AI in Marketing Certificate Program

“If you’re interested in understanding AI from the inside out, I highly recommend DePaul’s AI in Marketing Certificate Program. This certificate program is one of the most in-depth continuing education AI courses available. James Moore is steeped in the subject matter and teaches it with a level of passion, depth, and thoroughness that exceeds expectations. As an added bonus he is kind, dedicated, and attentive to both his students and the (ever-evolving) subject matter.” 

– Adrienne Harvey

“Thank you for the wonderful learning experience. The program was excellent—informative, well-structured, and highly relevant. The instructor, James Moore, was absolutely amazing—kind, knowledgeable, and truly engaging. It was a pleasure to be part of it. I look forward to staying connected with DePaul University.” 

– Daniela Castro Rodriguez

The AI in Marketing Certificate is tailored to individuals who possess a fundamental understanding of marketing principles and data analysis skills, who now need to add understanding of AI and its capabilities to their skillset. Without sounding too flippant, that is almost everyone in the marketing industry.

• Marketing professionals looking to take their skills to the next level
• Entrepreneurs seeking new growth opportunities
• Career changers
• Those curious about the emerging field of AI and its application in marketing

This is not a course that requires prior coding experience. The weekly assignments are leveled according to ability and interest because this course is designed to cater to everyone. We'll take you on an exciting journey, where you will discover how AI works, which problems it can solve, and where it's applicable. We will show you how to use AI effectively and ethically in your business environment, without the need for any coding skills. Our goal is to empower you with the knowledge and confidence to unlock the full potential of AI in marketing.

Here's what you'll experience in this course:

• Explore the exciting possibilities of using AI to elevate your marketing strategies to new heights.
• Discover the different forms of AI and how they can be integrated into your marketing approach for maximum impact.
• Get your hands dirty with practical exercises, enabling you to dip your toes into the world of AI before tackling more advanced topics in the future.

It's an immersive and empowering journey that will leave you feeling energized and ready to revolutionize your marketing game.

Week 1: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) Data Governance, Privacy, and Ethics in AI Marketing

• Welcome, FAQs, Course Technology (D2L, Zoom).
• AI History Timeline (1945-present day).
• Hallucinations (Closed/Open domain, Reducing strategies like RAG and Chain of Thought).
• Foundation Models (GPT, Claude, Gemini, LLaMA, Mistral, Stable Diffusion).
• Types of Machine Learning (Supervised, Unsupervised, Reinforcement, Self-supervised) and Common ML Algorithms.
• Comparing LLM Capabilities (Ideation, Summarization, Code Generation, Conversation).
• AI Ethics: Global convergence on five guidelines (Non-maleficence, Responsibility, Transparency, Justice, Respect for Rights).
• Historical context (The Luddites).
• AI and Law: Copyright (human authorship required), Trademarks/Patents, Risk of Text/Image Reuse (Infringement).
• Security Risks: Prompt Injection and Jailbreaking (e.g., DAN, Indirect Injection).
• Deepfakes.
• AI Carbon Footprint (GHG emissions from data industry, Training vs. Inference usage).
• AI Governance (EU AI Act, US Executive Order).
• Plagiarism Detection and Watermarking (SB 942, SynthID).

Week 2: Natural Language Processing (NLP) for Marketing

• Introduction to Chatbots (ELIZA, 1966 precursor).
• NLP Concepts (Tokenization, Parsing, Sentiment Analysis).
• Prompt Engineering Techniques: Zero-Shot, Single-Shot, Few-Shot, Step-by-Step (Zero-Shot CoT), Chain-of-Thought, Role assignment, Temperature manipulation, and Adversarial Prompting.
• Prompt Templates (P-R-E-P-A-R-E, C.R.E.A.T.E, R.A.C.E.F).
• Reasoning Models and Deep Research Template.
• Local LLMs (Data Privacy/Customization).
• Six Types of Conversation (Nielsen Norman Group Research).

Week 3: Generative Imagery, Data Visualization, and Social Media

• Generative Computer Art.
• Platforms and Competing Philosophies (Ethical use, Open-source, Art-quality).
• Specific prompt engineering techniques for image generation (avoiding jargon, using flags/parameters, text in images).
• Multimodality.
• Copyright status of AI-generated work (requires human authorship).
• Data Visualization Basics: Goal for better decision making, maximizing data-ink ratio (Tufte's principles), and avoiding misleading chart types (Pie, 3D, Explosions).
• Data Visualization Tools (Power BI, Tableau, Looker Studio, Jupyter Notebooks).
• Social Media Marketing Strategies.

Week 4: Automation and Hardware

• Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG): Augmenting LLM prompts with external, retrieved context to reduce hallucination and improve accuracy.
• RAG Components (Retriever, Generator, Knowledge Corpus/Indexing).
• AI-Powered Marketing Automation Services (Content creation, Lead generation, Personalization).
• AI Agents: Manus (Presentation creation, Agentic loop, Reasoning and action).
• Customized LLMs: Poe Bots (System Prompt/Knowledge Base), and GPTs (custom versions of ChatGPT).
• Scripting with Python for automation (Key libraries: openai, pandas, python-pptx).
• RPA tools (UI.Vision RPA).
• Transcription (Whisper, Descript).
• Recommendation Systems (Content-Based, Collaborative, Knowledge-Based).

Week 5: Final Presentations And Wrap-Up

• Course Wrap-Up and Review.

What is Flex?

A Flex course is taught in a technology-enhanced classroom that allows for students and guests to remotely connect via Zoom and actively participate with students and faculty in the physical classroom. This modality is highly desired by students who enjoy learning in the classroom but want the flexibility to connect online when work or family responsibilities prevent them from traveling to campus. You can attend on campus or remotely via Zoom. You don’t need to commit to one particular mode of attendance – you can choose on the day what works best for you.

Can I attend remotely?

Yes. You can attend remotely for all classes over the five weeks, or for some. You will need a computer (webcam, microphone, speakers) running the current version of Zoom to connect.

Can I attend on campus?

Yes. You can attend on campus for all classes over the five weeks, or for some.

Are there course materials?

There are no required books for this course. Comprehensive handouts and videos are provided on the the course website.

Is there required software? 

Projects will require the use of free and freemium software. Instructions on how to download and use the software will be provided online. You may need administrator access to install these on your computer

Is this class very technical?

Some of the topics are technical but are described in a way that a non-technical person can understand. At every stage theory is integrated with the technology – we aim to provide insight for technical and non-technical participants.

Do I need a computer?

You will need access to a computer (Windows or macOS) and a reliable (broadband) connection to the internet. You may bring a laptop to campus if you wish, but it is not required.

Do I get DePaul credit for these classes?

No, but some have been approved for continuing education units (CEUs). These classes are professional education classes, with different requirements than courses taken for academic credit.

How big are the classes?

Class size is limited. Most classes have about 15-20 students.

Will I have to write papers and take exams?

You will have an optional assignment each week, which will not be graded, but you will receive feedback. At the end of the course, you will have a required class presentation. Instructions on how to create your online presentation will be provided.

How do I access the course website?

You will be given a username and password the first week of class. The course website is hosted at: http://D2L.depaul.

Do I have to make a final presentation?

Yes. The final presentation is required to receive your certificate for the program.