Entrepreneurial Marketing

This course will become read-only in the near future. Tell us at community.p2pu.org if that is a problem.

Task Navigation 

Syllabus for Entrepreneurial Marketing

Course organiser:
Karen Fasimpaur

Preferred contact methods:
email: karen at k12opened dot com
chat or skype by appointment

Online office hours:
___TBD___ on course Chat channel

Course calendar

See Week 1 course introduction for information on course values and methods.

Week 1: Introduction and Knowing What You're Marketing

Objectives:

  • To introduce the course and ourselves
  • To understand how important mission and vision are to marketing
  • To think about crafting a message and staying true to it

Readings:

Assignments:

  • Post an introductory message in the forum
    • Please include:
      • a little about yourself, particularly with regard to this course (though please feel free to share any other fun things about yourself)
      • a short description of the "enterprise" you want to focus on for this course. (This can be from your "sign-up task.")
      • your specific learning goal(s) for this course
      • a request for collaboration on one or more parts of this class if applicable (something specific you'd like to work on as a team with others in the class)
  • Make-your-own-case-study
    • Analyze the mission or vision of an enterprise of your choosing. (This can come from an enterprise's web site or just search YouTube for mission or vision statements.) What are it's strengths and weaknesses? Is it unique, short, memorable, market-oriented, inspirational, etc.? Post your work under the appropriate prompt for this week in the forum. Then review and respond to at least one other participant's post.
  • Craft your own enterprise mission or vision statement. Post your work under the appropriate prompt for this week in the forum. Then review and respond to at least one other participant's post.

Week 2: A Marketing Plan: The 4 P's and other “old school” marketing ideas

Objectives:

  • To understand marketing mix (the "4P's")
  • To know the elements of a marketing plan
  • To think about the marketing mix for your enterprise and what kind of marketiing plan is most appropriate

Readings:

Assignment:

Outline and/or develop the marketing plan for your enterprise.
  • Find, adapt, or create an outline of the right kind of marketing plan for your enterprise. It might be a full-blown marketing plan that you could present to outside funders or it might be a few bullet points that are enough for your purpose. (If you already have a marketing plan, dig it out and review and revise it.)
  • If you feel ambitious, start writing one or more parts of the actual plan (and let us know if you want input). Note: This assignment could also be expanded into your final project.
  • Post your outline or a link to it in the Forums under Week 2 prompt. Then review and respond to at least one other participant's post.

Week 3: Web presence

Objectives:
  • To understand the importance of a web presence from a marketing standpoint
  • To identify the key goals of having a web presence for your project
  • To think through elements of your enterprise's web presence
Readings: Assignments:
  • Make-your-own-case study: Identify an enterprise with an effective web presence. Post a link under this week's forum prompt and tell why you think it is effective (including relation to the enterprise's mission and marketing mix).
  • Think through the elements of our own enterprise's web presence
    • Write a post in the Forum prompt for week 3 about what type of web presence your enterprise should have; include information such as how your mission and vision will be reinforced by your web presence, a brief outline of your web site's content, and what tools make most sense given your goals and budget.  Then review and respond to at least one other participant's post. (Note: This assignment can be expanded into your project for weeks 5-9 by actually building a web presence for your enterprise.)
  • (Optional) If you have never set up a web site below, try one of the simpler tools below to set up web site. (You don't need to get a domain or spend any money to do this.) You will probably be surprised how easy it is. If you already have a web site, look through the various options below and as suggested by course participants to see if there are options that might be easier/cheaper/better than how you do it now. You may post on this in the forum if you like but it is not required.

Week 4: Direct mail, email, public relations, and more

Objectives:
  • To understand a variety of promotional marketing tools
  • To analyze which tools might be most effective for your enterprise

Readings:
  • Week 4 page
  • eMarketing: The Essential Guide to Online Marketing - CC BY NC ND - chapters 2, 3, 6, 7, 4, and/or 16 (Choose the chapter(s) that are most relevant given your previous experience and enterprise objectives.)
  • Promotional marketing pieces of your choice

Assignments:
  • Make-your-own-case study: Choose a promotional piece of your choice (junk mail, email marketing, a press release, web advertisement, etc.) that you think is EFFECTIVE and APPLICABLE to your enterprise. Tell why it is effective and how your own enterprise might adapt  and use the idea. Post your work under the appropriate prompt for this week in the forum.
  • Choose one promotional tool and think about how it could be used for your own enterprise. Develop a detailed strategy for how you would use this tool and/or write a draft of the actual copy for others' response. Post your work under the appropriate prompt for this week in the forum. Then review and respond to at least one other participant's post. (Note: This assignment could be expanded to be your final project for weeks 6-9.)

Week 5: Social Media and user-generated content

Objectives:
  • To understand social media and user-generated content, various platforms and tools for each, and how to optimize their use for marketing
  • To analyze which of these tools might be most effective for your enterprise
  • To figure out how to get your enthusiasts to market for you
Readings:
  • Week 5 page
  • eMarketing: The Essential Guide to Online Marketing - CC BY NC ND - chapters 8, 9 and/or 10 (Choose the chapter(s) that are most relevant given your previous experience and enterprise objectives.)
  • Twitter information of your choice (as indicated below)
Assignments:
  • Make-your-own-case-study - Find an enterprise that is doing a great job of using social media to market. Write a short post on the forum that includes:
    • A link to the enterprise and their social media page(s)
    • What you like about it
    • What lessons we all can apply to our own enterprises
  • Choose an enterprise that you love as a consumer/evangelist and do some marketing for them (Write an online review. Rate them on Google maps. Like and/or add something to their FB page. Follow them on Twitter. Spread the word to others.) Write a short post about what you did in the Forums under this week's prompt.
  • (Optional) Explore a social media tool that you aren't already familiar with but that might have applicability to your enterprise. Develop a strategy for using this tool, and if it makes sense, set up an account and get started. (Note: This could be expanded into your final project.)

Week 6-9: Final project

Objectives:

  • To take what you've learned so far and apply it in more depth to some aspect of marketing for your enterprise

Readings:

  • Week 6-9 page
  • Your choices

Assignments:

  • Post your project summary in Forums under Week 6 * Due no later than March 4; Include the following:
    • Objectives
    • Requests for collaboration as applicable
    • Requests for assistance from the course organiser
    • A brief timetable of the work you need to do to complete this project
  • Complete your project * Due no later than March 29

Task Discussion