7 Important Marketing Reminders I Learned From The Mini MBA

I never studied marketing at university or college. I learned everything I know on the job. And I like to think that after 15 years in marketing and communications, I know a fair bit.

So when I signed up for the Mini MBA in Marketing, I thought I'd mainly be reinforcing concepts I already knew. I expected familiar territory:

• Funnels
• Segmenting
• Positioning
• Etc, you know the drill

And I did get that.

But hidden within the modules were also plenty of fascinating nuggets of wisdom, unusual case studies, memorable quotes, and surprising insights that have reinspired and reenergised my marketing.

So today, I’m going to share some of these with you.

1. Discounting hurts brands more than it helps

We’ve all done it—thrown out a quick discount to hit quarterly goals or stop churn. But the Mini MBA offered another perspective:

Discounting is a marketing shortcut. It’s the enemy of profit.

Constant discounting creates an expectation among customers that erodes trust in your pricing.

UK residents might remember DFS, the sofa brand. When I was growing up, they seemed to advertise constantly on TV and there was always a DFS sale! Even back then, I remember thinking, “what’s wrong with these sofas and why are they always discounted?”

Constant discounting also means you have to significantly increase sales volumes just to break even on your lost margin.

Instead, you might consider:

Value-adding incentives like free onboarding, extended trials, or bonus resources.

Behavioural pricing techniques, such as charm pricing (£7.99 vs. £8) or anchoring (presenting a premium option to make standard pricing look more appealing). In fact, there’s even evidence that shows a higher price can generate a more positive perception of a brand or product.

Clear, confident communication around pricing changes. Pret's transparency vs Netflix's ambiguity offers a vivid contrast.

Source: Mini MBA

Source: Mini MBA

2. Where you sell can define your entire brand

Who knew your distribution channels could actually build your brand for you?

Fiji Water strategically placed itself in upscale restaurants and boutique hotels in the United States—not supermarkets.

The result? People instantly perceived it as premium.

Your distribution channel sets your perceived value and therefore your price.

When launching, go niche and upscale first. Broader distribution comes later, only after your brand's premium perception has taken hold.

3. You need the short and the long of it in effective marketing

Something that really resonated with me was the importance of balancing long-term brand building (known as “the long of it”) with short-term sales activation (“the short of it”).

Marketing isn't just about immediate conversions; it's about cultivating emotional connections, brand recognition, and nurturing relationships for long-term success.

This is certainly what I’m looking to achieve at Sitebulb.

Think of it this way:

Brand building is your long-term investment. It creates salience, trust, and reputation.

Sales activation is your short-term boost. It looks like targeted campaigns that drive immediate actions.

Truly effective marketing integrates both.

Use broad, consistent brand messaging to create lasting emotional connections, and complement it with targeted, tactical promotions that generate immediate responses. This balanced approach ensures your marketing strategy remains resilient and effective, both today and in the future.

Source: Mini MBA

4. Product failures usually come from misunderstanding customer needs

This stat startled me: around 60% of new products fail within three years. But why?

Because they're “trapped in product limbo”, i.e. they’re good enough to seem interesting but not good enough to persuade customers to switch and use them.

The fix? Understand the customer’s "job to be done"—the precise problem they're “hiring” your product to solve.

For example, Sitebulb users don’t “hire” Sitebulb to crawl a website; they hire Sitebulb to deliver a comprehensive website audit to their stakeholders quickly, efficiently, and with actionable insight.

Ask your customers directly about workarounds they used to use before discovering your product. This clarity ensures your product genuinely meets a need.

Source: Mini MBA

5. Over-segmenting can paralyse you

Marketing “experts” love segments, personas, and detailed customer maps. But there can be a tendency to get bogged down and misdirected by an over-reliance on different types of hypothetical customers.

Segments are useful for clarity, but sometimes sophisticated mass marketing – delivering one clear, powerful message broadly – can be more effective, at least initially.

You can segment later, once you're clear about your actual market traction.

Don’t get trapped overcomplicating it. Simplicity can often be your greatest ally. Thank you Mini MBA!

Source: Mini MBA

6. Marketers are weird and biased

I mean, I’ve always known I’m weird but evidently other marketers are too.

The problem is, marketers aren't representative of typical customers. We adore innovation, branding trends, and shiny new tech.

Most customers? Not so much.

Burger King’s infamous mouldy burger campaign, which was praised by marketing insiders but utterly baffling to consumers, is a notable example of a marketing team feeling confident in their direction—and it totally backfiring.

The lesson? Always challenge your assumptions.

In fact, the first thing the Mini MBA teaches you is that you know absolutely nothing—but the market knows everything. Do not make the mistake of thinking that, as a clever marketer of x number of years, you know it all. (Ahem, speaking to myself too there!)

Use qualitative methods – focus groups, customer visits, ethnography – to ground yourself in reality. As Mark Ritson, our instructor, put it, "Act dumb. Get customers to explain obvious things in detail."

7. Simple and distinctive branding wins

As a design novice, the Mini MBA taught me the underestimated importance of brand codes: visual or auditory elements, like colours, logos, and jingles, that customers instantly recognise—even for B2B.

Think Cadbury’s purple, Netflix’s intro sound, or Coca-Cola’s red and white script. You don't need many; you just need consistency.

"Less is often more when it comes to distinctiveness—focus on fewer codes."

Simplicity is the order of the day in marketing strategy, brand positioning, and messaging too. A good strategy does not try to do everything. It’s as much about defining what to do as it is what not to do.

Source: Mini MBA

Effective positioning comes from identifying and clearly communicating one or two customer-driven benefits. Complexity only confuses and dilutes your brand.

I learned six useful gauges for vetting your positioning choice:

1. Relevance: Do consumers care?
2. Clarity: Will consumers get it?
3. Credibility: Will consumers believe it?
4. Uniqueness: From the consumers’ POV, does it set us apart from our competitors in a meaningful way?
5. Attainability: Can we deliver? Are our claims consistent with our performance?
6. Sustainability: Can the position be maintained over time?

Make your brand memorable through disciplined, repeated use of distinctive assets and messaging, and you’ll embed yourself in customers’ memories effortlessly.

Source: Mini MBA

TL;DR wrap up

This course wasn't merely a refresher; it offered genuinely insightful perspectives.

Here’s what struck most deeply:

• Discounting hurts brands more than it helps.
• Where you sell can define your entire brand.
• You need the short and the long of it in effective marketing.
• Product failures usually come from misunderstanding customer needs.
• Over-segmenting can paralyse you.
• Marketers must continually reconnect with customers to avoid bias.
• Simple and distinctive branding wins.

If you're considering the Mini MBA, I would recommend it. If you’re not, I hope these stories and tricks offer new ways of thinking about familiar challenges.

If you leave this article with only one takeaway, let it be this awesomeness from Dolly Parton:

Source: Mini MBA