We’re launching a new collaborative blog with our colleges in Edinburgh and Dubai!

A couple of colleagues at Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh and Dubai have gathered to launch: It's not you, it's your data! - A blog that looks to make life easier for everyone in their late years of undergraduate education, as well as to those in postgraduate...

The journey to successful content marketing in a highly cultural diverse setting: insights from Dubbizle in the UAE

A couple of weeks ago we had the pleasure to host Nadia Zehni, head of marketing at Dubbizle, the leading classified website in the UAE as part of the guest speakers invited to talk to our IMM students. Our Advances in Digital Marketing class had the opportunity to see how real organisations develop and implement their content marketing strategy, and to see that in fact the models that are taught in the lectures are implemented in marketing practice (you know all this set clear objectives, choose content types, measure results, etc.).

Celebrity bloggers: the implications of a blurred personal and professional life on social media

Should high profile bloggers give credit or pay special fees to take pictures in private locations? This is the question that a small boutique hotel called The Reading Rooms was trying to answer last week.   The situation   Estée Lalonde (@EsteeLalonde) a...

Social Media Summit 2016: social influence marketing on the rise

I was invited to give a talk on Facebook fan page engagement at the Social Media Summit in Dubai. This was based on part of the research that I have done for my PhD and some other new research avenues that I am currently investigating. What was interesting from this event, was how much relevance social influence marketing is having among marketing practitioners.

Performance marketing: is your agency ticking the right boxes?

Performance marketing in the UAE is like the latest Lamborghini: everybody wants it, many people talk about it, but at the end, it is very rare to see it in action. No matter if we are speaking about Google AdWords or Facebook Advertising, most advertisers are using soft or no metrics when it comes to analysing their campaigns. They are satisfied with “something is happening” but they do not really care whether they are getting some returns on their investment or not.

How to find a good marketing dissertation topic (2021-2022 Edition)

Once again that time of the year when students across the world need to find a marketing dissertation topic is looming. I recently delivered a guest lecture at Henley Business School about the future of marketing, and many of the questions were related to finding good...

Analysing the effects on reputation, credibility and trust of three PR strategies to manage a crisis on Facebook

Social media platforms are now a common tool for PR practitioners to manage a crisis. When used correctly, social media allow organisations to monitor the sentiment of people towards a specific situation and to correct rumours rapidly before they become facts. However, what is the tone and best strategy that PR departments should adopt when a crisis happens?

UAE Inter-School Business Challenge 2016 was a big success!

For the second time I was part of the organising team of the UAE Inter-School Business Challenge at Heriot-Watt University, Dubai Campus. On this edition the interest was even greater than the last year, with over 200 students, 40 teams and some of the most prominent...

Europe’s largest technology market place is around the corner: 7000+ UK tech and business leaders to descend on Lisbon

Web Summit is a global technology conference hosted annually in Lisbon. In 2016, more than 50,000 attendees from over 165 countries will fly to Lisbon for Web Summit, including over 20,000 companies, 7,000 CEOs and 2,000 international journalists. Speakers will include the founders and CEOs of the world’s largest tech companies as well as political leaders and major sports, fashion and music personalities.

Top hints to consider before developing a mobile app for your business

With a significantly higher penetration of smartphones than other countries, added to reduced organic reach in social media channels, revamping your mobile marketing strategy with a mobile app can be the way forward for many SMEs in the UAE. Isabella Leland and Dr Rodrigo Perez-Vega discuss key elements you should consider before investing on a mobile application.

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What does an SEO specialist do?

What does an SEO specialist do?

I interviewed Swapna Anandikar-Mulye about her role as an SEO specialist at The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. I met Swapna a couple of years ago when she was studying Digital Marketing at Henley Business School. Below a transcript of the interview: Rodrigo...

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What do brand managers do?

What do brand managers do?

As part of my activities as the Program Director for the MSc in Marketing at Henley Business School was to reconnect with some of our Alumni that have graduated from the Program and that now work in different areas of Marketing. The idea was to give current students...

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What is a theory?

What is a theory?

You are being asked to make a theoretical contribution and to find theoretical research gaps. This can be a daunting task, especially when you don’t know what can be considered as a theory and what is not. This guide will point you in the right direction. What is a...

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How to Create a Customer Journey Map

How to Create a Customer Journey Map

According to Salesforce, 80% of senior-ranking marketers state that a cohesive customer journey is absolutely critical for success. These marketers understand how a customer or user journey map can streamline processes and provide customers with a consistent...

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How to make money online?

How to make money online?

If you’re looking to make money online, you need to understand the different revenue models that are available. A revenue model describes the process by which money can be earned. Choosing a revenue model for your online business will help with decisions regarding how many resources to invest in your business.  There are four main revenue models: selling content, selling information, selling advertisement space and selling services

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Dark Social: what is it and what it means for your business?

Dark Social: what is it and what it means for your business?

Dark Social has become a major topic among marketing practitioners in the past years. The reason behind this is that marketers are realising that dark social behaviours are increasingly popular among consumers. In this article, we will look at what dark social is, and we’ll share some recommendations on how to leverage on this online behaviour.

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The UK General Election: can social media covfefe influence the elections?

The UK General Election: can social media covfefe influence the elections?

Social media was, without a doubt, at the centre of all candidates’ campaign strategy in this General Election. However, this was not always the case. The Obama campaign popularised the use of social media for political reasons in 2008. Before that, ‘respectable’ politicians tended to shy away from this channel. The reasons are similar to the one’s brands experienced in the early stages of social media adoption: it is hard to control what happens once a tweet or Facebook post is out, and politicians (as well as brands) were not very keen on criticism on these public platforms. However, the attitudes towards social media by politicians worldwide is more welcoming today than ten years ago, and many of the most prominent personalities in the global political sphere have a prolific social media presence and covfefe. However, is it a positive thing?

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Blue Monday, fact, fiction or purely a marketing opportunity?

Blue Monday, fact, fiction or purely a marketing opportunity?

Today is supposed to be the gloomiest day of the year, according to Dr Cliff Arnall, a former academic specialised in the field of psychology that devised a formula that is supposed to determine the gloomiest day of the year based on some rather grim factors. Beyond the validity of Dr Arnall’s depression score formula, some opportunities arise from events like this from a marketing perspective, and businesses have embraced rather happily Blue Monday to their calendar of marketing communication activities and promotional events.

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Uncovering online brand communities

Uncovering online brand communities

Online brand communities (OBCs) have increasingly gathered the attention of marketers as they can generate several positive outcomes for brands. An online brand community is a specialised group of people that gathers in online environments with a shared interest (usually a brand, a brand category, or a particular web page). These online communities become a space where consumers share ideas, feelings and opinions about a product or a brand. In this article, we will examine this phenomenon from an SME perspective as we believe that understanding how these communities work can also be beneficial for small businesses.

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Europe’s largest technology market place is around the corner: 7000+ UK tech and business leaders to descend on Lisbon

Europe’s largest technology market place is around the corner: 7000+ UK tech and business leaders to descend on Lisbon

Web Summit is a global technology conference hosted annually in Lisbon. In 2016, more than 50,000 attendees from over 165 countries will fly to Lisbon for Web Summit, including over 20,000 companies, 7,000 CEOs and 2,000 international journalists. Speakers will include the founders and CEOs of the world’s largest tech companies as well as political leaders and major sports, fashion and music personalities.

read more
Performance marketing: is your agency ticking the right boxes?

Performance marketing: is your agency ticking the right boxes?

Performance marketing in the UAE is like the latest Lamborghini: everybody wants it, many people talk about it, but at the end, it is very rare to see it in action. No matter if we are speaking about Google AdWords or Facebook Advertising, most advertisers are using soft or no metrics when it comes to analysing their campaigns. They are satisfied with “something is happening” but they do not really care whether they are getting some returns on their investment or not.

read more
Analysing the effects on reputation, credibility and trust of three PR strategies to manage a crisis on Facebook

Analysing the effects on reputation, credibility and trust of three PR strategies to manage a crisis on Facebook

Social media platforms are now a common tool for PR practitioners to manage a crisis. When used correctly, social media allow organisations to monitor the sentiment of people towards a specific situation and to correct rumours rapidly before they become facts. However, what is the tone and best strategy that PR departments should adopt when a crisis happens?

read more
Social Media Summit 2016: social influence marketing on the rise

Social Media Summit 2016: social influence marketing on the rise

I was invited to give a talk on Facebook fan page engagement at the Social Media Summit in Dubai. This was based on part of the research that I have done for my PhD and some other new research avenues that I am currently investigating. What was interesting from this event, was how much relevance social influence marketing is having among marketing practitioners.

read more
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