Coursera - An Introduction to Marketing

This Wharton course will teach the fundamentals of marketing by getting to the root of customer decision making. The course will focus on branding strategies, customer centricity and new market entry.

About the Course

This course is part of the Wharton foundation series in the MOOC format. It is taught by three of Wharton's top faculty in the marketing department, which is consistently ranked as the #1 marketing department in the world. This course features on-location videos and debates between the three professors.

The three core topics focus on customer loyalty. The first is about branding: given a very disparate world in which new startups are emerging constantly, brand equity is one of the key elements of keeping customers so that they have a trusted source for their needs. The second topic is customer centricity, which is taught in a global context where students learn how to gather needs and focus on the customer via discussion forums and empirical examples which are advanced by the mix of cultures in the course. Finally, the course explores practical, go-to-market strategies to help students understand the drivers that influence customers and see how these are implemented prior to making an investment.

Watch this video to learn more about the Wharton Foundation Series on Coursera:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgS3AJCe6i8

Course Syllabus

MODULE ONE: Branding
Weeks 1 - 3

Marketing Strategy and Brand Positioning
Customer Decision Making and the Role of Brand
Brand Communications and Repositioning

MODULE TWO: Customer Centricity
Weeks 4 - 6

Establishing Competitive Advantage through Customer Centricity
How Can Customer Centricity be Profitable?
Vocabulary of Customer Centricity and Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

MODULE THREE: Go to Market Strategies
Weeks 7 - 9

Omni-Channel Strategy and Online-Offline Interaction
How to Find Lead Users and Facilitate Influence and Contagion
Social Targeting, Social Advertising and Persuasion