Learning from the Experts - Speaker Series: Volume 2

Continuing the speaker series, in February 2021, we had three more industry experts who shared with the Digital Media Marketing students at George Brown College their insights, knowledge, and key hacks to tackle the challenging and ever-evolving world of Digital Marketing. The first-hand experience of the challenges these experts faced to reach where they are, not only motivated us but also taught us that the road ahead will be full of obstacles, but with grit and determination, we can overcome all those hurdles.

The main topics that the experts talked about were: Digital Marketing Strategy, Customer Loyalty, Maintaining Trust and Unifying Business & Technology. Out of them, the speaker that stood out for me was Jennifer Stoll.

Jennifer is the Director of Digital Strategy at Valtech. She has over 20 years of experience delivering strategic solutions across a wide variety of industries, and her work has spanned across B2C and B2B initiatives with a diverse range of clients. Another thing that stood out to me about Jennifer was that she had been through it all (working as an Analyst, experience in SEO/SEM, Content Marketing, Media Management, etc.). She also has experience with the difference in the working culture at a corporation v/s an agency.

Jennifer explained her role as Digital Marketing Strategist and the steps required to create a strategy. She shared information about her core responsibilities that revolve around collaboration with clients in developing a Digital Ecosystem. She also explained that creating a strategy required three steps:

1. Answering Questions
2. Providing Direction
3. Evaluating from different viewpoints

The role of a Digital Marketing Strategist fascinates me as it promotes having an omnichannel experience for the target audiences. The majority of companies have realized that if they were legacy, they need to transition and have a digital presence in order to reach their target audiences. Also, this role allows you to work with cross-functional teams, thereby improving your knowledge and understanding of the industry and the processes.

I've worked in a strategic position with a consulting firm and thus was aware of some of the terms that Jennifer used during her presentation. One of the questions that I asked her was regarding the use of scorecards while evaluating scenarios. Jennifer was very detailed in her explanation and shared how she and her team created scorecards and structured ways to evaluate scenarios. Another question that I asked was regarding the most important thing that she would want us to focus on while starting our career. Her answers were candid, humble, and she shared her real-life examples while answering. Jennifer also shared her mantra that don’t ever think that you can't change at any point in your career. Always keep exploring as there will always be new things out there.

One of the key takeaways I had from this session was how Jennifer motivated us and asked us not to be hesitant or afraid to reach out to people and make new connections. She shared that everyone has gone through the same journey and people love to share their learnings if someone reaches out to them in an orderly fashion. She also advised us to never stop learning and acquiring new skills (by subscribing to newsletters, informational sessions/ seminars, etc.).

A special thank you again to Wendy Greenwood for organizing these insightful and inspirational sessions, and a bigger one to Jennifer Stoll, for taking the time out of her busy schedule and sharing her learnings & insights with us.