Tagged: mba

Digital Marketing

I’m going to start with Digital Marketing because I just finished this class, and it’s fresh on my mind. Of course, digital marketing is my area of expertise, so it was mostly refreshers, but below are some notes nonetheless.

Secret's Draft and Win Strategy

Draft & win strategy – This strategy is basically to copy a competitor that is doing well. An example is Secret deodorant. When Dove started making a strong push, Secret (the market leader with the most shelf space in store) designed a product line that looked very similar to Dove’s line. The point is to confuse the customer into thinking they are buying the competitor’s product. The comparison image on the right shows the similarities in colors, the word “fresh”, and the cucumber and leaf design.

Branding & position – Purpose exists from the beginning. Position is for gaining market share, can be more campaign-oriented. The “why” doesn’t change over the years, but the “what” will. Who the company is doesn’t change as often as the tactics. There is a Ted Talk on this topic that our guest speaker referenced.

Digital strategy phases:

  • Discovery – What is the business imperative? Define and detail customer experience. Market analysis.
  • Visioning – Where do we want to go in the future? Create a roadmap.
  • Planning – How to translate the roadmap. Make sure each tactic or project fits with overall strategy.

Ad agenecy CEO on employees:

  • Customers, prospects, employees – all are equal
  • There is a real cost to having disengaged employees
  • It is “disastrous” to lose an “A” employee
  • Estimated cost of losing a good employee: 3x employee’s salary

Random tidbits:

  • In 2012, roughly 35% of Secret’s marketing budget was digital.
  • It takes roughly 7 marketing “touches” to make someone remember your company.
  • Test creative – change one element in each ad version. Have a control version.
  • Before analyzing data, ask yourself, “What do we want to know? What are we going to do with the data? How are we going to improve our marketing strategy with the data?”
  • When there is a land grab to get market share, spend up to 80% of revenue on marketing.
  • Telligent is a Microsoft social networking system that allows white labeling
  • Tagboard collects social/tagged photos into one place
  • Linking to or being linked to from .edu/education sites, builds SEO

Introduction

TCU MBA Offer Letter

This is how it all started – my TCU offer packet

This blog is intended to be a way for me to keep track of 2.5 years of MBA stuff. I wanted a way to document important and meaningful information. Things I want to be able to come back to later.

I started the the PMBA program at TCU in August 2011. I will complete the program in December 2013. This is the first semester I’ve had time to create a blog and start adding content. I’m taking only one class right now, which makes life more manageable. A typical semester is a standard 40+ hour work week and then two evening classes per week. Classes are generally on Mondays and Wednesdays or Tuesdays and Thursdays. Classes start at 6:30 pm and end just after 9 pm during Fall and Spring. Summer classes are longer, ending as late as 10 pm. But we do have the best professors in the world, according to The Economist.

The PMBA program is done as a cohort. Students more or less move with the same group of 50-55 people that they started the program with. Of course, not everyone finishes the program, but most do. Upon entering the first semester, students are grouped into teams of 5. That team stays together for at least the first semester. Many groups stick together, though some do not. Teams are assembled based on diversity of skill sets so that students can lean on each others’ strengths and each person can contribute to the team.

I plan to have notes from a variety of classes, including strategy, finance, business law, marketing, and international trips.

My work experience is journalism and marketing, though I haven’t participated in journalism in years. Marketing is my career now.