Kellogg Launches First-ever Executive Education Program on Influencer Marketing in Partnership with Emeritus

MBA Blog / 15th November 2021

Kellogg Executive Education at Northwestern University is launching its industry-leading executive education program on influencer marketing, a high-impact learning journey that helps learners create tangible value for their brand and business through strategic influencer marketing. The Influencer Marketing Strategy Program was created by Kellogg Professor Mohan Sawhney and Adjunct Lecturer Amanda RussellGuest speakers include top influencers, subject and brand experts, including Jesse Itzler, Founder of NetJets; Abigail Posner, blogger and Brand Director at Google; influencer and TV personality Nigel BarkerLarry Namer, founder of E! Entertainment Network; and best-selling author Erik Qualman. This program will teach marketers, brand and media managers how to use social influence to build brands and drive growth.

Launched in partnership with Emeritus, the global leader in making high-quality education accessible and affordable, the eight-week online program will help growth seekers from every industry understand the true power of influencer marketing, offer frameworks for achieving win-win outcomes, and illustrate how to achieve an integrated marketing strategy.

“We created this course because we wanted to empower passionate leaders with the tools to succeed with influencer marketing,” says Amanda Russell, consultant and author of The Influencer Code. “Because at its core, it’s about people and relationships. It’s not about creating buzz or garnering attention – attention without trust is simply noise. The secret comes in understanding true influence. Shifting the lens from influencers to influence as an outcome will help marketers and brand leaders drive sustainable growth.” Russell also created and teaches Kellogg’s new course in the Kellogg Full-Time and Evening & Weekend MBA programs, called “Influencer Marketing: Identifying, Employing and Developing Influencer Strategies to Achieve Business Goals.”

Kellogg Professor Mohan Sawhney, a globally recognized scholar and consultant, doubles down on that view. “Influencer marketing is relationship marketing, but this approach is really misunderstood in the market. We’re helping brands to drive growth by understanding what influences their customers, activated through a series of proprietary frameworks and tools.”

The global influencer marketing industry is valued at $13.8 billion, more than doubling since 2019, according to Statista. As influencer endorsement continues to mature as an industry, the size and value of influencer marketing platforms also continue to expand every year, making collaborations between brands and creators more profitable than ever. Program participants will learn firsthand from Kellogg faculty, practitioners and peers to advance their understanding of how influencer marketing can drive growth and create brand saliency.

In a noisy market where it’s hard for brands to break through, the question becomes: how can we unite all elements of business and marketing into a strategy that builds relationships and trust with stakeholders in a meaningful way? The answer is influence.

Participants will learn:

  • A deep understanding of what influencer marketing is
  • A playbook of ways to integrate and leverage influencer relationships across all elements of your business, culminating in a final Capstone project
  • Frameworks for measuring and improving the performance of your influencer marketing effort
  • Firsthand accounts from industry experts of how influencer marketing propelled their brands forward
  • Examples of influencer agreements designed to develop long-term, win-win relationships

“We are excited to bring a program teaching such cutting-edge skills to professionals all over the globe,” says Lisa Rohrer, head of university partnerships at Emeritus. “Coming out of the pandemic, brands are eager to gain back any lost ground and learn the most impactful methods to drive growth. This unique program will teach skills to help organizations leverage these techniques to achieve their goals.”

The program starts on December 9, 2021, and is designed as a digital-first experience.  The program fee is $3,300 with flexible payment options available and discounts for multiple enrollments. Visit the program page for more details.

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