Wednesday, September 19, 2018

How to Transform Advanced Marketing Management into a Digital Marketing Project Course


The Digital Transformation of Advanced Marketing Management


At the Fall Marketing Management Association Conference in Kansas City I will present at a session on Alternatives to Textbooks and speak about using my own materials in our Advanced Marketing Management class at St. Edward’s University.  Not using a text allowed me to create a unique course experience involving a IMC Plan, a simulation and a service-learning project for a real-life client involving Google Ads.  I explain the rationale behind the course, how it was developed and then present some reflections and learning from the experience.

Background

First, it is important to understand the history of the course. Over the last few years, we have incorporated digital marketing in to all of our courses and developed a digital marketing minor.  These changes mean that students are not only learning the basics of search, social, email and web/mobile design but that they are receiving certifications in Google Ads and Analytics and other third party vendors such as HubSpot and Hootsuite. 

Because of these changes, we wanted our Advanced Marketing Management course to be more than a traditional case-based course.  This past spring was the first semester that most of the students had been through the new curriculum and most were coming in to the course already Certified in Google AdWords (now Ads).  St. Edward’s also believes strongly in action and service learning and in the use of real-world projects to involve students in the Community.

We had used the Marketing EDGE Collegiate ECHO Marketing Challenge to provide the experience of consulting for a real client.  We had eliminated the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)  course as an elective to make room for more digital options such as Marketing Metrics and Analytics and moved much of that content in to the Advanced Marketing Management course, using the ECHO as the main project, supplemented by the Kelly/Jones IMC Handbook. This spring the students were ready for another challenge.

The Course Outline

The objective of the course was to have the students apply the knowledge learned through our entire marketing plan of study. I used two projects, one an IMC project for a company of the student’s choosing, and one a real-life paid search project using Google Ads.  During the IMC project, students also participated in the Stukent Digital Marketing Simulation to get used to writing text ads and seeing the impact of having a well-designed web page.  Most, but not all, of the students were Ads certified entering the class.  Those that were not were required to complete the Google Ads Fundamentals exam during this time period.  The IMC project lasted approximately eight weeks and students presented their plans at the end of that time frame.
The Course Outline

The students then applied their knowledge of planning a campaign to a project where they ran an Ads campaign with a budget of $250.00 for 21 days over a 31 day period, with ads serving and receiving clicks on at least seven calendar days.  The project companies were solicited by both me as the instructor as well as by the students.  I found the project companies through contacts with other professors and a social media network called Alignable. Many of the students had their own side businesses or chose to help family members with small businesses.  We did two projects for two different product lines for a startup in town.  I sourced many of the clients through a local small business network. Typically, in these projects, it is small businesses and not-for-profits that can benefit the most from the help the students provide.

The Project Process

We modeled the project on the former Google Online Marketing Challenge and used some of the materials from the Appendix to Zahay and Roberts, Internet Marketing:  Integrating online and offline strategies in a digital environment (4e).  Students were familiar with the book but had not used the Appendix material in their Digital Marketing and Analytics class.  The material provides coaching tips for instructors and project tips for students. 

The process was that students selected a client, prepared a pre-campaign report and had a Scope of Work document signed by the client.  After the campaign, they produced a report and reflection and presented their results in class. The Scope of Work document is required at our University for projects where students work with outside firms and includes basic information such as the dates of the project and the deliverables.  Also in that document, and key to the success of this second course project is that there be a designated person to work with the team and answer questions.

Students then ran their campaigns in class, with the class becoming for three weeks a coaching session and a seminar series with appropriate guest speakers in digital marketing.  We analyzed particular campaigns and provided feedback. I used a Master Account so I could see all the groups in one place.  We would see that one ad had a lot of impressions and few clicks and suggested changes to the ads or the use of more focused keywords to improve the CTR, as was the appropriate for each case.  
Class working on Google Ads for clients


For example, we had one client who was an energy healer, among other things.  The term ‘energy’ would be too broad for this type of campaign and keywords would need to be focused more to produce results. I also brought in a ‘consultant’ for the teams in terms of a real-life Search Specialist from a well-known company in Austin.  One successful innovation was the use of a prepaid Visa account to fund the campaign so the client did not have to worry about going over budget.

The Search consultant was helpful because Google changed the AdWords (Ads) interface just as we were beginning class. So I was learning and teaching simultaneously and it was good to have support.  I have used coaches for each team in the past but this time brought in just one coach that could be a resource for all. I also brought in a Power Point presentation expert from our University, Billy Ernest, to help the students create meaningful final presentations that used more images than words.

The Results

The students reported in general that they enjoyed learning paid search in a ‘safe’ environment and that they liked not having a book.  They thought the digital marketing simulation helped them practice skills before they had to run a paid search campaign for a client. They did think that two projects could be rushed so next time I would probably have them do the IMC campaign and the paid search campaign for the same company. 


Some students did not like the emphasis on digital marketing and had not been through the new curriculum.  Some did not come in to the class having taken AdWords Fundamentals exam. This was definitely a transition year, but next year’s students should all be qualified for this type of project.
One thing I noted was that students required more direction from the last time I had done this type of project.  There is some support for the idea that the Millennial generation has a need for low ambiguity and this type of project is of necessity ambiguous.  To combat this problem, I required several project worksheets to help the students prepare their pre-campaign report. I often had them coach each other’s teams in class and used other techniques to share information to reduce ambiguity about this project.

In terms of teaching without a textbook, although I have used client projects in class previously, I learned again that textbooks can help organize the course and save time.  I developed my own materials for teaching the IMC plan and coaching this project and can use most of them again when teaching this course, even if it is in a different format.


Web resources:


Saturday, September 8, 2018

Secrets to Teaching Google Analytics the Easy Way

This Post Was Updated for GA4 on February 10, 2020

 

Focus on Analytics


At the Fall Marketing Management Association Conference in Kansas City, which focuses on marketing education, I will be facilitating a workshop with Dr. Holly Syrdal and Dr. Leila Samii on Tool and Approaches for Teaching Digital Marketing:  Focus on Analytics.  This is the fourth time academic colleagues and I have facilitated this type of workshop at MMA.  We are delighted to present this topic to our interested colleagues and I am summarizing the highlights of my talk in this blog post.  A link to the Conference information is included in the list of Web Resources at the end of this post. 


What is Analytics?


Our workshop team thinks that Analytics does not have to mean advanced statistics.  We think that analytics means insights from data and that employers are looking for graduates who can put on a thinking cap and make intelligent inferences from data. Holly and Leila focus on developing insights from data by teaching easy ways to look at social media in Excel and derive insights from that data.  No higher math is required but the focus is on the students being able to make marketing interpretations of data to improve marketing campaigns.


Teaching Google Analytics the Easy Way through Blogging


My section of the workshop is on how the easy way to teach Google Analytics.  In particular, the presentation focuses on teaching introductory Google Analytics with a project that links Google Analytics to a blogger blog.  Blogging is a good way for students to learn the valuable skills of blogging and get started applying course concepts in a digital marketing course to managing a real-life marketing campaign. 

The basic concept is that students create a blog of interest to them and then over the next few weeks they promote the blog on social media and email (Mailchimp).  They also practice using visual images on the blog and writing a long-form blog post (1500 words or more).  The students start out with a simple blog post introducing their blog and then write four other blog posts over about a ten week period. I recommend a few weeks between blog posts so students can analyze the results of the prior post, write another post and give it at least a week to see the effects of any changes in writing style or promotion.

To think about what topic to use for the blog and what keywords to use, I ask the students to turn on Google alerts for topics they might be interested in focusing on for their blog and follow them through the course of the semester.  We also look at Google Trends


Linking Google Analytics to a Blogger Blog


Blogger provides excellent analytics, particularly on individual posts, but these numbers can sometimes appear inflated. To link a blogger blog to Google Analytics, simply copy the URL to the blog, open the admin tab in Analytics and add a web property.  In the process you will be invited to copy and paste HTML tracking code in to the blog.  This is not necessary when using blogger.  Copy the Website Tracking ID, which is in the form of UA (Universal Analytics) followed by numbers, i.e. UA-12345678-1.  Go back to blogger and paste under “Settings/Other” the Tracking ID.  Within a day or so the blog will start showing up in Google Analytics.
 
NOTE:  Since the upgrade to GA4, please note that you must create both a GA and GA4 web property.  Then toggle to Universal Analytics and get the UA code under admin.  

Google Analytics, Tracking Code
Finding the Tracking Code


In my class, we are not using advanced analytics.  Our undergraduates learn that information in the Marketing Metrics and Analytics Course.  In digital marketing, we learn the basics of analytics.  So we look at page views, the audience, the bounce rate, session length etc.  Students derive insights on the traffic to their blog and how changes such as using more visuals or writing longer copy affect the blog.  Students also report on the insights from blogger, which provide greater details on individual blog posts. 

Blogger, Google Analytics Tracking Code
Google Analytics Tracking Code is Added Under Settings, Other


Reflecting on What Was Learned


Students are required after seeing the results of each post to write a short reflection in Canvas about what they observed from weeks to week.  Students might report that visuals were most appealing to their audience or that LinkedIn resulted in the most page views because of their particular topic.  They might report that the long-form blog posts increased the average page session length. In these posts, I ask them to apply the reading from class.  For example, they might apply the metrics chapter of Zahay and Roberts and pick key metrics.  Or they might create a compelling call to action in their blog and apply the direct marketing material.
Not only can creating and track a blog can teach students analytics and campaign management skills, but this real-life project does not need a project sponsor.  The students and their careers are the client.  Several students have reported to me that they received job offers based on having a blog. It is likely that students will be employed.


Incorporating HubSpot Inbound Marketing Certification


During my undergraduate digital marketing course where students blog, students also become certified in Inbound Marketing at HubSpot’s online Academy.  The HubSpot material focuses on the importance of blogging in business applications.  Students sometimes have to be convinced of the benefits of blogging, so there is a link to a blog post with some pertinent statistics at the end of this post.  Basically, blogging can dramatically increase the chances of being ranked highly in search engines and is the number one content marketing tool for most business-to-business firms. 


Learning Google Analytics


My recommendation for learning Google Analytics is Google itself. While formal certification in Google Analytics is available through the Google Academy for Ads, there is a stand-alone video course on Google Analytics for beginners that I highly recommend. This video covers enough material for students to do well in this project and to give you, as an instructor, sufficient background in the material to coach students intelligently.


Incorporating Experts


Sometimes I also bring in a guest speaker to talk about blogging or storytelling. Professors from the communications and journalism programs at your University can be great resources for guests.  Industry experts are also often eager to participate and to coach students.


Wrapping It Up


In summary, blogging is a great skill for students to learn to promote their own brand and the brands of others. Connecting the blog to Google Analytics provides students with additional insights in to the reach and impact of their posts.  By writing reflections each week, students learn to apply course material and explore the most effective blogging techniques for the audience of their blog.

For a detailed syllabus containing information on how to use this assignment in class, log in to Cengage’s website and create a course using the book Zahay and Roberts, Internet Marketing:  Integrating online and offline strategies in a digital environment.  The teaching resources are there as well as a link to our course blog run by MaryLou Roberts with updates on digital marketing material per chapter. Or email me at dblatz@stedwards.edu and I will send along a copy of the syllabus.  Good luck and let me know if you have any questions

Web resources: