First, I'd like to say this is my first-ever blog-post! So this digital class is off to a good start by making me learn by doing.
Introduction
This post will accomplish three things: 1) outline my
objectives for the class, 2) reflect on insights learned during week 1 and how
they might influence my original objectives, 3) reframe my objectives for the
course, taking into account some of the learnings.
Original Objectives
The reason I was interested in this course was that I am
interested in brand management. As a potential future brand manager, I want to
better understand the tools available to digitally market a brand, particularly
since this is becoming an increasingly important part of a marketer’s toolkit.
In particular I was looking to understand:
- · What tools exist
- · What are their strengths/weaknesses
- · How a brand manager could leverage them and avoid their pitfalls
Insights
The materials covered this week demonstrate that some of my
original objectives—while well-intention-ed—can be modified to help me get more
out of the class.
Realization #1: While
it is important to be aware of changing digital tactics, this is not the most
important takeaway I should expect to get from this course. In particular the “Made
to Engage” and “The New Conversation” articles mentioned that the digital transition has bigger
implications than just new tactics. For example, the digital transition
fundamentally changes how consumers interact with companies (“Made to Engage”).
Therefore the best questions might not be, “Which digital tactic gets me the
best ROI?” but rather “How do I need to fundamentally change my business model
to remain relevant due to changes in technology?”. Already I am seeing that the
scope of this class can be more than just learning more about how
email-marketing or social media can be leveraged to promote a product.
Realization #2: One
of my assumptions going into the class was that digital marketing is somehow
different. While this may indeed be the case, I still think many of the marketing principals are the
same in digital technology as they
are in other types of marketing. Whether we are talking about 4P’s
framework or a 6V’s framework, there are certain marketing fundamentals that
will not change (“Made to Engage”). For example—regardless of what acronym you
use, it will always be important to think about your customer’s needs and how
to deliver something of value to them. Therefore, instead of focusing on just
what makes digital marketing different, I should consider the range of
similarities and differences across different types of marketing.
Realization #3: The
third insight of the week is not related to my objectives but is fundamentally important
to how digital technology is impacting marketing. As both the “Made to Engage”
and “The New Conversation” articles mention, the balance of power between consumers and marketers has fundamentally shifted.
Digital technology has created a world of increasing choices for consumers, and
with choice comes power. As “Made to Engage” notes, consumers can choose
whether or not to listen to you and have increasing access to information about
your product and competitor’s products. This fact is both scary and exciting
for marketers. It is scary because poor marketing will be extremely
ineffective. It is exciting because if you can get the marketing right—you will
have the chance to have an extremely meaningful interaction with a consumer.
New objectives
In summary, to refine my approach to the class, my goal is
not to master every digital technology out there but rather to gain knowledge by:
·
Compiling key digital technology frameworks,
themes, and concepts that can help me interpret the existing technologies and
their importance
·
To expose myself to a number of key technologies
(as mentioned in the syllabus, an “immersion into the whirlwind of developments”)
·
To become aware of the most useful resources
that I can continue to use to learn about new technologies to remain relevant
·
To leverage studies of the past and how things
used to work (and how they work now) in order to be able to better anticipate
future developments[i].
Readings list
·
“Made to Engage”
·
“Business Model Generation”, Section 1- Canvas
·
“Secrets of Engaging Customers in Online
Communities”- Forbes article
·
“Do you trust this Face”- GQ
·
“Does the Internet make you dumber”
·
“Does the Internet make you smarter”
·
“Hype Cycles 2013 Emerging Technologies Report”
·
“The New Conversation”
[i] (I
found some of the historical reviews of technology and marketing interesting
context, as some of the things that you take for granted now were not always
that way and will not always be that way (“Do you trust this face”, “The New
Conversation”, “Made to Engage”). Reminding yourself of this helps you to think
creatively about what could be, versus focusing on what might be.
