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.

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.

Thursday, July 19, 2018

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:

October 24, 2018

MSU Denver Panel - Land Your Digital Marketing Dream Job

The panel included:

‍Scott Berns - Director of Marketing Ops, Centurylink

Jennifer Lancaster - VP of Client Services, Epsilon

Jeff Lampe - Senior Director, Americas Marketing at Arrow Electronics

Anita Covelli- Head of Alliances, DemandGen

Top Tips:

Interested in learning more about our Digital Marketing Science Program? Get more information here.

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An Emerging 21st Century Job - The Business Scientist

Bridging The Skills Gap For Veterans

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

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