Hello everyone!
As the semester winds down, it's time to reflect on the time spent in my marketing class and what I've learned throughout the semester. Before taking this class, I had a taste of marking in my Intro to Business class my sophomore year. While it was informative, it didn't really give me a sense of what marketing was all about. Now that I've almost completed an entire semester of marketing, I can easily say I've learned a lot throughout the course. This blog post will be dedicated to reflecting on my lessons learned and the connections to the course outcomes and objectives.
1. To have the opportunity to put marketing into action via team and individual projects, research, reports, and presentations

2. Understand that the marketing process starts and ends with customers and consumers

3. Analyze and evaluate basic financial statements and business formulas (profit, ROI, etc.)
As an Accounting major, the financial statements and formulas have been drilled into my head since day 1. But like any other formulas and ratios I've learned, without using them frequently they drift out of my mind. This course was a nice refresher, and we got to use actual data from our Marketing Simulation. About halfway through the semester, one of our assignments was a financial analysis of our progress so far. We created a cumulative income statement, along with income statements from each turn. We also calculated Return on Sales, Break Even Point, and the percentage change in sales, all using Excel. I've always enjoyed Excel, so I was pretty excited when I learned this would be part of the report. Financial analysis is very important in marketing, and running a business in general. From our income statement and financial ratios, we learned what we could do better and acted quickly. Our sales have actually increased steadily! The Marketing Simulation and use of Excel to construct financial statements gave us a way to create a business in "real life" and analyze it throughout the semester.
4. Participate and communicate as an effective member of a team
5. To set personal and professional goals, and positively contribute in an engaged class
To conclude, I've enjoyed writing this blog and letting my thoughts flow freely. It was a good way to show my growing knowledge of marketing and how it ties into our every day lives. I know once I step out into the real world, I will notice a lot more because of my new knowledge. I hope you enjoyed reading my blog!!
Courtney
Sources
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https://blogs.splunk.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/excel.jpeg
http://www.corrections.com/system/article/image/29953/Teamwork-b.jpg?1328816846
http://www.hercampus.com/sites/default/files/2015/11/05/girl-in-brown-shirt-raising-her-hand-in-a-classroom-with-teacher-at-the-front.jpg