Reflection Paper: Marketing Analytics Module at University

This reflection paper, structured using Gibbs' reflective cycle, details a student's experience in a Marketing Analytics module. The assignment involved creating a website and analyzing its data using Google Analytics. The report describes the initial apprehension, the subsequent engagement and motivation, and the development of marketing analytics skills. It evaluates the positive aspects of the project, including the practical application of concepts and the development of skills in analytics, SEO, and IT. The analysis addresses the challenges faced, such as teaching style and resource limitations, and acknowledges the value of feedback received. The conclusion highlights the understanding of marketing analytics' importance and the development of digital knowledge. Finally, the paper outlines a development plan to build on strengths, including the application of skills in future employability and career advancement.

Reflection paper 1
REFLECTION USING GIBB’S REFLECTIVE CYCLE
by Student’s Name
Class/Course/Code
Professor’s Name
University/School
City, State
Date

Reflection paper 2
Reflection using Gibbs’s reflective cycle
DESCRIBE
What happened?
Before the beginning of the semester, a list of modules to cover throughout the
semester was given to the students. One of those modules contains a Marketing
Analytics module. This is a module that allows students to research and
improve digital literacy skills to collect, analyse, and report data from several
digital sources (Wedel and Kannan, 2016). This module also aimed to improve
the ability of students to distinguish suitable methods and techniques from
various data sources for analysis.
Considering that a basic survey course in marketing analytics will impart
insufficient job skills, but a marketing analytics course focused on gaining in-
depth knowledge in one or two analytical techniques goes beyond the
quantitative context and capabilities of undergraduate marketing majors (France
and Ghose, 2019). Therefore, in this module, all the students were then given an
individual assignment in which we are asked to create a blog and website and
then produced a research report using various analytical techniques to
strengthen our skills and experience.
To complete the task, firstly, I designed a website based on my understanding
of digital literacy (Hemann and Burbary, 2018), and then I produce a report to
analyse the developed website data using quick analytics and analytics tools
from Google (Grover and Kar, 2017). Thus, this explains the overall description
of the happened situation.
FEEL
How did you feel at the
time?
I must accept that at the start of the program, I was not very
happy with this module because I felt this course was far more
complex from my expectations. Likewise, I was also very
anxious and a little excited about trying new things at the start

Reflection paper 3
Afterward?
when we were assigned an individual assignment in this
module. When I first saw the assignment instructions, I became
nervous about the way things are going to be done within a
given period. Nonetheless, when I began to work on the
assigned mission, my perspective against this project changed
drastically, and by the end of the project, I began to take the
assignment more seriously and also found myself motivating
and encouraging.
After completing the assignment, I being a student of Marketing Analytics, was
able to understand the value and understanding of marketing analytics and
recognise relevant analytical methods and techniques. Studying the Marketing
Analytics module to build expertise, knowledge, and the entrepreneurial
experience was a great honor for me. My overall experience was so great, and
the understanding of this experience will never be forgotten. I would admit that
my self-confidence level, along with my communication skills, has also
increased as a result of engaging in this assignment and class discussions since
only self-confident executives are now in a state to successfully
convey their vision for the future of the business to the
stakeholders, and also to rally people around themselves to
ensure this vision reality (Krishen and Petrescu, 2017). I can
feel that this increased self-confidence level will benefit me
throughout my career from the moment I engage in career
interviews to becoming a senior marketing analyst.
EVALUATE
What was good about
This project did help me to discover concepts not only in the
superficial level but also by doing them practically. I came to

Reflection paper 4
the experience?
What success/problems
did you have?
What feedback did you
receive?
realise that marketing analytics is attracting tremendous
attention due to emerging technologies and drastic marketing
climate shifts (Kumar et al., 2016). Marketing analytics is the
marketing activities assessment and optimisation. Instead of
concentrating exclusively on the results of your site as you do
with web analytics, you concentrate on how your marketing
campaigns are going and change it accordingly (Chaffey and
Ellis, 2019). In addition to this, I have found this module
insightful and inspiring, and I feel that my knowledge and skills
have improved after I attended module and performed my
mission. I developed my marketing analytics understanding
and built skills in the fields of analytics, IT, customer
segmentation, SEO, information sharing with others, and
numerous other marketing insights.
As far as the problems raised during this entire period concerned, I had to
experience a few teaching problems since the teaching style of the lecturer was
not up to the mark. Besides, due to lack of resources, i.e., good laptop and good
internet access, I have not been able to start as a beginner from the level of the
beginners, which in this role causes some problems for me.
I gathered feedback from certain mates after designing a website, which proves
to be very useful and helped me develop my assignment in a better way. The
feedback I got included some suggestions and instructions to understand the
tools and frameworks used in marketing analytics. Feedback from some of the
fellows also helped me in pointing out some of the mistakes that I made in my
work.

Reflection paper 5
ANALYSE
What were the reasons
for success/problems?
Did others have
the same issues?
How helpful was
the feedback?
As Liu and Burns (2018) points out, though marketing analytics is an essential
skill for students in marketing, business schools have still not allocated
adequate resources for analytics-related courses. Moreover, business schools
have not yet agreed about what topics should be included in marketing analytics
courses (Sorger, 2013). I had to face some difficulties in this context because
the instructional approach of the lecturer was not adequate sufficiently. The
lecturer was not at the required level to clarify what the students were
concerned for. Furthermore, as a beginner, I could not start from the level of the
beginners. The rationale for this is that I never used a good personal computer
with strong internet access due to which I had to suffer some serious problems
while completed my assigned task.
Some other fellows, who lacked any valuable tools, such as good network
connectivity issues, and problems with computers and laptops, etc., were also
somewhat facing problems. However, almost all of the class had to face
problems during lectures due to the not very well performance of the lecturer.
Since there is no doubt that feedback is a vital part of the learning curve, it
helps us to mend errors and improve future outcomes (Aljaafreh and Lantolf,
2015). Similarly, the valuable feedback I got from other fellows proved to be
very beneficial for me in having completed this mission successfully. In short,
the input I got played a very significant role in completing this assignment
successfully.
CONCLUDE
What generally do you
conclude from this
experience?
However, things are being done efficiently and effectively. We
all became able to resolve our issues to get things done on
time. After the completion of our work, most of us able to
understand the strength of marketing analytics skills and the

Reflection paper 6
What are the more
personal conclusions
(specific to you)?
importance of them in the practical world. In this
context, (Widmer et al., 2018) mentions that marketing
analytics can help business executives make better decisions
and play an important role in improving firm results. Thus, this
module has also helped the entire class realise that having
digital knowledge and skills is a prerequisite for career and
business success.
On a personal level, I became acquainted with the principles of global
marketing analytics and became more confident with primary and secondary
data sources. In other practical abilities, including analytical skills, IT skills,
SEO, and other marketing strategies, I was able to develop experience. I am
confident that, as a business analyst student, I now have a competitive
advantage over many other business students in the job market. I notice that my
imagination level has risen after this module and project, and I now prefer to
think out of the box and come up with solutions to complex problems.
PLAN
What are your
Development plan
How will you build on
strengths?
(Development plan)
I believe the skills and expertise I learned in marketing analytics classes will
contribute positively to the degree of my future employability. The key skills I
have gained include the development of a global mindset, the ability to identify
global marketing research opportunities, communication skills, innovative
thinking, and extensive internet marketing experience, website designing, and
marketing analytical skills (Kumar et al., 2016). As a qualified marketing
analyst, this awareness will also benefit me as I will be able to make cost-
effective use of global marketing analytics opportunities.
Another area in which the skills and information I have learned during the
classes and compilation of this project can help me with my future

Reflection paper 7
employability is that I have started to understand more the involvement of the
Internet in various corporate processes in general, and in analytical marketing
activities in particular (Martens et al., 2016). I can mention this fact during
interviews for the job by presenting clear examples of how I can use my
advanced knowledge of analytics abilities to help accomplish the objectives and
priorities of that particular company. My critical analysis capabilities may be
used to assist companies in specific environments and scenarios. Besides this,
now that I am acquainted with the concepts of primary and secondary data
sources, as to how to obtain and interpret them, my future employability
experiences have been significantly improved.
References
Aljaafreh, A. and Lantolf, J.P., 2015. Negative feedback as regulation and second language
learning in the zone of proximal development. The modern language journal, 78(4),
pp.465-483.
Chaffey, D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F., 2019. Digital marketing. Pearson UK.
France, S.L. and Ghose, S., 2019. Marketing analytics: Methods, practice, implementation,
and links to other fields. Expert Systems with Applications, 119, pp.456-475.
Grover, P. and Kar, A.K., 2017. Big data analytics: A review of theoretical contributions and
tools used in literature. Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, 18(3),
pp.203-229.
Hemann, C. and Burbary, K., 2018. Digital marketing analytics: Making sense of consumer
data in a digital world. Pearson Education.
Krishen, A.S. and Petrescu, M., 2017. The world of analytics: interdisciplinary, inclusive,
insightful, and influential, pp. 1-4.

Reflection paper 8
Kumar, V., Dixit, A., Javalgi, R.R.G. and Dass, M., 2016. Research framework, strategies,
and applications of intelligent agent technologies (IATs) in marketing. Journal of the
Academy of Marketing Science, 44(1), pp.24-45.
Liu, X. and Burns, A.C., 2018. Designing a marketing analytics course for the digital
age. Marketing Education Review, 28(1), pp.28-40.
Martens, D., Provost, F., Clark, J., and de Fortuny, E.J., 2016. Mining Massive Fine-Grained
Behavior Data to Improve Predictive Analytics. MIS Quarterly, 40(4).
Sorger, S., 2013. Marketing analytics: strategic models and metrics. San Bernadino, CA:
Admiral Press.
Wedel, M. and Kannan, P.K., 2016. Marketing analytics for data-rich environments. Journal
of Marketing, 80(6), pp.97-121.
Widmer, N.S., Moss, G.L. and Tocci, R.J., 2018. Digital systems: principles and
applications. Pearson.