Reflection – Learning Launch

Challenge: This year in April-May I had been interning in an organization based in Dubai.  This organization is the largest vendor for Document Management System Software in UAE  and GCC region.

The organization had been doing well with its organic growth strategy and they were  following traditional sales funnel for generation of leads till the sale of product.

However, from the past few months their growth had been slowed down both in terms of  units and revenue. It was not due to slow down in the industry, as their competitors were  doing pretty well and as per research by external agencies demand for DMS software was  anticipated to increase in the coming years.

I had been assigned task to carry out market research to find out the causes behind the slow  growth. I did secondary research to analyse the industry nature and competitor analysis to  identify the potential causes behind our declining growth.

I found out that, while traditional marketing and sales tactics had been good for us till now,  we were lacking behind our competitors in terms of digital marketing. We did not had any  formal digital marketing programme, while our competitors had started aggressive digital  marketing campaigns.

So, I recommended to the company to launch a digital marketing campaign to generate better  leads through both Paid and Organic channels.

Selection & Application: Upon my recommendation, company permitted me to design a  new Email Marketing campaign for them. The task for Paid Campaign and SEO was assigned  to external agency.

I converged my entire focus to Email Campaign and designed several prototypes for new  Email campaign of the company. After preparation it was time for Learning Launch.

Learning Launch is about testing our idea/prototype in real marketplace. It gives us valuable  insights on the strengths and weaknesses of our idea and provide opportunity to modify it  according to the feedback we received.

First, we tested by sending mails to our existing clients. The purpose for these mails was  cross selling of add on services but real intention was to gain insights on the mail campaign.  We evaluated the results and finally arrived on the decision to keep four types of mail formats   and graphics with us, which we will be further using for our large scale Email campaigns.

Of course, was formal campaign launch after this was a hit and we were able to generate 25%  more leads through Email campaigns. And the most important thing these leads were of much  better quality than the leads generated through our organic channels.

Insight: Using Learning Launch tool helped me to identify the importance of prototyping  and quick testing in any business strategy. It helps us to test our product/service in the learned  environment to identify their weaknesses and strengths and consequently update the design  according to the feedback and problems faced.

We used this tool to update our Email texts and graphics and gained immense knowledge on  imbedding right kind of links in our mails before the formal launch on large scale.

This gave us idea to use the same strategy/tool for our other Marketing campaigns as well and  as a result after two months company decided to pull back all the digital marketing  campaigns by deploying inhouse team.

Approach: If got chance from next time in addition to Learning Launch, I would like to  add one more tool Mind Mapping to our digital marketing campaigns. Mind Mapping tool  can help to identify the patterns and insights from the data during our initial research phase  and help us to understand the needs and requirements of our potential customers in a better  way. This could further help us to optimize our campaigns and reach to better targeted  audience.


Reflection – Learning Launch Challenge : This year in April - May I had been interning in an organization based in Dubai . This organization is the largest vendor for Document Management System Software in UAE and GCC region . The organization had been doing well with its organic growth strategy and they were following traditional sales funnel for generation of leads till the sale of product . However , from the past few months their growth had been slowed down both in terms of units and revenue . It was not due to slow down in the industry , as their competitors were doing pretty well and as per research by external agencies demand for DMS software was anticipated to increase in the coming years . I had been assigned task to carry out market research to find out the causes behind the slow growth . I did secondary research to analyse the industry nature and competitor analysis to identify the potential causes behind our declining growth . I found out that , while traditional marketing and sales tactics had been good for us till now , we were lacking behind our competitors in terms of digital marketing . We did not had any formal digital marketing programme , while our competitors had started aggressive digital marketing campaigns . So , I recommended to the company to launch a digital marketing campaign to generate better leads through both Paid and Organic channels . Selection & Application : Upon my recommendation , company permitted me to design a new Email Marketing campaign for them . The task for Paid Campaign and SEO was assigned to external agency . I converged my entire focus to Email Campaign and designed several prototypes for new Email campaign of the company . After preparation it was time for Learning Launch . Learning Launch is about testing our idea / prototype in real marketplace . It gives us valuable insights on the strengths and weaknesses of our idea and provide opportunity to modify it according to the feedback we received . First , we tested by sending mails to our existing clients . The purpose for these mails was cross selling of add on services but real intention was to gain insights on the mail campaign . We evaluated the results and finally arrived on the decision to keep four types of mail formats and graphics with us , which we will be further using for our large scale Email campaigns . Of course , was formal campaign launch after this was a hit and we were able to generate 25 % more leads through Email campaigns . And the most important thing these leads were of much better quality than the leads generated through our organic channels . Insight : Using Learning Launch tool helped me to identify the importance of prototyping and quick testing in any business strategy . It helps us to test our product / service in the learned environment to identify their weaknesses and strengths and consequently update the design according to the feedback and problems faced . We used this tool to update our Email texts and graphics and gained immense knowledge on imbedding right kind of links in our mails before the formal launch on large scale . This gave us idea to use the same strategy / tool for our other Marketing campaigns as well and as a result after two months company decided to pull back all the digital marketing campaigns by deploying inhouse team . Approach : If got chance from next time in addition to Learning Launch , I would like to add one more tool Mind Mapping to our digital marketing campaigns . Mind Mapping tool can help to identify the patterns and insights from the data during our initial research phase and help us to understand the needs and requirements of our potential customers in a better way . This could further help us to optimize our campaigns and reach to better targeted audience .