Marketing has been defined in various ways by different experts in the field. A definition that all marketing classes include is given by Philip Kotler, where he said that ‘’the science and art of exploring, creating, and delivering value to satisfy the needs of a target market at a profit.’’ To put this in layman’s terms, marketing involves research of the market, creating an outcome to appeal to the customers (the product) and maintaining customer relations. In the BMM Course for Women, we had the opportunity to experience the world of marketing, first hand.
The subject is full of practical concepts, which generally many institutions disagree with. In an education system where memorizing the concepts is more important than learning them, it’s pretty understandable. With a two-month long experience and getting a hands-on experience of the subject at an amateur level, I believe marketing is definitely an applied course. The assessment has not just taught our batch in the BMM Course for Women, how to execute a target market analysis, but also provided us with a professional practice.
The assessment started with our faculty giving us a head-start through introductory lectures about core concepts. This was done only to help us have an insight of how to work out our plan. Assigned industries were namely consumables, jewelry, luxury apparel, banking, hospitality, education, travel agency and technology. Although industries were allotted to us, we were liberal to select the brands of our choice and our plan of action. There was enough creative freedom for us to express our brands better during the final presentation.
One of the in-house faculty in the BMM Course for Women, Beulah Pereira, helped us throughout the process to make sure the presentations would go smoothly. And yes, they did. Starting with the various analysis such as industry, brand, S.W.O.T., PESTLE and competitor, helped us better understand the brands, the way they work and their marketing strategies. It was almost like a walkthrough into starting the second section of the assessment, which was when we had to let our creativity and innovations flow. This was the part where there was not a right or a wrong report, a group just had to do better than the other groups. Since there were deadlines and a mock presentation, the groups had an idea of how professionally the final presentation would be done. The deadlines drove a motivation in groups to do better. There was also ranking involved for every deadline, so groups could know their progress and also, get another source of determination.
Some of the groups even conducted surveys to understand their target market better. The survey also helped understand why the particular innovation was a need. The demographics and psychographics followed shortly, which meant segmentation. At the time, it felt like a heavy term but is not. To put simply, it means answering the ‘w’ questions about your target market. Targeting and Segmentation were not even as difficult as everyone had thought it to be, while the marketing mix and positioning was a challenging task. Positioning had no right path, as long as it spread the marketing message that the group was aiming for.
Marketing mix was one of the most amusing part of the entire assessment, according to my personal opinion. The group had to describe and design the product, calculate the costing, decide how the product would reach the customer and finally, promoting it. There was so much freedom in this section, we could select the billboards and channels of our choice. Positioning was defined by the marketing mix. The elements that the group would mention in the mix had to be incorporated within the positioning.
On the day of the final presentation, every group did really well. It takes immense effort and patience to pull off such a project for two months. With a team that one is not sure will co-operate or not, was a completely separate concern. Since every group has a different industry, each group was unique in its own way. They expressed themselves through the translucent channel of brand marketing. It was a collection of different perceptions and opinions presented in systematic manner. One of the best team managers, Delicia Dsouza, precisely of the technology industry, said, ‘‘The assessment was challenging and there were ups & downs within, but in the end with the help of each teammate’s efforts, it went well; while there was healthy competition within groups.”
The assessment taught the BMM Course for Women Batch of 2018-21 some really professional lessons of working in a team, co-operating with one another and in the end, putting aside all the disparities to present very well. Some people got a clearer view of whether marketing is their cup of tea or there’s more subjects to explore in Bachelors of Mass Media in the coming semesters. All in all, as rightly said by the team manager of jewelry in this assessment, Zeba Shaikh,
“No other way could have been better to learn Marketing”
Ready to challenge yourself with interesting projects and assignements? Then, the BMM Course for Women maybe for you. Hop onto our website and have a look at the other modules, or simply drop us a line at info@stpaulsice.com