Mini MBA star: Holly Holt

Mini MBA star: Holly Holt

It’s important to distil what is really important to a brand, says Cancer Research UK’s Holly Holt.

Holly Holt, Senior Strategic Marketing Manager at Cancer Research UK

The biggest lesson that Holly Holt took from the Mini MBA in Brand Management was that strategy is as much about what you don’t do.

Working in the emotionally-charged environment of a large charity, where it is important to avoid assumption and be objective, that is invaluable, she says. “It’s easy to get overwhelmed and caught up with all the information and tools available to us, but you need to be able to distil down to what’s really important for your brand,” says Holt.

“The lectures themselves were highly engaging and enjoyable to watch, which was a pleasant surprise as I thought that would be difficult to achieve with a virtual course. The lectures are followed closely by the LinkedIn community, which was a helpful source of advice and inspiration, particularly during the simulator days,” she adds.

The targeting module was Holt’s favourite part of the course. “Getting into the nitty gritty of the debates around the long versus the short and mass versus targeted approaches in marketing was really interesting and also very current. Understanding in more detail how to strike a balance and how this differs across sectors, and what that means for charities, was helpful. It’s something I can see will have a positive impact on my work and how I spend marketing budget, both now and in the future,” she says.