A goodbye that feels more like a hello.

After 5 months, 5 (and ½?) assignments, live classes, inspirational talks, tons of interesting and insightful material and a lot of food for digital, innovative and revolutionary thought, the Squared Online journey for the class of Jan ‘14 is now coming to an end. But an “end” is definitely what this isn’t - and I am sure all of my fellow Squares would agree with that. #

Revolutionary from start to finish #

The 5th and last Squared module was called The Ongoing Revolution. Marketing, Communication & Sales, the whole process of reaching out to a brand’s audience, are undergoing major changes fuelled by tech & digital. Digital is no longer a type of marketing. It is rather a bridge between all the different strategies we design to engage with the customer/user in multiple ways, platforms and media. This is the era of i-Marketing: intelligent, insightful, interesting (from the point of the receiver) marketing.

The modern receiver (user/customer/shopper) is constantly multi-screening, browsing & searching on mobile phones and tablets while on the move or when in stores and shops, and continuously interacts with the world around him/her in a variety of physical and digital ways. But it’s always the same person, with unique characteristics, thoughts, ideas, emotions, goals and preferences. Broadcasters (brands) should be marketing themselves in the same way - by combining a plethora of activities, harnessing both offline and online tools and bringing together strategies on different channels, designed to work in unison. As “one”.

A debate on marketing ethics and an infographic on the digital revolution #

To focus a bit more on the 5th and last module of the course, it brought us closer to our “farewell” with classes on website optimisation, digital trends and how to embrace and promote change in organisations.

We also had the opportunity to think about and question marketing tactics of major businesses with regards to ethics: do companies respect customers/users when it comes to collecting and using their data? We participated in a live debate where selected teams presented their views on given topics - clearly, there is a lot to be said, a lot of arguments and counterarguments but as digital marketers we should always keep in mind that there are very right and very wrong ways of doing things. And the latter should not be an option..

Which brings us to the last step towards becoming a certified Squared: This was the creation of an infographic showing the impact of tech & digital on various industry sectors. By now we know that an infographic should ideally be what you get when you mix a fair amount of interesting stats together with creativity, an eye for design and effective storytelling.
Clearly, there couldn’t have been a better way to say goodbye!

So, what’s next? #

Well, to be honest, I would definitely opt for summer holidays (just a few weeks to go, yay!) But after that, I am sure there is a lot of exciting stuff to come. Looking back, I feel very lucky to have met so many interesting people sharing my passion for digital marketing (tutors and classmates and inspirational speakers of course). And I hope that we can all stay connected, continue sharing our thoughts, experiences and insight, working together to bring innovative, creative and useful ideas to life - always contributing to this “eternal conversation” we joined around 6 months ago..

(Need to stop or I’ll get too emotional)

Thanks everyone!!!

El.