Marketing Management (MKMG1-CE)

In these times of disruption and rapid change, every employee needs to understand and anticipate consumer behavior. Market research provides the tools to accomplish this goal. This course will give all professionals the work-ready skills needed to study consumer behavior and to develop strategies to address challenges. In class, you will become well versed in consumer behavior and research techniques, including primary and secondary research and qualitative and quantitative methodologies. You will execute digital and traditional techniques as well as trend or “nowcasting” research. In addition, you will design and manage mock focus groups/IDI interviews, conduct surveys, analyze market opportunities, examine social media, and study consumer segmentation. The course work emphasizes the development of specific and practical marketing expertise and skills, including methods of market research, the psychology of consumers, and the business of marketing and advertising. If you consider yourself a creative or analytical person and are interested in developing a deeper understanding of consumers and their behavior, then this course will assist you in reaching that goal.

Entrepreneurs in rapidly evolving competitive environments, as well as established firms introducing new products or services into unfamiliar or emerging markets, face multiple unknowns. Although classic marketing principles still apply in these situations, the context is very different and the target is always moving. Established business models create substantial barriers for a challenger firm with limited resources and capabilities. Examine these strategic choices through readings, case studies, and guest speakers. Explore marketing concepts, methods, and strategic issues relevant to startup and early-stage entrepreneurs competing in rapidly evolving environments, as well as to established firms introducing new products or services into unfamiliar or emerging markets. Learn the marketing theory and concepts that apply when marketing a new product or working in an entrepreneurial setting. Emphasis is placed on the special requirements for creating and executing marketing plans and programs in a setting of rapid change.

Want to complete projects on target, save time and money, create windfall profits, and innovate at the leading edge? Then, put enterprise thinking into action. Enterprise thinking—an integrated, hands-on set of skills to envision and deliver results—combines four core building blocks and 16 proven skills to realize a brighter, more powerful future for your organization. Learn to see the big picture and to make business-altering decisions that generate predictable and reliable results. This course is designed for those who want to propel their career to the next level or to lead their business to greatness.

The public image of a government agency can swing from that of deification to vilification due to a scandal or perceived ineptitude in the face of a crisis. As more agencies vested with the public trust come under scrutiny for mismanagement, it is imperative that communications professionals are equipped with the knowledge and tools necessary to manage reputation, public discourse, and perception in the wake of unwanted change or disaster. Recommended for public relations professionals contracted to work for governmental agencies and for management teams working in government, this course examines strategies for managing the image of public utilities and other quasi-governmental organizations contracted to perform activities closely regulated by various federal, state, and local municipalities.

<span class="Apple-style-span">Learn the "Power of the Assumption"&#8211;</span>the secret that energizes your brand, sales, and profits.<span class="Apple-style-span">&nbsp;Discover how to leverage this power in order to think differently about connecting with customers, building your brand, and marketing your product. This hands-on interactive class uses magic as metaphor to challenge your assumptions, unleash your creative thinking, and generate innovative marketing solutions. Each class incorporates a magic illusion illustrating a significant business concept supported by case histories from category players, such as Procter &amp; Gamble, Apple, M&amp;M's, and Exxon-Mobil.</span>

Green, or environmental, marketing is being replaced by sustainable development (SD) marketing&#8211;sometimes called the 3Ps (people, planet, and profit). In order to thrive in the 21st century, organizations must move to embrace SD. Today's successful marketers need the skills to apply these principles to strategic marketing and branding. This course covers the principles of sustainable development, how globalization and urbanization is pushing us toward SD, the implications for strategic marketing and branding, the 10 commandments of SD marketing, and today's landscape&#8211;the leaders and the laggards.

In today&#8217;s saturated consumer market, brand loyalty is an elusive commodity. Learn how to redefine best practices for branding and to implement and strengthen brand strategy. Analyze case studies of companies ranging from American Express to Harley-Davidson. Evaluate brand strategies and metrics, and learn to develop a comprehensive brand analysis. Discover how branding helps companies to build customer relationships and to grow revenue.

Brand loyalty and passionate customers are two major goals of marketing. But how do you get them&#8212;and how can an engaging customer experience be leveraged into a dynamic and strategic marketing campaign? Gain an understanding of the process, which features research, public relations, social media, and referral methods, to attract new customers and to sustain the passion of existing ones. Build your brand and product awareness. Discover how to tease out the disparate layers of consumer response in order to make positive identification work for you and to turn around negative inputs. Whether you are a marketing manager, a small-business owner, or an employee at a nonprofit organization, cultivate a skill set that empowers you to build upon market popularity&#8212;or lack thereof&#8212;by making the best use of public opinion.

In unpredictable times, intelligent companies do more than weather economic, domestic, and global market changes&#8212;they forecast the future. Competitive marketing intelligence (CMI) is an unsung, yet indispensable, corporate asset for developing new marketing approaches. This course uses practical examples to illustrate the core competencies that spur sustainable organizational success and growth. Learn to think like a CMI professional, monitoring and predicting your competitor&#8217;s next move, conducting SWOT analyses, and determining the requirements for establishing and successfully maintaining a vibrant CMI function.

New products and services are a key growth strategy in any economy. Discover a scientific approach for developing products and services on a consistent and ongoing basis. Topics include developing marketable ideas for internal and external use; researching opportunities and markets; and testing, launching, and managing the process. Whether you are a marketing, human resources, or engineering professional at a small firm or a Fortune 500 company, build the next strategic mega-competitive advantage and go from follower to industry leader. This course especially benefits marketing executives and managers looking to rapidly advance their careers.

Focus on managing your greatest asset&mdash;your clientele&mdash;by learning to develop strategies that lead to customer retention and reactivation. In class, discuss customer life-cycle marketing, as well as segmentation and differentiated treatment. Become adept at identifying and targeting customers; quantifying the value of the customer; analyzing reasons for defection; and developing multiple strategic solutions that foster customer acquisition, retention, and reactivation.

The wise marketer is not content to rely on broad demographics to define a target audience. The use of behavioral segmentation to build customer profiles offers a more comprehensive and much deeper approach to consumer identification and management. Use information from responses to offers received through various platforms&#8212;including e-mail, direct mail, websites, billboards, traditional ads, and digital formats&#8212;to create an authentic customer profile. This reliable consumer base enables companies to develop more relevant and impactful content. Amazon, Netflix, and Pandora are prime examples of the power of user data to generate personalized recommendations that inform marketing and drive conversion rates and sales. Learn how to gather and codify customer data indicating behaviors that are in line with a company&#8217;s marketing goals. Create and implement marketing tools that incorporate behavioral segmentation principles. Topics include webpage personalization, shopping cart analytics, and conversion rate analysis. This course is ideal for marketers or small-business owners who seek to identify their audience and to fine-tune innovative marketing campaigns.

Strengthen the skills needed to become a more comfortable, captivating, and compelling speaker in the workplace. Take a professional approach to examining and applying the critical skills that make an engaging, powerful, and persuasive communicator. Public speaking and presentation exercises will focus on both content development and appropriate delivery methods, and participants will be evaluated by the instructor and fellow classmates.

Incorporating activities such as identifying critical issues and solutions, team negotiation, and strategic communication, this multidisciplinary course pushes the boundaries of creative strategy and critical thinking and serves as a creative ideation class for analytical participants and a lesson in structured critical thinking for creative students. Topics include fundamental critical thinking and analysis, aligning goals with outcomes, ideation techniques, branding methodology, value and demand generation, and creative team collaboration.

Today&rsquo;s marketers must think strategically and consider consumer insights, digital versus traditional media, and social media while determining where and how sales, PR, metrics, and analytics fit into building the business. In this course, develop your own strategic skills as a new or experienced strategic planner, account executive, or marketing professional. Learn how agency strategic planners assess brands, develop customer insights, and create marketing strategies. Apply a simple framework to develop meaningful business-building strategies for your brand, your program, or yourself. Using real-world case studies, examine the consequences of both good and bad strategies, and simulate the experience of selling strategies to key decision makers.