My Journey So Far As a Marketing Student

During the course of the last 4 months I.E my second semester of Digital Media Marketing at George Brown College I came across many industry professionals. Thanks to my professor Wendy Greenwood , who introduced us to marketing professionals of all kinds of streams I attained a deeper and more comprehensive knowledge about the industry and since I am a fresh starter of this Industry with only a shred of experience, these lessons every week are invaluable.

Some of the few Things I learned about the Industry are:-

AI and Machine Learning – In one of our weekly meetings we met Sam Leung who is a Vice President and?Search Engine Marketer at Aber Group and taught us the technological advancements in the world of marketing. How AI and augmented reality has taken over in the field of digital marketing. We discussed ChatBots and AR-based marketing campaigns which aid in improving customer experience and customer engagement. He also explained the capabilities of AI and how it can help in predicting campaign outcomes even before implementation. This is possible with the help of machine learning where data is entered into an algorithm and is trained to get outcomes which help in making accurate predictions.

Content Marketing – Later during the course, we met Stephanie Stahl who is the General Manager of the Canadian Institute of Content Marketing. She explained how content has evolved over the years and is still an integral part of marketing. Before the internet people relied on OOH billboards, Flyers and TV ads for content but as time has progressed channels of content marketing have shifted towards digital. She also explained the value of customized content (emails, social media posts, digital paid ads in the form of search, display and video) and how it effectively allows us to spread the message to a targeted audience making it more effective and inexpensive compared to traditional forms of content marketing.

Strategic Marketing – Towards the end of our program we had a great opportunity to meet Jennifer Stoll who is Vice President of Strategy at Valtech. This session was one of my personal favourites as it gave us an in depth knowledge of strategic marketing which is coincidently the sector in which I want to make my career. Jennifer started of with described us the 4 steps of strategic planning.

·???????Determine Position

·???????Develop Strategic and Tactic

·???????Build a Plan

·???????Manage Performance

She did a deep dive into strategic planning and explained how Market Research, Data Synthesis, Analysis and Implementation form a huge part of strategy and tactic development, and when these things are coupled with rigours testing and modification, it can lead to the highly successful campaign which can dwarf the competition.

She also taught us the importance of networking and how to approach other professionals who can aid us in our path. She mentioned that cold messaging on LinkedIn is the best method to reach out to industry professionals. She also mentioned that emails can also be useful only when done through a credible source (college emails).

Learning from these individuals every week was a really enlightening experience as it gave me some precious industry insights and also channel my focus on careers that I want to pursue. Another speaker who really inspired me was Elle Marie who is also a GBC alumnus. I relate to her story as she also switched careers to pursue marketing and battelled through the challenges to become a successful owner of a marketing agency. Her words really inspired me as they took away my fear of stepping into this new realm and instilled belief within me that I can be successful like her too. Hence I took the opportunity to connect with her after class, not just on LinkedIn but also o her social media. I hope to connect with her in person and get a few more tips which may help me in my upcoming journey.

?With the guidance of the speakers I was able to figure of sectors which I like (such as Strategic Marketing, Database Marketing and Branding & Advertisements) and would like to pursue as a career. This helps me narrow down my job search and look for specific roles which suit my taste and capabilities.

I also used some of the tips mentioned by our speakers to connect with marketing professionals on LinkedIn outside the college in order to find Co-Op opportunities. Working currently at Staples Retail as a sales associate I connected with a corporate hiring manager of Staples through LinkedIn who informed me of internal Co-Op positions and with the referral of my store manager and guidance from the hiring manager I was able to secure a Co-Op for the upcoming semester. All this was only possible through the learnings from my weekly seminar course at GBC. ??