MKT 3195 - VIRAL AND ORGANIC GROWTH

Course Topics:
The Psychology of Virality: Almost all viral content has certain commonalities; the STEPPS framework for evaluating this content is among the most useful because of its reproducibility. Students will learn this framework to produce marketing content that has a high probability of being shared.
Meme Culture and Marketing: Internet memes have played a significant role in how companies have started to market themselves over the last five years. Students will learn how to leverage the internet’s tendency to share particular types of content to their advantage.
Influencer Marketing & Referral Programs: With the extent to which people spend their lives on YouTube and Instagram, influencer and referral programs have become among the most popular and efficient ways for companies to market. Students will learn about the advantages and disadvantages of this channel.
Viral Contests: With the advent of tools, such as ViralSweeps, running sweepstakes, contests, and giveaways have become an increasingly popular marketing strategy. Students will learn how to use these tools to build effective growth programs.
Measurement of Organic Growth & Driving Continuous Improvement: Setting goals and defining KPI benchmarks at the onset are critical aspects of determining the success of any given viral or organic campaign. Students will learn the importance of this and about different metrics and tools that can measure success.
Ethics of Viral Marketing: We live in a culture where information can be shared rapidly via digital, whether it be true or false. We are facing an epidemic in society where companies share false information to get traffic to their website or obtain more clicks. Students will learn the ethics behind viral marketing and sharing.
Social Proof Marketing: There are a variety of approaches that build consumer confidence that helps drive organic growth. This course will talk about the different content mediums & tactics that can be used to drive conversion.
Affiliate Marketing: A big organic growth & conversion channel in the promotional digital B2C space is affiliate marketing. Direct-to-consumer companies need a promotional strategy and much of the organic growth comes from affiliate channels. Students will learn more about this channel and best practices to employ to drive organic growth.
Creative Briefing Fundamentals: At the start of every campaign, a marketer will craft a creative brief to communicate strategies and creative needs to colleagues, other departments, agencies, design, and copy writing partners to execute the requirements in the creative brief. Students will learn the fundamentals of writing a compelling creative brief and complete a creative brief as a part of their final project.
Direct Response Copy Writing: Writing to capture an audience in the digital space that drives a direct response is a unique skill discussed in this course. Students will learn best practices on how to write copy that makes consumers act. Objectives: This course teaches students to lead viral and organic marketing campaigns through the following list of knowledge, skills, and behaviors to be developed during the course. These are key behaviors that a successful student will be able to put on their resumé to stand out from the crowd: A) Design viral marketing campaigns to cultivate organic growth in unrealized segments of consumers; B) Refine and adjust marketing strategies by analyzing campaign performance. Method of Evaluation: Onboarding Assignments 5%, Weekly Assignments 23%, Discussions 6%, Quizzes 6%, Midterm Project 10%, Final Project 40%, Hubspot Content Marketing Certification Exam 10%.

Prerequisite(s): MKT 2250