Substantive writing that contributes to professional discourse on marketing education and competency development.
Published perspectives from aFactor's team - framework deep-dives, opinion pieces, methodology explanations, and industry analysis. This is not content marketing. Every article published here is written to be substantive, defensible, and genuinely useful.
Content marketing exists to generate traffic and nurture leads. Publications exist to contribute to a body of professional knowledge. aFactor publishes because advancing the discourse on competency-based education requires articulating why the frameworks are designed the way they are, defending the positions they embody, and engaging honestly with the questions they raise.
Read research papers →These articles draw on findings from aFactor's original research programme and the data presented in the industry reports. They translate evidence into argument, analysis into position, and methodology into explanation - making the intellectual foundations of aFactor's work accessible to a professional audience.
Each publication states a position, shows the evidence it rests on, and ends by setting out how it could be wrong. Published in full on this site, open access.
Sponsored placements went live inside ChatGPT on 27 August. There is no keyword layer and no audience targeting, so for a short period there is no playbook to inherit either - and that is the whole opportunity. Twenty-eight figures, and an honest list of what could not be established.
AI has not automated marketing; it has absorbed one layer of it - the codified, procedural, volume layer that agencies staffed most heavily and billed at the highest margin. What survives is narrow, and the pyramid does not shrink proportionally. It inverts into a diamond.
A portfolio worked as proof because production was expensive. It is not any more, and reviewers have quietly reverted to worse proxies - every one of which tracks background more closely than capability. What replaces it is the decision record.
aFactor's publications span four categories, each serving a distinct purpose within the broader project of advancing professional education methodology and discourse.
Detailed analysis of aFactor's frameworks - the Role Framework, the Competency Model, and the assessment instruments. These articles make the structural logic and design decisions behind each framework transparent.
Positions on the state of marketing education, professional development, and the broader question of what it means to prepare professionals for a discipline that evolves continuously. Argued with evidence.
Explanations of how and why certain educational and assessment approaches work. From scenario-based design to competency mapping, these papers bridge the gap between research and implementation.
Commentary on trends, shifts, and structural changes in the digital marketing profession and the education industry that serves it. Interpretation and argument - connecting trends to their implications.
aFactor welcomes guest contributions from qualified practitioners and academics whose work intersects with competency-based education, digital marketing pedagogy, or the professional development of marketing practitioners.
The standard is substance: contributions must be evidence-informed, clearly argued, and written to advance understanding.
Guest contributions undergo the same editorial review process as internally authored publications. Topics of particular interest include empirical studies of competency development, critical analysis of marketing education methodologies, and employer perspectives on graduate readiness.
If you are a practitioner with substantial industry experience or an academic working in a relevant field, we welcome your enquiry.
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