Fall 2006

Putting Marketing to Work

Marketing students put academic skills to use with Triad companies.

It’s one thing to sit in a class and learn about marketing. It’s a whole different matter to put it to work.

“My experience is that students learn much better when they do things themselves and learn what they can do,” said Dr. Lew Brown, associate professor of marketing.. “They are used to action, and with this course they haven't just studied marketing, they've done it.”

Since 2004, that’s what marketing students have been required to do in the Bryan School. Students in the capstone course Marketing 429 must work with actual companies to develop marketing strategies. Students have partnered with numerous companies throughout the Triad, including the likes of companies such as RFMD, Freeway Foods (Waffle House) and Total Computer Solutions Inc.

For example, for TCS, students analyzed the company’s marketing plan and recommended, among other things, a new logo, brand awareness suggestions and customer referral incentive plan suggestions.

"It was very valuable,” said Michael Sechter, sales manager with TCS, a business-to-business tech company. “Since we’re business to business, marketing is a challenge. They came up with some good ideas, some of which we put into place.”

For example, the students suggested TCS concentrate on branding. TCS employees now wear logo shirts when they make client calls. The company has also placed radio, as well as print ads.

Fresh Eyes & Spillover Benefits
“These are not ‘make work’ projects,” Brown said. “These organizations want help; they are serious about wanting students’ advice, and the students’ fresh eyes cause these managers to take fresh looks at what they are doing.”

For students, the benefits aren’t just in the classroom. There are other rewards:  Students can put their marketing experience on their resume, and that leads to professional opportunities.

“One student got a good job specifically because the company wanted a marketing strategy and she had completed it as part of the project,” Brown said. “Another company hired a student from the team that had worked with the company because the company was so impressed with him.”

Then there’s the “been there, done that” factor. In an interview, a student fresh out of college can look at a prospective employer and say, “Marketing plan? Sure. I’ve done one.”

New Major
Marketing has been a popular concentration in Business Administration. With some 300 students choosing the marketing concentration, it is one of the most popular on campus.

There’s also a need for marketing majors. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employment of advertising, marketing, promotions, public relations, and sales managers is expected to increase faster than the average for all occupations through 2014, spurred by intense domestic and global competition in products and services offered to consumers.”

Because of that popularity and because of employers’ hunger for well-qualified marketing professionals, this fall the Bryan School will replace the marketing concentration with a marketing major for the first time. More than 350 students have decided on the major.