Giorgia Cocchi | Professional Master in Marketing Management
18 October 2022The Professional Master in Marketing Management at BBS provides useful elements for understanding the dynamics behind a global marketplace evolving at the speed of the Internet. In this way, it is possible to gain such a broad vision that it embraces different business contexts, increasing career possibilities in a wide variety of sectors. In this interview, Giorgia Cocchi, alumna of the Master’s program, now a Marketing Specialist at STM SpA, discusses how theory supported practice in the transition from the classroom to the enterprise.
Could you briefly tell us about your background and how you came to choose the Master’s in Marketing Management at BBS?
I’ve always had a strong passion for languages and for exploring new environments other than those of my “comfort zone,” which is why after attending a foreign languages high school I decided to enroll in the degree program in Asian Languages, Markets and Cultures at the University of Bologna, studying Japanese and French. In order to pursue a slightly more economical and less humanistic approach, I chose the course in Languages and Markets instead of Languages and Literatures. It was there that I was able to approach economics and marketing, and, thanks to Prof. Lorenzini, I became aware of Bologna Business School and its courses. I focused mainly on courses related to marketing (a subject that had impressed me the most in the three-year degree) and then participated in a few open days organized by BBS, then I selected two courses: Business Management and Marketing Management. Finally, my preference was for the entrance test for Marketing Management given its internationality and the program of subjects involved. I have always thought that a course in English, besides the extra something of language, has the big advantage of putting you in contact with people very different from yourself -a small challenge, but definitely a very enriching experience.
Customer centricity is a key element within this training. What skills did you acquire during the master’s program in this regard? How do organizations manage to make the customer/user central within business processes?
We covered this topic in many and varied courses, developing expertise on all stages of the customer relationship (attraction, engagement, conversion and affiliation). They perfectly capture the idea, and in a very concise way, the concepts of Funnel Marketing, CRM and Consumer Behavior. It is also true, however, that while consumers can be considered as a whole in the theoretical framework, in reality, on the other hand, each customer is a world of their own, especially when dealing with B2B or B2C, if not B2B2C contexts. Therefore, it was crucial for me to be able to translate the teachings of the Master’s course into an extremely technical B2B reality, such as that of a company in the metalworking sector. Once I overcame this small hurdle, however, many aspects that had been presented to me during the courses were extremely helpful. In short, the turning point was to be able to understand the types of customers I would be interacting with, and then to start from their point of view (in an approach that we can call customer-centric) to understand how and why they make certain choices, what the discriminating factors are, and what aspects to work on to make my company a strategic supplier.
Making a customer/user central to business processes is very complex, it is not a short and linear path, it takes time to involve every element of the supply chain, but it is extremely important for the company, both in terms of customer affiliation and in terms of growth and profits.
During the master’s program you had the opportunity to engage with high-profile managers from international companies. Could you tell us what these encounters left you with? What lessons did you learn?
Each guest gave us different and enriching lessons, not only for our future career paths, but also to increase our life experiences. In addition to telling us about their careers, they gave us important advice on how to approach a first job, an interview, dealing with colleagues, etc. What these sessions mainly left me with was a great enthusiasm, a desire to do, grow and take new paths. They pushed me to put even more effort into what I do, with determination but always with an eye on what is happening around me, to be ready and proactive with respect to changes. To sum it all up in a few words: the desire to take every opportunity, putting my whole self into it, to achieve great goals.
The Master’s in Marketing Management has a strong digital connotation as regards the tools and skills analyzed. How much has this component of the Master’s program had an impact on your work activity?
In an increasingly digitized world, having a background in digital knowledge is central. Thanks to the Master’s program, I learned how to use cutting-edge digital tools that allowed me to develop various skills, especially in terms of data analysis. Now that I find myself working in the marketing department of a metalworking company, the analysis and study of incoming data in order to give support to the sales department is crucial. Also, having been first introduced to certain digital tools during classes, I was more responsive when confronted with new and different digital tools at work, because I was not completely unaware of them.
Give us three reasons why you would recommend this pathway to a prospective student.
Internationality of the course (opportunity to meet people and cultures different from one’s own); hands-on learning approach of all teachings (group work that allows you to make academic knowledge tangible and the final internship); job placement (my classmates and I found jobs quickly).
