Ten Things I Learned from Teaching Marketing
- 1.
Marketing is still perceived as “so much fun” – Yes, we all laugh at this, but marketing is still perceived as a glamour profession. I try my best to tell my students the dirty truth, but their minds are filled with fun and flash. - 2.Blogging is for mid-career – I have yet to come upon newbie marketers who blog. It would be interesting to hear from those just starting out, but few of them are recording their experiences.
- 3. Young marketers and young public relations professionals don’t mix – Only later in your career do you see that the two are very much dependent on each other. Marketers just starting out rarely know much about public relations.
- Once they learn about it, marketers think p.r. is cool – It’s interesting how one class in public relations gets marketers excited. They immediately recognize the possibilities.
- You learn the most from those in the trenches – I always bring in guest speakers to talk on market research, retail marketing, Hispanic marketing, etc. My students can read this stuff in books, but hearing from those who are “out there” and doing the work is extremely helpful.
- Print is dead – Last class, not one of my young students subscribed to a newspaper. Why subscribe when you can read online?
- There is always something new under the sun – The more I prepare for classes and try to get new and interesting examples together, the more I realize that there’s always something new and exciting going on in marketing. It’s intimidating and exhilarating.
- Today’s entry level jobs aren’t like the old ones – My students with entry level jobs are really being put to the test. They travel, help manage accounts and are expected to know quite a lot. When I first started, I was offered a myriad of secretary jobs at ad agencies. Today, it’s not the same.
- It is easier to talk marketing theories than to practice them – We all love Kotler, but honestly, do we always stick by the book in the practice of marketing? I’ve learned to tell my students to use the principles in Kotler “as a guide.”
- Writing still counts – Students who can write and communicate well find the best jobs. Same as before, same as it always was.
