Marc Vanhuele, professor of marketing

“I’ve listened to hundreds of pitches from entrepreneurs and have found that they are often focused exclusively on their idea. They set out with an intuition, an observation, an identified need… And the conviction that their idea is the right way to meet that need. Then they spend every waking minute developing the idea, at the risk of forgetting about potential customers along the way. Only when they reach the end of the process — with the product or service ready for launch — do they turn to marketing as a toolbox to help them bring it to market. This approach is the explanation behind many failed ventures. Because marketing is not just a toolbox, but a customer orientation strategy that must be pursued throughout the project. That strategy must find its practical form through a cycle of interaction with the customer, from the birth of the idea to its manifestation in a commercial offer. In their defense, I must admit that I understand entrepreneurs’ and intrapreneurs’ relative lack of interest in marketing, such as they have generally experienced it in the course of their studies or career. Too often, the discipline has focused on market research as the main source of innovation, to the neglect of invention. So it makes sense that inventors should, in turn, think that marketing has little to offer them. My course is designed to make them think otherwise!

Because marketing is about analyzing the decision-making process of your customers, whether BtoC or BtoB. You must understand their purchasing criteria, how they imagine themselves, and/or how they calculate the perceived value of a product or service. It is about developing successive iterations of the proof of concept to compare the idea taking form with the customer’s perception. It means formulating and reformulating until you find the right way to present and test the concept at its different stages and in all its variants. It means preparing the customer psychologically to accept the innovation, to desire it. This kind of marketing has a lot to offer inventors!”

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Timothy Erwin, Plant Manager, Tekni-Plex
“This online course gives you a good understanding of what marketing is and what it is not, how consumers and businesses make their purchasing decisions and, most importantly, how to identify and satisfy your key customers. It is immediately applicable, whatever your project.”

Info

Target audience: current and future business leaders in charge of innovation or commercial development, intrapreneurs/entrepreneurs or anyone planning to become one.
Course fees: €20,000
Next session: June 24th, 2019
Course duration: 18 months
Language: English
Admission requirements: high-level professional experience in innovation, creation of a start-up or entrepreneurial experience, pertinence of the applicant’s personal project.
Further information at: www.hec.execed.edu

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