Networking in Marketing: Reflections on the Semester

Part 1: What I Learned

My Learning's Inspiring Keynote Speakers and Career Building

By far, one of the most memorable experiences was listening to Scott MacDonald, Director, Digital & Content Marketing at Element Fleet Management, regarding the B2B world of marketing. This opened my eyes to many different avenues for opportunities that exist in B2B e-commerce because students often get blindsided by consumer marketing. Scott comes from a digital marketing background and is currently involved with leading marketing operations at Element Fleet Management. He showcased multiple angles regarding the heightened complexity and depth of strategically marketing B2B. The extensive part of B2B, regardless of the nature of the industry, is targeting multiple marketing message stakeholders and creating informative content that is both credible and persuasive.

Main Takeaways from the Seminar:

• B2B Marketing Complexity: Unlike consumer marketing, where disciplines are straightforward, the marketing funnel exists in the enterprise, and it is hard to convince a potential sale on the merit of a product to show these things. B2B marketing creates a unique situation to develop colored, white papers, and case studies, and develop trust and credibility with potential clients.

• Longer Sales Cycles: The underwriting sales cycle is exponentially longer as it could take anywhere from 12 to 18 months in a B2B context, therefore, marketing and communication and business development teams must align and work more closely than they would otherwise.

• Career Opportunities: The benefit of the seminar was that it opened my eyes to the sheer number of roles in a B2B evolution, including roles in corporate communications, strategies, and communication toward a revenue marketer.

Impacts on Career Options

This exposure to B2B marketing experience made a significant impact on my career path. For example, I had work experience related to specialized services, such as fleet management, which I was less apt to recognize as I had been focused on small niche roles. In conclusion, after simply strengthening my understanding around the noteworthy flaws surrounding the marketing funnel, as it descends to stakeholders in a business, has made me much more excited to explore positions in B2B and marketing uses with organizations so that I could combine my skills related to the process of content information dissemination and planning respectively.

Part 2: Networking and Resources

Building Relationships

During the semester, I connected with several marketing practitioners like Qashif Effendi, Executive Vice President of ICS Nett, Inc., and Daniela Furtado, Founder & CEO of Findable Digital Marketing. Connecting with them after the seminar, they gave me valuable guidance about how to navigate the job market, as well as really helpful tips connected to how to develop a strong online presence professionally.

Networking Highlights:

Industry Events: Attending marketing conferences and seminars allowed me to meet other practitioners and hear about the most current trends in the industry. Those events also helped me to understand how important it is to stay informed with regard to industry developments and technological advancement.

LinkedIn Groups: By joining marketing groups on LinkedIn, I was able to make connections with peers and practitioners, find job postings, and contribute to discussions that would enhance my knowledge of marketing strategies.

Volunteering: I was also able to volunteer for some marketing projects with different local organizations, and that not only gave me hands-on experience but also allowed me to meet some potential mentors and contacts.

Job-Finding Resources

In terms of resources for job searching, I have found LinkedIn and Indeed to be extremely valuable. Both provide job listings and tools to develop a professional profile, promote, and/or connect with other practitioners looking for new talent. Also, I have attended some career fairs or networking sessions at my university, and those also provided access to some companies that were hiring talent in marketing.

Keeping in Touch:

Concerning staying in touch, I regularly update my LinkedIn profile to keep it current and in touch with those posts from my network. That helps to keep me visible to my network, as well as keeps me informed of developments in the industry, as well as job postings in case new opportunities arise.

Co-op Experience

Networking was also import for my co-op position. By connecting with practitioners during the seminars and events, I was able to obtain recommendations and insights on how to optimize my application materials, as well as prepare for interviews. Even for students or new graduates who are still looking for co-op positions, networking is very practical to obtain insights into organizations or positions that may not be advertised to the public.

Networking Tips and Best Practices

Key Networking Tips:

• Be Proactive: Go out and seek to develop your opportunities by searching for events and individuals in that sector of work.

• Follow Up: Once you have met someone, you can send them a follow-up message and thank them for their time.

• Be Engaged: Keep your professional profile current and regularly update/or engage with your network to stay visible and involved.

This past semester has been truly a journey into learning about marketing developments and the power of networking. I hope that by reflecting on these experiences, I have encouraged some future manipulators to embrace the opportunity of being able to develop a professional network and explore the place of variety in the world of marketing careers.