I need advice, should I take this Marketing couse?

Paper_Chase

Paper_Chase

brb gym
Apr 23, 2009
1,504
21
0
Vancouver, Canada
I have a Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering. I graduated in 2008 and have been making a living online since. I've only done websites so far. My latest venture is a physical product that hopefully can be picked up by some niche retailers.

I don't have any background in Marketing. I feel it is something I'm lacking. I need to start tailoring my website, labeling, promotional materials more towards my target market.

I'm thinking of taking this "Essentials of Marketing" course:

BCIT : : MKTG 1102 - Essentials of Marketing

I like it because it will give me a broad background of skills. I also like it because it is the only pre-requisite for the direct marketing and brand innovation courses this school offers as well.

It is in a condensed version over the course of a week. So it is only 5 days out of my life, and $450 out of my pocket.

What do you guys think?
 


I say go for it. The theory that you will learn alone is worth it. It will help you to understand the big picture. Worse case scenario it's too easy for you and you can stare at college chicks all day and (hopefully) fuck one.
 
I mean if you believe it will help you, well then it probably should. But in all honesty I've been in marketing classes in University. God I hated it, so boring, they teach you shit out of a book... I mean if they give you real world big picture shit then sure, but a lot of the stuff you can learn by just networking with the right people online. I've learned more online that I ever learned in any university, or maybe just from dumb luck and observation... I think it's just because they don't really show you real marketing experiments, unless I'm wrong here but that's how I remember it.

Good luck bro!
 
Ive thought of the same thing before. I also have an Engineering degree and think I might benefit from some practical marketing / consumer psychology course. Ive looked at colleges but they all have bullshit economics and filler courses you have to take before you can take the good ones.

So yea Ive looked it up, thought I can probably just look at the course outline, grab the textbook and read the stuff relevant to IM myself.

Im not sure if this is an online course that you are looking at but those are even more useless since you cant work on creative teamwork assignments easily online.
 
^^^ You'd spend better money trying to find some consulting online. Hell even Grindstone, on his blog you can hire him to do SEO consulting...This is a guy that is testing shit everyday. Which would you rather learn from a book or someone that actually does this shit for a living? Find someone online doing what you are doing and model the fuck out of them.
 
If you take a Marketing course at Uni, I encourage you to read up on it as much as you can independently at the same time.

I've done this and it helps a ton with learning concepts. This will cause you to be able to run circles around most of the class.

But after the course is over, you'll probably know more than half the students that are graduating with a marketing degree.
 
Gambit said:
If you take a Marketing course at Uni, I encourage you to read up on it as much as you can independently at the same time.

I've done this and it helps a ton with learning concepts. This will cause you to be able to run circles around most of the class.

But after the course is over, you'll probably know more than half the students that are graduating with a marketing degree.
Click to expand...

The course outline is available. Do you recommend me doing some googling and learning the fundamentals behind each topic before I go to the course?
 
Anything they are going to teach you is, in my opinion, going to be outdated material. I could be wrong, but I don't think any professors at BCIT are truly going to have their finger on the pulse of current marketing trends, especially those internet related. If you are completely devoid of ANY marketing background, then sure, go for it. If you think you know at least the basics, then I think it will be a waste of time and money.

You could self teach yourself that material and a whole lot more.
 
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/CA-HVERTISING-Ad-Agency-Psychology-Anything/dp/1601630328]Amazon.com: CA: How to Use More than 100 Secrets of Ad-Agency Psychology to Make Big Money Selling Anything to Anyone (9781601630322): Drew Eric Whitman: Books[/ame]

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Words-That-Work-What-People/dp/1401302599]Amazon.com: Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear (9781401302597): Frank I. Luntz: Books[/ame]

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Advertising-Methods-Prentice-Business-Classics/dp/0130957011]Amazon.com: Tested Advertising Methods (Prentice Hall Business Classics) (9780130957016): John Caples, Fred E. Hahn: Books[/ame]

Anne Holland's Which Test Won – A/B Test & Multivariate Testing Education for Marketing Professionals

Read through those first and if you feel you're still lacking in that area go ahead and enroll.
 
Gambit said:
If you take a Marketing course at Uni, I encourage you to read up on it as much as you can independently at the same time.

I've done this and it helps a ton with learning concepts. This will cause you to be able to run circles around most of the class.

But after the course is over, you'll probably know more than half the students that are graduating with a marketing degree.
Click to expand...

what this actually suggests is that Gambit learned more through his experience online than the one in the classroom.
 
Paper_Chase said:
The course outline is available. Do you recommend me doing some googling and learning the fundamentals behind each topic before I go to the course?
Click to expand...


Yeah that's what I've done to have the most success. Then when its discussed in class you will already have a very solid understanding of it. Like others have said, the material will be somewhat dated, but the overall concepts still apply.


Also I would recommend reading some more current Marketing/Advertising books to compare and contrast:

Seth Godin (Purple Cow, Tribes, etc)
Gary Vaynerchuk (The Thank You Economy)
Cashvertising
Tested Advertising Methods
Influence by Robert Cianaldi
 
 
Fatbat said:
Anything they are going to teach you is, in my opinion, going to be outdated material. I could be wrong, but I don't think any professors at BCIT are truly going to have their finger on the pulse of current marketing trends, especially those internet related.
Click to expand...

I think they will more be teaching timeless marketing concepts as opposed to cutting edge secrets or methods.

Both are very important, but a lot of people get stuck focusing on only one of the two. I'd say go for it.
 
skohh said:
what this actually suggests is that Gambit learned more through his experience online than the one in the classroom.
Click to expand...

Lol perhaps, but I had to take the course anyway for my degree. Also taking the class plus learning online really helps to dive into a topic and get a holistic understanding of it.


I finally graduated and not exactly sure whether or not the degree was worth the investment. But I put a lot into the whole experience: getting out of my comfort zone, trying new things, learning about everything I could. I really don't know where I'd be with my life right now if I didn't do that.


And it eventually led me here to IM, so I would never change that.


P.S. If you're in engineering, a lot of people in the business school envy that. I would try and network with some people good at marketing since the environment is much different that the engineering courses (I was an engineering major for one year).
 
cardine said:
I think they will more be teaching timeless marketing concepts as opposed to cutting edge secrets or methods.

Both are very important, but a lot of people get stuck focusing on only one of the two. I'd say go for it.
Click to expand...

Fair enough. My college experience was very much technical and a lot less theoretical, and the teachers were teaching methods that were so very outdated that it left me a bit jaded.
 
I am scared and/or nervous about the coming future and whether my product will flop. Should I take a marketing course to help me procrastinate longer?
 
Great book recommendations, read all of them. If you want the breadth of information that a course would provide, go buy last years books for pennies and work through them, do the chapter quizzes, etc. Same shit, save money, probably cover more information, then ask marketing questions to some of the slick characters around here.
 
thelorax said:
If you want the breadth of information that a course would provide, go buy last years books for pennies and work through them, do the chapter quizzes, etc.
Click to expand...

Yea, good idea bro. I just looked on cl and I can pick up the textbook for $80 used. I think I may just do that. It will be nice to go through the chapters with my specific business and competitors in mind.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom