Raquel Johnson Mastery Journal

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Digital Analytics and Optimization

Having an understanding of Digital Analytics and Optimization is vital for business. This course provided that understanding and more. In week one we learned what Digital Analytics is and discussed landing pages. In week two SMART goals or goals that are Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Timely. We also focused of KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators), this is what is used to measure the success of a business objectives. We discussed corporate goals and metrics. In week three we focused on analytics overall and we discussed how to incorporate social media analytics into general analytics. In week four we looked into multi-channel analytics, how to maintain and evaluate analytical success, and we discussed free analytics vs paid. We were also presented with the opportunity to complete the Google Analytics Certification by taking the Google Analytics Individual Qualification (IQ) exam.

In the first week we focused on what Digital Analytics is specifically and why it is important for businesses to take advantage of it. We learned that with analytics businesses can have a deeper look at the numbers behind their success and what they can do if they are not seeing success. This week we were also introduced to Google Analytics. We discussed landing pages and the importance of placement within those pages. On a landing page there should be design choices that are presented with goals in mind. For example, if you have a button to subscribe, why do you have it? Because your goal is to get people to click that button and become subscribers. This also goes hand in hand with placement because you would want that button to stand out and be seen so that your goal is achieved.

Week two focused on getting specific with SMART goals, KPI’s and reporting. We had to create a business report from the stance of an Internet Marketing Consultant that is attempting to earn a contract with a business. In this proposal, we had to list 4-5 SMART business goals for this company and identify 2-3 KPI’s for each SMART goal and explain why and how they will be successful. We discussed corporate goals and metrics. We selected an e-commerce site and provided corporate goal examples for that business. After creating goals for the business, we also selected specific metrics that would assist in the success of the goals.

Throughout week three, the focus was on mainly analytics specifically. We learned the breakdown of analytics from situational, to actionable, that would lead you to getting strategic. This is what leads to the success of your objective. We completed another business report from the stance of an Internet Marketing Consultant that is attempting to earn a contract with a business. However, this time we are in the final round of selection and the company would like us to create an Analytics Optimization Plan from the provided analytical data. This included, identifying 3-5 trends, creating SMART goals for each identified trend, selecting the appropriate KPI for each SMART goal, creating at least two action items for each KPI and then presenting possible challenges that may occur. We discussed social media analytics and how they can be integrated into regular analytics. During this week I passed the Google Analytics Individual Qualification (IQ) exam and received my Google Analytics Certification.

Lastly, in week four we learned about multi-channel analytics and how to maintain and evaluate analytical success. Multi-channel analytics is data that is collected from multiple sources a business uses. For example, there is a store and they have an actual store front location, online shopping, social media and they sale their products through third party websites, all of that data is combined and makes multi-channel analytics. Maintaining and evaluating analytical success is important because you never want to fall from your success once you reach it, so you continue creating goals and making the appropriate improvements to maintain that status. We discussed free analytics vs paid and the benefits that come with both, overall, businesses would have to determine their specific goals and needs because success is different for everyone and depending on that would be how you determine the route you should take.

In the end, this course was extremely beneficial and informative. Having a new outlook on Digital Analytics and Optimization has made me want to get more involved with analytics. I definitely will be using what I learned throughout this course to my advantage. Also, being able to learn Google Analytics through a different scope and understand the numerous aspects of it was tough but completely worth it and passing the Google Analytics Individual Qualification (IQ) exam proved it.

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Advanced Digital Marketing Strategies

The Advanced Digital Marketing Strategies course was full of informative information. The first week we worked on relationship development strategies. The second week we worked on conversion optimization strategies. The third week we worked on traffic and promotion strategies. The fourth week we worked on summarizing all the strategies from previous weeks and formed a presentation. Along with working on those different strategies throughout this course we also discussed our offers in relation to customers, establishing trust and authority, different ways to utilize online advertising and how woot.com operates their platform and the benefits of them using the different strategies we worked on.

In the first week we worked on relationship development strategies, breaking down ways to identify our audience, intentions and goals. This caused us to be more aware of how we could market our brand and what we could do going forward. We created a variety of different headlines along with supported descriptions. We also discussed offers in relation to our customers, which included having to come up with ways to attract our customers. We also created a Unique Value Proposition (UVP) to represent our businesses.

Week two was all about conversion optimization strategies, where we put a plan in place and broke down how the plan would be executed. The plan included a headline, offer summary, images and/or video, call to action, statement of trust, landing page testing and optimization plan, and the main funnel navigation. This week we also discussed establishing trust and authority and came up with ways our businesses could be trusted by our audiences.

In week three with worked on traffic and promotion strategies, which really means what can be done and provide a successful ROI. This was broken down into four parts, broad markets, targeted markets, intention-based paid and email newsletter sponsorship. We had to break down each of those four parts into plans and how they would in turn possibly be used to our advantage. This part was more about numbers and if it would provide a beneficial return or not and the odds of how many people could be essentially reached. The discussion for this week was about different ways to utilize online advertising. This was a great discussion because not everyone had the same ideas. This is because your online advertising would differ based on your type of business and your audience.

The final week summarized all three of the previous weeks and we formed a presentation. The presentation was set up and presented in this order, 1. audience definition, demographic data, geographic data and audience intentions, 2. customer roles and personas targeted, 3. broad campaign strategy, including interpretation of the goals and projections, 4. targeted campaign strategy, including interpretation of goals and projections, 5. intention-based campaign strategy, including interpretation of goals and projections, 6. email newsletter sponsorship strategy, including interpretation of goals and projections, and 7. landing page testing and optimization strategy, including specific elements to be tested and metrics used to monitor results. We ended with the last discussion being about the website Woot.com. We broke down how they use the previously discussed different strategies and the benefits.

Overall, this course was very informative. Learning the importance of these strategies was extremely beneficial. I do believe that I will definitely be able to use these methods and strategies going forward in the future. Many of the things I learned in this course I had never knew before, and that is beneficial to me.

[raqueljohnsonmasteryjournal]

New Media Marketing

Initially, as this course began, I had no clue what to expect. I began this course with an open mind. During this course I was filled with so much knowledge. Having a variety of learning methods available, it was definitely made to keep us informed and involved. At the start of this course I noticed all the assignments were open for the complete time of the course. I thought that was great. I felt as though they provided so much more opportunity, especially with this being an online learning program.

Throughout this course we covered how to create a marketing campaign ideal for your selected company. In doing so, you had to identify your audience, identify your customers, identify your fans, identify your potential influencers, create realistic goals, create strategies, learn how to respond and react to negativity, create a marketing plan, find real people who could potential influence your brand, create a plan to pitch this campaign to the boss and how you would follow through with everything to be successful in achieving your set goals.

Learning about the customers, the fans and the influencers was amazing, it gave me a different way to look at business. I enjoyed how we presented our assignments as if we were presenting them to the actual business itself. It also gave us room to work on presentations if we ever choose to use them in future. I learned so many different things it’s hard to sum it all up.

In week one, we focused on personas, goals, and strategies for our selected business/company. In doing this, we broke down almost like an image of what our company was, where we want to be and how we can get there by choosing if we would take a brand ambassador approach or influencer approach. In week two, the focus was to identify your influencers/fans for you selected business/company. This was a way to break down who would be ideal for your selected business/company in order for your approach to be potentially successful. Week 3 was focused on the plan, how you would execute you approach. Rather it was a brand ambassador approach or an influencer one, I chose an influencer marketing campaign. Finally, in week four we created a plan to measure our campaign, how we would watch to see the metrics of our campaign so we would know if it was a success or not.

Overall, this course was great and informative and really put everything into perspective.

[raqueljohnsonmasteryjournal]

Digital Marketing Fundamentals

Throughout the Digital Marketing Fundamentals course, I learned so much. Initially, I had no clue what expect from this course. I did not know which approach would be taken or how this course would influence my overall outlook on Marketing. There were some things that I knew already and there were things I really had no clue about.

In the beginning we focused on finding a company to use throughout the program. The company I chose was The Olive and Sinclair Chocolate Company. Once our chosen company was approved, we moved to creating a marketing research paper. The marketing research paper was extremely helpful. We identified our chosen company, their history, came up with corporate objectives, our target audience, created a SWOT analysis and also completed an Industry and Environmental analysis. The SWOT analysis was new to me, I never knew about until taking this course, but I definitely will be using it in the future. Another thing I never knew about was the Industry codes used to categorize businesses, this is very informative. During this first week we also evaluated the differences between inbound and outbound marketing. This I was familiar with, but it was good to discuss it with others to see different perspectives.

The second week of class we worked on search engine marketing. We discussed the pros and cons of retargeting marketing and created a presentation for chosen companies on click fraud. Learning about retargeting was informative. I never knew there were so many ways to retarget. I did learn that retargeting can be sort of scary but for businesses it’s beneficial. The click fraud presentation was interesting, we broke down click fraud and what could be done to prevent it. We also had to find a way to present this to the CEO of our chosen companies with a click fraud solution as to how we could potentially prevent click fraud for the company. I will be using some of these techniques going forward.

In our third week of class we went over digital marketing strategies, created a competitor website analysis and we discussed how we would manage our social reputation, we also created a crisis infographic. The competitor website analysis I found to be very intriguing, because there was so many aspects to learn just from the analysis. The discussion was more leaning on what approaches we would take to manage the social media platform of our company. Creating an infographic is always fun, being able to break something down in a creative way is always a plus. I will be using all of these methods going forward.

As we entered into week four, we discussed web analytics and usability. We selected two marketing strategies we would use and how we would use them. I chose social media marketing and email marketing. We also created our own Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) system and selected a specific topic to explain how it would relate to our chosen company and how it could potentially affect the company.

Overall, the Digital Marketing Fundamentals course was extremely informative. I was exposed to so many new aspects of marketing that I will definitely use going forward. I truly appreciate this course and the knowledge learned. I know that going forward I will be able to use everything learned in order to be a better marketer.