A different approach that fosters the power of communication
Many executives and business gurus swear that networking is one of the main keys to success. Undoubtedly the exchange between individuals helps to learn, make new experiences and foster individual strengths and expertise! But what exactly is it? And how can it be utilized to grow your business and grow personally?
Investopedia.com says: “Networking is a process that fosters the exchange of information and ideas among individuals or groups that share a common interest. It may be for social or business purposes.” Due to the fact that this article is only partly about networking, additional information on that topic can be found here. However, a form of networking is exactly what happened at Lapin AMK last Thursday, 20th.
Whats a learning café?
About 45 students from the class “International Marketing tools” got together to experience a concept called “Learning café”. Often also called “world café” or “knowledge café” it is a structured conversational process where participants get together in different groups for an easy and fast way of knowledge exchange. It followed five different steps.
- Get together with your group
- Create a mind map together based on the reaction papers
- New groups (one student stays at home)
- Everyone in the group explains the most important issues of the reaction paper for the others
- Every (home)group creates a conclusion and presents it for the others.
In an informal but methodically controlled proceed the group learned about five different topics, related to marketing tools, in one afternoon.
Discussing marketing tools
The topics included branding, digital marketing, social media marketing, content marketing and the zero moment of truth. Working in the expert group for content marketing the findings regarding this tool are discussed subsequently. More information about the other topics can be found by following the links or looking at the pictures provided.
Referring to a little booklet which is called “Astonishing tales of content marketing” by Jason Miller, the group learning interesting facts about the topic. Content marketing comes in many different forms but generally works online, integrating various forms of reach media and different channels for the distribution. Furthermore, some ingredients seem to be crucial.
Using the strategy is about delivering valuable and relevant content to the target audience by using the power of storytelling. The entertainment and education of the recipient are in the focus of this approach. Branding and awareness are the basic goals and they are often reached through leveraging the viral reach and the word of mouth. Selling the products of the company only happens secondary because the audience is appealed to the company.
The main points which crystallized in the discussion are:
- One powerful, relevant massage
- Consistency over all used channels
- Creative, innovative and valuable content
- Appealing visuals
- Co-creation and cross-promotion
- Establishing communities
- Leveraging virality
Because content marketing can be produced in different forms, the group had a long discussion about what the borders of content marketing are. Broad possibilities make it difficult to define and it is hard to find the one right answer.
Do it again?! Sure.
The learning café started out in a deep discussion about on selected topic, followed by short explanations of every group’s topic and concluded in short presentations in which every group presented their poster which was created in the initial discussion. Provided coffee, tea and an incredibly tasty blueberry cake resulted in a Café-like atmosphere that helped to easily get conversations going.
The results of the other group’s discussion can be found in many different blog posts which will be shared on this blog as soon as they have been created. Deep insights were delivered in a fun environment. As a first-time participant of a learning café, I became a fan of this approach which is based on social interaction and a very convenient way to learn about various topics in a comparably short period of time.
To conclude this article the following five statements, try to recapitulate important statements for each topic. However, they are not supposed to give a full understanding. They are supposed to be an inspiration to read and learn more about different international marketing tools and get in content with other people in the group in order to grow your network!
“Branding is all about creating a unique image for a company, product or service in the customer’s mind.
“Digital marketing uses many digital technologies to deliver the intended marketing message to the recipient in a fast way and convenient way.
“Social media marketing is a relatively new form of marketing that may utilize every possible social media to reach the target audience.
“The zero moment of truth is the point in every sales/buying circle when a (new) customer starts to research about a product.
And last but not least…
“Content marketing uses creative, entertaining and educational storytelling to raise awareness and create a strong brand.
If you have any unanswered questions or just want to take part in an additional learning café or a tea party at our wonderful housing in Kuntotie, please do not hesitate to contact me via e-mail.
Enjoy your day and stay curious!
DH
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