What Every Marketing Student Should Know

Although listed as one of the 10 most popular majors in an article by CNN and CareerBuilder.com, marketing continues to have an ever changing definition. For example, if you ask a freshman what marketing is and compare it with someone who is about to graduate and you are mostly likely to get two completely different answers. The reason for this isn’t that they haven’t been educated properly. Rather, it’s that ‘marketing’ itself changes everyday. What would be considered ‘marketing’ one day, may be considered something different the next. In very few career paths do you see such dynamics which is why many students with a marketing degree end up in jobs and positions they didn’t ‘expect.’

While a marketing student who is reading this may jump at this and say that they aren’t one of those people who don’t know what marketing is, the reality is that if what you know about marketing is from the definition you read in textbooks, you really don’t marketing is.

Marketing is Storytelling

According to many textbooks, the definition of marketing falls along the lines of:

“the process by which companies create customer interest in products or services. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business development. It is an integrated process through which companies build strong customer relationships and create value for their customers and for themselves.”

While this is an accurate description of what marketing is, it is a mouthful and one would be hard pressed to try and explain that to someone else. With that in mind, another way to think about marketing is that it is storytelling. From the Coca-cola commercials that make you wonder why you aren’t drinking one right now, to the Gatorade commercials that convince you that you can go further and play harder with the help of Gatorade, marketing takes a brand and weaves a story that compels others to want to be part of it.

The ‘Status Quo’

Another important concept that marketing students must be conscious of is the ’status quo.’ By this, I am referring to being aware of what is considered ‘industry standards.’ Once you understand what the standard is when it comes to marketing, your job is then to find a way not to do what to do it.

For many that just read that sentence, it may come as a shock. A shock, because most marketing students have been studying and learning about what’s worked and what doesn’t. Thus, it only makes sense to do what works and avoid those that don’t. Simple logic, but the truth of the matter is that playing it ’safe’ will only get you so far. There are hundreds and thousands of marketing professionals that are just as creative as the next, but what separates the great from the good is one’s ability to push aside what people expect and create something that they don’t.

Marketing and Technology

As we continue to trend toward going ‘wireless,’ marketing students will be thrown in to a power struggle between technology and traditional marketing. What once worked 10 years ago, no longer works efficiently, and as technology continues to improve, brands and organizations are evaluating where they need to be allocating their resources.

Marketing students need to be wary of this and need to find ways to bridge the gap between traditional forms of marketing like print, and newer forms of marketing such as Facebook advertising and geolocation marketing. As part of a marketing team, your job isn’t just to carry out and execute marketing campaigns, it goes further than that. As part of the marketing team, you need to be able to provide insight into what the best course of action is for a given brand or organization. With technology moving forward at rapid pace, it is every marketing professionals job to keep up with it.

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David Ogilvy, “The Father of Advertising” and founder of Oglivy & Mather said it best when he said:

“I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination.”

It’s easy for us to want to do what we know works and to follow orders, but to be truly successful when it comes to marketing, you must take the theories and concepts you have been taught and use the knowledge you gain along the way to create and innovate.