Use of Internet Projects to Enhance Analytical Skills in Undergraduate Marketing Course

Marketing educators face four challenges in teaching analytical and quantitative skills to undergraduate students: engaging students in analytical concepts; motivating students to collect and analyze information relevant to marketing decisions; developing students' understanding of marketing theory and their ability to apply theory as a tool to analyze and interpret marketing problems. Students progress through courses with professors assuming and expecting that students have the ability to apply skills taught through classroom assignments in advanced courses and in practical situations. However retention and appropriate application of skills learned are not easily achieved through passive observation of subject content, and its replay in assessment tasks that encourage rote learning. This research examines the use of Google Online Marketing Challenge (GOMC) projects in an undergraduate Marketing Strategy capstone course to motivate application and (re)learning of analytical thinking and quantitative marketing concepts. This real-world client-based project allows students to design implement their marketing decisions in the online marketspace and two main benefits: (1) low latencies between executing decision and viewing outcomes and (2) low costs of executing decisions with Google vouchers. Similar to other experiential learning methods, students gain a deeper understanding of the course content by participating in, implementing and monitoring the success or failure of their strategies. Critical to this course innovation, (i) the option to use analytical concepts in any part of the project, (ii) availability of face-to-face and online demonstrations to assist students in their transition from marketing analytics in class assignments to real-world secondary data applications (Comscore and SMRB), and (iii) provision of group performance feedback on a weekly basis. Questions addressed in this research: (i) Can use of analytical techniques in real-world Internet projects improve student learning and retention of analytical concepts compared to classroom assignments only? (ii) Do face-to-face and online demonstrations of analytical methods lead to differences in learning outcomes? (iii) To what extent do individual differences in classroom assignment performance predict usage and satisfaction with the course? (iv) Does application of analytical marketing techniques lead to improved understanding of marketing theory? Methods. This research will discuss the steps involved in (i) integrating marketing analytics methods in Google Online Marketing Challenge (GOMC) projects in an undergraduate marketing capstone course, (ii) measuring learning outcomes and students' perceptions of the course. The Google Online Marketing Challenge provides an opportunity for student teams to use $200 vouchers to run search advertising campaigns for SMEs of their choice. Students analyze the industry and competitive environment of their client SME, develop marketing communication strategies, take decisions on geo-demographic segmentation and targeting, develop positioning to select keywords appropriate to their client businesses, write copy related to the keywords, and participate in Google's auctions to determine the "cost per click" for each keyword to meet their proposed objectives. At the end of the campaign they analyze overall and segment-level advertising performance and conversion ratios, returns to marketing investments, and reflect on learning outcomes. At the beginning of the semester, the instructor reviewed and allocated (classroom) assignments for analytical marketing concepts covered in prior marketing courses, and discussed how they can be used to improve strategic decision-making for the GOMC project. The individual marketing analytics classroom assignments and the GOMC project were mandatory for the course. The application of analytical concepts in the GOMC project was voluntary. Students were provided a mapping of analytical concepts and specific decisions in the GOMC pre-campaign marketing plan, Adwords execution strategy, and measurement. Measures. Objective measures of performance in terms of pre-project and post-project classroom assignment scores were collected for analytics questions in closed-book exams. Usage level was measured as number of marketing analytic concepts used in the project (maximum 6). The survey instrument used a combination of 17 closed and open-ended questions to explore students' perception of the effectiveness of project-related analytic problems in teaching marketing analytics and theory. Results. The results should be interpreted keeping in mind that the project assignment was conducted by student teams however each student in the group reported individually whether they used analytics and the number of concepts used. 76% (63 out 91 students) of students used analytical concepts in their marketing plan creation, implementation and audit of their GOMC project. Roughly 44% of students (23 students out of 52) applied 4 or more analytical concepts in their project, and only 9 students applied all six concepts. Groups with two or more students with higher than median scores in pre-project assignment score are more likely to use analytics in their project but it did not have any impact on number of concepts used. There are no significant differences in applications and project performance for online or face-to-face demonstrations. The responses to the closed questions indicate an overwhelming positive reaction to the analytics embedded marketing plan exercise by students who applied 3 or more concepts. Ninety-five percent of students rated it as an effective learning experience (Q8). However among students who did not use analytics 21.7% of respondents said using analytics in the project was generally not effective in making them feel that they were in control of the process and just over 6 % of students (7 respondents) said they found the process generally not effective in helping them learn about marketing strategy theory by building upon existing knowledge. The strongest response was in respect of student interaction where two-thirds of respondents (67%) found the project format extremely effective in helping them interact with and learn from other students. Half the students found the analytical project exercises extremely effective in helping them understand the complexities of developing marketing plans in practice. Conclusions and Discussion. Analysis of the findings suggest that where a key course goal is to teach students marketing strategy theory and enable students to use it as a tool to analyze practice, then at the undergraduate level, (i) providing opportunities to relearn and rehearse the concepts online and face-to-face, (ii) allowing students the option of delayed start or partial use of analytics, and (iii) providing weekly feedback are most effective.