Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Four Social Networking Tips for Virtual Conferences

Many of our students are taking advantage of free or greatly reduced rates to virtual conferences.  In another blog post (see link below) I covered the free events that were available over the Summer and the trend for free or reduced registration continues today.  I have attended several online conferences sponsored by industry since the Spring and I have some tips for our students so they can maximize their participation.

Many students don’t realize that conferences are not only knowledge opportunities but they are networking opportunities as well.  When I took students to in-person conferences I asked them to connect with three people that they might want to stay in touch with and bring back their business cards. Then I recommended that they follow up the connection with a LinkedIn request.

I like the image below which shows that we can still stay connected with social media.  The business card is now a LinkedIn connection or other social media connection. Meeting someone online takes the place of an in-person meeting.  As always, people are more likely to accept a connection request on social media if they have met the person previously, whether it be virtual or in person.

In fact, people in this age of isolation from the pandemic are seeking connections as much as, if not more, than before the crisis.  What I noticed is that the chat sections of conference presentations are full of people introducing themselves to each other with posts like, “Hi, I’m in Austin and here’s how we can connect on  LinkedIn.”  I also notice that professionals are more open to online connections because that is often the only option for them to connect.

Here are some tips for your students (and for yourselves) for attending a virtual conference and for using social media effectively to do so.

social media, networking
Image courtesy of Monitas.com
Have a plan

First and foremost, have a plan before attending online.  This is true for any conference.  Many students are unaware that the networking is just as important as the conference content. From a content point of view, identify those sessions that most align with your interests. I study customer data management and organizational culture so I am always looking for sessions on how to effectively build a digital marketing organization. Students might want to go in to paid search or paid social or be interested in the latest updates in data technology.  From a networking point of view, identify those in your targeted areas whom you would like to meet.

 Connect beforehand

Once I identify the people I want to listen to during the conference, I try to connect with them in LinkedIn before the conference.  Although we haven't met yet online, we do have a connection with the conference. I have a lot of contacts and I am usually a second degree away from most anyone in the digital marketing field.  If I am not, I send an InMail requesting a connection.  Some people choose not to connect, but many do.  It's a good way to build a network of like-minded people and to reach out to those in areas new to you. If you can't connect before the conference, don't worry.  There are still opportunities to connect using the nexus of the virtual conference. 

Connect during

During the conference is a good chance to connect with other professionals in your area of interest.  As I said, the chat will usually be full of people introducing themselves. Often, conferences will offer networking opportunities as well.  This is a good chance to connect with those who might help you with your career objectives or learn more about a particular topic. Twitter is a great way to connect during the conference also.  Most conferences will have an associated hashtag and you can see what people are posting and follow them or DM them to keep up the connection.

 Don’t stop connecting

The rule of three for communications says that people need to hear or learn things three times before they sink in and they can remember. So if you want someone to remember who you are, send them a note after the connection and thank them for connection with you.  Then, a few days or a week later, send them a link to some information that might be beneficial for them to remind them of who you are and  your mutual interests. 

 For maintaining contact, I recommend that students request an informational interview with connections in their area of interest.  This can be an in-person, socially distanced coffee meeting or a virtual call over Zoom, Hangouts or a similar platform.  I often take connection calls from people whom I meet on LinkedIn to establish a common ground.  We learn our areas of interest, share information and discover how we can help each other achieve our goals.

So there are three rules plus using rule of three to help you maximize your participation in virtual conferences. If you have a plan, connect as much as possible before the event, participate during the event and connect afterwards, you will develop a supportive network.  Even though things are virtual today, people are open to connecting online and helping others.  If there is one thing the pandemic has taught us, we are in this together.  Social media connections during virtual conferences can help us stay connected and help each other achieve our goals.  I'm taking a group of students to the virtual Digital Analytics Association DAA One Conference next week so wish us luck!

Other posts from this blog that might be of interest:

Digital marketing conferences that were free this Summer.

Using LinkedIn Learning to Supplement Digital Marketing courses

Seven Free Digital Marketing Certifications

Please comment and let me know what else digital marketing academics think I should cover in this blog.

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Three Ways NOT to Disconnect from Teaching Digital Marketing over the Summer


I hope you are well and doing more than surviving during this time.  Many of our students have taken this opportunity to flesh out their skills and get certifications Here’s a quick list of things to do over the Summer to keep engaged with digital marketing.  Many of us work remotely over the Summer anyway, but this summer there are a lot of virtual options to stay connected. Apologies if you just want to chill given the current situation but some ideas are listed here below.

Digital marketing skills
Take the time this Summer to upgrade your digital marketing skills.

1) Many Professional Conferences are FREE! 

Yesterday I listened to the The Digital Analytics Association (DAA) first-ever Virtual Symposium which was free this year.  Many of the presentations were on demand and focused on storytelling, AI and how to create a data-driven organization. Academic membership is quite reasonable and there are a lot of webinars and communities to join. 

The Stukent Teaching conference, ProfCon, is free and online this year. June 17-21.

The Search Engine Journal ESummit is June 2 and free this year also. 

I am sure there are many other examples of free conferences and Symposia.   Shoot me an email at dblatz@stedwards.edu so I can update the list through the Summer.


2) Professional Organizations Want Engagement.

For example, The American Markeing Asosciation (AMA) is also providing webinars for the education space.   A recent webinar on using Facebook blueprints in the classroom is available on demand and the link is provided in this post.  Many of us are already members of the American Marketing Association which has been offering half-priced memberships and has a number of special interest groups available.  

3) Many Digital Marketing Certifications Are Available. 

In addition, here are several must-have free certifications you can obtain over the Summer from a previous blog post. There are also some paid certifications listed in that post. I hope you find it helpful.

Don't forget also that many local groups are running virtual support groups, marketing mornings, support sessions. I am on a weekly CMO call and also participate in a sharing session with our local AMA chapter once a month.  Wit a bit of digging, you can find the ones that are best for you. 

Our Facebook Group, Digital Marketing Academics is always open to new members who teach digital marketing.  We will continue to share ideas over the Summer and have another Meetup to share ideas in July.  Ask to join the group to stay in touch while working at home during the Summer.   Have a great break.

Saturday, April 25, 2020

Three Ways to Use LinkedIn Learning to Help Digital Marketing Students


The goal of this blog post is to provide information on valuable digital marketing training and certification available on LinkedIn Learning to further help us assist our students gain and reinforce necessary skills.  Two weeks ago I posted some information on free certifications that can be used by students as skill and resume builders during this time when we have a tight job market.  The good news in all this is that I spoke to a recruiter recently who said that a good skill set can still distinguish a new graduate and help them land that job or internship. The Summer is coming and that's when I usually pile on the learning and certifications I need to teaching digital marketing. I suggest that students do the same with an extra time they might have.

LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning Provides Valuable Digital Marketing Training and Certificates


In this vein, another valuable resource is LinkedIn Learning, formerly Lynda,com, which is also available for free to many students through their University access.  I have it because I am a subscriber to Sales Navigator in LinkedIn, one of the premium services.  However, we also have direct access through the University, which is extremely helpful to students. LinkedIn learning is often available via public library resources. Students can join for a monthly fee if they choose and 'binge' all they can in a month before cancelling their subscription.  This learning sounds like a good activity during times when we can't get out and about as we might wish.

We recently discussed in our Digital Marketing Academics Facebook group how we use LinkedIn Learning. We have a weekly Google Meet through the end of the semester for educators who teach digital marketing online.  As of this writing, most University classes have been migrated online, so will hope these resources are valuable to you all. They have certainly enhanced our teaching.  We identified three ways to incorporate LinkedIn Learning in our class, which are by incorporating in to a class exercise, as a substitute for a live experience or extra credit or by using the trainings to supplement course material. LinkedIn Learning is particularly relevant now because students can learn at their own pace and tailor the courses to their own needs.

Links to the relevant LinkedIn courses are below.  There are many more available on digital marketing subject on LinkedIn Learning.  These are just the ones we have used with success. Many of them also have a certificate that can be imported directly in to the student's LinkedIn Profile.

1) Incorporate LinkedIn courses into a class exercise.

In our courses in the Master of Science in Digital Marketing and Analytics, we use LinkedIn.com to supplement existing resources. When we teach email marketing, we have a class exercise where they send a permission-based email via Mailchimp®  and then look in Mailchimp® at the analytics to assess bounce rate and open rate, etc.  The Mailchimp®  program gives them an idea of how marketers analyze the success of their email marketing programs and make changes.  The LinkedIn Learning Mailchimp® course provides information on setting up and account, creating a list, sending and email and many other aspects of the free version of Mailchimp®.  Many of my students when they graduate work in email marketing, so learning how to create an email, import a list, deploy an email and analyze the results are great skills to have.

2) Replace an in-person activity or provide extra credit.

Dr. Janna Parker, a talented digital marketing professor at James Madison University, quickly pivoted to using LinkedIn Learning as a credible substitute for attending an in-person event when circumstances made it impossible for her students to attend live events.  She provided links to three courses, one of the top digital marketing trends, one on Canva, a graphic design tool and one on Adobe Spark Post, another graphic design tool. Both of the latter two courses help with web and email design.  I like these last two choices of Dr. Parker's a lot because we often don't have time to teach graphic design in our classes, nor our they in our own list of skills.  However, many small companies in entry-level jobs like the students to have these skills. LinkedIn for Learning is the perfect way to introduce these skills to students.  I have also used links to free online conferences or YouTube videos for this purpose.  The nice thing about the courses that Dr. Parker chose is the certification aspect.  These courses have a tangible demonstration of skills associated and make a wonderful choice for extra credit.

3) Supplement existing course material

Another option is to use LinkedIn Learning courses to supplement existing material. I am teaching a predictive modeling class and I have found several courses or modules in those courses which can supplement the activities in class.  While I do record short videos on using IBM SPSS Modeler to run classification and predictive models and post them in our Learning Management System, it sometimes helps students to see another perspective.

Regarding logistics, as an instructor or student, you might have to log in to LinkedIn Learning via Single Sign-On (SSO) if you are accessing the courses through your University.  If you have a premium account, these courses are available to you with your subscription. Please note the two systems don't talk to each other so if you started a course on your personal account you will need to follow the online instructions to transfer it to your University account.  It is best to keep everything for class on your University account if you have one. It's easier to keep things organized this way.

I hope that this post has been useful in discussing how LinkedIn Learning can be incorporated into an online class in digital marketing or really any digital marketing course.  For online specifically, contact hours do not have to consist of endless Zoom sessions that try to replicate the in-person experience.  Contact hours can consist of outside activities such as the ones suggested here.  A reflection paper or a discussion post or other discussion can help students articulate what they have learned and how they plan to apply it in their future career endeavors.

Most importantly, I hope this information helps your students gain the skills needed to land that next great job or internship.  Students can explore the LinkedIn Learning offerings and tailor their education to their needs. LinkedIn is providing a wonderful resource and all students can benefit from these courses.

Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions and stay safe out there.

Resources discussed in this blog:


A LinkedIn Learning Email Marketing course for class exercise in using Mailchimp® .   https://www.linkedin.com/learning/learning-mailchimp-3/creating-an-account?u=35179268

Three LinkedIn Learning courses to replace an in-person activity or for extra credit: 
Discover the top digital marketing tools: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/marketing-tools-digital-marketing/discover-the-top-digital-marketing-tools?u=50844473 
What you can use Canva for: hhttps://www.linkedin.com/learning/learning-canva-2/what-you-can-use-canva-for?u=50844473
Adobe Spark Post:  https://www.linkedin.com/learning/learning-adobe-spark-post/adobe-spark-post-2?u=35179268

LinkedIn Learning courses for teaching Digital Marketing Analytics and Modeling Techniques:

Classification and clustering:
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/machine-learning-and-ai-foundations-classification-modeling/classification-problems-in-machine-learning?u=35179268


Artificial Intelligence and Decision Trees:

Statistics Essential Training:

Other resources:

Digital Marketing Academics Facebook page. Join us for more information on teaching digital marketing online and offline!

S





S

Monday, April 6, 2020

Seven Must-Have Digital Marketing Certifications Students Can Get Free Right Now

As of this writing we are in an uncertain environment.  Students that are graduating have gone from one of the best job markets in history to a different scenario, at least in the short term.  I am in a group of fellow digital marketing academics and we have a weekly conference call.  This past week we decided to help students by providing a recap of the certifications viable on various commercial platforms that can help them to strengthen their resumes for when the hiring situation improves.

Why use Digital Marketing certifications?


In addition to impressing employers, industry certifications can increase learning by reinforcing course material. The certificate tells employers that students have taken the time to learn about a subject.  However, certifications are like a driver's license.  When I got my license, I could operate a car, but I couldn't navigate every situation when driving.  Simply, put, I needed experience. Students will still need applied experiences like an internship or an action-learning project to reinforce the certification material.  


Google analytics individual qualification

However, students generally like the certification process because it is a little different than the typical classroom experience.  I've been using industry certifications in my classes for over ten years.  I've been teaching digital marketing for almost 20 years and these certifications have made a big difference in teaching the material and in helping students in the job market.  Here are the top free certifications  I would recommend with some other programs at the bottom.


Seven "Must-Have" Certifications


1) Google Ads: This is a classic certification on the Google Ads platform.  In class, the certification can be a perquisite to a student/client Google Ads project.  Students can take one of five certification or all of them.  There is also an introduction to search course but there is no longer a certification associated with it. Please note this certification and Google Analytics have recently moved to the Skillshop platform.

2) Google Analytics:  The Google Analytics Individual Qualification (IQ) is another must-have in my opinion. Although there are other analytics platforms out there, GA gives students a good feeling for how web analytics applications work.  Linking GA to a blog such as blogger provides an opportunity for students to see the effect of their efforts on a daily basis.


3) SEMRUSH:  In keeping with the search theme, SEMRUSH has several SEO qualification exams including SEO fundamentals and keyword research.  This certification would be particularly helpful for those seeking jobs and internships in organic search.

4) HubSpot Academy:  HubSpot Academy has always been free and has been around for several years.  HubSpot is a CRM tool but they offer certification in many areas. Inbound Sales, Inbound Marketing and Inbound are the most popular but there are courses in SEO, email and content marketing and many others.

5) Hootsuite: This is one of the most popular social media posting platforms.  Platform training is free and social marketing training is free in an associated class approved by Hootsuite.

6) IBM Big Data Badge: This badge is useful for those interested in the data analytics side of digital marketing.  We use it in our graduate program at St. Edward's but it is suitable for undergraduates as well.

7) Twitter Flight School  Learn about advertising on the Twitter platform  and earn various badges. Log in to "X" to access.


There are Also some other excellent tools that are free now but don't have a free certification exam:

1) Marketo This leading marketing automation tool, now offers free platform training and marketing training for but no free certification.  These are free practice videos. The company offers certified associate and expert exams for a fee.

2) Tableau is a popular data visualization tool that  has free access and training for university students but the Desktop exam still has a fee. Students have been able to get a one year license but I noted an error when I accessed the site recently. I assume this error is because of increased demand and will be corrected. 

3) Moz Academy courses are free for now.  Anyone can sign up by May 31 and get free access for a year.  The main certification exam (SEO Essentials Certificate) is not free.  Moz has a keyword planner tool that many instructors find useful for their classes.

I've also included some other resources below for incorporating digital marketing certifications into your class from past blog posts. Please let me know how else I can help.

Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Secrets of Teaching Digital Marketing

The following is an edited transcript of a Podcast I did with Isaac Moche, Manager of Academy Programs at HubSpot on teaching digital marketing a few years ago.  I think the information is still relevant but I did update it to reflect some changes in the names of digital marketing technology and some of the results of our programs.

We covered how St. Edward's got started in teaching digital marketing and how to integrate certifications, simulations and action learning projects into the digital marketing classroom. 

Hey everyone. Thanks for tuning into The Teacher's Lounge, HubSpot's podcast for the education partner program. I'm Isaac Moche, your host for the podcast. Today we'll be talking to Debra Zahay Blatz, Professor of Marketing and the Director of the Master of Science in Digital Marketing and Analytics at St. Edward's University. Thanks for joining us today, Debra.

Why don't you kick things off by telling us a little bit about who you are and what you do at St. Edward's?

Well, as you said, I'm a Professor of Marketing of St. Edward's University in Austin, TX  For four years I was Chair of Marketing Entrepreneurship and Digital Media Management. In year four I had a dual role as Director of the Master of Science in Digital Marketing and Analytics. Now in year five I continue to direct the Master's program, which is online/hybrid and teach in that and in our low residency MBA program.  So I have a lot of experience in creating digital marking programs.

What I was really brought here to do was to infuse digital marketing in the entire curriculum, and we've also been including elements of that in the other majors that are under my direction, as well. The thing we did was to redeveloped the whole marketing curriculum to focus on digital marketing. So, there's digital marketing in every aspect of our program. We also have a new digital marketing minor, but you don't have to be a digital marketing minor to get digital marketing experience at St. Edward's. The idea was to keep what was good about the marketing curriculum, which was a strong emphasis on theory and on the frameworks that we use in marketing to analyze problems and make decisions, but to also include some practical application.

When did that transformation begin?

We began in 2015. . This is my fourth program, I think. So, I've done this at other places. But, what really intrigued me about St. Edward's is that they were willing to make some really radical changes. And I think it's just that they realized that the whole education landscape is changing and that we as academics need to change rapidly with it. So, it was actually quite refreshing. We had a whole process. We interviewed the students. We interviewed the people who were going to hire the students. We interviewed people in the administration. And we came up with a program that I think is really met the needs of everybody. We did some research, as well. We found out that about 25% of all digital marketing jobs in Texas are in Austin, so it was a good fit for us to focus on digital marketing. And we did innovative things like take one of the traditional marketing classes out of the core requirements for the major and replaced it with digital marketing and analytics now as a required course. I don't think you see that at too many places.

So, a lot of it was the shift in the content of the core undergraduate marketing curriculum. But, the second thing that you mentioned was applied learning, and I know you're incredibly passionate about that. So, how has that been integrated into both the minor, but the marketing program and the entrepreneurship program and the digital media program?

We looked at the skills that were required for each of these areas, and we actually put certifications where applicable in each one of the classes. For example, in digital marketing and analytics, they get certified in HubSpot inbound marketing, as well as in Google Ads. They also get certified in the sales and relationship management class in the HubSpot inbound sales. But, in social media they're getting certified in the Hootsuite platform itself. In the marketing metrics class, they're getting Google Analytics certified, so there's a certification wherever possible and there's also, for practical experience, a simulation. We are even doing a simulation in principles of marketing, so students can get that applied skill.

There's a paid search simulation that we do in the advanced marketing management class. There's also the one that we do in the in the retailing class, which is now called, Principles of Retailing and eCommerce. So, we kept a lot of the same titles, but we put eCommerce or digital marketing in them, and then put practical applications. We also do projects, so I would say certifications, simulations, and projects are probably the three ways that we get that real hands on digital marketing experience.

You've been teaching internet marketing for almost 20 years. How has the way that you teach changed over time when it comes to that applied learning? Has it always been that mix of those three things that you just talked about? Has one of them grown over time?

What has happened is that we're able to give students not only that theoretical background and have them produce plans, but we're also able to have them practice what they are learning, whether that be through a simulation experience or through an applied project. And  supporting all of this is the certification effort that companies have done, like yourself and Hootsuite and Google and HubSpot. I mean, they've really tried to help out students and give them the background that they need in order to get jobs in digital marketing. I always view these certifications like a driver's license. When I got my driver's license, I couldn't really drive. It was just a license to practice, and the certifications are kind of like that. You get a chance to understand what is available in Google Ads, but you don't really practice it until you do a campaign. A student  can get experience with a class project or internship before applying for a full-time job. 

I love that analogy. I actually use it with folks all the time. I think you had written it in a blog post. Your students get the driver's license. How do you teach them to drive? What's that next step? I know simulations are the step. What's that applied learning look like, those projects where they're actually practicing driving?

Well, for example, in digital marketing and analytics students actually getting certified in HubSpot Inbound Marketing. We twist it around a little bit though in terms of structure. We start with blogging as a topic because they're doing a blog in that class. So, I've kind of learned over the years that it's great to do projects with live companies, but there are some risks inherent in that, which I think we're going to talk about later.

One of the things you can do is have the students really use themselves as a project. In the digital marketing and analytics class, we're getting the certification in HubSpot Inbound Marketing and learning about blogging. And then, we're creating a blog. And then, we link Google Analytics to that blog in Blogger, which is really easy to do. It's just copy and paste a UA code and you're all set. And then, you can see what happens to your blog as you make changes over time. So, you start out promoting the blog, then you do some videos, add pictures to it. You do a short post, a long post. You promote it by email. You promote it over social media. And you can go into both Blogger Analytics and Google Analytics and see how things have changed. You're actually running a campaign promoting your own blog through the course of the class.

What's the trickiest part of that whole process for students?

I think sometimes the trickiest part is finding out what they want to blog about because their interests are still unformed, so that can be a little tricky. And then, I think from my point of view, sometimes the students don't really believe me that they're actually going to be able to do this. And they're often quite surprised when they see what happens. For example, when they do a long form blog post and have more engagement and fewer bounces on their blog, more time spent on the site, they're kind of surprised that they can see the results. That's the beauty of digital marketing, because it's all immediate real time and you can make changes really quickly if things aren't going well. So, students will also say, "Oh. I wasn't getting that much traction on my blog, but I have changed some of the things I was writing about or how I was writing, and then I saw a difference."

What are some things that you've changed, whether it wasn't a fundamental change in yourself, but in the learning digital marketing that ended up into the classroom, where maybe you found a nugget as you were learning something or you learned along with the students, where it kind of ... You said, "Okay. I am going to have to learn this stuff." What did that evolution of teaching folks something that you were learning change about ...

That's a really great question too, because if I'd like anybody to learn anything from this podcast, is just do it. That's the Nike theme, the tagline. That's always been my philosophy. If you're going to teach this stuff, you just have to jump in and do it. My background was that I was direct and database marketer, so I know a lot about the computer.  I convinced people when I was coming out of grad school that I could teach internet marketing. But of course, I had never been an internet marketer. That all happened during the years I was in graduate school, so I had to find out ways to learn this myself. 

So, one of the great things was the Google Online Marketing Challenge, now the Google Ad Grants Challenge, but I've also done a search project just as a regular company project. Students did search engine marketing campaigns, and I must have coached over 40 of these. And I really got a chance to see what happens when you make certain changes in Ads ads, and changes to the website to associate with that ad. All these things that I'd learned about from reading about it, I got to see and practice in real life.

I also got a chance to run a few marketing events and I did digital marketing for those events, so I did social media campaigns and Ads campaigns for those events. And for social media, I think the most important thing was getting on social media for myself. 

So, I decided about four or five years ago, my students really needed expanded social media. I was teaching a class called Marketing Technology. Half the class that semester was search and half was going to be social. I didn't go anywhere for spring break and I just sat in front of the computer for a week and I called all the people I knew who knew this at the time. And at the end of the week, I knew how to teach social media.

I created all these online profiles for myself and started blogging. It was the best thing I could've done because now I have a really strong online profile, which the students respect. But, you can't really teach about it, I think, until you experience it. And so, I guess what's changed over the years is that there's more opportunity to experience it because it's easy now to actually get online and experiment with some of these things.

Any mistakes you made during that learning process?

There were a lot of ... I don't know if they were mistakes. I like to think about them as learning moments.

Yeah. I like that.

Yes. Insights. Moments of insight. But, one of the things that's a real challenge is that, if you're working with real life companies, for example, sometimes they don't want to really participate. They say they will do the project, but then the students can't get ahold of them. So, you might want to come up with a process whereby they sign a contract and they agree to come a few times in class, because I've had some projects that weren't that successful for the students just because the company said they were going to work on it and then didn't.

The other thing is, I've had companies where they've been a little protective of what's going on. They don't want the students working with their website or suggesting changes. And so, that was a learning moment or insight for me. I had companies calling me on Friday night at 8:00PM  wanting to know what we're doing with their website. And so, I think it's really important to communicate with the company upfront and get a contract or some kind of written agreement in place, and a timeline for how this is really going to happen.

All right. That was my first question. I think there's a lot to unpack there, and this is really the meat of where professors get scared, is the volatility and the uncertainty of bringing businesses into the classroom. And I think you've got a lot of experience there, so not to bite off too much, but starting with the accountability. How do you create accountability for those businesses?

In addition to some kind of written contract or agreement is, I have conference calls with them and say, "This is what's going to happen." I also started working with companies with which we had a longer term relationship with the university. We may have had alumni there for a few years, or somebody was a donor, somebody who really had a stake in working with the university. And it definitely helps to work with a company that's large enough that they can sponsor a couple of projects in class. That actually worked out the best because the last couple times I taught that marketing technology class and we had the search project, there was one or two companies that were sponsoring projects. So, just it makes it easier for as a professor to manage the relationship. You're not trying to do it with 40 companies or 20 companies. And because they're committed, they have hired some alums and, or made donations, and they're committed to the university, they tend to be more committed to the project.

So, I would say that, that's one of the key challenges that I face, or mistakes that I made. And how I corrected it was getting buy in from more committed companies. And then, the second way was really streamlining the whole process so I didn't have to talk to a lot of people.

Did you find a component of expectation setting was important too? I always find it so fascinating when professors are like, "Oh," and the company was surprised that this was not the greatest work of all time. It's like, the kids are 20.

I make it very clear that I am assessing the students on how much they learn from the project. I am not assessing them on how they performed. It's great if they performed well, if they got a prize in a competition, for example, because competitions are really important. It's great if they win a prize, but I always have them write a paper saying what they learned. And in their presentation, they have to talk about what happened and what they learned in the process. And then, I make it clear when the companies come in and we're assessing them, that we're really assessing them on their final presentation, on their ability to convey what they learned. But, actually the students often come up with very good results. We had one student group working on a search project for a photographer, and in the first three days of the campaign, the photographer got a $2,500 project.

Wow.

Yeah. So, that was really nice. And so, we've also had other search campaigns where we did really well, and certain of the groups did really well, and the company was very pleased. They tend to come up with a lot of really good ideas. They tend to think out of the box because they don't work for the company full time. So, I set the expectation that this is a learning experience, but there are other benefits that might occur. At St. Edward's here, we do a social media marketing plan for a small company or not-for-profit, just a plan. But, the companies were free to implement it, and so this one company started implementing the plan on Facebook and started making money. The student came in at the final presentation with the owners and they said, "Hey. It was great. We were sitting at home, eating Thanksgiving dinner, and our Facebook ads were making money for us while we were sitting eating dinner." So, they definitely see advantages. It's not like they're not going to get anything out of it. But, it just is not guaranteed.

Another thing that I think you mentioned, I'm curious if you think it forces companies to recognize they have skin in the game, is that you actually have them pay a small stipend.
It depends on how you would like to structure it, but I haven't really charged for campaigns, but I have done something like the Google Online Marketing Challenge, but without involving Google. The companies just give each group a $250 budget. This actually works really well because the company comes in and presents the project to the group and gives them their $250 budget. And then, we usually have a halfway point presentation, and if the students think they need more money, they can go and present to the company and ask for more money.

That is really cool. I mean, that's as real as it gets. Have you had anyone nail the pitch?

Oh yes! A couple of groups have gotten more money.

One other thing that you mentioned that I thought was interesting was that phone call you had got, where it was like, "What are these students doing on our website?" How do you convince companies to let students take the driver's seat, or at least be guiding real life things?

The students weren't actually on the website, just to clarify. They were making recommendations.

Got you.

Because, in order to do well in search, you have to, if you're pointing your ad to a website and the website or mobile site and the ad don't have enough in common in terms of language, you're going to get a low quality score. So, you have to, in some cases, improve the website to have an effective search campaign. And I have to commend the students. They usually get this right away and they ask the company, "Are you willing to make changes to your website for us to improve your paid search campaigns?" Usually, what's happened when there have been problems, is that the executives say, "Okay." But then, I have to go to the technical person. And the technical person then wonders, "What are these students doing? What is the role? Are you going to be involved? Am I still going to have a job?" Things like that. So, there's often a little bit of work that needs to be done with the technical people.

And do you overcome that by engaging those folks before it starts, saying how are changes made? Is there a little bit of due diligence with the companies?

Yeah. I think that would be ideal. It often doesn't happen until we decide that we really need to make changes.

Right.

Ideally, we would involve them from the beginning, but that doesn't often happen.

Cool. And so, do you have them do the, let's say, the Ads certification, or the HubSpot Inbound Marketing certification, or the Hootsuite certification? Are those concurrent with the projects? Do they do them first to get the foundation? How does that all weave together?

In digital marketing and analytics, they will get Ads certified and then in the advanced marketing management course, they'll do a project where they apply a paid search. They'll also do a little bit of a simulation beforehand to practice. But, in the social media marketing course, they get certified in the Hootsuite platform, and they actually work on their own personal brand and how they are seen on social media. So, they do that in the same course.

That's a really nice benefit of having a minor and having a school that's really invested in digital, that you can stack the theory in one course and then the application in the next one. What have you found is the benefit of having a minor in helping students prepare and learn? What, maybe, are some of those talking points for professors who are trying to lobby for more education in this area?

That's a really good question, Isaac. We just did a research survey with some professors, a preliminary study that was eventually published in Marketing Education Review, just to see where digital is being taught. And we've found that it's still primarily being taught within the core courses, or a few dedicated courses. So, I think a lot of people are grappling with this issue. But, the real benefit to the students is that they can have a specialty and they're more likely to be attractive to employers, because one of the ways that we developed our programs is that we went through job descriptions and we just looked for what people were looking for in marketing majors. And it's not the ability to do a SWOT analysis, or some traditional marketing tools, or to identify the elements of the marketing mix. Those are important, but those are table stakes. You have to have that. What really distinguishes students in the marketplace is: Do you understand how search, social, and website and mobile design all fit together? Can you put together and then analyze campaigns and can you tweak them to maximize the results? Do you know the tools? Do you have the certifications?

What's the business response been like?

It's been very good so far. I can tell you I have hundreds of students working all over the country from my prior positions in these areas. After four years at St. Edward's we see over a third of marketing majors taking jobs with an aspect of digital marketing or analytics in their title, up from one in 2015. Enrollment is up across the board in Marketing classes. And we launched our Master's program in the Fall of 2018. 

And we've had people go to some pretty big companies, like Facebook. People are working for other companies in the digital marketing area, and it's been really rewarding so far. We have students that are database managers and website developers and working for ad agencies as account managers, digital account managers, so just about every aspect of this area.

When you think about it, those things that you mentioned that are focused on applied learning, which are the simulations and marketing themselves, the certifications, the applied learning experiences are three things that go into a really robust portfolio that a student could graduate with and say, "Here are my capabilities, both for marketing myself, for the knowledge that industry has certified that I know, and also I've applied it. I've applied it for a real business."

That's a good point, Isaac. I have students who tell me they're still talking about their search engine marketing project in job interviews years after graduation, for example, because they have been able to overcome a particular challenge. That's always a question in job interviews. Right? And so, they talk about those challenges and how they overcame them, so they're still using our students projects in their portfolio. We've had students pick projects where it looked great, and then it turned out that, that particular subject matter was one that Google found to be sensitive and they had to jump through hoops to try to sell the product, but not really offend Google's screening process. That's a learning process in and of itself. That's real world.

Yeah. Any other examples, funny or otherwise, of stumbling blocks that students ran into, and maybe how they overcame them?

I always think, it's funny from my point of view because I worked in industry. But, I always think it's funny, for example, when we're working with a company and we're doing an email campaign, for example. And we get pushed back a week or two in the email, because the company has something else they want to send out. I always think it's amusing that the students initially find this really frustrating, but it's so real world. I was a marketing manager and director of marketing. It's so real world because in a company, you're competing for resources. Right? And if a company thinks they're going to make more money out of another email blast other than yours, they're going to put that one out there. But, the students find it initially kind of frustrating, and then that's another learning opportunity. How can we communicate to them? How can we explain to them how important our campaign is and why it should be run next?

That sounds eerily similar to the personal branding. There was a lot of soft skills that you've baked into this course, it sounds like.

I think what I hear all the time is that students lack critical thinking skills, but when I really research this and ask people, "What do you mean?" They said, "Problem solving." So, that's what we're doing. You're running a campaign. You come up with a problem, whatever it might be. The ads are being rejected by Google, or you're not able to deploy it at the time frame that you thought, and so now you're behind schedule. What do you do? How do you make it up? So, problem solving. These are the things that I think employers are looking for and the kinds of skills that you just don't get from a book.

Yeah. I love that. I can't think of a better sentiment to wrap up on. I just want to say, Debra, thank you so much for joining us today and for sharing your perspective on teaching applied learning and growing the digital marketing program at St. Edward's. It's been great.

Well, thank you, Isaac. Thanks for inviting me. It's really been fun to talk to you, share my experiences. It was also fun to reflect on the last 20 years and think about what went well and what didn't go well and how I can improve, because this discipline is all about constant improvement, you know.

I think that's a great way to put it. Folks, this has been The Teacher's Lounge, HubSpot's podcast for the education partner program. The education partner program provides colleges and university professors with everything they need to teach leading courses in marketing, sales, entrepreneurship and communications. That's software resources in a community of professors, all for free. Until next time, folks.