Exploring Digital Marketing World: Lessons and Thoughts from a Semester of Seminars.

It is almost the end of the semester, and it was a pleasant experience to gain knowledge by attending seminars of different speakers from various fields in the Marketing world. The seminars were hosted by Prof. Wendy Greenwood. In expressing my academic experience with the Professor, she was super supportive throughout the semester, she helped me out in tough situations. This blog will reflect on my insights and major takeaways from the Digital Media Marketing Seminar fall term at George Brown College.

WHAT I LEARNED

As a newbie in the Digital Marketing world at first, I was confused and was not sure what to learn and what not to do. Then in my 2nd semester of this Digital Media Marketing Seminar course, I got a perfect learning direction. I will share some of my learnings:

A few weeks ago I had an opportunity to attend an online seminar by Jennifer Melon working with Saatchi and Saatchi. Her journey of not being sure about her career to be successful strongly relates to me. Her story resonates not only with me but with many of us who are tentative about their careers.

Melton showcased the importance of her unpaid internship in getting her first full-time role in her career. This motivated me to search more for my Co-Op opportunities in Digital Marketing this winter.

Throughout my course, I also learned to craft my resume to get a job in this competitive market segment. I have attended nine seminars and many of the speakers have highlighted the importance of a resume. Along with this, I adopted the habit of exploring and making connections with people across all major platforms. And connecting with people really helped me out. I was connecting to people on LinkedIn and I got connected with one marketing professional, he shared very crucial tips with me which will definitely benefit me in the future.

I also attended a seminar from Cathy McKnight, VP of Strategy and Counseling, and Chief Solver of problems at The Content Advisory (TCA). Her seminar was a must to attend by a digital marketer. Her approach was to transform the content using technology. Her 20 years of experience gave me lots of learnings.

Network and Resources

Facing Procrastination: Strategies and Increasing Productivity.

During the course, I was facing procrastination and I had also lost some of my grades for it. But grateful to have a supporting Professor, who helped me out of this situation.

Following all the learnings from the speakers, I watched a TEDx talk by Chigozie Nelson, suggested by Prof Wendy. Nelson’s speech addressed some common issues like delaying, decision making and more.

Nelson advised to make the decision as soon as possible, focusing on the vital role of the very first step in any task. Waiting for the perfect time frequently results in unnecessary delays or loosing. Nelson also illustrated her own experience of assuming a very easy task to be complicated until and unless she took the initial step by herself.

One of the best resources I got from the video was to prioritize the task before the deadline, really changed my life. As an international student, I have my full-time studies along with a part-time job. I used to stretch my assignments till the last moment.

The Tedx Talk not only provided me with the strategies to overcome procrastination but also encouraged me to be more active and practical in my real life.

Challenges and Opportunities in Social Media Marketing

Carrying forward my reflections, Prof Wendy featured Caroline Berryman in one of the seminars, explaining the challenges and opportunities in the real Social Media Marketing world. Caroline highlighted the crucial role of storytelling in marketing. “An idea” is more important than “a product”. As a marketing student, I see marketers facing lots of challenges in reaching the consumer. Caroline’s experience and knowledge will help me in the future to overcome the challenges and grab the opportunities. Her encouragement to use technology encourages marketers to adapt new skills and opportunities.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this semester has been an incredible journey for me to self-discover along with professional improvement. A big thanks to Professor Wendy Greenwood for providing such informative, innovative, encouraging, and diverse seminars from different speakers. There were many of the speakers who served their knowledge to us.

Jennifer Melon, Cathy McKnight, Chigozie Nelson, and Caroline Berryman. These speaker's thoughts and knowledge have provided me with a large number of tips, on how to sustain myself in the Digital Marketing World.

I look forward to the next step of getting Co-Op, I’m fully capable of performing very well with all the knowledge I have gained through the term.

This is not just a blog, but it’s a reflection on my semester which is the initial step towards my Digital Marketing World.