How good decisions enhance your business and bad decisions undercut your business

Credit: Rawpixel/Shutterstock

Business decisions have a deep impact on business success and growth. A right decision at the right time can bring you ultimate success where as one wrong decision can make you regret for a life time.

Let’s see how good decisions can enhance and help a business;

 ✓ A well researched decision will not let you down
If you perform sufficient research before making a decision, then the chances of loss are minimised. When you are updated about the recent financial market changes and your decision is based on the current business trends, then it will surely bring you success and growth.

✓ Decisions made on expert advice always bring success
It might happen that the decision you are going to make has already been implemented in the past, but you might not be aware of its outcomes so, in this scenario, an expert’s advice can help you. They can predict the outcomes of any decision and due to extensive experience they can advise intelligent decision steps that can increase your business growth.

✓ Quick decisions in times of need can prevent business loss

Some business situations require a quick and intelligent decision at a perfect time. When you know business conditions are according to your decision, then a smart decision can save you from business loss.

✓ Decisions made on consideration of employee opinion often prove fruitful

Your employees are your well wisher because their success is dependent on your success, so taking their opinion and incorporating them with yours would bring you your desired goals.

Every entrepreneur or businessman once in a life makes a bad decision, but with proper planning you can make up for it. Now, let’s see how bad decisions can undercut a business.

 ✘ Hiring the wrong employees will lead to loss

Your success depends on your employees’ efficient performance and hard work. If you hire unprofessional people, then due to lack of desired skills and talent they can tatter your business.

✘ Ignoring cash flow can decrease your growth

Whether your business is on a small or large scale, a close eye should be kept on its cash flow. Cash is your asset and you must be aware about where it goes and from where it comes. Ignoring the cash flow can result in business destruction as you cannot operate without it.

✘ The decision to expand rather than to make a profit can lower your progress
Many entrepreneurs want rapid growth and to achieve that they take decisions of rapid business expansion involving new hiring and resources, but often these decisions do not meet the objectives and they suffer in profitability. Choosing expansion over business profitability is not a wise decision and often results in lower progress.

✘ Skipping marketing strategies
If you don’t create effective marketing strategies, then there will be no increase in your sales. A wise decision is to allocate a team to work for your product marketing.

If you can avoid the above mentioned bad decisions, then you can keep up with the business market and by practicing smart decisions, you can bring growth and future success to your business.

Alejandro Catalan
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

4 Easy Steps to Succeed Using Online Advertising

Advertising online is, nowadays, the ideal, most efficient way of driving traffic to your website and/or business. It instantly extends your reach significantly and gives you greater transparency at a reduced cost in contrast to the more traditional methods of advertising (television, radio, papers etc.). Nevertheless, a successful campaign is one that is a good balance, and knowing what you’re doing exactly is key.

So what is it that makes people click on ads?

This being one of the most frequently asked questions in the digital marketing space, ought to be answered for once. All too often, people opt to advertising online without having a clue about what is it that actually makes people click on ads? Is it the flashy colours? Is it the animation? Is it the statements that push too hard?

Source: http://www.socialhowtomedia.com.au

Read on for a more comprehensive insight on what to do in order to get more customers through your online advertisements:

1. Know your customers - An advertising campaign must be directed toward your niche market. Creating generic ads that do not speak the language or grab the attention of your potential customers is a common mistake. You must always make sure you know the kind of customers you want to attract, and ensure that your ads speak to them on a personal level; for that is what convinces the customers that you are their best bet.
2. Be interactive – Nothing attracts customers more than when they are shown concern on a personal level. And so, one of the many advantages of Internet advertising is that it allows you to get instant feedback from the public on your product, marketing strategies etc. Giving your customers the chance to fill out an online feedback form can be a great way for you to analyse what the public thinks of your company AND your product. Also, you may even create Internet advertising promotions that will encourage people to provide their email addresses to sign up for contests or receiving newsletters. Then, you can use those emails to make the public aware of future products.
3. Pay attention to the colours – Yes, cliché as that may sound, the colour matters. Colours and colour combinations send different messages. The colour signals can be used to send stronger messages online. However, this part is tricky; you should use colours in the right way, at the right time, with the right audience, and for the right reason. For instance, if you are selling bouncy jump houses- where your audience is kids — you don’t want to use a black website – you’d rather go for vibrant, fun colours like orange, yellow, reds etc. While on the other hand, if you’re selling office chairs, you’d opt for the colour silver or black, or even a combination of the two. Its kind of simple if you get hang of it and are able to imagine yourself in the audience’s.
4. Call to action – This part oftentimes is the most prominent on the advertisement, and so, it is vital that your call to action has an impact on the customer. An effective call to action clearly tells the customers what they should do. They should include active words that encourage users to take an action, for example: Call, Buy, Register, Subscribe.

 Additionally, create a sense of urgency with words that can be used alongside phrases such as:

• Offer expires June 22nd!
• Order now and receive a free gift!

Furthermore, the positioning of call to action is important - Ideally it should be placed high on the page and in the central column.

Regardless of how wonderful or in-demand your products and/or services are, your business will not be successful unless your websites and pages generate enough traffic of targeted customers. And so, online advertising must be done bearing all the previously mentioned points in mind.

Good luck!

Alejandro Catalan
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

7 tips to increase customer online engagement

It’s not like conventional ways to deal with, advertising where you particularly target prospects with direct reaction offers, engagement promoting permits your crowd and potential clients to associate with you and shape how they might want to speak with you. Engagement promoting starts when an intrigued individual makes a move to start an association with you.

Engagement implies somebody is keen on listening to you, and you must connect with that individual so as to accomplish your business target while satisfying his or her advantage. As a business element you will execute engagement advertising to drive your intrigued gathering of people towards business destinations:

Here are the 7 simple tips to increase customer online engagement:

1. Develop an engagement method: To be effective, you must set up an unmistakable arrangement and methodology for your engagement advertising. Your arrangement will need to incorporate how you will contact your audience members and how you will have the capacity to react and collaborate with your drew in members. This can be done through emails and social media.
2. Integrate with your promoting blend: All parts of your advertising correspondences blend ought to incorporate an 'invitation to take action' for engagement from just asking for remarks or postings at your websites or discussions to empowering audits on your items and administrations.
3. Focus on substance and relationship: Focus on significant and intriguing substance as the way to connect. Focus on building honest relationship with your customers by focusing on their needs and wants and full filling them with your available resources. 
4. Promote memberships: Use consent based systems to empower memberships with upgraded web forms. 
5. Invite audience to collaborate with your Blog / Fans Page: Establish a society and excitement for engagement by urging your audience to contribute with remarks, recommendations and even as visitor essayists to expand the perspectives and assets accessible to your associated group.
6. Conduct overviews and surveys: Run incessant studies to offer chances to start engagement while gaining from and about your listening group. Utilize a studies or web surveys to begin the dialog that is pertinent to the person.
7. Engage with informal communication: If you have not knew about Face Book, Instagram or Twitter that are behind the interpersonal interaction marvels, you should not squander any additional time, go straight to these locales and see how these destinations that are catching actually a large number of individuals who are effectively captivating on these destinations consistently. These locales work in light of the fact that long range interpersonal communication groups need to share and need to realize what their friend network and relatives are doing. Discover how you can influence the engagement and sharing of your substance utilizing these interpersonal organizations.

Keep in mind, once you have an intrigued group drawing in with you, verify you keep the lines of correspondence going, learn and alter your technique to guarantee your engagement advertising will conveyance main concern results to your business by expanding your client base.

There are around 14,000,000 internet users in Australia. Most of them are using social media; about 2,791,300 users are on twitter and 120,000 users on Myspace. About 5million Australians watch videos on Facebook and they are online all day so these sites are good place to engage your customers.

Good Luck!

Alejandro Catalan
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

The Whole Truth – Personal Brand Building 101

As of the last week, social media has been abuzz following claims that Belle Gibson, founder of The Whole Pantry health and well-being app, may have lied about suffering from a terminal cancer. The context of these allegations is that she’s essentially built a brand out of her personal health journey, and documenting her battle with this illness.

I don’t want to focus on the validity of these claims – that’s Belle’s story to tell, and it’s not productive to speculate on what is essentially a rumour at this point in time. I do however want to draw upon the undeniable power of personal story telling, and how it can both build and completely ruin a brand.

Perhaps the best example of this scenario is that of Lance Armstrong – a cancer survivor and seven time Tour De France title holder who was found out to have been using performance engaging drugs during the span of his cycling career. Lance’s battle with cancer and eventual comeback was a heroic tale of sheer determination and a fight against all odds. This story became the backbone of his brand, and later formed the basis of his sponsorship deals with Nike, Michelob, Trek Bicycles, Easton-Bell Giro Helmets, Honey Stinger and Lance Armstrong branded 24-Hour Fitness gyms. These brands bought into the athleticism of Lance Armstrong, so when it emerged that drugs may have aided his success, his brand story fell through and so did his various sponsorship deals.

Cyclist Lance Armstrong (Source: Esquire)

Where Armstrong’s situation differs from a fellow sportsman such as Tiger Woods (who faced a highly publicised cheating scandal back in 2009), is that Wood’s sportsmanship never came into question – he may have cheated on his wife, but he didn’t cheat in the game, which is why key sponsors such as Nike stood by him throughout the scandal.

So when it comes to personal branding, the key takeaway from these situations is that your brand story (and values) are essentially what consumers/followers/admirers are buying into. When any part of this story starts to fall through, so does the trust people instil in your brand; so always tell the whole truth!

Salil Kumar
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

Flashback to Personal Branding

As an up-and-coming marketer, I find this blog a very good place to reflect upon personal experiences - especially those which come from realising I am seeing things in a new way, thanks to my education and new skills from the Master of Marketing program. One such experience has come from Sydney’s real estate market and my search for the perfect new home.

That being said, I’ve come to modify my personal brand in a new way - a way in which it is purely seeming to be dependant upon the property’s personality, or the agent listed with the property. My personal brand has become a shape shifter, and I don’t think it should be. So, I think it’s time I looked back into the fundamentals of our personal brand as marketers.

First, we should be consistent. When working with a real estate agent, you would probably assume you have to frame yourself in a certain way to leave the best and most lasting impression. That may be the case - you could even leave your business card so they remember you when you’re calling back or having a second viewing. After all, you want to make the cut in preliminary applications and have a reference from the agent to the owners. With the property listed and seen below, there are probably hundreds of people in the Sydney area looking at this individual townhouse. And if you are professional, and come prepared with a completely filled application, you’ve probably made their life easier. But, do you fit the desired profile yet?

Second, your personal brand may be adaptable, but you may also need to get business done and move on to other things. Companies like Meriton are prepared for any and all profiles of tenants. Chances are your personal brand will even stay more in tact working with these agents because they just want the cold hard facts; can you afford it or not? This isn’t an instance where you have to market yourself, and it’s actually better because you’re not trying to be something or someone you’re not, simply to find a roof to put over your head.

Ultimately, the property search was strenuous. I thought behaving the way I usually do, being honest about my job, my academic history, and even my nationality, are more important than faking it until I make it. Some owners may think certain profiles aren’t trustworthy enough, but then how would students begin to market themselves and start building a rent history, if no one will give them a house? I guess, it’s all going to have to be trial and error, as long as your personal brand doesn't get taken down in the process.

Christine Drpich
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

Personal branding: How good does your internship really look?

I frequently wonder: what does an internship really do for you? Of course, it has to be different for everyone. For example, some people learn necessary computer skills and operating systems within a company. However, for others, they already knew how to lick an envelope and send the letter. What is the objective purpose of internships, what guidelines are there, and how good does it really make you look while reassessing your personal brand?

First of all, Australia is very well set-up in terms of regulations guarding unpaid positions. These positions are therefore objectively outlined as unproductive work. This would be similar to shadowing, or attending information sessions from which you can learn about a company or particular roles within a company. Any product work must be covered under minimum wages. Therefore, if a certain internship role requires the actual production of trial material, or demands some kind of labour, you must be paid for the position. This isn’t necessarily the case in other countries such as the U.S.

Next, what type of internship really builds your resume? Some people tend to take on internship roles, go unpaid for a while, and then list it on a CV when it comes time to move on and find pay. Internships are also thought to boost your hiring potential. But can you honestly say that you'd learnt something about that company or that role? For example, if you interned at a marketing research firm, can you say that you know the difference between quantitative and qualitative data? Can you explain a time where you drew an insight, built it into a presentation, and fully explained your discovered concept? This experience can strengthen your resume, at which point it probably shouldn’t be called an internship, but instead a project. Internships where you can't express any produced skills may only hurt you in such competitive job markets these days.

Most importantly, internships, paid or unpaid, will always exist. So what is their true purpose and value? Personally, I think the purpose is bi-directional. Some companies want to appear socially responsible, as well as scout new talent in the field. Some individuals want to learn a specific job not taught to them in school, as well as try to get their foot in the door with their target company. The prescribed purpose however is to advance talent and individuals’ careers while keeping the company within their employment budgets.

Ultimately, the experience is what you make of it. I participate in projects. That’s part of my personal brand. But if you find an internship you can truly convert into a skill and explainable experience, then by all means boast your internship. Positioning and wording is key here.

Christine Drpich
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

Value Proposition Statements - A.K.A "Hey You There, Pay Attention To Me!"

What is a value proposition? It’s not a company overview or a mission statement and it’s not your brand slogan or motto. A value proposition is ideally created internally by your company and simply put - it is what value your product or service has to offer to your consumers.

Be wary, however, as consumers can shape their own value propositions for your offering. This is where marketing comes in; it can be used to bridge the gap between differences in perceptions. If your internal value proposition is not aligning with your consumers value proposition you may potentially have consumer expectations not being met.

The benefits of having a clear value proposition will show potential consumers how your product or service will be of benefit to them, how it will add value and it will also showcase what sets your offering apart from your competitors.

Some companies that have clear value propositions are:

Pandora - free, personalized radio that plays music you'll love

Skype - make internet calls for free and cheap online calls to phones and mobiles

Square - accept credit cards on your iPhone, Android or iPad

They are outstanding examples because they communicate their offering clearly and present it in a visually pleasing manner. You don’t get to make second impressions in today’s fast-paced market; we are increasingly competing to be noticed by consumers.

Some tips we can all use to create better value propositions for our companies are:

• Avoid complicated business jargon – it needs to be understood clearly in simple terms
• Avoid more than 2-3 sentences for a value proposition – less is more
• Value propositions are not slogans or mottos – slogans or mottos help with brand recall; you want your value proposition to sell your product or offering
• Make sure it stands out – why should a consumer choose you over the others; present it aesthetically
• Avoid clichés – stay away from overused phrasing such as ‘never before seen’, ‘one of a kind’, ‘best of the best’

Luckily, the Marketing Matters blog has a current value proposition that I can do a personal evaluation on regarding its overall effectiveness:

“Marketing Matters is a blog that tells marketing stories from an industry, academic and student's perspective. We confront and debate today’s business trends!”

I would say this is a good value proposal for these reasons:

• It lets us know what the blog is about and what the end benefits of reading it are
• It knows who its target audience is and has worded it appropriately and clearly
• It has identified its unique differentiation point that helps set it apart from other marketing blogs out there

The foundation is there to continually perfect the visuals. If this small exercise has taught me anything, it’s that there is always room to evaluate and improve your value proposition to ensure that consumers notice your offering and your brand/company over all the others out there.

Kori Bassi
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

Tips for International Students

I clearly remember my first day of the Master of Marketing program at The University of Sydney Business School last year. I could not sleep during the nights leading up to it. I was nervous, but also very enthusiastic. I had so many questions. Besides general study concerns, there was one question that worried me the most – as an international student, what skills would I have to gain and improve alongside my Masters to be recognised by industry employers?

I was happy to find support from my local classmates and University staff in this regard. So here are some useful tips I received from the Education, Careers and Employability Office at The University of Sydney Business School to help our new international students dive confidently into their first semester.

Elena Sveshnikova
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at The University of Sydney Business School

Tips for International Students, provided by the Careers and Employability Office

International students face more challenges in gaining work than their local colleagues due to two main factors – (1) Lack of English speaking skills and (2) lack of experience in the Australian workplace. These facts were gleaned from research recently conducted by a Monash University academic who was commissioned by the CPA to find out what International students are facing when marketing themselves to the Australian workforce.

Based on these findings, it would be recommended that International students who struggle with their written and verbal communication skills improve them where ever possible. This can take the form of joining conversational English groups, and attending student society groups for an opportunity to use English language skills more often. Many international students have an understandable tendency to gather in their own language groups and fall into a regular habit of speaking in their own tongue. It would be recommended that you join or create a group within your community to improve English speaking skills, where you speak it as often as possible and get honest feedback to make any improvements.

The other way to improve your communication skills is to get any sort of work experience, be it paid casual or part-time work, an internship or voluntary work. This is a great way to get you speaking with different members of society.

A common misconception amongst International students is that the more you study and the better your grades, the more employable you will be. This can be true in part, however without the basic communications essentials, a Masters and several degrees under your belt will not be sufficient. As with any workplace in the world, communication skills, be it written or spoken are always going to be at the top of the list. To assist you with this process, identify your strengths, both skills and personality, and articulate these by using demonstrated examples for use in your interviews, cover letters and resumes. It really comes down to (a) transferrable skills (not just your technical ones), and (b) your experience.

Another tip is don’t de-value the non-discipline related work experience or opportunities that come your way – all of this can enhance your employability and are often the skills sought by employees. For example, you may be studying Engineering, and work in sales at a whitegoods retail outlet. Your customer service skills, your technical knowledge and knowledge of how a business runs will score you points when applying for other work.

Most importantly, practice your English speaking skills as much as possible and don’t be afraid to make mistakes! People will respect and admire that you are making an effort to communicate your thoughts and feelings and will often assist you to make your point clear.

Susan Smith, Careers Services Manager – Education, Careers and Employability Office, The University of Sydney Business School

How to make a drop-dead cover letter!

Your cover letter is the first thing an employer will read about you, it is one of your key marketing tools, make sure it creates a positive first impression.  It should reflect your strengths and experiences in relation to the job you are applying for and be free of any spelling or grammatical errors.

If there is an advertised position make sure you target the skills sort by the employer for that role.  This means you can’t just use the same old letter for every job, you need to modify it for that role.

Source: http://behiring.com/blogs

Where there is no advertisement (you might be asking for an internship or if a company would consider recruiting a recent graduate), you can use a standard letter but make sure you highlight your skills and experience relevant to employers in that profession.

Many large companies and government departments use online applications and some will not require a cover letter so you may not need to send one for every job you apply to.  Read the instructions carefully before you attach your cover letter.

Generally speaking cover letters should be no longer than one page in length.  The first paragraph should highlight why you are writing and your interest in the company and role.  The following 2 or 3 paragraphs highlight your skills, experience and attitudes relevant to the role – these will be fairly broad statements, you can include more detail in the resume.  Nonetheless you should provide evidence to support your claims. The final paragraph thanks the reader for their time and suggests arranging an interview.

Use good quality white paper and a font like Arial, Times New Roman or Calibri, no smaller than 11 point.  Layout is important – the cover letter is a business communication and your communication skills are being assessed by the employer.

If you are emailing your cover letter to an employer, mention in the text of the email that you are applying for the position and that your cover letter is attached.  Attach the document as a either a Word or PDF file.

If you want to stand out from the crowd, your cover letter should be individual and differentiate you from other people applying for the role.

For more information and help on how to write cover letters and have your draft reviewed, please attend the CEO workshops and appointments.  Visit our website for more information: sydney.edu.au/business/careers

Susan Smith
Careers Services Manager – Education, Careers and Employability Office at the University of Sydney Business School

Make your resume exceptional

With the final Master of Marketing course wrapping up last week, many students have already begun looking for job opportunities. Some have even sought out short- term professional experience opportunities to undertake during the study break period. To speed up the process, we spoke to the Careers and Employability Office at the University of Sydney Business School who gave us some useful tips on how to effectively navigate the job application process.

We start this series of posts with tips for resumes

Your resume is your marketing tool to an employer.  They will use it to determine if you have the potential to do the job and want to further explore this potential at an interview.   Your task is to ensure that your resume presents you in the best possible light and provides information that convinces the employer that you can do the job.  Therefore it should focus on the skills set needed to for the advertised role – this skills set is often described as the selection criteria.

Image: Daily Infographic

So how can you focus your resume? 

Don’t use the same resume for every job, highlight information most relevant to the selection criteria.

Under each job heading when you record your duties, record the most relevant duties (to the job you are applying for) first.  Use active verbs to start the sentences that highlight your duties.

Make sure your resume is achievement oriented – highlight academic achievements and work based achievements.  These could include positions of leadership, prizes, awards, promotions, additional responsibilities, targets met or exceeded etc.  The achievements could be included under each job you have held or recorded as an Achievement Summary

Include a skills section that directly addresses the selection criteria. Don’t rely on a simple dot point list – state the skill and then provide evidence to demonstrate where you have developed or enhanced the skills. For example:

Special Events Coordination - Initiated several local and regional promotions. This involved extensive research, planning, negotiation of sponsorship, liaison with police, councils, community service groups, volunteers, sponsors and media. Organised production of leaflets and promotional material and distributed and directed operations on the day. Responsible for budget and the financial success of events.

Employers will spend a very short period of time scanning your resume looking for relevant information.  An often quoted figure is that they will spend no more than 30 seconds –although one recent report says only 6 seconds! Therefore you need to make it reader friendly, with clearly defined headings, and dot points instead of long blocks of text.

Many large companies and government departments use online applications and some will not require a resume so you may not need to send one for every job you apply to.  Read the instructions carefully before you attach your cover letter.

Online applications

Think about this simple equation:

Your strengths and skills + the skills and behaviours the job requires = A MATCH!

Online application forms are designed to see if you have the motivation, the necessary insight and the personal effectiveness to make the right impact as a graduate in that organisation.   

Follow these top 5 tips and ensure your application form makes it through to the next round.

Image: Daily Infographic

PREPARE! – all the clues are right in front of you.

Research and analyse the company, its goals and values, the graduate stream that you are applying for.   All the clues you need to complete your online application form are there on the company literature, annual reports and website.  Attend employer sessions on campus and use every opportunity to network through careers fairs and campus events.

WHY THEM?  - what is it about THAT organisation that stands out?

Don’t proceed to tell the employer why you want to work for them by stating the obvious. Banks already know if they are in the top 4 in the country. You need to differentiate more on why they are your employer of choice, by the values they hold, the graduate programme they offer, the opportunity for exposure to key influencers and mentors in your profession.

If you need anymore information, visit the Careers Office. 

Image: Daily Infographic

WHY YOU? - be clear about your skills and value.

Approach the application with a clear idea of your strengths and skills and your career aspirations. Draw out how this organisation will play to your strengths and enhance your career prospects. You need to be aware that every question they are asking on the application is a chance for you to market yourself well. Have you really understood the role that you are applying to and what you will be asked to do as a new graduate? Within a couple of weeks, you’ll be working with your own clients and solving problems that you might not know anything about!  Resilience, the ability to ask the right questions, the confidence to take the lead, the professionalism to deal with the situation. 

WHY NOT? – give them a reason to say yes!

Try to steer away from bland, vanilla statements that don’t really get to the heart of the question. Really THINK what behaviour or skill they are trying to elicit from the question. Be specific, be focused and drill down to a deeper level to describe your behaviours and prove why you should get the job.

For more information and help on how to complete resumes and application forms, please visit our website for more information.

Susan Smith

Careers Services Manager – Education, Careers and Employability Office, The University of Sydney Business School

Breaking News! Don’t Miss ‘Marketing innovation in the Digital Age’

Don’t miss the Master of Marketing Event at the University of Sydney Business School CBD Campus, Monday 18 November 5:30-7:30 pm. Here is some more about Komosion and CTD who are joining our panel discussion on Marketing innovation in the Digital Age. These companies are active in both digital marketing and in bringing innovations to the market place.

Komosion is a strategic marketing agency with more than 10 years’ experience in fusing strategy, creativity and technology to drive client success.  They operate from offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Vietnam, have a team of approximately 30 and have enjoyed 60 per cent growth during the last three years. Their expertise extends across a broad range of digital technologies including mobile, social and website platforms. Komosion has more than 115 clients spanning private sector companies, member- based organisations, not-for-profits and state and local government agencies. They have won the AMI Awards for Digital Marketing Excellence two years in a row, 2012 and 2013.

CTD is also the recipient of a 2013 AMI award for an outstanding consumer product campaign built around a marketing innovation. Gaining access to the Australian grocery trade can be difficult for international and local brands and companies with new and emerging products. For Australian retailers, sourcing innovative products to drive sales and market share growth can also present challenges. CTD notes that it works closely with retailers and suppliers to bring unique products to market and get them into shoppers’ bags. Currently importing from countries all over the globe, with branded lines across multiple categories and channels in the Australian market, CTD understands what retailers are looking for. That’s how CTD has become the preferred partner and one-stop-shop to innovative manufacturers looking to establish or reinvent their brands in the Australian market.

Register for this event.

Not-to-be-missed! 'Marketing Innovation in the Digital Age' panel

The Master of Marketing Program is hosting a not-to-be-missed event for Monday 18 November at the Business School’s CBD Campus. Invitations will go out next Tuesday 29 October. 

The event will bring together current students, teachers and alumni of the Program and a number of outstanding marketing industry executives and will feature a panel discussion chaired by Professor Donnel Briley on the subject of “Marketing Innovation in the Digital Age”.  The event will feature two award winning companies to the panel.  They are Komosion and CTD. Komosion will be represented by Managing Director, John O’Neill and Georgie Scott will represent CTD. Georgie is Marketing Manager at CTD and is a Marketing Major from our Business School. 

Associate Professor Terry Beed, the Master of Marketing outreach manager says “This will be another example of the continuing engagement of our program with leaders of the marketing industry. Earlier this year, the Master of hosted Jodie Sangster, CEO of Australian Data Driven Marketing Association (ADMA), James Butcher, Sales and Marketing Director of Microsoft MSN, Mike Read, Director of HR and Culture at Starcom Media Vest and other leading industry figures to events, providing great networking opportunities and feedback about current opportunities in the marketing profession. The 18 November event promises to deliver these benefits and insights to our student group once again, a significant value-add in the Business School’s Master of Marketing experience”.   

Kate Charlton, who also teaches the advanced integrated marketing communications subject in the M Mktg Program, will bring her considerable agency experience to the panel in what promises to be a lively and dynamic session. 

Interview with Head of Marketing, Google Search at the University of Sydney

A while ago, we imparted some wisdom from when we sat down with Deepak Ramanathan and learned what kind of people Google likes to hire and their approach to marketing. How lucky are we to have opportunities like this? You can get a little taste of the morning with the Q&A video below.

Hongi Luo
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

Google’s Deepak Ramanathan tells us what kind of people Google like to hire

 

I’ve mentioned this on many occasions, but one of the benefits I enjoy the most from being a student at the University of Sydney Business School is all the opportunities for interaction with industry gurus. I can honestly say that most of us a probably pretty ga-ga for Google. So I, along with many other students from the Masters of Marketing and the MBA cohort, jumped at the chance for a Q&A session with the Head of Marketing of Search at Google. Deepak Ramanathan, alumni of University of Sydney Business School, is based in Mountain View, USA, and sat down with us on Saturday 20th July to chat about what it’s like at Google.

The talk was a fantastic back and forth between students and Deepak, gaining great insight not only into Google, but many pearls of wisdom from Deepak’s meritorious career. One major take-away Deepak gave was about how to be a global company. Google, while spanning oceans and continents, is still an international company based primarily in one location. Just like many other companies. Deepak spoke about the importance of first and foremost setting up your company to be global. At Mountain View a range of people from around the world, just like Deepak, work together on the grand strategy of Google. This is not just about fulfilling a diversity requirement. Your company must be set up with different regions, and different thinking in mind in order to gain perspective from all areas.

Deepak gave the example of Google Korea. As a very successful product, Google Search had no doubt that adoption of the new google.co.kr would be high. However, results were not as expected. When Google looked into the matter, it was found that many Koreans thought that the website was still under construction. In comparison with existing websites, such as Naver.com, which had images, weather, links and news, the Google Korea search page seemed ‘incomplete,’ and people thought, “Oh, well I’ll come back and give it a try once it’s finished!” As well as this, it is extremely difficult to type in Korean. This is why users prefer pages with links already there – because it saves them the time and hassle.

Although Google gained great insight into the Korean market, they also learned a lesson on the importance of perspective.

And of course, being Google, we were all eager to hear how to go about getting a job. Although Deepak didn’t walk us through the step-by-step process of sweet-talking our way into the heart of the tech giant, he did explain the three types of people Google likes:

1. People who get stuff done. People who want to do things fast, experiment, and test. This is often what drives those ‘Google stories’ – the mentality of their worker’s motivation to make change happen.
2. Be flexible. Expect things to be different, to change. While many of us get caught up on long term plans, Google likes people who don’t plan too far ahead. Especially in an ever-changing industry, you can’t expect all your plans to work out.
3. Although echoed over and over, one word can’t be beat: Passion. It shows when people have are passionate. And Google is looking for it!

So with this in mind, go forth! Be spontaneous! Have passion! And perhaps Google will spot you a mile away from their newly refurbished Maps app, and hand you a delicious tech job on a silver platter!

Hongi Luo
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

Interbrand, VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE, and Us!

A few weeks ago Interbrand held their annual Brands Under the Spotlight event at the Griffin Theatre Company, focusing on the very important people who connect you to your brand: employees. The half-day event featured a series of presentations and panel discussions with speakers from Bain & Company, 8 Hotels, Realestate.com.au, RedBalloon, Telstra and Interbrand. A few of our Master of Marketing Students were lucky enough to be in the audience for such an inspiring and insightful morning. Here is Michel Caux and Sumi Yoshioka.

Although we are not employees of the Business School, speakers that morning made me realise that we, as students, are very important people, to the brand of the University of Sydney. So, as a way to better communicate and understand our brand, I wanted to introduce some of our finest brand ambassadors!

Michel Caux
With a background in Engineering and Economics, Michel has been working in B2B and B2C Marketing for more than ten years. Working in big multinationals have gave him the opportunity to choose an area within Marketing where he feels most passionate about: Health Care.

Why did you choose Marketing?
To be part of the Master of Marketing program is a great opportunity to formally validate work experience, expand knowledge and to be up to date in marketing trends, which will open new doors to career development.

What is one thing that stuck with you from the Interbrand event?
Very interesting Event. The utilisation of Telstra’s NPS has been fantastic, taking advocacy to the next level, making their employees real brand ambassadors, empowering with customer service capabilities. What stuck with me is that the marketing responsibility not only lies with the Marketing department, but all the different functions within a company. It sounds obvious, but it is an every day battle. Other departments of the firm also need to understand that success for the company is also their responsibility. We all have a direct impact on the processes that adds value to the customer. The consumer / end user has multiple touch points with different functional areas of the firm, and all of them have a direct impact on the Brand Equity. Again, it sounds obvious, but is very easy for them to forget.

Sumi Yoshioka
Sumi is originally from Tokyo, Japan. She has a background in PR of a luxury automotive company in Tokyo and architect agency in Sydney. Previous to the Master of Marketing at the University of Sydney, Sumi studied communication & media in Tokyo and California.

Why did you choose Marketing?
When I was working at Audi Japan, I developed strong interests in the influence and potential of brand marketing. In addition to my experience in public relations, I thought studying marketing will be essential for me to pursue my career in brand management.

What are you getting most out of the program?
The ability to study and communicate with my talented classmates from various industries and cultural backgrounds.

What is one thing that stuck with you from the Interbrand event?
I found there were many topics related to our Internal Marketing classes. Richard Hatherall, from Bain Company, really stuck with me. He started with his personal experience at two airplanes with humour, which I thought he successfully grabbed the audience's initial attention. He then spoke about the importance of the net promoter score with real life examples.

Hongi Luo
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

“Branding You” Event at the New Business School in the CBD

Last week, a showcase reception was held in the new Business School CBD Campus. Being a student of the Masters of Marketing, we are often privy to events such as these that provide invaluable networking opportunities, as well as a chance to broaden our knowledge and insight.

I’ve got to be honest, the canapés and beverages always draw me in, but I always leave with more than just a satisfied tummy. The highlight of “Branding You” was around a panel discussion between three leading marketing practitioners around the topic of personal brands. We had explored this in class before with Pennie Frow, but it was great to hear a lot of these aspects from real life experiences. Being somewhat of a hot topic at the moment, there was definitely a lot to discuss.

The panel was:
Christine Bishop, the Managing Director of Social Business Strategy Group, specialising in the areas of social media, strategic marketing, branding and business strategy. She is also a recent Executive MBA Graduate of the Business School.

Mike Read, HR and Corporate Culture Director, Starcom Media Vest, Australia’s largest Media Agency.

James Watson, one of our first class Honours graduates in Marketing. James has had a meritorious career with Procter and Gamble in Australia and Singapore, Reckitt Benckiser in Australia, the UK and USA and PZ Cussons in Australia. 

Christine, Mike and James lead the panel discussion about using appropriate marketing tools to create “Brand You”, a critical factor in meeting the challenges of today’s highly competitive employment marketplace. We were lucky enough to harvest more than a few pearls of wisdom from the esteemed panel, and in the coming weeks, will share with you what we learned from each of them - So keep an eye out!

Thanks to the University of Sydney Business School, Program Director Pennie Frow and particularly Associate Professor Terry Beed for putting on the event and allowing us the chance to engage with such an amazing group of people.

Hongi Luo
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School