all written parts of the
assignment

What resources are available to me on this unit?

 Learning materials from OPDP

 Specific readings identified by the unit teaching team from the core text
 Materials and resources from the OPDP Moodle Page
 Additional web-based resources identified by the unit teaching team
 Access to the unit teaching team in the specified lectures, workshops, drop-ins,
and the OPDP Teams area channels
 Access to the unit teaching team in specified staff open office hours during term
time, clearly indicated on OPDP

What is the process for feedback and what assistance can be expected when preparing
for this assignment?
The workshops are set up in a way to help you develop content that you can use in your
assignment.

You should use these sessions to check your understanding of the content.

 All of the lectures, workshops and drop-ins are designed to provide feedback on
your ideas as you develop them
 The final workshops are dedicated purely to produce your work and feedback on
work in a group crit situation
 These are the occasions when tutors can assist you with your assessable work so
you should take full advantage of these times if you need this feedback
 You will need to look carefully at the teaching schedule for the appropriate
workshop
 Please do share your work with each other so that you can discuss ideas and
responses. If you have a study buddy or a study group, you should use that group
to share ideas and generate questions to ask the tutor in the workshops or in the
Teams channels

How is feedback managed?

Feedback is given to you in the following ways on the following occasions:

 You will receive regular, verbal and informal feedback on your ideas as you
develop content based around your understanding in the workshops
 You will receive a formal feedback sheet for the assessment you submit which
shows your grade, your level of performance and opportunities to improve in
future units based on your current performance
 You will also receive a whole group feedback piece from the tutor, who will
explain common successes and issues that occur in the cohort, and who may well
demonstrate a model answer if one of the current students is happy to share
 Any student can obtain additional feedback using the unit feedback request form,
if they require information that is not contained on the formal feedback sheet or
in the whole group feedback. This sheet will be forwarded to you if you request
further feedback. You must complete this form in order to receive additional
feedback

Academic Integrity, Academic Misconduct and Plagiarism

Academic Integrity is about engaging in good academic practice. It means being honest
and transparent, and demonstrating rigour and accuracy in your work. This can include
the proper citation and referencing of the sources of your ideas and information, ensuring
that you are using appropriate research methods, or checking that your work is free of
errors.

Additional information, video tutorials and guides to support good academic practice and
maintain Academic Integrity in your assignments can be found on the Academic Integrity
area of the Academic and Study Skills page on Moodle.
Academic Misconduct is any action that could give you an unfair advantage in
coursework, exams, or any other assessed work, which could lead to undermining the
academic standards of the University. This includes practices such as plagiarism, self-
plagiarism, collusion, contract cheating or falsification of data. Full details of the
Manchester Metropolitan University guidelines for Academic Misconduct and definitions
of terms can be found here

Academic Integrity and Generative AI

Generative AI describes tools that can create online content. If you choose to use
generative AI to help with an assessment, for example to create initial ideas, help with a
high-level essay plan or to inspire further research, you should be open in acknowledging
this and explaining how you used it. It is critical that you never try to pass off material
produced with the help of generative AI as your own. This will be classed as academic
misconduct and you may be expelled from your course.

If unsure if it is appropriate to use generative AI for your academic work, discuss it with
your tutor before submitting. Unless you are advised it is acceptable, do not use it. It is
also important to understand the limitations of generative AI. Please see further guidance
and information here.

University Stepped Marking Guidelines

You will be assessed using a marking scheme (rather than marking criteria). This uses
scores that are added together using individual marks from individual elements in each of
the tasks, and then combines the scores together from each task to create your overall
grade.

Step marking is not used where there is a marking scheme as there is no ‘overall’
assessment of the work. There is complete transparency on how your grade is created
from the marking scheme and this forms the basis of feedback on how you can improve
performance in future situations. The marking scheme is attached at the end of this
assignment form.

Mark PGT
Classification
95 - 100% Distinction
90%
85%
80%
75%
72%
68% Merit
65%
62%
58% Pass
55%
52%
48% Fail
45%
42%
38%
35%
32%
28%
25%
22%
18%
15%
12%
8%
5%
2%
0%
Non submission
Assessment Marking Scheme
In marking this assessment, the marking scheme below will be applied to the tasks you complete. All aspects of the unit learning outcomes (ULOs)
and professional skills (PLOS) will be evident through your completion of each task.
Component
A1. Is a prioritised series
of preferred digital
target audiences
identified?
A2. Are on-page
changes to the web
page or app screen
recommended? (40%)
A3. Are off-page actions
recommended? (30%)
Extreme Fail Bad Fail Fail Marginal Pass Merit Distinction Distinction+
0-19% 20-29% 30-39% 40-49% 50-59% 60-69% 70-85% 86-100%
No series of preferred Extremely poor series of Inadequate series of Weak/barely adequate Adequate series of Good series of preferred Exceptional series of Exemplary series of
digital target audiences preferred digital target preferred digital target series of preferred preferred digital target target audiences preferred target preferred target audiences
identified audiences identified audiences identified digital target audiences audiences identified + identified + evaluation of audiences identified + identified series of
identified, limited to some evaluation of alternatives + justification clear evaluation of audiences identified + clear
single audience target alternatives of choice alternatives + clear evaluation of alternatives +
OR justification of choices + clear justification of choice
target audience limited issues/risks identified with + issues/risks identified
to offline or choices with choices + risks
demographic techniques identified because of
discards
No/incorrect on-page Extremely poor on-page Inadequate on-page Weak/barely adequate Adequate on-page Good on-page changes to Exceptional on-page Exemplary/model on-page
changes to web page or changes to web page or changes to web page or on-page changes to web changes to the web page web page app screen changes to web page or changes to web page app
app screen app screen app screen page or app screen or app screen recommended with good app, screen screen recommended with
recommended recommended recommended recommended with little recommended with some discussion + good recommended with an excellent discussion +
reference to specific on- reference to specific on- justification of with excellent discussion + clear justification with
page elements page elements reference to on-page clear justification with reference to on-page
elements reference to on-page factors + issues/risks
elements + issues/risks identified with changes
identified with changes
No/incorrect off-page Extremely poor off-page Inadequate off-page Weak/barely adequate Adequate off-page actions Good off-page actions Exceptional off-page Exemplary/model off-page
actions recommended actions recommended actions recommended + off-page actions recommended + some recommended + good actions recommended + actions recommended +
no reference to off-page recommended + little reference to off-page reference to off-page clear reference to off- clear reference to off-page
elements reference to off-page elements elements page elements elements
elements + little + some evaluation of + good evaluation of + clear evaluation of + clear evaluation of
evaluation of alternatives + little alternatives + justification alternatives + issues/risks alternatives + clear
alternatives justification of choice of choice identified with choices justification of choice +
issues/risks identified with
choice
Your grade for performance in each task allows you to determine whether your work satisfies, exceeds, or does not meet the conditions for
demonstration of unit learning outcomes (ULOs), programme level outcomes (PLOs) and AACSB AoL LOs

Demonstration of ULOs Demonstration of PLOs

ULO Mapping vs Task
A1. Is a prioritised series
of preferred digital target
audiences identified?
(30%
Below 40% Between 40%-69% 70%+ Exceeds PLO Mapping vs Task Below 40% Between 40%-69% 70%+
Does not meet Satisfies conditions for conditions for Does not meet Satisfies conditions for Exceeds conditions for
conditions for demonstration demonstration conditions for demonstration demonstration
demonstration demonstration
Does not contribute to Contributes to the Exceptionally A1. Is a prioritised series of Does not contribute to Contributes to the Exceptionally
the demonstration of demonstration of ULO1 contributes to the preferred digital target the demonstration of demonstration of PLO contributes to the
ULO1 demonstration of ULO1 audiences identified? (30% PLO 1.1.1, PLO 1.1.2a, 1.1.1, PLO 1.1.2a, PLO demonstration of PLO
PLO 2.1 1, PLO 2.1.2 2.1 1, PLO 2.1.2 and/or 1.1.1, PLO 1.1.2a, PLO
and/or PLO 2.1.3 PLO 2.1.3 2.1 1, PLO 2.1.2 and/or
PLO 2.1.3

A2. Are on-page changes Does not contribute to
to the web page or app demonstration of ULO2
screen recommended? and/or ULO3
(40%)
Contributes to Exceptionally A2. Are on-page changes Does not contribute to Contributes to the Exceptionally
demonstration of ULO2 contributes to to the web page or app the demonstration of demonstration of contributes to the
and/or ULO3 demonstration of ULO2 screen recommended? PLO 1.1.1, PLO 1.1.2a, PLO 1.1.1, PLO 1.1.2a, demonstration of PLO
and/or ULO3 (40%) PLO 2.1 1, PLO 2.1.2 PLO 2.1 1, PLO 2.1.2 1.1.1, PLO 1.1.2a, PLO
and/or PLO 2.1.3 and/or PLO 2.1.3 2.1 1, PLO 2.1.2 and/or
PLO 2.1.3

A3. Are off-page actions Does not contribute to Contributes to Exceptionally A3. Are off-page actions Does not contribute to Contributes to the Exceptionally
recommended? (30%) demonstration of ULO2 demonstration of ULO2 contributes to recommended? (30%) the demonstration of demonstration of PLO contributes to the
and/or ULO3 and/or ULO3 demonstration of ULO2 PLO 1.1.1, PLO 1.1.2a, 1.1.1, PLO 1.1.2a, PLO demonstration of PLO
and/or ULO3 PLO 2.1 1, PLO 2.1.2 2.1 1, PLO 2.1.2 and/or 1.1.1, PLO 1.1.2a, PLO
and/or PLO 2.1.3 PLO 2.1.3 2.1 1, PLO 2.1.2 and/or
PLO 2.1.3