Entering this course, I wasn’t completely clueless. My high school marketing class taught me frameworks like the AIDA model, marketing funnels, and the importance of customer loyalty. The application stage was the one that was foreign to me.

The hands-on, practical aspect of launching campaigns and managing resources is where the value of this course lies. Suddenly, market segmentation and the AIDA model weren’t just buzzwords to make us sound sophisticated. They were legitimate guides, allowing us to conclude what is and is not important.

The theory did not account for context or algorithms.

We are frequently taught that social media attention matters, the number of likes, number of shares, positive feedback, etc., and this course taught me to pay attention to the machinery that drives these platforms. Understanding how to optimize our posts and keep the customer’s attention, reminding the customers we exist

This project took familiar concepts off the page and made them human. I now see digital communication as less about shouting for attention and more about building a system in which customers can get engaged. The theory gave me a map, but the practice taught me how to navigate.