Learn Marketing Skills the Smart Way, with our new NZ Vital Marketing Skills for 2026 online training course.

This Course Features AI-Powered Training Tools Throughout

What makes this course different?

First, it's offering training on the essential skills that today's employers expect marketers to have, based on our research into current employment advertising for marketing roles:

Every single lesson includes hands-on AI-powered exercises designed to accelerate your learning and mirror how you'll actually work in 2026. 

Throughout the 16 weeks, you'll work with cutting-edge AI tools:

• Instead of just reading about marketing automation, you'll use our custom PromptCraft Pro tool to build expert-level AI prompts.
• Rather than memorising design principles, you'll get real-time feedback from our Design Principle Detector as you create or assess actual marketing materials.
• Need to convince your boss of your new strategy? The Stakeholder Sentinel AI will let you practise navigating those tricky conversations.
• Our Strategy Weaver AI will guides you through questions and spit out a polished one-page plan.
• The Viral Content Predictor assesses your content ideas for engagement potential.

And those are just a few of the AI-powered tools we’ve incorporated into this course.

The Challenge Every NZ Marketer Faces Today

You're already doing great work, but the marketing landscape beneath your feet is shifting rapidly. The tools, techniques, and expectations that defined marketing excellence just two years ago are no longer sufficient for delivering the results your business demands today and tomorrow.

Our comprehensive analysis of the New Zealand marketing landscape reveals a striking paradox: while 89% of marketing teams are already using AI tools out of necessity, 76% of marketing professionals have received no formal training in these technologies. Teams are under-resourced (56% report being understaffed), yet expectations for sophisticated, multi-channel campaigns have never been higher.

Our research into recent marketing job ads shows that the two most-demanded skill clusters are "AI & Automation" (present in 52% of job ads) and "Leadership & Management" (present in 50% of ads). This is what the market says it wants: sophisticated, AI-literate professionals who can lead complex initiatives.

Why This Course Will Make You More Effective Immediately

This programme is specifically crafted around four critical capabilities that distinguish high-impact marketers in today's New Zealand market:

Master AI as Your Strategic Advantage

While your competitors fumble with basic AI prompts, you'll learn to harness AI as a sophisticated co-pilot. Imagine reducing your content creation time by 60% while improving quality, or automating routine analytics tasks so you can focus on strategy. These aren't future possibilities—they're immediate productivity gains.

Become the Strategic Generalist Your Team Needs

The days of narrow specialisation are over. Today's most valuable marketers can seamlessly move between graphic design, data analysis, and campaign management. You'll develop the "comb-shaped" skill set that makes you indispensable—deep expertise in your core area, connected by strong capabilities across multiple disciplines.

Prove Your Marketing Impact with Confidence

Transform from reporting metrics to demonstrating business value. Learn to connect your campaigns directly to revenue outcomes, speak the language of senior leadership, and position marketing as the growth engine it should be.

Lead Through Influence, Regardless of Your Title

Whether you're managing a team of one (yourself) or coordinating complex cross-functional campaigns, you'll develop the leadership skills that turn good marketers into indispensable ones.

Course Content Overview

The following table maps each of the 16 lessons to the foundational pillars and the specific market demand identified in our research. This demonstrates the data-driven design of the programme, ensuring every component directly aligns with the skills required to build a future-proof marketing career in New Zealand.

Detailed Lesson Descriptions

Lesson 1: AI & Automation: Mastering Your New Co-pilot

Artificial Intelligence isn't replacing marketers—it's supercharging them. In this foundational lesson, you'll learn to harness AI tools that handle repetitive tasks so you can focus on strategy and creativity. 

Key Learning: Transform from basic AI user to sophisticated prompt engineer. You'll learn to create multi-step prompts that generate high-quality marketing copy, strategic ideas, and campaign concepts.

AI-Powered Exercise: You'll master prompt engineering with our custom PromptCraft Pro tool, which guides you through building expert-level prompts step-by-step.

Tools Covered: ChatGPT, Claude, HubSpot AI, Canva Magic Studio

Lesson 2: Leadership & Management: The Human Connector in a Tech-Driven World

As marketing becomes more tech-complex, human skills become your competitive advantage. This lesson teaches leadership as a behaviour, not a title—perfect for New Zealand's lean marketing teams where junior staff often lead projects without formal authority.

Key Learning: Develop stakeholder management, influence without authority, and commercial storytelling skills that help you translate marketing data into compelling business cases.

AI-Powered Exercise: The Stakeholder Simulation where our Stakeholder Sentinel AI generates realistic emails from difficult project stakeholders. You'll practice drafting responses while the AI analyses your communication for tone, clarity, and strategic effectiveness.

Tools Covered: Slack, Teams, Asana, Jira

Lesson 3: Graphic/Creative Design: The Generalist's Visual Toolkit

You don't need to be an artist, but having design skills makes you a more versatile marketer. This lesson covers fundamental design principles and hands-on creation using both beginner-friendly and professional tools.

Key Learning: Master the four fundamental design principles and confidently create professional-looking graphics using templates, brand kits, and AI-powered design tools.

AI-Powered Exercise: The Design Principle Detector analyses your uploaded marketing graphics, providing visual overlays that highlight strengths and weaknesses based on core design principles. It's like having a design mentor giving instant feedback.

Tools Covered: Adobe Creative Suite, Canva, Figma, MidJourney, Leonardo

Lesson 4: Content & Copywriting: The Engine of Modern Marketing

Strong writing remains at the heart of marketing success. This lesson hones your ability to write compelling copy for various channels while learning to use AI tools as collaborative partners, not replacements.

Key Learning: Write attention-grabbing headlines, persuasive calls-to-action, and maintain consistent brand voice across all channels. Learn SEO copywriting techniques that satisfy both humans and search algorithms.

AI-Powered Exercise: The Brand Voice Alignment Challenge using our Brand Voice Analyst tool. You'll refine AI-generated copy to match specific brand personalities, receiving real-time feedback and brand match scores.

Tools Covered: ChatGPT, Jasper, Claude, Canva, Google Docs

Lesson 5: Digital Marketing: Connecting the Dots

Move beyond individual channel tactics to orchestrate cohesive, integrated campaigns. This synthesis lesson shows how all digital marketing channels work together to create seamless customer journeys.

Key Learning: Develop integrated campaign strategies combining owned, earned, and paid media. Understand how platforms like HubSpot act as the central nervous system for modern marketing.

AI-Powered Exercise: The Integrated Campaign Planner where you design multi-channel campaigns and receive AI evaluation on completeness, channel mix, and strategic alignment.

Tools Covered: HubSpot, Google Analytics (GA4), Meta Business Suite

Lesson 6: Analytics & Data: From Metrics to Meaning

Data-driven decision making is non-negotiable for modern marketers. Learn to navigate GA4, create compelling dashboards, and transform raw data into strategic insights that drive business decisions.

Key Learning: Master GA4's interface, build dashboards in Power BI or Looker Studio, and develop commercial storytelling skills that connect marketing metrics to business outcomes.

AI-Powered Exercise: Work with real marketing datasets to identify key insights. Our Analytic Evaluator AI plugin auto-grades your analytical interpretations and guides you on connecting metrics to marketing meaning.

Tools Covered: GA4, Power BI, Looker Studio, SQL basics

Lesson 7: Social Media: Building Communities and Driving Results

With 79% of Kiwis on social media, these platforms are where brands build communities and drive engagement. Learn platform-specific strategies and create content that resonates with New Zealand audiences.

Key Learning: Understand platform differences, create engaging content tailored to each channel, and master community management techniques that build genuine connections.

AI-Powered Exercise: The Viral Content Predictor assesses your content ideas for engagement potential, providing specific suggestions for improving reach and impact.

Tools Covered: Meta Ads Manager, TikTok, CapCut, Canva

Lesson 8: Email/CRM: Owning Your Audience

Email remains one of the highest ROI channels. Learn to craft emails people want to open, segment audiences for personalisation, and automate customer journeys that nurture relationships.

Key Learning: Build effective email campaigns, understand CRM fundamentals, and create automated workflows that guide prospects through your marketing funnel.

AI-Powered Exercise: The Email Personalisation Challenge where you create segmented email communications and receive AI feedback on personalisation elements and call-to-action effectiveness.

Tools Covered: HubSpot, Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Lesson 9: SEO/AEO/SEM: Winning the Search Game

Being discoverable online is crucial for New Zealand businesses. Learn organic optimisation across both search engines and AI (SEO/AEO), as well as paid search strategies (SEM) to capture traffic when people are actively searching.

Key Learning: Master keyword research, on-page optimisation, and Google Ads fundamentals. Understand how to optimise for both traditional search and AI-powered answer engines.

AI-Powered Exercise: The SEO Content Optimiser guides you through optimising content for target keywords while maintaining readability and user appeal.

Tools Covered: Google Ads, Google Search Console, SEMrush

Lesson 10: Strategic Planning: From Business Goals to Marketing Action

Strategic thinking sets senior marketers apart. Learn to develop comprehensive marketing strategies that align with business objectives and can adapt to changing conditions.

Key Learning: Create marketing plans using proven frameworks, set SMART objectives, and develop customer journey maps that guide tactical decisions.

AI-Powered Exercise: The Strategy-on-a-Napkin Challenge using our Strategy Weaver AI, which guides you through Socratic questioning to build a complete one-page marketing plan.

Tools Covered: Figma, Miro, strategic planning frameworks

Lesson 11: Project/Product Management: Delivering on Time and on Budget

In lean New Zealand marketing teams, project management skills make you indispensable. Learn to orchestrate complex campaigns and bridge departments effectively.

Key Learning: Master project management methodologies, use collaboration tools effectively, and develop stakeholder management skills that keep initiatives on track.

AI-Powered Exercise: Create detailed project plans and receive Project Assessor AI feedback on completeness, timeline logic, and risk management considerations.

Tools Covered: Asana, Jira, Trello

Lesson 12: Video/Multimedia: Capturing Attention in a Crowded World

Video dominates how audiences consume content. Learn to plan, shoot, and edit compelling marketing videos using accessible tools, even if you're not a videographer.

Key Learning: Understand video storytelling principles, master smartphone videography techniques, and use editing tools to create professional-looking content.

AI-Powered Exercise: The Video Storyboard Assistant helps you plan effective marketing videos, ensuring your content includes compelling hooks and clear calls-to-action.

Tools Covered: CapCut, Adobe Premiere Pro, Runway, Canva Video

Lesson 13: E-commerce: Driving the Digital Storefront

E-commerce marketing requires specialised skills for converting browsers into buyers. Learn platform management, conversion optimisation, and analytics specific to online retail.

Key Learning: Optimise product pages, implement conversion rate optimisation strategies, and use email automation specifically designed for e-commerce customer journeys.

AI-Powered Exercise: The Conversion Recommender analyses e-commerce pages and provides prioritised improvement suggestions based on conversion best practices.

Tools Covered: Shopify, GA4 E-commerce, Klaviyo

Lesson 14: Paid Media Buying: Performance at Scale

Master the art and science of paid advertising across search and social platforms. Learn targeting, bidding strategies, and campaign optimisation techniques that deliver measurable ROI.

Key Learning: Understand auction dynamics, create compelling ad copy, implement advanced targeting strategies, and optimise campaigns based on performance data.

AI-Powered Exercise: The Ad Campaign Creator where you craft search and social ads, receiving instant feedback on copy quality, targeting relevance, and optimisation potential.

Tools Covered: Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager

Lesson 15: Vibe Coding: The Augmented Marketer's Secret Weapon

"Vibe coding" means using AI to write code by describing what you want in natural language. This game-changing skill lets you create tools, automations, and prototypes without deep programming knowledge.

Key Learning: Use AI coding assistants to automate repetitive tasks, generate SQL queries for marketing databases, and build simple tools that solve workflow challenges.

AI-Powered Exercise: The Marketing Script Builder where you describe repetitive tasks in plain English and receive functional code scripts to automate them.

Tools Covered: ChatGPT for coding, Cursor, Lovable, SQL, Python basics

Lesson 16: The Autonomous Marketer: Harnessing AI Agents for Maximum Impact

Explore the cutting edge of AI: agents that can independently reason, plan, and execute complex marketing tasks. Learn to delegate entire campaigns to AI while maintaining strategic oversight.

Key Learning: Understand AI agent capabilities, create effective agent briefs, and implement autonomous marketing systems that scale your impact exponentially.

AI-Powered Exercise: The AI Agent Brief Designer where you practice formulating high-level task briefs for autonomous marketing agents, balancing freedom with necessary constraints.

Tools Covered: Salesforce Agentforce, OpenAI Operator, Anthropic Claude Computer Use

Your Competitive Edge Starts Now

This isn't about keeping up with change—it's about getting ahead of it. While others struggle with basic AI prompts, you'll be orchestrating sophisticated automated campaigns. While competitors fumble with disconnected tactics, you'll deliver integrated, data-driven strategies that consistently outperform.

Every lesson is designed with one goal: making you measurably more effective at what you do right now, with the tools and budgets you have today. The marketing profession in New Zealand is being redefined by professionals who understand that excellence comes from strategic application of emerging capabilities, not just hard work.

This course ensures you're writing that new definition, not scrambling to catch up with it. By completing this programme, you'll have the verifiable hard skills, platform expertise, and strategic thinking that New Zealand employers are desperately seeking but struggling to find internally.

The future belongs to marketers who can seamlessly blend human creativity with AI capability, strategic thinking with tactical execution, and data insights with compelling storytelling. That's exactly what this course will make you: not just a marketer, but a marketing force multiplier ready for whatever 2026 brings.

Here's what else you need to know:

TIMING

The next course begins on Wednesday 10 September, 2025.

However, you take this course in accordance with YOUR OWN TIMING – once each lesson is released, it is available for you to access ANYTIME, 24/7. And you have access indefinitely.

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INVESTMENT

This sixteen-part online training course is available for $997+GST per person. However we offer an Early Bird Discount of $100 -- pay just $897+GST for bookings received and payment made by Wednesday 03 September, 2025.

Bookings are confirmed on receipt of payment, which can be by bank deposit or credit card. We can raise an invoice in advance if you need it.

To reserve your place in this course, and make payment by credit or debit card, please enrol by clicking here:

If you would prefer to pay by bank deposit or require an invoice, please send an email to bookings@netmarketingcourses.co.nz with your requirements.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

You’ll receive our emailed confirmation of your booking. Then on the first day of the course we’ll follow up with details of your Login and Password, along with Course Notes for the first lesson of the NZ Vital Marketing Skills for 2026 online training course.

Each week over sixteen weeks, a new lesson will be released, and we will email you with Course Notes for that lesson. (We release lessons weekly to ensure that they are as up-to-date as possible).

If you have any questions, or would like more information, please email us at bookings@netmarketingcourses.co.nz

Your instructor for this course is Michael Carney, one of New Zealand’s most experienced digital marketing practitioners and educators. As the founder and director of Netmarketing Courses, Michael has dedicated the last fifteen years to researching, creating, and delivering practical, relevant online training designed specifically for the Aotearoa market. His mission is to empower Kiwi organisations and marketers with the skills they need to thrive in a competitive digital landscape. To date, he has trained over 3,000 students through partnerships with leading industry bodies including the NZ Marketing Association, NZ Retailers Association, Tourism Industry Association NZ, and Hospitality NZ.

Course participants range from absolute beginners just starting to come to grips with digital marketing through to senior marketing professionals looking for Continuing Professional Development and seeking to stay up-to-date with the latest changes in the ever-evolving digital environment. Specific courses are offered for organisations of all sizes, from solopreneurs and small businesses through to local and central government bodies and large corporate businesses.

Michael has practical, hands-on experience with all aspects of digital marketing, from website creation to social media advertising, from strategic guidance and trend analysis to thought leadership. He has been online since 1987 and involved with digital marketing in all its aspects since the mid-1990s. He was an early adopter of Generative AI when ChatGPT launched in late 2022, and now has extensive experience with using AI for research, brainstorming, content creation, design, video creation and editing and what's become known as "vibe coding", using AI to develop web applications.

Michael’s expertise is built on a career spanning more than four decades, during which he has developed marketing and advertising strategies for many of New Zealand's most iconic brands. His extensive client list includes The Warehouse, ANZ Bank, Lion Breweries, Griffins Foods, Sony New Zealand, Honda New Zealand, and Heinz Wattie. This deep, hands-on experience at the highest levels of the industry ensures that every course is grounded in real-world application, not just academic theory. He has held senior strategic roles in major advertising agencies, including National Media Director at HKM Advertising and Strategic Planning Director for The Media Counsel. He currently also is Digital and Strategic Director of the creative agency Good Gravy. 

Beyond his client work, Michael is a respected thought leader, published author, and industry contributor. He wrote the bestselling book "Trade Me Success Secrets," which sold out its first printing in just six weeks, and has ghost-written several other business books on topics like digital transformation. For years, he chaired the Network of Digital Marketers for the NZ Marketing Association and he has been a regular magazine columnist for Marketing Magazine and other titles. This unique combination of in-the-trenches experience, proven teaching ability, and strategic insight makes him the ideal guide to help you master digital marketing.

FAQ

How does the course work?

Every lesson includes Action Steps so that you can start implementing what you’ve just learned, along with Quick Wins so that you can apply your newfound knowledge immediately.

Is the course live?

No, everything is online, conducted on a web-based e-learning software platform. Once a lesson is released, you can access it whenever you wish, anytime 24/7, in accordance with your own timetable). You proceed at your own pace, accessing materials online.

What's the course format?

This particular online training course provides content in a variety of multimedia forms, including text, images, videos, slideshows, presentations and PDF files. No special software is required to participate, you access it through a web browser (eg Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari).

How often are lessons released?

Course lessons will be provided weekly, over fourteen weeks. We release content on a weekly schedule because we review (and where necessary update) the contents of each lesson just before release, to ensure that the material is as up-to-date as possible — digital marketing is constantly changing, so we aim to ensure that the lessons reflect the latest developments.

How long will each lesson take?

We typically recommend you allow 2-3 hours per lesson.

What happens if I need help?

 Interaction with the course tutor is enabled via email (with telephone backup if required).

Feedback from previous digital marketing training course and workshop participants:

• It is great that we have managed to get an external perspective on marketing in the digital space – your expertise in this area is greatly appreciated. – Hazel T.
• I really enjoyed the [Digital Marketing Workshop] today and got a lot out of it  – Nikki H.
• Thanks for a great [Digital Marketing] session yesterday, really enjoyed it and learnt lots – Izi W
• “this was the best professional development course I have done in many years” – Mark R, senior Agency Exec responsible for social media
• “thought the information within was outstanding” – Ed P, General Manager
• “What I loved was that I started with a fairly rudimentary understanding of social media but have learned a lot – including where to find more information as I need it.” – Fiona W, Marketing Manager
• “I found it relevant, informative, topical, insightful and a bloody good read. It’s never evangelical, too techy, patronising, assumes that you know too much or too little about digital and has a warm sense of humour in the communication throughout which helped faciliate the learning process for me.” — Adrienne B, new media senior executive
• “Thanks for pointing me in the direction of this course! It’s been extremely enlightening” — Shayne P, design agency director
• “Rapt with what I have seen of the course” — Julia R, fashion editor
• “I’m really enjoying the course – learning a lot – and I know the two friends I persuaded to join us are also loving it.” — Lavinia C, designer
• “Am thoroughly enjoying the content!” – Kara B, magazine co-ordinator
• “I was already engaging with social media and have been doing so for about 6 years or so. But, did I know how to use social media in a marketing and business sense? No, I simply did not. This course was a great way to show me how to do that.” — Sheryl K, online marketer