AMA PCM Digital Marketing study plan
AMA PCM Digital Marketing · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 7 hours per week
Digital Marketing Strategy and Planning
Map the five-stage customer journey for a chosen brand and annotate which digital channels earn attention at each stage
Convert three vague business goals into SMART marketing objectives with baseline, target, and timeframe
Calculate a channel budget split using CAC, projected conversion rate, and allowable cost per acquisition
Draft a one-page situation analysis covering competitive set, audience segments, and one named constraint
Your checkpoint
A one-page digital marketing plan for a self-selected brand: SMART objectives, three audience segments, channel mix with budget percentages, and a KPI table naming one primary and two supporting metrics per channel
Digital Marketing Strategy and Planning & Social Media and Paid Digital Media
Compare paid search, paid social, display, and organic search on cost structure, intent level, and time-to-result
Build a media budget model that converts spend into projected impressions, clicks, and conversions at three spend tiers
Select attribution logic (last-click versus position-based) for two scenarios and defend the choice in writing
Identify three risks in the plan from week 1 and write a mitigation for each
Your checkpoint
A spreadsheet-based media budget model with three spend scenarios, projected funnel volumes, blended CAC, and a half-page memo justifying the attribution model chosen
Social Media and Paid Digital Media
Define audience targeting sets across demographic, interest, behavioral, and first-party data layers for one campaign
Write a paid social campaign brief specifying objective, placements, creative format, and bidding strategy
Design an A/B test matrix with one variable per cell, minimum sample size, and a decision rule
Draft three ad copy variants that match distinct funnel stages and explain the persuasion angle used in each
Your checkpoint
A complete paid social campaign brief with 3 ad copy variants, 2 creative concepts, a 4-cell test matrix, and a stated success threshold with the metric that triggers scaling or pausing
Search Engine Optimization, Search Advertising, and Web Analytics
Build a keyword map clustering 40+ queries by intent, funnel stage, and mapped page type
Audit five pages against on-page SEO fundamentals and log every issue in a prioritized fix list
Diagram the anatomy of a search ad group including match types, negative keywords, and ad extensions
Design a GA4 event and conversion schema with named events, parameters, and the question each answers
Your checkpoint
A keyword-to-page map plus a prioritized on-page audit table (issue, page, impact, effort) and a GA4 measurement plan naming at least eight events and four conversions
Search Engine Optimization, Search Advertising, and Web Analytics
Structure a search advertising account from campaign to ad group to keyword with a stated naming convention
Calculate Quality Score inputs, expected CPC, and break-even conversion rate for three sample keywords
Compare landing page report, funnel exploration, and path analysis as diagnostic tools for a drop-off problem
Interpret a sample analytics dataset and write three findings ranked by revenue impact
Your checkpoint
A search campaign architecture document with two campaigns, five ad groups, sample keywords with bids, and a one-page analytics readout stating three prioritized optimization actions
Content Marketing and Brand Storytelling
Articulate a brand narrative using positioning statement, proof points, and tone-of-voice rules
Map content types to funnel stages and select the format that fits each stage's intent
Draft a four-week editorial calendar with owner, channel, format, and repurposing path for each asset
Write one long-form outline and its derivative social and email snippets to demonstrate repurposing
Your checkpoint
A content plan package: positioning statement, tone-of-voice one-pager, four-week editorial calendar with 12 entries, and one long-form outline with three derived short-form assets
Email Marketing, Automation, and Conversion Optimization
Design a three-email welcome sequence with send timing, single call to action, and success metric per message
Segment a sample list into three behavioral groups and match an automation trigger to each
Specify deliverability requirements covering authentication, list hygiene, and unsubscribe compliance
Construct a conversion optimization hypothesis with a prioritized test backlog using an impact-versus-effort scoring model
Your checkpoint
An email and CRO pack: three full email drafts with subject lines and preview text, a segmentation and trigger diagram, a deliverability checklist, and a ranked backlog of five landing page tests
Digital Marketing Strategy and Planning & Content Marketing and Brand Storytelling & Social Media and Paid Digital Media & Search Engine Optimization, Search Advertising, and Web Analytics & Email Marketing, Automation, and Conversion Optimization
Synthesize all prior deliverables into a single integrated 90-day campaign proposal
Score personal readiness per domain using a timed practice set and log every missed concept
Rewrite the three weakest concept areas into one-page personal reference sheets
Sequence a final two-week review schedule weighted toward the lowest-scoring domains
Your checkpoint
An integrated 90-day campaign proposal (objectives, content plan, paid media plan, search and measurement plan, email flow) plus a scored gap analysis and a two-week remediation calendar
Milestones
Week 2: Can explain aloud, without notes, how a fixed budget converts into projected conversions and defend one attribution model choice in under three minutes
Week 4: Keyword map, on-page audit, and GA4 measurement plan are complete, and every audit issue has an owner, impact rating, and effort estimate
Week 6: Content calendar covers all funnel stages with no more than two gaps, and each entry names a channel, format, owner, and repurposing path
Week 8: Practice set score of 80 percent or higher overall with no single domain below 70 percent; any domain under 70 percent appears in the remediation calendar