Blog Post 8: Final Reflection

With this being my final blog post of the semester, I have been assigned to write a post dedicated to a final reflection on how content I've learned within the course tie into various course objectives and outcomes. Throughout the course so far, I have been exposed to many different marketing scenarios, from learning terminology on the classic written exams, to taking control of my own Backpack company with my group in the Mcgraw Hill Marketing Simulation, all while contributing to an engaged class that went in depth on current marketing news, among many other topics.

Course Objectives

To examine and convey basic and emerging marketing topics and terminologies

Throughout this course, the only way to be successful is to read the textbook each week before the chapter quiz in class. Without reading the textbook and examining the terminologies, there is no way anyone could pass that chapter's quiz. However, This preparation for each quiz goes a lot farther then just helping for that particular quiz. Analysis of each chapter gave me the tools to use within the Marketing simulation which gave me crucial tools which played a huge role in my group's success. For example, When we learned about the 5 general criteria to select target segments, I was really able to transition the knowledge on that newly learned topic from the chapter quiz and exam to the marketing simulation. This benefitted my success within the simulation because when we needed to choose a new target market we went through each criteria like market size, growth, and competitive advantage and decided on urban commuters because they had the largest market size and we had the most competitive advantage because many of the groups focused on university students, school children, or outdoor enthusiasts. This is just one example of how the learning of a new marketing term transitioned into my success in various aspects of the class, others like target market and the four P's played huge roles as well.

To have the opportunity to put marketing into action action via team and individual projects, research, reports and presentation.

Although learning the various marketing terminology that comes with the written part of this course is key to student's knowledge and success in this class, putting what I learned into action via various projects, research, reports, and presentations was a crucial aspect that was held very highly. Before this class, I never had to stand up in front of any sized class and present an in depth topic by myself. After my first presentation, my comfort increased exponentially, and by the last, I actually felt very comfortable standing up there and delivering a great, in-depth, Ted-Talk presentation. This extra step we had to take in this class played a huge in my complete understanding of the material as well. Writing reports and actually analyzing data to see what decisions worked throughout the simulation gave me a way first hand to understand what I was doing right and wrong, and showed me what would work for the future.

To set personal and professional goals and positively contribute in an engaged class

The benefits of participation was crucial to my success in the class so far. Exercises such as when we needed to come up with characteristics that would match each specific target market of different coffee shops is one exercise that stuck with me. Through this exercise, I learned how important marketing effectively towards your target market is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your company. This concept remained with me for the remainder of the class and transferred into the marketing simulation, and my presentations.

Learning Outcomes

Use Written and Oral Skills to persuade a target audience

Although content is a very crucial aspect of any presentation, In this class I learned that oral skills and body language is huge when trying to convey a point to my target audience. From the beginning, Professor Nelson drilled into us on how important eye contact with the audience and the elimination of the word "um" during any presentation. One aspect of presentation skills that I learned the hard way was how important tailoring your presentation duration to the time allotted is. I lost about 3 letter grades on my ted talk and for now on I will make sure to focus on that among many other things when giving a presentation.

Participate and communicate as an effective member of a team.

In each business class I've taken so far, group work was a major part of the class criteria, but this class took it to a whole other level. Within this class, our group needed to make many very specific decisions during the Marketing simulation and group presentations. This teamwork is pretty much as real-world as you can get without actually being in the workforce. The group work assigned this semester has given me many important tools and skills which will help make me successful in the future.