It was not a straight path for me, but I think ultimately it helped me because I gained a wide variety of experience. After college, I worked in purchasing for catalog companies. Yes, I know it may sound like ancient news, but there was a thing before the internet called the catalog and it functioned essentially the same way.
I worked with marketing on product selection and worked with vendors and learned a great deal. I’ve even had the opportunity to dabble in different industries, such as golf and candy, which are completely unrelated, but the mechanics were the same.
Overtime, I worked in marketing and along that path, I was teaching a night course part-time at a local university which I’ve always enjoyed immensely.
Then, I worked for about 15 years for a university and they changed their business model that was a for-profit University and the location that I was at they decided not to keep open and go 100% online. So, my life changed.
Now, I’m glad to be working for and with Midland University in their Masters of Business Administration program to bring aspiring marketing professionals the tools they need to stay competitive in the marketing and business worlds.
Describe Your Marketing Management Course.
Midland University’s MBA Marketing Management course allows students to be creative and work in a team environment to develop a physical product, or service.
This marketing project is a practical and applicable way for students to perfect their product and strategy based on target market research. The project runs the length of the course which allows students the time they need to research their competitors as well.
One of the main benefits of this course is that students will learn the mechanics of product development and how to utilize it in a marketing strategy to help generate revenue and build brand awareness. Students may not be an expert when they’re done with the course, but they’ll certainly be able to converse with marketing people, or help on a team that’s more focused around the market.
How Does Our Program Help Students Navigate the Marketing World?
The simple answer, even though it’s a difficult thing to pull off, is that our program helps students become experts in the basics.
The basics of marketing don’t change. The only thing that has changed over the years is how they’re manipulated and how they manifest in a marketplace. However, it boils down to an old, old kind of an acronym known as the four P’s.
The Four P’s of Marketing
1. Product
A product can be a bundle of features and benefits that applies to a service that holds value for the target market.
2. Price
Pricing is a signal of value which means if you’re going to say the product is more expensive than the competition, then you better deliver more than the competition, or other products in that category.
3. Place
Place refers to the positioning, or distribution of the product. In other words, you need to consider the where and how the product is distributed because it can affect the value and attractiveness to your target audience.
4. Promotion
The promotion of a product, or service refers to the story marketers sell to their audience. In other words, how do I motivate and convince the target market that whatever I’m trying to sell is, in fact, a good choice for them? If it’s been carefully crafted and the product fits that market, then you’ve mastered the essence of target marketing.
If you understand that it’s not just one of the 4 P’s and that it’s actually all four at the same time, then that’s a really good starting point to solve marketing problems.
