The inaugural CIMA Interactive Marketing Certificate Program kicked off last week at DePaul University. This was week 1 of a six-week program for marketing professionals to improve their knowledge and application regarding the theory and practice of interactive marketing. And it was a great class!

In our first session, Chris Kenellakes introduced SEO and Paid Search. Chris has over ten years of experience in search marketing and currently works as a Senior Account Manager at Kenshoo. He covered a wide variety of topics – What is SEO, how search engines work, ranking, how to identify good SEO, basic SEO principles and tactics, how Paid Search works, paid search account structures, benchmarks and optimization, reporting, technologies and tools.

The classroom was full and students were very engaged throughout. Students come from diverse backgrounds (agency, client, sales – digital, radio, print, out of home). I was very excited about student participation and questions, as there’s clearly a demand for this information.

Over the next 5 weeks, instructors - all industry experts - will cover Mobile Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Web Analytics and Digital Display. The class will also participate in a project to create an interactive strategy for Direct Effect Charities (http://www.directeffectcharities.org/), an organization providing support for children in families well below the poverty level through Chicago's public schools.

Many thanks to Dr. Steve Kelly for his help in launching this successful program! I look forward to the great information shared in this course and in our upcoming summer session (June 6 – July 18, 2012).

Ali Jensen is a Midwest sales director with more than 8 years of digital experience and 16 years in media sales. Ali's professional background includes DailyCandy LLC, Novus Media (a division of Omnicom), Tribune Company and Midwest Suburban Publishing. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and has volunteered on CIMA's Events and Education committees for the past 5 years and currently serves and the Director of Academic Affairs.