GreenFig Announces Rapid Growth of Innovative "Codeless Professional" Certificate Courses in Continuing Education Sector

More than doubles higher education partners including global education leader, Pearson

Why Your HR Needs A CLO And What They Should Be Doing

Featured in HR.com, GreenFig CEO Sara Leoni explains why companies need to invest in a Chief Learning Officer and outlines what the role should entail.

An Unusual Path For The CEO Of An Unusual Education Company

Originally posted on Forbes.com –– Even in the circus of education companies, GreenFig is unusual. What they teach is different, how they do it stands out and their business model may be the way forward for a host of education providers struggling to find their place in the market.

Don’t Be Surprised If These Five Things Happen In Education In 2020

GreenFig and its emerging learning modality make Forbes's Derek Newton's list of 5 top predictions in education.

Flagler College Expands Partnership with GreenFig to Bridge Digital Skills Gap to Offer a Sales Operations Science Certificate (SOPS)

Flagler College today announced the launch of its Sales Operation Science Certificate (SOPS), expanding its agreement with GreenFig.

GreenFig Partners with National University to Offer Innovative Digital Marketing Science Program to Upskill Adult Learners

New digital marketing program offers insight into emerging trends; Special financial aid available for eligible military spouses.

GreenFig Announces Rapid Growth Partnering With 10 Campuses to Bridge Digital Skills Gap

Silicon Valley startup is helping universities provide learners with applied business science programs to thrive in high-demand jobs

Better Access, Better Outcomes: Leveling the Internship Playing Field

GreenFig addressed the role of internship opportunities in promoting better outcomes and creating better access for students at the Association of American Colleges and Universities' (AAC&U) Network for Academic Renewal conference in San Francisco.

The 5 + 1 Sales Enablement Strategy

The 5 + 1 Sales Enablement Strategy. What is interesting is that great sales enablement can be distilled down to just a few simple focus areas, what I have termed the 5 + 1 strategy.

The Great Lie – Learning to Code Isn’t Going to Save the American Workforce

It is true that digital transformation will require a different type of professional workforce. But, the statistics show that this workforce is not going to be dominated by coders, computer scientists, mathematicians, et al. Instead, it will be largely comprised of people with digital skills and work experience using them; people who have proven they understand how to operate and apply – not code – digital business applications.

The Science of Modern Selling - Increasing Sales Velocity

In our digital world, how we sell -- or rather, how we should sell -- is undergoing a dramatic transformation. What hasn’t changed in our modern sales ecosystem is the critical role played by the sales team: develop a deep understanding of a buyer’s problem or needs, and provide value along their decision-making journey. The problem is, sales organizations are struggling to deliver that value.

Interview Tips, Part 2 - Land your dream job

Great tips to help prepare you for your dream career interview.

Interview Tips, Part 1 - Land your dream job

Great interview tips to help you prepare for your dream career.

GreenFig's Partnership with Colleges and Universities

Grand Valley State University now is offering a course that includes certifications in Google Analytics, Google Ads, Marketo, Hubspot Email and the TradeDesk, as well as opportunities for hands-on learning and collaboration, and mentorship from industry leaders.

CCCE and San Mateo County Community College District Join Forces with GreenFig…

Innovative partnership produces skilled workforce, including many first-generation college students, for Bay Area companies in a tight labor market

Council of Independent Colleges - 46th annual Institute for Chief Academic Officers

GreenFig was a proud sponsor of The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC), 46th annual Institute for Chief Academic Officers (CAO) in November.

The Impact of Business Strategy on Marketing Tactics

Tactical marketing campaigns should align to marketing strategies, and marketing strategies should support a company's business strategy

The Importance of Leading & Lagging Metrics in Marketing

The Importance of leading & lagging metrics in marketing Goals. Metrics. SQL. AQL. MQL. KPI.

7 Interesting Facts About Google Analytics

Google Analytics started from humble beginnings and has grown into arguably THE most valuable resource for measuring website and digital marketing performance.

Ops-Stars: “How to Build Your Own Martech Stack”

On September 25th and September 26th, Cari Baldwin, GreenFig’s General Manager and Co-Founder, presented two workshops at the Ops-Stars Conference in San Francisco. The Ops-Stars conference focused on how to become successful in sales and marketing operations. It’s for any professional looking to network and expand their knowledge in sales and marketing operations, sales, demand gen, and marketing leadership.

An Emerging 21st Century Job - The Business Scientist

The mission of GreenFig - a microeducation company that teaches applied business science - is to prepare people to be business scientists. Business scientists don’t need to code software. Instead, they “operate” soft machinery – business application software – from industry leaders such as Marketo, Salesforce, SAP and others. These applications power key business functions in companies of all sizes and industries.

MSU Denver Panel - Land Your Digital Marketing Dream Job

On September 6th, GreenFig partnered with Metropolitan State University of Denver and held a panel discussion for their students. GreenFig is offering a one-of-a-kind live virtual experience to invite students from MSU to join other students from around the U.S. to learn the skills that they need to land today's top jobs from leading industry experts. Our goal is to help them gain real-world work experience that employers seek in today's job market.

The three hottest trends in marketing in 2018

Marketing has undergone an absolutely dizzying transformation over the past 15 years. The proliferation of platforms, technologies, formats, and channels kept everyone on their toes and constantly learning new things. This year was no different. As we inch towards the end of 2018, we’re taking stock of the top three trends that, based on our survey and research, have really mattered to marketers this year. In other words, if you have limited budget and resources, these three areas are where you should consider leaning in. Buckle up!

Planning for ROI: A CMO's Perspective

Planning for ROI: Marketing can now drive growth, define and impact the customer experience, as well as enable a competitive edge. As demand generation and client retention programs grow, strong increases in marketing budgets as a % of revenue have followed.

Google Analytics: The Metrics That Matter

Google Analytics is a powerful tool that provides almost any metric you want. And, to top it off, it's free! With this overview, you will be able to identify, understand, and act on the metrics that matter.

3 Forces Impacting Marketing Strategy

At its core, a marketing strategy is about how a company is going to target and convert its ideal customer profiles into paying customers. A good marketing strategy should align to a firm’s business strategy goals and describe positioning, target segments, value proposition(s), products & pricing, distribution mix and marketing mix. As marketers have been placed under increasing pressure to deliver leads to Sales, many impatient executives claim they don’t have time for strategy – thus, the focus is placed on marketing mix tactics and quarterly campaign calendars. As a result, marketers often try to A/B test their way to lead generation success wasting time and budget in the process. Effective marketing strategy doesn’t have to be difficult nor does it have to be time-consuming. However, it does need to be performed as both B2C and B2B buyers expect brands to personalize their buying experience and those that don’t will no longer remain relevant in the consideration set. Doing this effectively requires an updating your approach to marketing strategy.

How to Optimize Your Sales Funnel With Better Lead Management

GreenFig instructors Sue Hay and Jerine Erice recently taught classes in Marketo, Salesforce and analytics to our lifelong learners in Digital Marketing Science. We share their blog that underscores the value of a well-examined lead management process and provides actionable steps to optimize marketing strategy and increase ROI. Read and learn! Resolved to improve your sales and marketing effectiveness this year? Lead management might be the answer. A good lead management process starts with defining potential customers (or leads) and taking them on an educational and nurturing journey based on their buying persona before ultimately being passed on to the sales team. Lead management measures, tracks and reports on this customer acquisition process, from the first point of contact to the closing of the sale. This allows sales and marketing to work in tandem, with the ultimate goal of increasing conversion rates and ROI while shortening the duration of the process. This process is arguably the most important aspect of marketing. But according to DemandWave’s 2017 State of Digital Marketing Report, many marketers still find that obtaining high-quality leads is their number one challenge. Why do marketers continue struggle with this, and what can you do about it? Here are four lead management tactics that you can adopt now for a more robust lead marketing strategy and better-optimized sales funnel in 2018. 1. Get Sales and Marketing Aligned The alignment of sales and marketing is critical to lay the foundation for an effective lead management process. This ensures that the company as a whole is working toward a similar goal. The responsibility of increasing ROI becomes the responsibility of both teams. This alignment, especially in the case of B2B companies, shortens the sales cycle and makes it more efficient. In order to achieve this alignment, both teams needs to be on the same page -- aware of their responsibilities, as well as the intricacies of the process itself. Call a meeting to go over your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and the lead management process. Make sure everyone knows the different stages a lead goes through as well as the proper way to handle a quality lead. Some key journey points to remember include Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL), which is based off of lead scoring, Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) and Sales Accepted Lead (SAL), which are identified after a meeting occurs and the lead progresses through the sales cycle. Here is a helpful checklist to get you started. 2. Analyze the Lead Journey Once a lead is created and enters the process, the lead journey is analyzed over time. Tracking can be done through a CRM platform like Salesforce.com, SugerCRM, Hubspot CRM, social media analytical tools and email marketing analytics. Salesforce is one of the major Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools to document and keep track of important information. Through Salesforce, marketers are able to take a well-rounded look at their business and manage relationships with the partners and other strategic alliances, existing customers and prospects. With tracking, you learn that lead’s process and behavior. This knowledge proves valuable when developing content and tactics to use during the lead management process. Even if these leads have been passed off to the sales team, they are still important to track. Through monitoring, you can measure sales performance, and calculate marketing and sales ROI. This information is key because it allows you to learn how expensive each lead is and the proper steps to take in order to get more quality leads while reducing cost. You are able to analyze your marketing efforts as a whole, and make any necessary adjustments to save time and money while increasing revenue. 3. Score Your Leads Next, it is crucial to score your leads with lead scoring tools built into platforms like Marketo or Hubspot. Through scoring, you are able to determine not only the lead’s interest in you, but your interest in them as well. This allows the sales team to only spend time on leads that matter since higher scoring leads are more likely to convert. To have an effective lead scoring system, it is important to look at the lead’s persona, level of engagement and timing. 4. Nurture Your Leads Last but not least, it’s important to nurture high scoring leads before passing them to the sales team. According to DemandGen, leads who are nurtured with targeted content produce a 20 percent increase in sales opportunities. It is important to determine the unique preferences of your leads. What drives their attention? From there, you can create targeted content that is relevant and valuable to them. Some of the most effective targeted content includes email nurture campaigns, promotional offers and call-to-action content. For more information on GreenFig’s upcoming courses taught by industry leaders like Jerine and Sue, check us out at www.greenfig.net.

Report card: Find out what happened when GreenFig students presented their final, real-world project

When Kollective signed on to be the recipient of a real-world class project executed by GreenFig’s Digital Marketing Science students, its managers weren’t sure what to expect. As a GreenFig “Apprentorship” partner, Kollective would provide an apprentice-like experience along with expert mentorship to GreenFig’s Digital Marketing Science students over a 4-week period. D

Putting the Pieces Together

Why would a business analyst at a leading firm that specializes in digital marketing for property management companies enroll in GreenFig’s Digital Marketing Science course? Answer: To see the bigger (business) picture. Ryan Kelley performs data and cost analysis for clients at G5. But when the company offered to upskill some of its employees by enrolling them in a course that covers digital marketing fundamentals, strategy, tactics and technology, Ryan eagerly raised his hand.

Bridging The Skills Gap For Veterans

Our Student Stories blog series highlights the experiences of GreenFig students currently enrolled in our Digital Marketing Science course. Here, we'll introduce you to several current students, find out what drove them to GreenFig, what skills they're developing right now, and what they aim to achieve with their microdegree from GreenFig. Bridging the skills gap for veterans As Renée Hamilton-McNealy began preparing for a career change after nearly two decades in and out of active military service, she knew she didn’t need another college degree. After all, she already holds a bachelor’s in financial services and an MBA in finance, not to mention loads of management and leadership experience as a Master Sergeant in the Army Reserve. Rather, she was looking for a targeted, focused program that could help her develop the up-to-date technology skills she needed to land a marketing position now, but was discouraged by other programs she researched. “I was looking for more specialized education than what a general degree could offer,” explains Renée. “I wanted to prepare myself for life after I completely retire from the military, and to feed my passion for marketing.” Renée discovered GreenFig through The Paradigm Switch, a nonprofit that helps link military veterans and their spouses to prestigious skill-based training programs. “I’m not afraid to start over,” she says. “I wanted to challenge myself.” Renée explains that she wanted to gain skills in marketing analytics, and become proficient with tools that measure the impact of a campaign’s effectiveness. Renée enrolled in GreenFig’s Digital Marketing Science course remotely from the Bay Area, and says that the program offered a healthy, collaborative learning environment where she felt supported. “I learn best in my own environment and in my own space,” she says. “I liked not having to physically commute someplace. With GreenFig, the communications options are endless, and there were always ways to connect inside and out of the classroom.” Looking back, Renée says it was her instructors’ enthusiasm and ability to teach their craft that confirmed she had found the right program. “I just love the fact that the instructors, who are accomplished and experienced, were just as passionate to share their knowledge with us as we were to learn it,” she says. “And they had more than just experience, they also know how to teach. Just because you are a subject matter expert, doesn’t mean that you know how to transfer that knowledge so that someone else can comprehend it.” Renée believes GreenFig’s training courses are ideal for veterans, who are accustomed to targeted, hyper-focused skill development and who thrive in hands-on, real-world environments where those skills can be quickly applied. Applying the digital marketing skills she’s developed over the past 16 weeks to a real-world marketing campaign for a real-world company is an ideal application exercise for veterans like her, says Renée. “In graduate school, I did case studies,” she recalls. “What we’re doing now is benefitting a real company.” Armed with a unique set of skills -- digital marketing, finance and management -- upon graduation, Renée is hoping to join a marketing team where she can specialize in marketing analytics and social media management. “What GreenFig offers is what I needed,” she says. “To challenge me, allow me to get certifications, provide relevant and modern information, and give me the opportunity to immediately apply and exercise this knowledge in the marketplace.” Advance your skills and set your next big challenge at GreenFig. Check us out at www.greenfig.net.

Never Stop Learning No Matter Your Age

Our Student Stories blog series highlights the experiences of GreenFig students currently enrolled in our Digital Marketing Science course. Here, we’ll introduce you to several students, find out what drove them to GreenFig, what skills they’re developing right now, and what they aim to achieve with their microdegree from GreenFig.</em></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(88, 89, 91); font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background: transparent; vertical-align: baseline;">“Never stop learning, no matter what your age”</strong></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(88, 89, 91); font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">Deanna Paik could’ve been content to ride out the status quo. After all, the entrepreneur already owns a successful business and possesses a mile-long resume featuring business management roles in numerous sectors. She knows international shipping, how to buy patents overseas, and the ins and outs of owning a successful art gallery.</p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(88, 89, 91); font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">But resting on her laurels doesn’t jive with Deanna’s never-stop-learning mentality. While the first half of her career is in the rear-view mirror, she strongly believed that in order to continue to thrive in the second half, her skills needed to evolve.</p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(88, 89, 91); font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">When Deanna heard about the opportunity to grow her digital marketing skills as a student in our fall Digital Marketing Science course, she jumped at the chance.</p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(88, 89, 91); font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">“I always challenge myself,” she says. “Even though I’m older than most of the other students, I always want to be relevant.“ Specifically, Deanna says she needed to update her technology and strategy skills. Marketing analytics and persona mapping were on the top of her list when starting the course.</p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(88, 89, 91); font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">Deanna notes that <a href="https://sandbox.greenfig.com/what-we-offer/industry-instructors/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(147, 201, 61); text-decoration-line: none;">GreenFig’s instructors</a> — who are all seasoned, and working, marketing experts — brought realism and energy to the classroom in a way that was empowering to her.</p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(88, 89, 91); font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">“I’m most surprised by how energized I am,” she says. “You go into some courses and it’s interesting. But it doesn’t inspire you to get up in the morning and say ‘what else can I learn today’?”</p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(88, 89, 91); font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">Following 16 weeks of classroom instruction, GreenFig students have transitioned to the Apprentorship Module (a mentor-guided apprenticeship with real-world companies). Leveraging their new skills, small groups of students collaborate with a real-world company and execute an active, real-world marketing campaign.<br>“You can sit and learn new skills,” says Deanna, “but to experience it is another thing. I’ve got to put my hands on it and use it.”</p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(88, 89, 91); font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">For Deanna, “micro education” is all about evolving, and thriving. Already equipped with tremendous skills and experience, Deanna didn’t want or need a career U-turn. Rather, her aim is to strengthen and adapt her skills to a changing digital workforce. A highly focused, super-charged course that builds job-ready skills and experience in a condensed period of time was the perfect solution.</p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(88, 89, 91); font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">“I want to see my professional future keep going for the next 20 or 30 years, and a micro degree from GreenFig allows me to do that,” Deanna says. “To continue to thrive in today’s workplace, this is where people like me need to be.”</p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(88, 89, 91); font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">“When I look back, I’ve changed my career every 7 to 8 years,” she adds. ‘I’ve gone from the cosmetic industry, to buying patents in Europe, working for a law firm, then going into the sp</p>

5 Ways to Use Marketing Automation More Effectively

In today’s fast-changing marketplace, it is important to stay up to speed on potential prospects. Marketing automation makes that possible by pushing out the critical pieces of a marketing campaign – tasks such as email blasts, social media posts, web content and other marketing touch points – while measuring and providing metrics on the success rate of these marketing tasks. With this data, you can better understand your audience, leads and customers, and in turn drive more targeted content to move prospects down the funnel. The ideal marketing automation plan is divided into three parts:

GreenFig: Powering Business Science Education for the Digital Economy

About this time last year, GreenFig – a micro education company offering microdegrees in applied business science - imagined a world where individuals are the masters of their careers and businesses are competing to win with strong, relevant talent skilled for the 21st century. We offered a proven solution that enables companies to rapidly prepare their workforce for the digital economy and allows individuals to secure jobs with the confidence and skills to make an impact on day one. Our unique program allows people to take time outs, make lane changes or reach for the next rung on the corporate ladder with limited career risk and for a reasonable price in terms of time and money.

The Year Ahead in Marketing: 3 Trends to Watch this Coming Year

A New Year brings new trends. Lifelong learning is core to our mission here at GreenFig, and we monitor developments to make sure our curriculum stays relevant and delivers the skills our students need to get jobs in this ever-changing world. Here are three notable marketing trends you can expect to hear more about in 2018.

Account Based Marketing Tools: Fact or Fiction?

I feel like there is a misconception in the marketplace today around what Account Based Marketing (ABM) is. Many people believe that you need a big fancy piece of software to execute it when the reality is that you can start your ABM strategy with the most highly available and adopted piece of marketing technology today, Microsoft Excel. This belief comes from the surge of ABM as a core business strategy that was created by the MarTech vendors offeri

Has Marketing Become a Trade?

You used to have to go to four years of university to come out with a degree that would get you a white-collar job. Hours in computer or chemistry labs, all-nighters studying for final exams, group projects, --these were the necessary evils and rites of passage to get a good paying job in the modern world. However, the times are changing, and we have seen the rise of programs like Code Fellows, Coding Dojo, and others to turn the white-collar job of computer programming into a trade. You can learn in a few months what used to take your four years to learn because to do the vast majority of coding jobs need you to code, and they don't need all the extra stuff one learned in college. The same is starting to be true with a career in marketing. The majority of university-trained marketers I run across at best know the four P's (Product, Price, Place, & Promotion) and the four C's (Customer, Cost, Convenience, & Communication) with a sprinkle of strategy on top. The unfortunate reality for many students is that modern marketing requires a broad understanding of digital channels, technical and analytical know how, and tools that they were never exposed to in school. Many of the marketers coming out of college never have setup and run a social campaign, do not understand the ins and outs of a marketing automation platform, and heaven help them if you ask for a modern account-based marketing campaign plan. Add on top of that the jargon and acronyms, marketing can appear to have its own foreign language that is difficult for outsiders to understand. Today, most of the modern marketing education is done through reading great books, educational content marketing provided by the MarTech vendors like Marketo and Moz, analyst firms like Sirius Decisions, and a few rising marketing focused applied learning programs like GreenFig. For someone who is looking to learn and become an effective marketer, you cannot stop learning given the pace of change in the tools and technologies available. So, the question comes in, how can one build a fundamental foundation involving the tools, strategies, and hands-on experience to be valuable to any business on day 1? Where can someone learn the key tools and modern marketing strategies like:

The 10 Things No One Teaches You About Marketing Technology

I just flew back to the Bay Area from Bend, Oregon after teaching my first GreenFig class -- “Introduction to Marketing Automation and How to Build a MarTech Stack.” If you’re not familiar with GreenFig, it’s an awesome program (right down the street from Mirror Pond shown below, in Bend) that’s helping students, marketers and returning veterans(!) get educated about digital marketing. There’s a deep dive into digital marketing (taught by industry guest lecturers) and then the group gets 40 hours of hands-on training with Marketo prior to culminating in a month long project with a local company. In true Bend fashion, after quickly checking out a local brewery (there seems to be one on every corner), we walked through an intro to Marketing Automation including Lead Nurturing, Scoring, Programs. Then we looked at a bunch of MarTech stacks (thanks Scott Brinker for the Stackies!) and talked about how companies build their stacks and roll out different technologies.

GreenFig Instructor Teaching AI Technology

We have had a number of conversations recently with founders, CEOs and product leaders who seem to be running into brick walls when selling their artificial intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning (ML)-based platforms and solutions to medium and larger enterprises. Whether the sales cycles extend too long (nine months and beyond) or decision-makers and key influencers aren’t aligned, ultimately, these deals don’t close. And when they do close, they end up closing as very small, limited pilots/POCs without strong internal ownership to get them to next level. At the same time, we also see other AI companies achieving the opposite. Much shorter cycles of three to six months, strong buyer and influencer alignment, and deals close with five, six, or seven-figure contracts, often with multi-year terms and the ability to expand their Annual Run Rates (ARR) significantly. We are seeing a pattern here. In fact, three key go-to-market capabilities play out again and again in the companies that are building category-leading AI businesses. It all comes down to complexity, consensus and connection. First, these leaders manage complexity. Second, they build and sustain consensus. Finally, they enable both rational and emotional connections to the solution and the desired outcome. Here’s how we break it down. Complexity — Manage It, Don’t Sell It We all know that building and delivering AI/ML-based technologies that drive strong, repeatable business results is complicated. In our view, today’s enterprise AI is characterized by three somewhat unique conditions that magnify its complexity:

Aleena Ferlin: How to Jump-Start a Marketing Career

After graduating from college in 2014 with a degree in business administration and marketing, Aleena Ferlin struggled to land a position in the marketing field. Every job opening she came across was either too entry level or required extensive marketing experience, which she didn’t have.

Learning the marketing skills relevant to ... now

"If I had only known this back then…” That was Jen Sharp’s initial thought when she reflects on the first half of her experience as a student in GreenFig’s Digital Marketing Science course.

Brandy Malcolm-Kerr: I needed to evolve

With 10 years of experience as a marketer, Brandy Malcolm-Kerr was concerned that a course in Digital Marketing Science might be too pedestrian. Not to mention she already held an MBA. Still, Brandy decided to take the leap. She knew her traditional marketing background needed a 21st century makeover.

Industry Experts Master Critical Concepts

Digital Marketing Science course is over halfway through the Fall training class. The class continues to build the students’ knowledge and competency in digital marketing and with instructors like Steve Patti, you can see why. Steve Patti is an entrepreneur, B2B CMO, message strategist, CX leader and adjunct professor guiding our GreenFig students through 18 hours of strategy training. The classes ranged from aligning business strategy, understanding the B2B buyer, content strategies and storytelling. We continue to be in awe with our industry leaders, bringing to class the evolved strategies and methods in digital marketing getting our students job-ready for the digital marketing careers in the 21st Century. Enjoy Steve’s thoughts and advancements in content marketing:

Why We Invested in GreenFig

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us and our current workforce isn’t ready for it. At Wildcat Venture Partners, we are painfully aware of this. But beyond the pain we also see great opportunity. That’s why we’re helping to launch a new education category, one that is focused on preparing the workforce for jobs in the 21st century and the new digital economy. First, let’s define what we mean by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It’s the ongoing revolution carrying us from the current electronics and information technology age that began last century, into one that will blur “the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres,” as World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab says — a digital economy. The digital economy is leveraging new technologies such as artificial intelligence, robots, self-driving vehicles, 3-D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, materials science, energy storage and quantum computing.

GreenFig Education Series Sneak Peek Week 4: Smarter Business Decisions

Introduction to GreenFig Education Series As part of GreenFig’s mission to enable lifelong learning and to accelerate skill development for high demand jobs with our microdegrees in applied business science, we are offering you a sneak peek into the GreenFig experience with our four week Education Series. We provide highlights from the Digital Marketing Science classes taught by Tracy Eiler, CMO of InsideView. She is a marketing pioneer who is passionate about shaping the next generation of marketers. She was recently named a B2B Demand Marketing Game Changer, and is ranked among the Top 30 Most Influential Women in B2B Marketing Technology. Ms. Eiler moonlights as a GreenFig instructor, teaching the same cutting edge topics that she’s advancing at InsideView, including how to align sales and marketing, define total addressable market, and determine ideal customer profiles. We’re excited to offer our blog readers a taste of the job-ready skills our students are gaining this fall to prepare themselves for high-trajectory careers in the digital economy. Putting it together: Turn Total Addressable Market into Closed Deals This is the fourth and final post in a four-part series explaining the concept of total addressable market and providing tips to help you begin identifying, gathering data on, and targeting your company’s TAM. Don’t forget to read part one’s overview of total addressable market, part two’s tips on defining your ideal customer profile, and part three’s tips for turning TAM into your target list. Why are these concepts – the notion of distilling your target market down to the granular level and putting them into practice - critical to growing your B2B business? The answer is simple: ROI. Companies who focus their efforts on these initiatives experience better return on their marketing dollar investment. Put Sales and Marketing to Work by Turning Total Addressable Market into Targets As you look to expand and grow, total addressable market (TAM) is also used to gauge the size of new markets to enter, to justify or expand investments in a current market, or to research new product opportunities. In every case, having an accurate view of your TAM is critical to making the best business decisions. Being able to visualize your market is a bonus that helps with defining and assigning territories, allocating field resources, and focusing marketing efforts. A good example comes from HgCapital, a private equity investor based in London and Munich, who says that “being able to tell a clear story of what truly defines a company’s addressable market is a great starting point for thinking creatively about where to invest for growth”. If, for example, your average contract value is expected to be $25,000 and the total number of potential customers in a market is 1,237, then simply multiplying those two values puts the potential market opportunity at roughly $31 million. If your TAM is inaccurate, even by a small margin, you might make the wrong go/no-go decision. Again, having a “clear story” of the TAM is critical to good decision-making, at every level, from an individual marketing campaign to a strategic business-changing initiative. If you missed the previous installments in this series, you can find them here: Part 1 Maximize Growth by Targeting Your Total Addressable Market Part 2 Ideal Customer Profile Brings Total Addressable Market into Focus Part 3 Put Sales and Marketing to Work by Turning Total Addressable Market into a Targetable List Blog written by Jyothsna Durgados See Tracy in Action GreenFig students not only learn these business-critical concepts, but execute them as well. Our course curriculum includes a mini-internship, providing each student the opportunity to run a real-world marketing campaign for a real-world company. Upon graduation, GreenFig students are then prepared with the skills and experience to make an immediate impact at work. Find out how how quickly you can gain the skills needed to thrive in the digital economy. Drop us a line. Paula Sansburn, COO

GreenFig Education Series Sneak Peek Week 3: Putting TAM & ICP Together

Introduction to GreenFig Education Series As part of GreenFig’s mission to enable lifelong learning and to accelerate skill development for high demand jobs with our microdegrees in applied business science, we are offering you a sneak peek into the GreenFig experience with our four week Education Series. We provide highlights from the Digital Marketing Science classes taught by Tracy Eiler, CMO of InsideView. She is a marketing pioneer who is passionate about shaping the next generation of marketers. She was recently named a B2B Demand Marketing Game Changer, and is ranked among the Top 30 Most Influential Women in B2B Marketing Technology. Ms. Eiler moonlights as a GreenFig instructor, teaching the same cutting edge topics that she’s advancing at InsideView, including how to align sales and marketing, define total addressable market, and determine ideal customer profiles. We’re excited to offer our blog readers a taste of the job-ready skills our students are gaining this fall to prepare themselves for high-trajectory careers in the digital economy. Putting it together: Turn Total Addressable Market into Closed DealsIn part three of our GreenFig Education Series,

GreenFig Education Series Sneak Peek Week 2: Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Introduction to GreenFig Education Series As part of GreenFig’s mission to enable lifelong learning and to accelerate skill development for high demand jobs with our microdegrees in applied business science, we are offering you a sneak peek into the GreenFig experience with our four week Education Series. We provide highlights from the Digital Marketing Science classes taught by Tracy Eiler, CMO of InsideView. She is a marketing pioneer who is passionate about shaping the next generation of marketers. She was recently named a B2B Demand Marketing Game Changer, and is ranked among the Top 30 Most Influential Women in B2B Marketing Technology. Ms. Eiler moonlights as a GreenFig instructor, teaching the same cutting edge topics that she’s advancing at InsideView, including how to align sales and marketing, define total addressable market, and determine ideal customer profiles. We’re excited to offer our blog readers a taste of the job-ready skills our students are gaining this fall to prepare themselves for high-trajectory careers in the digital economy. Focus on the Right CustomersThis is the second in a four-part series explaining the concept of total addressable market and providing tips to help you begin identifying, gathering data on, and targeting your company’s total addressable market. Read the overview of total addressable market in Part One of our series here.

GreenFig Education Series Sneak Peek Week 1: Total Addressable Market (TAM)

5 Awesome Reasons to Learn Google Analytics [and Increase Your Earning Potential]

Digital marketing (SEO, SEM, email, social, etc) has become the primary form of marketing. Why? There are a number of reasons, but I believe the most important to be the ability to measure results. Let’s say you were a marketing manager of a mobile app to help people track down the best ice cream shops. Your life time value of each app install is around $100. You have been tasked with generating 500 installs in 30 days or roughly $50,000. Your budget is $2,500.

Making a Strategic Impact

When GreenFig approached me about participating as an instructor in its new Digital Marketing Science Course, I was not only honored but thrilled to have a chance to participate in a new, innovative program to build savvy digital marketers. Traditional university marketing programs set a great foundation for marketers, but their ability to stay current on the incredibly fast moving world of digital marketing falls flat. I’ve hired many marketers over the years at AT&T Mobility, Microsoft, and others, and I’ve hesitated when hiring early career graduates. The learning curve for being able to hit the ground running for digital marketing roles was just too steep when you have an already stretched marketing team. I’ve typically needed someone who could make an immediate strategic and tactical impact on my digital efforts. The GreenFig Digital Marketing Science microdegree seeks to bridge that gap for the new graduate or the professional wanting to deepen their skill set. Digital marketing is now driving most of the marketing strategies across all industries and it continues to grow. Congratulations students on taking a giant leap forward toward becoming a digital marketing professional. The course I’m teaching is called: Planning for ROI-Baseline KPIs for CMO Dashboards. In this session, we’ll have some fun addressing the following key areas:

3 Ways to Shore Up Your Skills for the Digital Age

Recently, the GreenFig blog featured a post about the growing value of liberal arts-educated workers and why their nontechnical skills, such as writing and communications, are increasingly attractive to tech firms across the country. Another reason for this is that technological advancements are placing a higher emphasis on automation and artificial intelligence.

Opportunity Favors the Prepared Mind

Opportunity favors the prepared mind. I am a firm believer in this. Lifelong learning is critical to individual growth and independence. We are at a unique point in our history. Everyone feels it. The pace of change is accelerating - exponentially – in every aspect of our lives. It is driven by the prevalence of technology and data enabling our daily interactions with life.

Marketo and GreenFig - Innovators in Education

Last week I had the pleasure of joining 12 graduates from one of GreenFig's inaugural classes at Marketo’s Marketing Nation Summit.&nbsp; While this wasn’t my first rodeo, it was fun to participate with college students and recent grads, as they marveled at the Hollywood-like world of technology user conferences.&nbsp;&nbsp; Amidst Queen Latifah, James Corden and Entourage-level parties, we also found commitment to education and an opportunity for all marketers, regardless of their skills or background to learn and grow.

History Majors: You’ve Got a Future in Tech

We’ve all heard the joke: What’s the difference between a large pizza and a history degree? One can feed a family of four. For the purposes of the pun, history can be replaced with any liberal arts major. From English and art history to political science and philosophy — the notion has been that those who choose a humanities tract graduate from college with heaps of debt yet find themselves working as a barista or the checkout line at Whole Foods. But that doesn’t mean their liberal arts degree doesn’t have value — even as we transform to a digital age. Many assume that in our current (and future) tech-consumed and driven world, that math and science education — software engineering, programming, coding, and the like — is the exclusive golden ticket to career success. To be sure, we need these kinds of minds and this kind of training. But, it’s a mistake to believe that the liberal arts educated don’t have a critical role to play in the digital workforce. Because after all, who is going to do the selling, the marketing and the customer servicing of today’s technology services and products? Answer: Those who have honed critical thinking, writing and interpersonal skills, and who possess the nontechnical ability to connect with end users a la their liberal arts education. This notion is confirmed in “That ‘Useless” Liberal Arts Degree Has Become Tech’s Hottest Ticket,” a Forbes article that provides example after example of liberal arts degree holders achieving success in today’s tech world, along with stats to back up the claim that tech companies are increasingly recruiting more nontechnical talent. The article uses the analogy of the automobile industry in the 1920s, which “created enormous numbers of jobs for people who helped fit cars into everyday life: marketers, salesmen, driving instructors, road crews and so on.” A similar trend is unfolding today. The article goes on to reveal that “throughout the major U.S. tech hubs, whether Silicon Valley or Seattle, Boston or Austin, Texas, software companies are discovering that liberal arts thinking makes them stronger. Engineers may still command the biggest salaries, but at disruptive juggernauts such as Facebook and Uber, the war for talent has moved to nontechnical jobs, particularly sales and marketing. The more that audacious coders dream of changing the world, the more they need to fill their companies with social alchemists who can connect with customers — and make progress seem pleasant.” And the ability to connect is what liberal arts thinkers do best. But don’t pack your bags for Silicon Valley just yet, English majors. Yes, you’ve got great critical thinking, writing and communication skills. And yes, tech companies are hiring nontechnical people like you. But to land one of the aforementioned sales and marketing positions requires more than just a degree. While you have the right foundation, your university education did not prepare you with the up-to-date digital skills and experience required for a job-ready resume in the fast-moving, fast-changing digital age. That’s why a liberal arts degree crossed with a microdegree in applied business science from GreenFig is such a powerful combination for procuring a growth career in tech. GreenFig’s curriculum has been tailored by industry experts to help you gain these high-demand skills and master critical strategic concepts in a short period of time. And unlike traditional online courses, GreenFig’s hybrid training platform is laser-focused on experiential learning — combining live, interactive online and offline team-based instruction, all the while guaranteeing its students gain real-world, practical experience. So you can demand a higher salary in an evolving industry faster than it takes to perfect latte art. For more details on how you can transform your liberal arts resume into a tech-ready ticket in less than 10 hours a week, visit greenfig.net. Click here course schedule for September 13, 2017 term.

CMOs: Striving For Competitive Differentiation? Don’t Overlook Your Number One Marketing Asset

By and large, the strategies of growing a relevant business are the same. Brand growth and awareness, market penetration, product expansion and acquisition. The marketing tactics employed to achieve those goals is what sets the front-runners apart from those playing catch-up. So how do you achieve competitive differentiation? Your people: the individuals responsible for designing and implementing those marketing tactics must rank high on your business-critical scale. Because if you don’t hire and retain top digital marketing talent, your ability to plan, execute, measure, and improve a digital campaign will be limited and impact revenue, the customer experience and brand perception. In other words, you may have the right tools, but you won’t be able to leverage their usefulness as business drivers without skilled marketers running the show. Marketing executives and industry insiders across the country are singing this tune: Better talent = Better business performance. “Talent will drive competitive advantage. Companies that invest in building digital skills in their marketing teams have a huge opportunity to accelerate ahead of their peers.” The Talent Revolution in Digital Marketing, Think with Google, 2015. What does it mean to be a skilled digital marketer in the 21st century? From a global understanding of how to align business, brand and messaging strategies to pay-per-click, SEO, and social analytics and targeting, to name a few, the breadth of skills required to be an effective digital marketer today are innumerous. Combine those skills with hands-on experience -- not just theoretical knowledge -- and the expertise to design, create, implement and analyze a digital campaign, and you’ve got a capable 21st century digital marketer. After all, the ability to harness data-driven insights is how companies gain a competitive advantage. The challenge CMOs everywhere are facing, however, is a pervasive shortage of skilled and experienced digital marketers. Companies that turn to recent college graduates are frustrated by this group’s lack of experience and outdated knowledge (not surprising, slow-to-change university curriculum can’t keep pace marketing’s fast-moving digital evolution). Meanwhile, seasoned marketers don’t possess the technical skills required to execute an effective digital campaign. “Tools and strategies that were cutting-edge just a few years ago are fast becoming obsolete, and new approaches are appearing every day.” The Ultimate Marketing Machine, Harvard Business Review. To solve the problem, marketing departments need to look inward by shoring up the expertise, technical skills and hands-on experience of their existing teams. The benefits of upskilling your staff are many, including:

Where are all the digital marketers?

If you’re struggling to find good digital marketing talent, you’re not alone. Whether you need a digital marketing generalist who can drive multi-channel strategies and tactics, or skilled practitioners of tools such as Google Analytics, Marketo and Salesforce, the demand for experienced digital marketers far outweighs supply.

Inaugural Innovation Day 2017 – Bend, Oregon

Wow. I love my job. I am fortunate to meet incredible people every day, to learn from them, and to be inspired by them. This week is no different. On Tuesday, a diverse group of senior leaders from Bend, Oregon committed a full day – yes, a full day, a WORK day – to sharing ideas and innovative ways to solve common problems at Bend’s first formal Innovation Day.

4 Ways GreenFig Has Made Me A Business Scientist – You Can Become One Too

Marketing Language Understanding Have you ever traveled to another country and found the language barrier a challenge for even the simplest things like asking where the bathroom is or what time the bus is coming? The same can be said of the digital marketing world – it’s like being in a foreign country if you don’t understand the language. As a student new to digital marketing I was naive to think I would be capable of quickly understanding and engaging in the dialogue of my instructors and classmates – it’s just marketing-speak, right, how hard can it be? Much to my dismay (and with a subtle hit to my ego) the pre-class chatter seemed almost completely foreign to me with acronyms such as: PPC, CTR, CPC, MQL, and SQL being used as casually as LOL or even hello – I was a bit lost. This brief scare was resolved when class started and we began by deciphering this new language of acronyms and how they related to digital marketing. The instructors understood that this was going to be a barrier for most (if not all) of us in the class and made sure to tackle it right off the bat.

Marketing Pros: How to refresh your skills and win new clients

With 25 years of marketing experience and the last 12 as an independent contractor – I have to own up – my knowledge and skills in the world of Digital Marketing are not what they should be in this day and age.

Change Your Career Trajectory

In today’s digital economy, there is no shortage of quality, high-paying jobs. The problem is, there’s a shortage of workers who possess the skills needed to obtain those jobs.

Increase Your Earning Potential in Less than 200 Hours

If you were a nurse, a teacher, a police officer or held any number of other professions, the evolution of your career would include continuing education. To stay current, to stay relevant, and to be eligible for pay increases, you’d undergo training to stay up-to-date with the latest trends, technologies and best-practices required to successfully perform your job.

The Business Science of Communication - Views from a GreenFig Graduate

Along with over 80 percent of my bachelor-degree-seeking peers, I chose not to major in the field of business. Which is surprising, considering I also chose to spend my summer exploring digital marketing in a classroom filled with entrepreneurs, business professionals, and students like myself. Two hours into an interactive lecture on SEO, I realized that my Media Communications focus would be an asset to my career, not a liability. Looking around me, I could see the same inspired expression on the faces of my peers, many of whom had taken similarly roundabout paths to the business world.

Getting a Tax Refund? Invest in You, and A Future in Digital Marketing

The average income tax refund last year was about $3,000.&nbsp; If you are lucky enough to get something back from Uncle Sam this year, what will you do with it?&nbsp; Pay off a credit card? Plan a vacation?&nbsp; Go on a shopping spree? Why not invest in you?

Why GreenFig? The Value of a Microdegree in Applied Business Science

The World Economic Forum cites, “[the digital economy] is disrupting almost every industry in every country. And, these changes herald the transformation of entire systems of production, management, and governance.” Where land, oil, and capital drove the past three Industrial Ages, this new “4th Industrial Age” is powered by “digital oil” – data. Companies are building and deploying systems of intelligence to prospect, discover, and refine the digital oil of the digital economy. And, the miners of this digital oil are “business scientists”. Business scientists must understand how to capture, observe, and utilize customer, financial, market, and product data. They do not necessarily have to be technical – as in know how to code – instead, they must learn how to generate and review business data and use their creative skills to operate business application software. In the US, politicians, academia, and industry leaders are currently placing a tremendous focus on technical training, coding, and other STEM programs. However, the unspoken truth is that many of these positions will eventually be eliminated through advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning. Additionally, many people are simply not interested or well-suited for these technical programs, degrees, and jobs. However, people who are creative and critical thinkers – products of liberal arts programs – are ideally suited to fill the positions of the digital economy. All they need is some additional specialized training and knowledge. Micro Education companies and microdegrees are well-designed to provide such training.