What is the CIM?

The CIM is the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) is the world’s leading professional body for marketing, with over 28,000 members worldwide, of which there are over 2,500 Chartered Marketers. CIM’s mission is to create a marketing advantage for the benefit of professionals, business and society with a focus on export, data and skills. CIM believes marketing is the critical factor in driving long term organisational performance.

CIM provides members and organisations with five key benefits: 

Partnership – CIM is a professional and organisational partner to support performance and career development
Education – CIM allows individuals and businesses to continuously upskill
Information – CIM keeps members up to date with the latest marketing thinking, and keeps organisations at the forefront of practices
Connection – CIM provides access to services, expertise and peers
Recognition – CIM is the global benchmark of professional competence

For more than 100 years, CIM has supported, represented and developed marketers, teams, leaders and the profession as a whole. There are 120 CIM study centres in 32 countries and exam centres in 132 countries worldwide. In the last year, over 7,500 people registered at over 230 UK CIM events.

Find out more about CIM

Benefits to your BTEC learners

How can CIM benefit BTEC Marketing students?

Students who successfully complete the BTEC L3 Nationals in Marketing qualifications will be able to gain an exemption from from the exam and assignments that make up the CIM L3 Marketing Principles module. This is one of two modules that forms the CIM L3 Foundation Certificate in Professional Marketing/ Digital Marketing.

In order to apply for a Dual Certification CIM L3 Foundation Certificate in Professional Marketing , BTEC students should successfully complete the following:

Unit 2 - Marketing Principles external assessment (Pass or above)
Unit 3 - Customer Communications - the brand new authorised assignment brief, which has been formally approved by Pearson assessment and CIM (Pass or above in all assignments).

In order to apply for a Dual Certification CIM L3 Foundation Certificate in Professional Digital Marketing, BTEC students should successfully complete the following:

Unit 2 - Marketing Principles external assessment (Pass or above)
Unit 4 - Applying Digital Marketing - the brand new authorised assignment brief, which has been formally approved by Pearson assessment and CIM (Pass or above in all assignments).

In addition, BTEC National in Marketing students will meet the entry criteria for L4 CIM qualifications, as they have demonstrated sufficient prior learning when completing their BTEC qualification.

Students who successfully complete the BTEC L2 Technical Certificate in Marketing will have the ability to apply for direct access to the L3 CIM qualification, as they have demonstrated prior learning when completing their BTEC qualification.

Students seeking a career in marketing will be able to differentiate themselves through achieving a dual qualification.

Claiming your CIM exemption

Exemptions are available for CIM Level 3 Foundation Certificate in Professional Marketing/Digital Marketing for students who have either studied or are studying the Pearson BTEC in Marketing.

In order to claim any exemptions, students will need to email evidence of their Pearson Edexcel Online result demonstrating that they achieved a pass overall with CIM membership number, to exemptions@cim.co.uk. In addition, if applying for full dual certification, students should submit their successful assignments for Unit 3 and/or unit 4, in order to be marked by CIM.

Exemptions must be utilised within five years of achieving their BTEC in Marketing.

To study CIM qualifications, payment of a studying membership fee (£65) plus a module assessment fee (£110) is payable.

How can CIM benefit BTEC Business students?

The CIM have agreed that all students who successfully complete the BTEC L3 Nationals in Business qualifications (having taken at least 3 of the units identified below) will have the ability to apply for direct access to the L4 CIM qualifications, as they have demonstrated prior learning when completing their BTEC qualification.

Required units:

17 Digital Marketing
18 Creative Promotion
22 Market Research
28 Branding
29 Relationship Marketing

They have also agreed that students who successfully complete the BTEC L2 Technical Certificate in Marketing will have the ability to apply for direct access to the L3 CIM qualification, as they have demonstrated prior learning when completing their BTEC qualification.

Students seeking a career in marketing will find the greatest benefit in this.