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Business Development, Sales and Marketing in IT Industry
- Course name: Business Development, Sales and Marketing in IT Industry
- Code discipline: S22
- Subject area: all around marketing and sales in IT industry.
Short Description
This course contains two important for successful company parts: marketing and sales. These are the parts that are linked with each other - it is very difficult to sell without marketing support and it is very difficult to achieve results with marketing efforts only. Marketing part, starting from defining things like developing marketing strategy for the companies, finally offers practical tools of digital marketing. We will explore new digital reality and its impact on IT business. We will learn success stories of real businesses and how companies are adapting to the new changing landscape. The second part of the course covers important things for every company's success – the sales process. Understand how to attract customers in negotiations, how to “get to yes” getting great deals, how to control the sales funnel – you will get the understanding how it works and try it in practice.
Prerequisites
Prerequisite subjects
Prerequisite topics
- Basic IT industry knowledge
Course Topics
| Section | Topics within the section |
|---|---|
| Marketing Strategy |
|
| Marketing tools |
|
| Sales |
|
| Final Project Presentation |
|
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
What is the main purpose of this course?
This course aims to give students the skills of developing a winning marketing strategy for a startup, as well as the skills to implement marketing strategy using real digital-marketing tools and sales tactics for a startup product.
ILOs defined at three levels
Level 1: What concepts should a student know/remember/explain?
By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...
- Develop naming, presentation, and product offer
- Use digital marketing tools
- Use CRM
- Sell its product
Level 2: What basic practical skills should a student be able to perform?
By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...
- Skills in developing naming, presentations, product offerings
- Skills of context advertising
- Skills of SMM doing
- Skills of content marketing
- Skills of e-mail marketing
Level 3: What complex comprehensive skills should a student be able to apply in real-life scenarios?
By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...
- Skills how to find the right addressable market for its product
- Skills of web analytics
- Skills of CRM using
- Sales skills to various types of clients
Grading
Course grading range
| Grade | Range | Description of performance |
|---|---|---|
| A. Excellent | 90-100 | Pass |
| B. Good | 75-89 | Pass |
| C. Satisfactory | 60-74 | Pass |
| D. Fail | 0-59 | Fail |
Course activities and grading breakdown
| Activity Type | Percentage of the overall course grade |
|---|---|
| Seminar classes | 40 |
| Interim performance assessment on the results of lecture assignments and its presentations | 30 |
| Final presentation | 30 |
Recommendations for students on how to succeed in the course
The student is recommended the following scheme of preparation for classes:
Marketing and sales are much more about hypothesis testing and math, than creativity. Therefore, it is so important for students to try the acquired knowledge in real practice, doing small tasks after each lecture.
Finally, we will try to assemble a working strategy for a startup from these tasks.
Moreover:
Participation is important. Showing up is the key to success in this course.
Reading the recommended literature is optional, and will give you a deeper understanding of the material.
Resources, literature and reference materials
Open access resources
- Андрей Кравченко. Неидеальная стратегия для идеальной компании.
Closed access resources
- Viktor Pelevin. Empire V.
- W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne. Blue Ocean Strategy.
- Eric ries. Lean startup.
- Simon Kingsnorth. Digital Marketing Strategy.
Software and tools used within the course
Teaching Methodology: Methods, techniques, & activities
Activities and Teaching Methods
| Teaching Techniques | Section 1 | Section 2 | Section 3 | Section 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Problem-based learning (students learn by solving open-ended problems without a strictly-defined solution) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Project-based learning (students work on a project) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Business game (learn by playing a game that incorporates the principles of the material covered within the course). | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Task-based learning | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Learning Activities | Section 1 | Section 2 | Section 3 | Section 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lectures | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Interactive Lectures | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Lab exercises | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Cases studies | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Individual Projects | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Peer Review | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Discussions | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Presentations by students | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Written reports | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Simulations and role-plays | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Experiments | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Group projects | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Formative Assessment and Course Activities
Ongoing performance assessment
Section 1
| Activity Type | Content | Is Graded? |
|---|---|---|
| after lecture assignments | Define target audience and describe type of market for your product. | 1 |
| after lecture assignments | Make 3 cusdev with potential/existing customers of your product. | 1 |
| after lecture assignments | Develop your marketing strategy and present it in-class. | 1 |
Section 2
| Activity Type | Content | Is Graded? |
|---|---|---|
| after lecture assignments | Write a marketing article about your product or technology in the informational style manner. | 1 |
| after lecture assignments | Create a landing page for your product and connect it to Yandex Metrica or Google Analytics. | 1 |
| after lecture assignments | Create a semantic core for your product and determine the current positions on your landing page. Determine key marketing metrics, including conversion rate, on your landing page. | 1 |
Section 3
| Activity Type | Content | Is Graded? |
|---|---|---|
| after lecture assignments | Create the sales funnel of your product and present it in-class. | 1 |
| after lecture assignments | Create the budget for your marketing and sales activities and approve it with management. | 1 |
| in-class exercise | “Sell me the pen” exercise. | 1 |
Section 4
Final assessment
Section 1
- For the final assessment, students have to prepare a full project of marketing and sales promotion of their IT product and present it on the exam. The project should contain the next parts:
- The idea of your product/service.
- Define your market.
- Analise what type of market.
- Target segment, who should we talk to?
- What is your main message(s)?
- What should we do to achieve the addressable market?
- Brand promotion, knowledge, interest, coverage, sales etc.
- Media design.
- How should we say it? Creative strategy&content.
- Channel (media) strategy.
- How do we reach them? Evidence on a real case.
- Budget.
- Money for promotion.
- How to close deals. Evidence on a real case.
- Measurement.
- How we control the result. Evidence on a real case.
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
The retake exam
Section 1
- .3 The retake exam.
- For the retake, students have to implement a product and follow the guidelines of the course. There has to be a meeting before the retake itself to plan and agree on the product ideas, and to answer questions.
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4