Omg! I know, I shouldn’t start, this post off like this, but it’s an accurate portrayal of how I’ve felt throughout this whole Digital Marketing Degree program. I’ll say this again I didn’t know what to expect from this Digital Marketing Degree. Also, this program was more challenging than the Creative Writing Program. But I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned, that a business needs to always put their customers first. It’s good to know who your customer is, and why they purchase from you, out of the thousands of businesses that’s similar to yours. In addition, it’s good to know, who you are as a business. The products you sell and why, and what makes your business so special. 

The Digital Marketing Degree program also taught me about the different ways to advertise/market. For example, I started noticing, years ago, after searching for something on websites, Facebook would send me ads that targeted those items I searched for. Until, I started this degree program, I had no idea how or why that was happening. Now I know, there’s an algorithm behind this, which eventually pushes you to buy those items you were looking at. 

I also learned about the different marketing strategies, which I believed were old and outdated, such as email marketing. In this degree program, it’s best to utilize as many different marketing strategies as you can when advertising your products. In addition, utilizing the technology, that’s so popular in this twenty first century, also helps spread your business. For example, using SEO helps advertise your business online if you use the correct keywords. This is another thing, the Digital Marketing degree taught me, keyword usage and knowledge is important. 

In the end, I learned so much from this program and I know there’s still more for me to learn. I will definitely put to use everything I learned and apply it my business and other small businesses. My goal is to become a successful business and to help others become successful businesses, one step at a time. 

            I’ll keep saying this, I never know what to expect when it comes to this Digital Marketing degree. Even though, I’ve notice, that the courses are explicitly outline in the course syllabus. Still, you don’t know what the course entail. Digital Marketing and the Law reminded me to be practical and smart in everything I do online, so I won’t be sued by other parties. 

            I enjoyed week one the most because it spoke about copyright laws. I’m familiar with copyright laws because I’m an author, and I’ve copyrighted a few of my novels and short stories. However, I was happy to receive more information about the copyright law. I can definitely apply these copyright laws to my books, and my social media profiles. Learning jurisdiction, was interesting as well. Now I know what state has jurisdiction over the other. In addition, to what penalties do apply and don’t apply for certain actions. 

            Week two, was also an interesting week. I learned a lot about cyber-crime, and the lack of penalties in response to the crime. Spam was another interesting topic that I learned in digital marketing. I didn’t know that spam could be so useful in regard to marketing, helping me reach a new audience. Week three spoke about privacy, and how much you have when it comes to your employer. I didn’t know that we had rights when it came to our privacy. I just assumed we had to follow protocol without question. I’m glad that I now know my rights in reference to privacy.

Also, I didn’t know how important privacy policies are to a website. I’ve notice since doing this assignment, a lot of the website don’t have privacy policies. I wonder if it’s really a huge necessity. Do business really need privacy practices? All in all, I’ve learned that there’s a different law involved when it comes to online and digital marketing. I also learned that some of these rules aren’t fair and the penalties for breaking these laws are too lenient are none existing. 

I will say this time and time again this Digital Marketing masters’ program continues to surprise me. Just when I think, I know everything there is too know about Digital Marketing, I learn something new. I really enjoyed this class, because we were given the option, to complete analysis over different companies. For the past several classes, we had to use our case study program, the company we choose month one. This month, I decided to use www.floebepublishing.com as my case study program, my own company.

In Digital Analytics and Optimization class, we learned about SMART and KPI goals. S stands for specific, m is measurable, a is attainable, r is relevant, and t is time based. KPI stands for impressions, engagement rate and clicks/click through rate. I recall going over both terms briefly in our past classes, but I didn’t fully comprehend or understand it. Now I know, why these terms are important. When analyzing any company, it’s good to have a SMART goal, one that is attainable. This goal should be specific to who your company is. The goal should also be measurable, how will you know it was or wasn’t accomplished. The goal should be attainable, meaning is it realistic. The goal should be relevant to who your company is and what they provide, and it should have a time limit on it. When will you accomplish this goal. 

Whereas, the KPI should coincide with your SMART goals. Your KPI should list specifically why you are doing what you’re doing. What you hope to accomplish? What you hope to gain, and the expected outcome of the SMART goal. I really enjoyed analyzing my website and using both the SMART and KPI goals to improve the website and make it a better experience for my customers. Digital Analytics and Optimization was a great class, and I learned a lot. I look forward to learning even more in my next two classes in this Digital Marketing masters program. 

I’ll say it over and over again, this online marketing degree continues to surprise. Just when I thought I knew everything about internet marketing, the professor, shows me otherwise. Strategic Internet Public Relations, was a course, I didn’t know I needed until after taking it. Even though, I learned a lot in this class, my main focus for this reflection post would be the Press Release. 

I thought or rather assumed Press Releases were old and outdated. I didn’t know we, society, were still using them. I can honestly say, Press Releases are still being used and I will begin to implement them in my advertising/marketing campaigns. I love the template this class used for the Press Release. I never thought to include what the company is about, quotes, a catchy headline and more. Also, the way, the press release is organized ensures that it’s easily readable by anyone. I definitely want to try to use a press release for my upcoming novels announcements. 

In addition to the press release template document, we researched different platforms to distribute the press release. In doing this research, I learned what each platform offers, and which to use to help me advertise my press release. I love that these platforms reach both influencers, social media pages, journalists, google and so much. I definitely would like to see how to analyze the results of the press release, to see if there’s was an increase in revenue in another class. In the end, I love having the knowledge of a press release, and I will apply it in the future.

            As usual this Online Marketing Degree, continues to surprise me. I suppose I’ll never really know everything there is too know about online marketing, especially in our ever changing and growing market. Advanced Search Engine Optimization made me take a step back, and really analyze what makes a website, a successful website. 

            Search Engine Optimization otherwise known as SEO is increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website, through the use of keywords. However, these particular keywords have to conicide with who your business is. You cannot use a keyword, just because it’s popular if it doesn’t match up with who your business is or what they sell. 

            Even though SEO is important, it shouldn’t be your business only focus. The website, your company website is important as well. Even if you have great SEO, if your website is lacking in the following areas: speed, meta data, site map, website view on cellphone/computer, the SEO won’t matter. It’s important to always keep all of these components up to date, which go hand in hand with the SEO, making your website the best it can be. In addition, to creating content, which reflects who your business is as well. The content should be great and relatable to the customers. If your content sucks, the SEO won’t matter. 

            Another important aspect, is local search, which targets the area your business resides in. It makes sense to target a specific region before targeting the whole world. Local search is important because you get yourself listed through local directories, and google directory, making you extremenly searchable in that area. Eventually this will aid with the SEO, and your marketing, because you’ll generate reviews, and by word of mouth, people will shop with you. 

I like to start this off by saying once more, that I never know what to expect from my Online Marketing classes. I definitely wasn’t prepared for Advanced Digital Market Strategy and I struggled through it, but it seems fitting due to the title of Advanced. I knew eventually math and Excel would play a part in this business degree and I’m glad that I conquered it. 

Week One I learn it important to know what you/your business offers to your customer and I don’t mean the product itself. It’s important to know the benefits of your product. I also learned it’s important to really know your audience, which touches on what I learned in Consumer Behavior Analysis. You have to get in the minds of your audience, know what they like, what they do for a living, there education, to determine if their product is right for you. 

Week Two taught me that customers do value/care about trust and authority. They want to know that their information is safe with you. They also want to know what will happen if they have any problems with your services, how would you respond. They want to know you value them more than just a customer. Week three taught me that there’s another way that you can advertise your product: online publishers, media kits. These advertisers have already established a social media presence, where they’ve built trust and credibility with their customers. It’s beneficial to advertise with any one of these because it eliminates a lot of work on your end. You don’t have to put in the man hours of looking for the audience, because they have a set for you. Overall, Advanced Digital Market Strategy, may have been a challenging class but I learned a lot from it. 

I want to start by saying, I never know what to expect from any of my classes in this online marketing business degree. When I noticed New Media Marketing appear on my dashboard, I assumed we would expand on the marketing techniques we learned in the previous class. Instead, we learned about a new form of marketing, that I’ve had some interest in for quite some time, Influencers.

I stumble upon Influencers in my discovering for advertising my novels for my book publishing company and I didn’t know if this way of marketing was legit or not. I now know that influencers are the new wave when it comes to marketing. Influencers already have a fan/audience base which they utilize by creating and posting stuff about themselves, and what others ask them to post. If an Influencer post your product/service, due to the trust the audience has with that person, they’ll check out your product. Before this class, I didn’t know where to start when looking for an influencer, now I have a ton of resources at my disposal. 

When choosing an Influencer, it’s important to make sure you choose a person who fits your product. You should take the time to really analyze what it is you sell, what the influencer post, to see if you mesh. If so, you can proceed to use the influencer, if not, it’s best to continue looking. It’s also important to have a game plan in motion, when choosing the influencer, will you allow them creative control when posting or do you want to assist. In addition, it’s important to know how you will compensate them, and know how often they should post things in regards to your business. 

Overall, in addition to the other forms of marketing, Influencers are the new wave and can be helpful to any business. 

The online marketing Master program is definitely everything and more than what I expected. My assumptions before starting the degree program was that the main focus would be marketing by way of online. However, now I see there’s much more than online marketing that goes into successfully running a business. Last month, I learned about consumer behavior analysis, analyzing the way customers behave and think when it comes making purchase.

This month I learned about digital design and usability, the look and feel of your website. Week One we learned about usability and home page analysis. Usability is the ease of access of the website. I learned from my analysis, that my case company doesn’t have great usability. In addition, analyzing the home page of my website, showed me the mistakes that were made in regards, to usability. 

Week Two was about usability testing, which I found very useful. By asking outsiders or potential customers about my case study website, I learned through them, what the website lacked. For example, the testers could not find the Home page, a major red flag. Also, the testers could not find sub-pages to purchase the hair vitamin, which is the popular product for case study program. If these changes were implemented, the website could be a great and easily accessible website. 

Week Three spoke about findability, which I now realize is a different concept from SEO. Findability determines how easy it’s for customers to find not only your website, but to find the content on your website. Overall, I’m learning a lot goes into online marketing. My assumptions of online marketing only being about sales was wrong. If you want your business to be successful, you have to think as a customer but make sure the website has a great design and can be easily used by ANY customer. 

Consumer Behavior and Analysis is a class every business owner believes that they do not need, of course, we’re wrong. This class has shown me that a business owner should always consider the needs, and behaviors of the customer there selling too. If a business does not know their consumers and what influences them to make purchase, you will never make a sell or have a loyal clientele. Week 1 of Consumer Behavior and Analysis taught me to analysis the reason why customer would shop with me. Yes, I may offer a product but why would a customer by that specific product from me? Also, price plays a factor in this as well, if my product is too high, would a customer seek the product somewhere else for cheaper. If the product is too low, will the customer believe the product doesn’t work due to its value. All of these thoughts, play an important role when customers shop.
Week Two made me analysis who my person is as a customer, and what influences there buying choices. Demographics play a major role for customers. Who is the product being marketed too? Is the product appealing to one group of people, then the other, is that a good or bad thing? When designing a product, businesses must take all of this into consideration. Week Three consisted of Consumer Generated Content. Consumer generated content is where a customer advertises your product or service for you. When doing consumer generated content, you don’t have to worry about advertising, because the customers you want or the one’s speaking about the product, will persuade other customers to buy the product. Consumer Behavior and Analysis is a class every business should take if they ever want to truly connect with customers.

I’ve come to expect the unexpected when it comes to the Digital Marketing business degree. The digital storytelling and branding, exceeded my expectations and now makes me look at each and every company/business differently. Week 1, taught me how to successfully brand my company, and myself. I didn’t know how important it was to truly know your brand. Questions like who are we, what do we sell, and why do people purchase our items, seem like typical questions. However, I’ve learned in this course, they aren’t, these questions, if not answered correctly or answered partially, can destroy your brand, which means no sales and no customers.

            Week 2, learning your brand voice, by creating characteristics and a life like persona, really help me to connect with my brand because it turned my company into a real life person. By doing so, it has made me connect/love my business even more. Week 3, taught me the different archetypes a business can have, and why it’s important for that business to know them. By knowing your archetype, you know the type of customer you attract. Therefore, you advertise/promote/converse with that particular customer in mind. Week 4, has shown me how to analyze you company by way of the brand stategy paper. I realized my company is lacking in a few areas  that can help ultimately destroy the company. Having a tagline, a business card, a mission statement, and logo, goes a long way. In the end, knowing you brand, and being able to communicate that brand will help you stand out from the competition, and help you generate more business and lifelong customers. 

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