Adytum Education · Track 02 · Tier 1 of 4
For founders + SMB owners who don't have a marketing department — or whose first marketing hire needs the framework. Self-paced. Two portfolio pieces. Reciprocal peer review. Open Badges 3.0 credential on completion. You leave able to do marketing-assistant work Monday — campaign briefs, content audits, channel selection, performance reporting — grounded in canonical marketing science (Sharp, Ehrenberg-Bass), behavioral economics (Kahneman, Cialdini), and operational discipline (Binet/Field). Tool-independent.
Don't have time for the full 7-module track? Every module is independently certifiable. Take a single lesson, pass the focused micro-portfolio at the end, get peer-reviewed against the published rubric, and earn an Open Badges 3.0 micro-credential displayable on LinkedIn.
The lesson certs stack: earn all 7 + pass the final synthesis portfolio = full Growth Operator Foundations credential. Same competence bar at every level. No attendance certificates.
See the lesson rubrics →PhD-density curriculum grounded in primary sources. All 7 modules live — ~27,000 words, 70+ cited primary sources across the track.
What marketing actually is (Drucker, Levitt). Marketing science (Sharp, Ehrenberg-Bass, Romaniuk). Behavioral economics (Kahneman, Cialdini). The funnel + its critics (AIDA, McKinsey CDJ, growth loops). Positioning, segmentation, targeting (STP) + JTBD synthesis. Brand-equity vs activation (Binet/Field). Connecting theory to operational practice.
Campaign brief design (Steel). Audience research workflows (JTBD interviews, Mom Test, verbatim mining). Channel selection frameworks (PESO model, Bullseye). Content audits (Halvorson). Campaign-planning canvas. Tool-options matrix.
Marketing intake systems. DACI for marketing decisions. Sprint + kanban cadences and WIP limits (Grove, Anderson, Scrum Guide). Cross-functional handoffs (Sales, Product, Finance). Definition-of-done + pre-launch QA (Gawande). The PDCA improvement loop.
Crisis comms (Coombs SCCT). Platform dependency: disapproved ads, deliverability red flags, channel concentration risk. Regulated-category detection (financial, health, children, income claims). Attribution disputes. Founder-led vs brand-led transition. Sunset/discontinuation messaging.
Sales (the eternal tension — and how to actually align; Kotler/Rackham). Product. Finance / CFO (defending the budget as a portfolio). Founders / CEO (managing upward). Agencies + freelancers. Customer Success. Customers themselves as stakeholder. Built on Fisher/Ury interest-based negotiation.
Truth-in-advertising + claim substantiation. FTC Endorsement Guides (2023) + fake-review rule. CAN-SPAM / GDPR / CCPA consent mechanics. Dark patterns (Brignull; FTC 2022) — and recognizing one in your own funnel. COPPA + sensitive audiences. Inclusive marketing. AI-content disclosure norms.
LTV, CAC, payback period (with the math; Skok). Channel metrics in context (CTR/CPC/CPM/CPA). UTM hygiene. MMM vs multi-touch attribution vs incrementality (the eBay study). Brand-equity tracking. Goodhart resistance: how each metric gets gamed and what to do about it.