5 Takeaways From #RapertMKTG

I am not going to lie, this class terrified me at first. I have always been rather shy when it comes to projects and talking to major executives. The idea of getting out there and talking to many people was not my speed. I ultimately stuck with it, and if I didn’t love marketing before, I DEFINITELY love it now. This class and Professor Molly Rapert have brought me out of my shell for the better, and I would not trade it for the world.

Had I not stayed in this class, I would have missed out on so many opportunities. To me, this was more than just another marketing class. This was an environment where I felt welcomed and invited. This was an environment where I could let my creative juices flow and strengthen not only my love for marketing, but my people skills as well.

The last 16 weeks have taught me the importance of finding your purpose and sticking to your passion, the importance of a brand narrative, finding your personal brand, forming tangible habits, and to never stop building your network. What I love about these topics is that they can be applied both personally and professionally.

Finding purpose and Sticking to Your Passion

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”- Mark Twain

One of the very first articles we read in Dr. Rapert’s class was “How Will You Measure Your Life?”, an article about finding your ultimate purpose in life. I have thought of my purpose previously, but never really took the time to think about it on a deeper level until the first week in this class. So, here I am as a senior in college, having no idea what I want to do in life, trying to decide what my purpose is. I am incredibly thankful that this was introduced as our first article because it challenged me to take the semester to figure it out. ?This article posed the idea that it is time to reflect on the question of purpose, because life only gets more demanding. In my first LinkedIn post, I said that I planned to understand the deeper meaning of my purpose throughout the duration of the semester, and this class helped me do just that.

Two of my favorite speakers from class, Josh Bruns and Jeff Metzner, touched on this subject in both personal and professional life. Josh Bruns said that it is important to live a multi-dimensional life, and to utilize the skills you have for your passions. Passion drives skills. If you find your passion, you pick up the needed skills along the way. The key takeaway I got out of his talk was that it is important to take advantage of all the opportunities you are presented with to reach your full potential. On the professional side, Jeff Metzner explained that the reason P&G is so successful is because they are a purpose-driven, values-led company. ?Harnessing the power of purpose on the business side is important for public trust and sustainability of the company. P&G uses a purpose as a rallying cry. They harness their purpose through a common cause and an innovative strategy of improving consumer lives in small, meaningful way. It really is the little things, you could say. My takeaway from these guest speakers is that you must be you in order to contribute to something bigger, like being a CEO of a big company. You must have passion and purpose that make a customer feel something, whether it be you or your brand.

I have explored this idea of “purpose” now more than ever, and I have found that it doesn’t matter what your profession is, it is about what you bring to the table no matter where you are seated. It is the thing that people would miss if you were gone. It is the music inside you that makes you uniquely you. As I have said before, my biggest fear is not reaching my full potential and missing a piece to my purpose. I have this class to thank for beginning my journey to find that missing piece.

Personal branding

For one of our small projects, we interviewed Katie Burke of Gartner, where my team was introduced to the idea of personal branding. This idea goes hand in hand with finding a purpose and creating values. A personal brand is all about the talents, strengths, and competencies that make you unique. Katie told us her elements for creating a personal brand. First, your image. This is how you dress, how you speak, and actions you take. Next is your skills, which are your natural strengths that people come to you for, and the things people associate you with. Behavior is what you say and do. Your reputation is what precedes you, meaning the thing pops into one’s head when they think about you. Last is your belief. This is your motivation and what you value as an individual. At the end of the day, all you have is how you portray yourself, so it is important to invest in yourself, leverage your relationships, and be intentional. Josh Bruns also touched on the topic of being marketable through a strong sense of self, with humility. By knowing what you value and setting goals, it can help you make the right choices and match you with companies that share those same values.?

Amanda Bailey introduced us to finding our values. Through this project, we created a brand equity pyramid where we sat down to think about our true values. Once we identified our values, we established our unique points of difference, our iconic assets, and at the top, our ultimate purpose. We were able to build off these elements to create a user manual. ?I learned that your purpose stems from who you are and what you value in life. Personal branding is the first step to establishing that ultimate purpose.

Brand Narrative and Storytelling

People want brands to evoke emotion to establish a relationship. Price has become increasingly less important when making a purchase decision. If one identifies with your brand’s story, “any competitor has to ask your customer to change who they are”, according to Americus Reed. Instead of throwing facts or statistics in an audience’s face, it is now more important to advertise a brand as being thoughtful and memorable. This reminds me of the saying “people will forget what you say, but not how you made them feel”. One of my favorite examples of this could be seen through the “Greenlight a Vet” campaign that Andy Murray discussed.?This Walmart campaign recognized all veterans by compelling the American public to show their support. It was also meant to encourage veterans to get the help they may need. Through this campaign, Americans were encouraged to display a green light at their homes for Veteran’s Day. I loved this because it had absolutely nothing to do with the products they offer, and everything to do with making an impact. Customers engage more with brands that feel human. With the emergence of the newer generations making more conscious decisions about who they purchase from, it is important to pose a non-monetary or non-product differentiator. Rather, it is more important to showcase how you are making a difference in lives.

Leveraging Relationships

Relationships are key to success and collaboration. As Andy Murray says, “people don’t kill what they co-create”. I have always been one to take the first initiative and have control over an entire project, however, I learned that it is important to allow other people to provide their input to come up with an idea even stronger. Relationships improve collaboration, resulting in increased productivity and less ambiguity in communication. Healthy relationships can influence people from diverse backgrounds to come together with a common goal to reach the best possible solution. Jesse Lane of Branches Mission Lab spoke to our class about investing in relationships. He said “if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go further, go with others.” One of my favorite things he mentioned was a quote from Simon Sinek about positivity. This reminded me of a quote I heard by Sinek about empathy. ?“As a leader, you are not in charge, but you are responsible for those in your charge”. Relationships are reciprocal and they build loyalty for an organization. If employees feel valued at work, they will often perform better. If you understand those you serve, the better those you serve will understand you. This semester has changed my level of confidence by a long shot. I now feel more confident in building relationships with as many people as possible. Building relationships in Molly’s class has allowed me to confidently speak up about my ideas and feel comfortable having intentional conversations. As I graduate and enter my new job, my ultimate goal is to be friends with everyone and develop some type of relationship, so that I can continue to feel confident about my creative ideas.

Networking

At the start of this semester, I had 9 connections on LinkedIn. I now have over 500 thanks to this class. Perhaps the greatest thing I learned in this class was the importance of connecting. I have never had a professor as invested in their students as Molly is. Throughout this entire experience, she connected us with 558 people who contributed to our success in this class in some way. That means we have at least 558 people who care about us. Molly is the prime example of not only telling us how to get connections, but literally showing us. I would tell her about an interview I had coming up, and she would go to her office and print me out the LinkedIn profile of someone she knew that worked there. She gave us these small projects, such as our April storewalk, every guest speaker, and every advisory board member, to connect with real-world people who are successful in their jobs. Through this form of networking, it has allowed me to have hands on experience with everything she taught us. It has allowed me to communicate everything I have learned in her classroom in a practical manner, in a way simulating how communication is done in the workplace.

As I said before, I was a shy person and this class terrified me at first. The idea of going out and actually communicating to top executives and learning about the real world was not something I was looking forward to. However, after meeting new people and gaining these connections, I can now confidently say that going out into the work environment after graduation and have intellectual conversations, no longer scares me. I am now more than ever comfortable talking to people.

Final Thoughts

I am incredibly thankful for the impact this class and Molly had on me. I am looking forward to utilizing my newfound skills from this class as I enter this new phase of my life upon graduation. Thank you to Molly, every guest speaker, and every executive who took the time to invest in me and my classmates. This experience is one I will never forget, and one that I will cherish forever.

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