This area of business has always been an extreme interest for me ever since I started my MBA
pathway, and I was thrilled to get into this topic. I feel as though I gained a lot from this
course with numerous topics that was of great interest to me. One of the most prevalent for
me was that of brand management. Navigating a brand image is applicable in so many
instances as it can apply to both a business and one's own life. It's important when
maintaining a brand’s image to assess the possible risks associated and work to mitigate these
before they occur. Another aspect of marketing that I was intrigued to learning about were
digital marketing strategies and inbound marketing. These various marketing strategies were
truly unique in the approach that allows them to attract customers to them. Search engine
optimization has some true benefits and is one of the most useful marketing techniques
available currently. I believe in future organization that incorporate this into their workflow
would be able to utilize this tactic to discover keywords that would benefit the organization
and its brand. Taking the HubSpot certification, was awesome that’s another bonus gained
from this course at least for now I’m HubSpot certified. It gave me more in-depth information
about inbound marketing with specifics of where a call-to-action may be applicable.
Looking back on the course further, I truly thought that there was an easy one size approach
to marketing. This course has opened my eyes to the numerous layers that marketing entails.
Research on consumer data must be collected prior to moving forward with a marketing
strategy, and then a strategy must be crafted based upon the specific demographics you're
targeting. However, the hope is that your product or service is applicable to a large audience
so that numerous people want to partake in the service you're providing. Looking at
marketing in greater detail it seems as though there need to be marketing specialties in every
department to ensure that all strategies are implemented to their highest potential. Having
several people who are generally great at marketing is fine, but it may be better to hire people
who specialize in digital marketing, traditional marketing mediums, or data segmentation.
Leadership can manifest itself in a variety of ways, everyone develops their own leadership
skills in their own way and on their own time. However effective leaders typically share
similar skills that imbue them with the ability to enact positive change within an organization.
Some of these are an innate ability to demonstrate empathy with others and connect with
those different from themselves. This is a critical tool for leaders in marketing as being able to
identify with someone other than yourself will allow a marketer to target different
demographics. They may also possess strong communication skills and are very articulate.
One personal brand as a leader as well is typically very cohesive as every action has a purpose
that contributes to the brand's overall image. No one skill or attribute that is attained is
random. I think this is critical for a successful brand to developed, creating this cohesive
image allows consumers to identify with someone is brand easier when they see it in the
future.
As for my personal brand, this is something I hope to continue to make attainable. I have
always envisioned the direction of my professional career and business, so this for me was a
gateway in understanding what cannot be explained within oneself. Focusing on lifelong
learning gives professionals the opportunity to know that the growth journey never ends.
There is always more that can be done to grow one’s personal brand. I have now seen the
potential that lies within continued education, as I work through the remainder of the MBA
program, I know that my focus will be on the next learning opportunity presented rather than
knowing that my educational journey will shortly be over. What are at least three key course
takeaways that resonate with you and that you may use in your current or future workplace?
Explain how they resonate with you.
Marketing is always evolving and changing, I never really considered the different types of
marketing but even after answering the question about my favourite brand earlier in the
course it made me think about the marketing my favorite brands do and how they draw me in
and keeps me coming back as a returning customer. Also, how much social media plays a role
into digital marketing and how digital marketing seems to be the go to when it comes to
digital marketing. I found myself paying more attention to ads I would see pop up on my
streaming services like Hulu, & Netflix. When it comes to traditional marketing I never payed
too much attention to the commercials on XM radio but in between songs something was
getting promoted mostly things related to music but it was music that I would typically listen
to.
When thinking of attributes of an effective leader, what personal brand traits do they appear
to possess?
First and foremost an effective leader needs to have great communication skills if they don't
know how to communicate then things are already starting out bad. Along with good
communication skills I would say being a good listener, they should be able to listen and
receive information just as they put it out. Compassion, honesty which I feel like these go
hand in hand with each other. Being able to be transparent and being able to give feedback,
and coach their team.
Describe your desired personal brand. How can being a lifelong learner help with reaching
your desired personal brand image?
I like this question, I just had a 1:1 with my Manager at my job and we were discussing my
personal brand within the company, the tools need to achieve the brand I'm going for and
what steps I need to take. I think being a lifelong learner will help me be more related when it
comes to different situations that may arise, I'll give taking this course I was able to relate the
material to everyday work which help me better understand certain task I was then able to do
a knowledge share with my teammates. I feel like my personal brand is something that will
also be forever growing & evolving as I grow within my career, my goals will change as I
move into new positions as an employee and as I move into management they would change
again.
Hard to believe that it's week 10 already. Not going to lie, this class at first was terrifying for
me because I have spent my life in operations and never ventured into the marketing side of
business. While I feel I have a much better understanding of brand image and how to
potentially rebrand, I will stay within my operations desk :)
What are at least three key course takeaways that resonate with you and that you may use in
your current or future workplace? Explain how they resonate with you.
The first key take away is cross departmental collaboration. I currently only truly work with
the sales side, but see how bringing marketing to the party could help me. By knowing the
direction they are trying to take the brand in, rather than just the promotions that the sales
team needs inventory for. It will help bring it all full circle for me.
The 2nd is the different type of inbound marketing that there are. I didn't even know what that
was before this class. And while that certificate we earned was very time consuming, it was
beyond beneficial for my knowledge in this class.
The 3rd would be customer acquisition and retention. It never occurred to me how hard
companies need to work in order keep and retain new customers to keep the brand alive. I
guess I will stop questioning the marketing spend in board meetings now. b
When thinking of attributes of an effective leader, what personal brand traits do they appear
to possess?
Effective leaders need to have above top notch communication skills, be transparent and open
to criticism. If you can't communicate you are unable to be transparent with yourself or
customers, and if you cannot accept criticism you will never grow as a leader. You have to be
able to take good feedback with the bad and not take it personally. b b
Describe your desired personal brand. How can being a lifelong learner help with reaching
your desired personal brand image?
For me, and my personal brand, I would hope that I show my transparency and collaboration
skills, for both what I do know and how I am able to teach/mentor others in my department,
but also that I am open to learning. I truly believe that you are never done learning and when
you think you are is when you are complacent and you end up getting yourself in trouble or
look like an ass. Instructor Ruggiero, thank you for all of the help along the way and
feedback, and the Netflix documentary on Boeing was a great resource, thank you for the
suggestion!
Instructor Janine Ruggiero and my fellow classmates, for an informative, thought provoking
and knowledgeable past ten weeks. May all of you continue your achievement towards your
MBA successfully, become leaders in the world, always give back and exemplify the
professionalism that you have worked hard for. Thank you, Instructor Ruggiero, for your
talents, guidance, instruction and diligence for these past ten weeks. You have allowed me to
further attain the business acumen that adds expertise and competence to my daily
interactions.
Course takeaways that I refined my toolbox include: customer relationship
management (CRM), customer acquisition, and a continuous improvement plan. The CRM is
an encompassing aspect of the customer client relationship. The building of successful
experiences with customers, making the customers become recurring, long-time customers, is
the effort that needs to be executed by the entirety of the team. I now have a better
understanding on the digital media aspects of social media and other platforms to expand the
reach of the business’s prospects.
Customer acquisition with develops around social media marketing (Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram), content marketing, electronic mail marketing, are staples to the present
and future realization of acquisition of customers. The approach towards the customer
attainment varies from each individual business operation. One size does not fit everybody
and a reflective perceptive plan needs to be factored in into each collaboration. Again, the
importance of effective listening, a game plan that can be collaborative and tailored, keeps the
customer gratified.
Continuous improvement plans (Plan, Do, Check, Act) and the forward thinking of
incremental improvement moving forward, keep the train on the rails.
Employees/employers/customers are processing the world that surrounds them. The linear
progression onward quantifies new advances and how to place them into the daily
professional discourse. An emphasis on product features and cultivating the product or
service offered.
Effective leadership evoke compassion to emotional intelligence, attention to details, focus,
voice, vision, confidence. An effective leader raises his/her team, is respectful towards others,
sacrifices, has self-worth, wisdom, courage. I envisage, when I meet someone for the first
time and in a period of ten minutes, if the individual can touch a human life for the
furtherance of that individual. If not, the “leader” has a title – and not a skill or an aptitude.
Personal brand revolves around what other people say about you, how they perceive and
distinguish you, your thoughts, actions, delivery. Personal branding is the actions and
dialogue that I say about myself. Branding is a trait that exemplifies an emotional connection,
legitimacy and genuine integrity when in any setting. The ability to connect with each
member of the audience, group or individual, is a facet that is problematic to obtain. The
knowledge that I share with my team, always puts the team in the correct mindset to visualize
the problem and to develop a predictable solution. I continuously have my crisis management
plan prepared to advance at any given juncture as believed necessary. Continuous
improvement and continuous innovation are all encompassing aspects and a road towards the
delivery of bottom-line ROI.
Some of the concepts that resonated with me were related to building brand equity. Building
brand equity is important to the sucess of any business. As I read through the course
learnings, I sometimes would stop and think of how I, as a consumer, am influenced to choose
one brand over the other, and how some brand logos have the power to influence purchasing
decisions. Another key take-away for me was learning how inbound marketing strategies
influence different demographic cohort groups. I also enjoyed reading about how SEO can be
used in digital marketing efforts to generate leads and customer engagement.
Effective leaders must portray an image that aligns with the company's core values. b A strong
effective leader must be able to influence behavior, be a visionary, be competent in their role,
and be empathetic enough to build trust with followers.
Having worked in logistics operations for many years has thought me that automation plays a
huge role in remaining competitive in the industry. b As a leader, I don't need to know exactly
how algorithms work, but I do need to be competent enough to know how they can affect
productivity. Humility is a huge part of who I am as a person, and I am always willing to
learn from anybody who is willing to teach me something new. I want my personal brand
image to portray assertiveness, transparency, and innovation.
I cannot believe we are in week 10 already! My three main takeaways from this course are
what it takes to build and maintain a brand in a VUCA world, how vital the brand is to a
company, and how important marketing is to the brand. It takes A LOT to build and maintain
a brand in the VUCA world we live in. This resonates with me because of my work. I do not
work with the marketing department too often but I now understand more of what they deal
with and what they have to overcome. One company I worked for went through a small
hiccup a few years ago and they are still rebuilding to get back to where they were. I now
understand what marketing's role is in rebuilding the brand and I had no idea how involved
they are in doing so to win more contracts. Before this course, I thought a brand was simply a
logo or what the company is known by like Nike with its name, logo, and niche. I now realize
how brand spans to different companies and who a company does business with. It is their
reputation and how they are viewed to the outside world. I never realized how vital it is to
have strong branding if you want to have a successful company. This solidified why the
company I work for is so successful, we have a strong brand presence in our markets and with
our suppliers.
When I think of an effective leader, I think of my current director. He is a great man and a
great leader. I believe he holds the traits of sincerity, being a good communicator, ruggedness,
and excitement among many others. He uses these to live the brand in every day life which
has made him hugely successful within our organization. He makes us want to work hard for
him without being pushy and develops us into effective leaders and effective workers. When I
think of a personal brand, I would like to be able to be an effective leader who is great at
communicating, delegating, and building my employees and workforce. Being a life long
learner will help me build this brand because it will teach me to new ways of doing things and
keep me current on trends or research. It will help develop my communication skills, time
management skills, and many other skills, all of which I can pass onto my employees to make
their live easier and their work more fulfilling.
Three course takeaways that resonate with me to which I will be mindful of in my current
workplace is brand association, brand equity, and strategic communication. These takeaways
resonate with me as I currently work within a specific bureau for the U.S. Government that
does not have the best reputation with the public, so understanding how the public associates
this "brand" with negative characteristics can be detrimental to my experience with specific
individuals. Brand equity is how well the "brand" is recognized through relevance, reputation,
and awareness, which is also another key component as individuals from all over can
recognize my credentials and can instantly connect me to my bureau, which is why it's not
recommended for us to showcase these items outside business hours. Strategic
communication is the core of my position as I must implement plans to solve cases as this is
critical to the purpose of the organization fulfilling its mission. Personal brand traits an
effective leader possess is credibility, honesty, and integrity. My desired personal brand
involves consistency, optimism, and passion. Being a lifelong learner can assist with reaching
my desired personal brand image by teaching me small progress is still progress, just be
consistent, being optimistic allows me to see the positive in all things, which creates a better
outlook in personal and business, and passion is to have a devotion to a specific activity or
concept, that results in the urge to learn everything about it, mastering it.
I enjoyed this class very much. It was more difficult than I had anticipated. The main
takeaway I received from this course was learning about inbound marketing. I did not know
the subtle aspect of marketing through blogs. I realized through this course that some of the
blogs I was reading for research were selling to me! Another takeaway I have from this course
was the collaboration between various departments to effectively communicate an
organization's message. I also took away the concept of combining traditional and digital
marketing methods simultaneously to achieve your goals. b
When examining effective leaders' personal brand traits that I consider them to have in
common would-be integrity, authenticity, and confidence to take calculated risks. b
When I define my personal brand regarding my profession, I consider myself a lead from the
front type of leader. I always put myself in situations to help my teammates. I am a Nursing
home administrator and I lead from the floor not my office. My industry is a highly regulated
service industry and I find myself in situations where saying No is an easy answer to many
requests. I have made my career by finding ways to say yes. This leads to compromise and
builds trust in staff, residents, and family members. Finding a way to say yes leads to more
win-win scenarios. b
