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MBA Module: Digital Marketing

Week 2

Owned Media & Rapid Prototyping

Your website is your most valuable digital asset. Let's build it.

Today's Agenda

  • What is Owned Media — and Why It Matters
  • Anatomy of a High-Converting Landing Page
  • UI/UX Principles for Non-Designers
  • Mobile-First Design Thinking
  • Core Web Vitals & Page Speed
  • Intro to Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)
  • Lab: Build Your Digital Sandbox Landing Page

Part 1: Owned Media

The assets you control — forever.

The Three Media Types

Type What It Is Risk Level
Owned Website, email list, blog, app Low — you control it
Earned Organic rankings, PR, reviews Medium — must be earned
Paid Ads on Google, Meta, LinkedIn High — stops when budget stops
Strategic Insight: Paid media rents attention. Owned media owns it.

Your Website as a Sales System

Most business owners think of a website as a brochure. MBA thinking reframes it as a 24/7 automated sales representative.

Brochure Mindset

  • "About Us" focused
  • No clear call-to-action
  • Looks nice, converts poorly

System Mindset

  • Visitor-benefit focused
  • Single, clear conversion goal
  • Tested, optimised, data-driven

Part 2: Anatomy of a Landing Page

The seven sections every high-converting page must have.

The Hero Section

Rule: You have 3–5 seconds to answer: "Am I in the right place? Can this help me?"
  • Headline: The primary benefit, not the feature. "Get More Customers Online" not "Digital Marketing Services"
  • Sub-headline: Clarify who it is for and how
  • CTA Button: Action-oriented, above the fold
  • Hero Image/Video: Show the outcome, not the process

Social Proof & Trust Signals

People follow people. The visitor asks: "Do others trust this brand?"

Types of Proof

  • Client logos ("As seen in...")
  • Testimonials with photos & names
  • Case studies with numbers
  • Star ratings (Google, Trustpilot)
  • Certifications and awards
Nielsen Norman Group: 70% of users look at testimonials before making a purchase decision.

The Value Proposition Block

Explain clearly: "Here's exactly how we solve your problem."

Problem

Acknowledge the pain point your visitor feels

Solution

Show how your product/service resolves it

Outcome

Paint the picture of life after the solution

Part 3: UI/UX for Business Leaders

You don't need to code. You need to direct.

Core UI/UX Principles

  • Hierarchy: The most important element must be the most visually dominant
  • White Space: Breathing room isn't empty space — it's clarity
  • Contrast: Your CTA button must stand out; don't match the background
  • Consistency: Same fonts, colours, and spacing throughout. Confusion kills conversion
  • Fitts's Law: Important buttons should be large and easy to click/tap

The F-Pattern & Z-Pattern

F-Pattern

How users scan text-heavy pages (blogs, articles, results pages). Eyes move left-to-right then scan down the left margin.

Apply it: Put key content in the first two paragraphs and use subheadings.

Z-Pattern

How users scan sparse, visual pages (landing pages, ads). Eyes follow a Z: top-left → top-right → diagonal → bottom-right.

Apply it: Put logo top-left, benefits top-right, CTA bottom-right.

Part 4: Mobile-First & Core Web Vitals

Google ranks by mobile. Build for thumbs first.

Mobile-First Reality

The Numbers

  • 60%+ of all web traffic is mobile
  • Google uses mobile-first indexing
  • 53% of mobile users leave a site if it takes >3 seconds to load

Design Principles

  • 44px minimum touch target size
  • Single-column layout first
  • Compress images aggressively
  • Avoid hover-only interactions
  • Test on real devices, not just desktop browser resize

Core Web Vitals (CWV)

Google's key metrics for page experience ranking signals.

Metric What It Measures Good Score
LCP Largest Contentful Paint — how fast main content loads < 2.5 seconds
INP Interaction to Next Paint — page responsiveness < 200ms
CLS Cumulative Layout Shift — visual stability < 0.1

Part 5: Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)

Making your existing traffic work harder.

What is CRO?

Definition: The systematic process of increasing the percentage of website visitors who take a desired action — without increasing traffic spend.

If 100 visitors come to your page and 2 convert → 2% Conversion Rate.

If CRO improves it to 4%, you've doubled your revenue with the same ad spend.

This is why CRO is often called the highest-ROI marketing activity.

CRO Methodology

1. Research

Heatmaps, session recordings, user surveys

2. Hypothesise

"Changing X will improve conversions because Y"

3. Test (A/B)

Run statistically valid experiments; don't guess

Tools: Google Optimize, VWO, Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity (free)

The A/B Test Mindset

Never change multiple things at once. Isolate variables.

Test Element What to Test
Headline Benefit-led vs. problem-led vs. curiosity-led
CTA Button Text, colour, size, placement
Form Length 3 fields vs. 6 fields
Social Proof Position above vs. below CTA

Lab: Build Your Landing Page

Your Digital Sandbox — Sprint 1

Use a no-code tool (Google Sites, Carrd, Webflow Free) to build a one-page landing page with:

  1. A headline and sub-headline for your business
  2. One clear CTA (button with action text)
  3. At least one trust signal (even a quote works)
  4. A brief value proposition section
  5. A simple contact/lead capture form

Deliverable for Week 2

Live Landing Page URL

  • Submit the public URL of your deployed page
  • Screenshot of Google PageSpeed Insights score
  • Identify one element you would A/B test and explain why

Due before the start of Week 3.