Top Tips for Passing your CIM DCVIM Exam!

As we 'teach out' the CIM Professional Diploma, passing your Delivering Customer Value in Marketing exam first time is even more crucial. This is a challenging syllabus with a broad range of theory to master, on top of a detailed case study and the need to hone your exam skills. If you still have this module to pass, my top tips to harness the BEAST that is DCVIM may be just what you need:

B is for BASE IT ON THE CASE STUDY

It always surprises me how many mocks I receive that bear no mention to the case study the student has spent hours pouring over! Keep focused... you are giving consultancy style advice to a client and your recommendations must relate to the organisational and brand context.

E is for EXAMPLES FROM WIDER MARKETING READING

Did you just read the slides or skim through a study text? These are great revision tools but demonstrate your wider reading from core and recommended texts. Have you been reading the marketing press? Give some relevant examples of similar organisations experiencing the same sort of problems to back up your recommendations. Have you noticed that The Marketer magazine always covers articles that relate to current assignment topics? Use your travel time and downtime to catch up on your current marketing knowledge.

E is also for EVALUATION

Don't rely on description alone... the CIM Magic Triangle marking scheme tells us that 30% of marks at this level are for evaluation. I always tell my students to say in their heads BECAUSE for every point they write... this is the company's problem, this is the evidence to prove it, and this is what they should do to change that because...

A is for AUDIT ANALYSIS

Again, I often see mocks that have no mention of the audit. Your audit should give you the ammunition to draw on to demonstrate the company's issues and your recommendations for the future. The syllabus is broad but you should have something in the audit to support each element. What have you got that would help you if you were discussing branding, pricing, channel management, competition, environmental influences and so on?

S is for STRUCTURING YOUR ANSWER

Read the question carefully and take note of the command words. Do not think about starting your answer before you've outline planned your response - mind map it, bullet point it, scribble some headings, whatever works for you! Is there a beginning, a discursive section and a conclusion? Have you shown a logical progression of points? Have you used clear headings? Perhaps, the answer would benefit from a framework to shape your response? Think carefully before you commit to paper and your work will be better for it.

T is for THEORY

There's a lot of it in this module - ensure your revision covers the syllabus topics and that you have theory to draw on for each aspect. Write out little cards or use a post-it note style app like Evernote to support your learning. It would be problematic if you went into the exam to find a 25 mark question on channel management and you have nothing to pin your answer to.

T is also for TIMING

It makes me want to cry when a student comes out of the exam and tells me they did okay but ran out of time for the final question and didn't start it. So straight away, their top score is probably capped to 75 and if they average a C for every question, that's 38 marks and a fail... if they'd have got their timing sorted out and given it a shot, they might have ended up with 50 and a pass. If you have 45 minutes for a question, plan your work for 5 minutes, put your watch on the table, write for 35, check it for 5 minutes, move on. Leave a space at the end of each question so if you do have some final thoughts and finish early, you can quickly add them in.

With good revision techniques and lots of practice, this exam can be mastered. Good luck!

Top Tips for Success at CIM's Project Management in Marketing Module

Students studying this module will be aware that we are now 'teaching out' as the new syllabus will start to be examined from September 2014, so there has never been a more critical time to pass on your first attempt!

Here are my top tips for success in this module:

1. There are many components to this module so the first thing you should do is create a skeleton document in Word. Have you included all the compulsory appendices? Have you included all elements of the project plan? Set out your headings, then as you write your project proposal outline, you can start adding in notes of what you want to cover in each section. This approach helps you to create a joined-up piece of work recognising the relationships between each section and it can help you to see what is missing.
2. Don't write it in the order of the tasks. As you can see above, we know how the tasks should be presented but you don't have to write it in that order. The project proposal outline which is an appendix comes first and you should certainly do your research for Task One early on, but after that it would be a good idea to create your risk register which can be referred to from Task Two, Three and Four, and your work breakdown structure and gantt chart for Task Four. Once you have these crucial elements in place, the rest of the assignment can be written much more easily.
3. Keep the context front of mind. In September 2014, the topics are mobile marketing or sponsorship. It's amazing how many assignment drafts I've read in the past where the context cannot be identified! I think this is down to the stress of creating such an enormous and complex report but without this context running throughout, you just won't pass.
4. Make sure the project plan is not generic! Task Four is often where student's energies seem to plummet. By this point, they are exhausted and it shows in very generic and dull project plans. This is supposed to be the most exciting point of a project where you actually get to implement it. Bring your organisational culture to life... do you work in a company where it's impossible to get anything signed off? Are you always slow to market? Is there a lot of conflict or differing cultures? Are you struggling with minimal resources, a virtual team, power struggles, lack of training, issues with communication or company culture? Whatever makes your company great or not so great, will bring colour and interest to your project plan so use it... just don't leave a copy on your printer at work or give away company secrets!
5. Do aim for higher level marks... be critical, identify gaps in your data collection, create an excellent gantt chart / work breakdown structure / network analysis, make sure your whole report creates a holistic account of the proposed project with joined-up ideas, create a good cost benefit analysis with relevant calculations, and of course answer all of the questions!

My final piece of advice is to create a study group so even when you've finished classes, you can meet up and review each other's work (and drink wine!). Peer feedback is a very valuable tool for learning and meeting up will keep you motivated and on track.

Good luck with finishing your CIM Professional Diploma!

To research children, do you need to be a parent?

As school breaks for the summer, my children are experiencing that deep joy that can only come from the lure of six weeks of long summer days, the freedom to fill your day with everything or nothing, and a complete absence of timetables and structure! Thank goodness for self-employment as I can (mostly) enjoy that time with my children. But until I had children at school, I'd forgotten that feeling as I was caught up in the stickiness of summer tube journeys and the relentless plod of the company calendar. Now, when I conduct research with children, or ask parents questions about their children, my research is informed by my understanding of their world, a current working knowledge of Doc McStuffins and the Winx Club, and that awakening of my inner child – remember the first time you took your child to a soft play?! 

So the question I've been asking myself is: do you have to be a parent to be a good children’s researcher?

An Australian journal article (Butterworth & Murfin, 1999) described using children in the research process as a ‘troublesome method of collecting data’. The study described the process of recording ‘naturalistic play patterns’ but an anecdote was given about a child who bent down and said ‘hello’ into the lens and ‘boo’ on her return journey. The researchers reported: “On three separate occasions recording had to be discontinued for a period of one to three minutes because the presence of the video camera was interfering with one or two children's naturalistic play patterns.” My comment on reading this was that this was highly indicative of children’s naturalistic play patterns and inherent curiosity! The researchers didn’t comment whether they were parents or not but they certainly didn't understand children’s behaviour.

Another group of researchers (Harden, Scott, Backett-Milburn, & Jackson, 2000) wrote that two members of their team decided to opt out of interviewing children as they ‘did not have the necessary skills and attributes’ as childless women with no experience of interviewing under 14s. At the end of the study, they reflected on this issue and felt that they should have thought more carefully about their ‘own and wider social assumptions in this context’.

Elton-Chalcraft, 2011, says that she took on the role of ‘traveller’ and the ‘least-adult’ in her research with school children encouraging the children to tell her their stories and engaging them in conversation. Swain, 2005 benefited from his experience as an ex-primary school teacher when he conducted research with boys in a junior school. He felt if he lost their respect, it would have an adverse effect on data quality. “I did not let the children lean back on their chairs or put their feet up on the table, and I would also admonish them if they openly used swear words out of the context of their account.” Although he adopted a least-adult and least-teacher stance, his experience in education helped him to give the children a platform to talk while keeping focused on his areas of questioning.

Academic literature advocates this ‘least-adult’ approach allowing children to be their own person and speak for themselves. To get the best from them, researchers need to understand children, design data collection around their patterns of behaviour, genuinely have a respect for their opinions, and certainly to have had good contact with children whether that’s as a parent, god-parent, relative, friend, teacher or club leader.

Failing that, children’s researchers need to dig deep and rediscover their inner child so roll down a hill, build a sandcastle, make a kite, learn how to make loom band bracelets... The summer holidays are here!

Sugary sweet advertising leaves a bad taste in mum's mouth

We’re all well aware for the need to tackle obesity – the effect of being significantly overweight is being borne out by the massive increase in cases of type 2 diabetes, which has been in the news a lot recently.  Children as well as adults are less active and eat more calorific and sugar-laden snacks than their bodies allow and the damage lasts a lifetime.  The issue is so critical that the government is looking to legislate to force consumers and the industry alike to be more responsible.

Filling time on a wet school strike day last week, I treated my children to a trip to the cinema.  As it was teatime when we went, I took water for them to drink and a few nibbles such as little sandwiches, yogurt and some raisins.  I also had a small chocolate bar each for them as an extra treat. 

On arrival at the cinema, we duly queued up to collect our tickets.  Us Brits are so very good at queuing aren’t we?  We moan and about it and tut a lot but do it diligently.  I have to confess I did a lot of tutting when I realised there is only one type of queue.  Whether you want or need snacks or not, you are forced to queue up with young children next to the aisles with big family-sized packets of sweets and pop corn trays advertised in bright, inviting colours.  So here we go, my 5 year old then questions the idea of having those sweets too albeit less dramatically than I feared fortunately.

The promotion went further when the young man behind the counter enquired if I wanted any popcorn, snacks or drinks.  My 8 year old is now joining in the argument about wanting M&Ms.  I am not against treating my children but I resent having to discuss it with my children when I have already set the boundaries for this cinema trip – besides a family sized bag of chocolates is too large for two small children. 

Advertising and promotion is of course an important tool whether you’re raising awareness, generating interest, creating desire (there was a lot of that happening with my two at the time) and galvanising action (i.e. sales) and removing all such promotion regarding treats would perhaps harm profits but a responsible marketer gives customers a choice and a queue just for ticket collection would have negated any of these problems and ensured my post-purchase customer experience was a positive one.  

My message to cinemas in this case would be to take action before the government does.

Get off the bench

Benchmarking is the process of identifying best practice in relation to both products and the processes by which those products are created and delivered. The search for "best practice" can take place both inside a particular industry, and also in other industries (for example - are there lessons to be learned from other industries?).  Benchmarking is set by your toughest competitors whether you like it or not. 

It’s everywhere you look and is not just confined to the rigors of running a business.  Seemingly every facet of life is compared and contrasted from school league tables to NHS waiting lists to the world’s GDP. 

It is also a factor in sports at the highest level – not least because there’s a league table and world ranking for pretty much every single sport.

This summer of sport has been a good lesson in benchmarking.  We crashed out of the Fifa World Cup early, lost at the cricket, got beaten by the All Blacks in rugby and, Andy Murray, our lone sporting hope at the end of that depressing list, lost dramatically and unexpectedly in the 4^th round at Wimbledon.  British sport is again in that depressing familiar cycle of hope, a few days of fervent belief with a big dose of optimism followed by the come-down of defeat and resignation.   The managers and coaches in each of these examples will doubtless have reasons why they failed, and a strategy and a plan to turn things around and benchmarking will no doubt play a part as they look to emulate those who are consistently at the top of their game.

However, my concern is a general lack of competitiveness at the start of the race - way down to the seemingly unimportant primary school sports day.  I am limbering up for my daughters’ events this week and am hard in training for the parents’ race…..  We’ve been informed that there are no winners – each child has a valuable contribution to make regardless of their ability and awarding winners’ rosettes undermines children’s confidence. Essentially by having no winners, you therefore have no losers.  To get to the top of any sport starts early – the new men’s Wimbledon Champion didn’t start playing when he was doing his A levels.  Sports stars of the future need to learn the mental toughness required for a win (and a loss) early.

My benchmarking mantra is “adopt, adapt, improve” and we’re never going to be at the top of a league table by adding “running away from defeat” to that.

The positive however, looking on the bright side, is no Prayle is a loser at sport this summer.  Game on!

Don't mess with our emotions Facebook!

There are no emoticons to express how I feel about Facebook this week; it certainly isn't happy, maybe a touch of bemusement and a large dash of fury but maybe the best way to describe my feelings is utter bewilderment that a major global corporation can treat its customers' emotions and well-being so carelessly.

So why am I so hot under the collar? Yesterday my business students at Anglia Ruskin University got 'the lecture' and anyone who has studied market research or marketing with me will know the content of this heart-felt declaration. It is my responsibility as a CIM Chartered Marketer and member of the Market Research Society to send my students out into the commercial world with a strong consideration of the ethics involved in researching customer behaviour. We are governed by legislation and should follow the strict principles of research ethics to ensure that no one is ever harmed through research ever again. The principles of the MRS Code of Conduct and all other research codes stem from the 1947 Nuremberg Code and the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki to ensure that participation in research is voluntary, the rights and well-being of participants are protected, no one is harmed or adversely affected and researchers are transparent about the subject and purpose of data collection.

We follow these codes because it matters, because people died and were experimented upon, because we are human, because we know better. So where do Facebook get off thinking this doesn't apply to them?

If you've missed the news (read The Guardian's article here), it has just been revealed via a published research article that Facebook manipulated 700,000 user feeds over one week in 2012 as an experiment to see if hiding emotional words without the user's knowledge would impact upon the status updates and likes that they posted. This is now being investigated by the UK's Information Commissioner's Office. The Guardian reported that Monika Bickert, Head of Policy, claimed these experiments were necessary to enable Facebook to remain innovative and continue to improve their platform. She reportedly said, "It’s concerning when we see legislation that could possibly stifle that sort of creativity and that innovation."

I think it's more concerning that Facebook didn't consider how religiously some users follow status updates and how it can dictate their emotional state. Cyber bullying is rife. Some users may suffer from anxiety, depression or other serious conditions which mean that every emotional word is interpreted to the nth degree. If that emotion was lacking or enhanced through manipulation of the users feed, it could have had a devastating effect.

There are plenty of news articles online to say that Facebook will decline by 2017 and you can understand why they need to constantly develop and innovate. Good on them for thinking that market research plays a part in their new product development process, but doing this via stealth without consideration of the ethical issues and the moral issues is wrong, and the Information Commissioner's Office may feel it's criminal.