Mark Ritson: Marketing Guru, and why you need to do his Mini MBA
Why the Mini MBA is a sound investment (of both time and money)
If you are a business leader, you can’t afford not to have a solid grasp of the foundations of marketing and brand management. As a marketing consultant, I constantly lament that my clients cannot see the value in research, strategy, and long–term brand building. Nor can they tell the difference between a consultant that has been well trained and one that has not.
Not only are business leaders forgoing the opportunity to make a lot more money than they currently are, but they are also actually throwing their hard–earned cash away on tactics that won’t meet their objectives. Instead of investing in the fundamentals to ensure they are spending their marketing dollars wisely, they invest in tactics only, that they themselves (or the poorly trained marketing consultant) think will be beneficial. The problem is – they are not the target market.
Customer orientation
This is lesson one in the Ritson Mini MBA in marketing – realise that you are not your customer and any ideas you have about what might work for them, are skewed.
The Mini MBA in Marketing is an MBA level CPD accredited course. It is designed for marketers of all backgrounds, but I would argue it is money well spent for anyone in business. The course is a 12–week online program with interactive Q&A’s covering the same content as the classes taught in MBA programmes at the top Business Schools. With refreshing bluntness and hilarity, Ritson brings world leading academic rigour combined with international consulting expertise to the program. Put simply, he knows his stuff.
When I first heard of the concept of an online MBA, I must admit to being a bit sceptical. I was lucky enough to be gifted a seat on the Mini MBA in Marketing and by the end of module 1, I was sold. On completion, I immediately signed up for the Mini MBA in Brand Management.
The Mini MBA in Brand Management is the higher–level course providing advanced training in Brand Management. The benefits of Brand are numerous including:
- Increased intangible asset value
- Better, harder working, lower paid employees
- Improved customer loyalty and repeat purchase
- Increased penetration and sales volumes
- Superior advertising effectiveness
- Higher prices and better gross margins
- Upstream attraction and pull effects
- Sustainable differentiation
- Market orientation
- Diversification into new categories.
I finished these Mini MBA’s more confident, knowing exactly how to handle myself around the board table with the C–Suite and wishing that the CEO’s that sit around the table would immediately sign up for the course!
I have learned not only the skills to deliver, but the language to talk about my craft, which signals that I am amongst the small percentage of marketers in the world who are well trained. Don’t you agree that business leaders should know it too?