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Essentials of Marketing and Sales Online Course
Success in the marketplace is imperative for each business. It helps to have great products or services, but that alone does not guarantee success if the products do not fulfill customer needs and bring value.
More than ever, firms are competing to be innovative rather than cheap. Creating a sustainable marketing strategy and adopting a proactive value-based selling approach is the perfect integrated framework for innovative and complex solutions and services that brings value to the customer.
The Essentials of Marketing and Sales online course offers a unique insight into the marketing and sales strategic mindset. In the course, you will focus on key perspectives: marketing strategies, segmentation, targeting and positioning, integrated marketing communications, proactive value-based selling, structured influencing, contemporary sales approaches, and personal selling skills.
By participating in this course, you will quickly find answers to the following questions and learn the essentials that all managers and leaders need to know about marketing and sales strategies.
- Why is segmentation essential, and what are the main criteria for successful segmentation?
- What is the influence of the environment on a firm’s marketing strategy?
- What are the marketing mix elements, and what is their role in forming a uniquely attractive value proposition for your target customer group?
- What is the Integrated Marketing Communication concept and process?
- How to tailor your products and services to bring customer delight?
- Why and how the buying process is executed?
- How is selling connected and aligned with different stages of buying?
- What are the essentials tasks and skills needed to apply value-based selling successfully?
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By completing the course, you will get an Aalto EE Essentials of Marketing and Sales certificate worth 0.5 ECTS. |
Watch the introduction video:
Benefits
Marketing and sales are both key growth drivers in a company. They should always be considered from the customer's perspective; the customer decides how and through which channels they want to be served and ultimately determines the service's value. By participating, you will get the latest marketing and sales trends, work with the most efficient market tools, and get equipped with all the necessary skills in this fast-changing business environment.
Learn to select and identify the essentials tasks and skills needed to apply value-based selling successfully
Learn to evaluate and think strategically about marketing communications to brand building methods
Start reflecting on the best solutions to deliver superior value to your target customers by managing the marketing mix
Learn to identify and apply the fundamentals tools and strategies to begin developing a marketing plan
For
This course is suitable for managers and experts taking a marketing or sales role within the firm who want to boost their skills and learn the essentials of creating a sustainable marketing strategy and adopt a proactive value-based selling approach to bring value to their customers.
The course is suitable for those who need to revisit the basic concepts and frameworks of marketing and sales. It also provides excellent preparatory assignments for students before enrolling in many of the training programs offered by Aalto EE.
Contents and Schedule
This online course covers the fundamental concepts of Marketing and Sales, developing a marketing strategy, understanding the marketing environment, integrated marketing environment, and proactive value-based selling.
The course is structured into ten online modules. The modules consist of interactive video lectures, reflection tasks, and reading assignments covering the marketing and sales strategies and tools from different perspectives. The videos are accompanied by interactive questions to check your knowledge along the way, further reading material, and reflection prompts.
Each core module contains:
- Introduction
- A pre-assignment or a pre-reading material
- Video lecture (from 5 to 10 minutes)
- A small reflection task
- Reading assignment based on a specific article
- Knowledge check questions
- Review of the key takeaways from the module
The estimated study time of the course is 10 hours. The course allows flexible study patterns; you can decide on your schedule and the speed of your progress. The recommended study schedule is 2-3 hours per week for 3-4 weeks.
The course videos are subtitled in English.
First study path: Essentials of Marketing
This study path will offer you the fundamental tools to develop a marketing plan for almost any business. You will be able to think about marketing strategically, rather than merely as a function of sales and advertising.
1. Developing a Marketing Strategy
2. Understanding the Marketing Environment
3. Creating Attractive Value Offerings
Instructor:
Alexei Gloukhovtsev, Assistant Professor in Marketing, Aalto University
Second study path: Integrated Marketing Communications
This study path will give you an understanding of the importance of consumer insights in developing creative ideas, crucial for communication campaigns. You will learn how to identify and choose adequate channels and promotional tools and understand the marketing communication planning and executing process.
4. What is IMC?
5. The Communication Model
6. Evaluation and Effectiveness of IMC Campaigns
Instructors:
Alexei Gloukhovtsev, Assistant Professor in Marketing, Aalto University
Hedon Blakaj, University Lecturer Department of Marketing, Aalto University
Third study path: Essentials of Sales
This study path will provide you with the fundamental tools to understand why and how individuals and companies buy, how sellers can influence buying by value-based selling, and what sales skills they need to succeed. Value-based selling is rapidly becoming the dominant sales model for innovative and complex solutions and services.
7. Proactive Value-Based Selling
8. Structured Influencing
9. Three Focus Areas of Modern Selling
10. Individual Sales Skills
Instructor:
Pekka Töytäri, Post-doctoral Researcher, Aalto University
