By Jessica LaShawn, Founder of Mogul Academy and Jessica LaShawn Consulting
In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, understanding the fundamentals can make all the difference between blending in and standing out. Whether you’re a business owner, entrepreneur, or student at Mogul Academy, the business fundamentals behind digital marketing are more than just strategies for professional success—they’re tools for living your best life.
Digital marketing isn’t just about posting on social media or sending out email newsletters. It’s about understanding the differences between marketing, publicity, branding, promotions, and more. These elements are key to running a successful business, and when applied to life, they’re the foundation of personal growth, communication, and self-promotion.
At Jessica LaShawn Consulting, we partner with digital marketing companies to expose students to the tech industry while teaching them how to use business acumen to live a successful, purpose-driven life. In this post, I’ll break down 10 essential digital marketing tips and explain how each relates to both business and personal success.
Lesson Plan: Understanding the Difference Between Marketing, Publicity, Branding, and Promotions
Objective:
To educate business owners, students, and educators on the key differences between marketing, publicity, branding, and promotions while providing practical digital marketing tips to help grow a business or personal brand.
Before diving into the tips, it’s essential to understand the roles that these different elements play in the digital marketing landscape:
- Marketing: The overall strategy for promoting your product or service to the right audience.
- Publicity: The public visibility you gain, often through media coverage or influencer partnerships, which helps enhance your reputation.
- Branding: Your brand’s identity—the look, feel, tone, and message that set you apart from competitors.
- Promotions: Specific campaigns designed to increase sales, engagement, or awareness, often through discounts or limited-time offers.
By teaching these principles, we help students and business owners recognize that business fundamentals apply to life as well. Just like promoting a product, promoting yourself—your skills, values, and goals—is crucial for personal growth and success.
Business Plan: Partnering to Teach Business Fundamentals Through Digital Marketing
Objective:
To outline a strategic partnership between digital marketing companies, Mogul Academy, and Jessica LaShawn Consulting to expose students to the tech industry and teach them the importance of business fundamentals in marketing and beyond.
Digital marketing is an essential skill for businesses and individuals alike. By partnering with digital marketing companies, we can provide students with hands-on learning opportunities in areas like SEO, social media marketing, and content creation, while also emphasizing how these skills apply to both business and life. Here’s how we can collaborate:
- Digital Marketing Workshops: Digital marketing professionals can collaborate with us to teach students how to create and execute campaigns, measure results, and understand the impact of their marketing efforts.
- Mentorship Programs: Experts can mentor students on building personal brands and using digital marketing tools like Google Analytics, social media scheduling platforms, and email marketing tools to grow their influence.
- Hands-On Learning: Companies can offer internships or project-based learning where students create real campaigns, analyze performance, and understand how each element of marketing—publicity, branding, promotions—works together to build a successful business.
- Business Fundamentals Curriculum: Work with us to create curriculum materials that integrate digital marketing strategies with core business principles, showing students how digital marketing is a tool for building both a successful business and a successful life.
Step-by-Step Presentation: 10 Digital Marketing Tips You Need to Know
Objective:
To provide a step-by-step guide for mastering digital marketing while teaching students and business owners how to apply these lessons to their businesses and personal brands.
Tip 1: Understand Your Audience
The first rule of any marketing strategy is to know who you’re speaking to. Whether you’re promoting a product or building your personal brand, understanding your audience’s needs, preferences, and challenges is crucial. The better you know your audience, the more effectively you can tailor your message to resonate with them.
Student Learning: At Mogul Academy, students learn how to conduct audience research and create profiles that help them understand their target market’s behaviors, motivations, and pain points.
Tip 2: Build a Strong Brand Identity
Your brand is more than just a logo—it’s your identity. Every interaction, from your website’s design to the tone of your social media posts, should reflect your brand values. A strong, consistent brand helps build trust with your audience.
Real-World Application: We teach students how to create brand guidelines that reflect their values, personality, and vision, ensuring that their business or personal brand stays consistent across all platforms.
Tip 3: Create Valuable Content
The saying “content is king” holds true. To capture your audience’s attention, you need to create content that provides value, whether that’s through blog posts, videos, or social media. Educational, entertaining, or inspirational content keeps people engaged and positions you as a thought leader.
Mentorship Opportunity: Digital marketing companies can mentor students on how to create compelling content that educates and engages their target audience.
Tip 4: Leverage SEO for Organic Growth
Search engine optimization (SEO) is key to getting your website in front of the right audience. By optimizing your content with the right keywords, improving your website’s load speed, and building backlinks, you increase your chances of ranking higher on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Hands-On Learning: At Mogul Academy, students learn the basics of SEO and how to optimize their own websites and content to attract organic traffic.
Tip 5: Utilize Social Media Marketing
Social media is one of the most powerful tools for building a brand, increasing visibility, and engaging with your audience. Identify the platforms where your audience spends their time and create a consistent posting schedule that delivers valuable content.
Business Fundamentals: Social media is not just for businesses; it’s a platform where students can learn how to build their own personal brands and network with professionals in their chosen fields.
Tip 6: Run Targeted Advertising Campaigns
Paid advertising, whether through Google Ads or social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, allows you to target specific demographics and reach a larger audience. The key is to start small, test what works, and optimize based on performance.
Student Exposure: Students can create mock advertising campaigns to see firsthand how paid media can increase visibility and drive conversions.
Tip 7: Track and Analyze Data
One of the biggest advantages of digital marketing is the ability to track your results. Use tools like Google Analytics or social media insights to see what’s working and what isn’t. Analyzing data helps you make informed decisions and improve your strategy over time.
Real-World Experience: We teach students how to track key performance indicators (KPIs) like website traffic, click-through rates, and conversion rates, giving them the data skills needed for future success.
Tip 8: Engage with Your Audience
Don’t just post and forget. Engagement is key to building relationships with your audience. Respond to comments, ask questions, and create conversations around your brand. The more engaged your audience feels, the more likely they are to become loyal customers or followers.
Mentorship Tip: Digital marketing professionals can guide students on how to create genuine engagement and build long-lasting relationships with their audience.
Tip 9: Run Promotions and Giveaways
Running promotions or giveaways is a great way to increase engagement and brand visibility. Promotions can be as simple as a discount for new subscribers or a contest that encourages user-generated content.
Real-World Learning: Students at Mogul Academy are encouraged to design their own promotions, learning how to create campaigns that drive action and align with their brand values.
Tip 10: Adapt and Evolve
Digital marketing is always changing. What works today might not work tomorrow, so it’s important to stay flexible, keep learning, and adapt your strategies to stay ahead of the competition.
Life Lesson: In both business and life, the ability to adapt is crucial. We teach students to be lifelong learners, constantly seeking new opportunities for growth and improvement.
Conclusion: Digital Marketing as a Tool for Business and Life Success
Digital marketing is a powerful tool that goes beyond just promoting a product or service—it’s about building a brand, creating connections, and driving long-term success. But the fundamentals of digital marketing—knowing your audience, creating valuable content, and analyzing data—are also the keys to living a successful life. You are your own brand, and just like a business, your success depends on how well you understand your goals, communicate your message, and build relationships.
At Jessica LaShawn Consulting and Mogul Academy, we believe that teaching business fundamentals through digital marketing helps students not only succeed in their careers but also live their best lives. By partnering with digital marketing companies, we can provide students with the tools they need to thrive in the tech industry and beyond.
Are you ready to inspire the next generation? Join us at Jessica LaShawn Consulting and partner with Mogul Academy to empower students with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in the digital world.
About Jessica LaShawn
Jessica LaShawn is the founder of Mogul Academy and Jessica LaShawn Consulting, where she mentors youth, empowers businesses, and bridges the gap between education and industry. With a focus on holistic development, Jessica helps companies build socially responsible partnerships while nurturing the next generation of professionals in a tech-driven world.
