In undertaking this marketing
class, and more specifically this blogging assignment, I honestly didn’t know
what to expect. My knowledge of both blogging and marketing were nearly
nonexistent in January at the beginning of this spring’s semester. I can now
proudly say that I’ve moved into the category of “novice” for blogging, and
maybe even slightly past that in terms of general marketing knowledge. Rather
than writing another post about random happenings or concepts from the world of
marketing, this post will be a reflection of this course overall, and of the
blog assignment, in terms of objectives and outcomes that we were expected to
experience and gain knowledge of over the course of the past 16 weeks.
To examine and convey basic and emerging
marketing concepts and terminologies
This first and most basic objective is very
obvious about its importance to this class, and really is the concept of the
class in 11 words. Examining these ideas was not only the purpose of time spent
in the classroom, but also the aim of textbook chapters, other external
readings, and the major projects of the semester. At the beginning of the
course, I would have had a difficult time coming up with even two of 4 P’s that
are considered one of the most basic concepts of all marketing efforts.
Learning emerging marketing concepts was also well reinforced through the use
of a practice marketing simulation where 6 teams competed to sell customized
backpacks in a ficticious market. This project forced teams to make decisions
regarding advertising, distribution, and price of their backpack using real
concepts learned throughout the course. By the way, my team won!
Understand the functions, roles and
responsibilities of marketers
The roles and responsibilities of a marketer
are far greater and deeper reaching than I would have believed prior to this
course. Of course a marketing manager is expected to make decisions on things
like new advertisements, the brand image and positioning, and target markets
chosen, but their job goes far deeper than that. Decisions on manufacturing/
production schedules, distribution channels, pricing considerations (one price
for all or employ price discrimination to increase revenue from those who are
willing and able to pay more?) and future direction of the company and new
projects are all decisions that a marketing manager would have at least a say
in.
Analyze and evaluate marketing
opportunities in the internal and external environment across a variety of
settings
The content that came along with satisfying
this course objective was one of the most enjoyable aspects of the course for
me. Each class would begin with presentations of two commercials that had
previously or were currently in use as television advertisements for a vast
variety of products. Daily discussions surrounding these commercials, as well
as relevant general marketing news, allowed for conversations that delved
further into many intricacies of the world of marketing. Moving from what the
commercial showed and said, and into what it actually meant and what the
intended outcome of the ad was revealed a lot of industry insight from our
professor who still also works in the industry outside of academia.
Use written and oral skills to persuade
a target audience
In addition to commercial presentations,
each class began with a presentation of a TedTalk that could be about nearly
anything, but that had to also be able to be related to the course in some way.
The purpose these presentations was twofold in that not only did they force new
content into every class period, but also, and more importantly, they allowed
each student to get more comfortable with giving presentations and public speaking.
This is a skill that one could never be too
good at, and is always worth improving upon.
Participate and communicate as an
effective member of a team
Similar to oral presentation skills, group/
collective project effectiveness is a skill that can, and should, continually
be honed. In addition to the aforementioned semester-long practice marketing
simulation, many class periods involved small group projects accomplishing
things such as creating a fake product and how you would market it, or
discussing potential future plans for saving a failing business, or determining
where a product currently fell within its product life cycle. Again, the actual
assignment is slightly less important than the skills learned during its
completion. The backpack simulation required high levels of teamwork to
complete different reports and projects (such as filming a commercial for our
company) throughout the semester and nearly constantly; there is no substitute to
experience in learning soft skills like communication and this course gave me a
good amount of it.
These
five examples of how course material, projects, and assignments ushered me
toward an understanding of some vitally important objectives and learning
outcomes are just a small portion of a long list of skills and knowledge
learned throughout the semester. In learning these skills, I also learned that
a career I would have never even previously considered could be one that I
would thoroughly enjoy and potentially even be successful in.
THANKS FOR READING!
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