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The Beat - Summer 2019

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SUMMER <strong>2019</strong><br />

IDEAS FOR MARKETING AND CREATIVE PROFESSIONALS<br />

SURVIVING<br />

the<br />

Marketing<br />

Talent<br />

Crunch<br />

Ann Handley<br />

on Finding<br />

Your Brand<br />

Voice<br />

How to Build<br />

a Better<br />

Landing Page<br />

Brands We<br />

Love: OluKai


ENTER OUR SUMMER GIVEAWAY<br />

TO WIN!<br />

Think you<br />

can’t write<br />

effective<br />

marketing copy?<br />

Ann Handley wrote a book<br />

JUST FOR YOU!<br />

(From our cover story on page 6)<br />

OluKai’s best-selling<br />

‘Ohana men’s or women’s<br />

beach sandals!<br />

Discover the comfort and<br />

craftsmanship YOURSELF!<br />

(Check out OluKai in Brands We Love, page 10)<br />

ENTER TO WIN at:<br />

drummond.com/giveaway<br />

or scan our QR code.


WELCOME <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2019</strong> 01<br />

Welcome to the <strong>Summer</strong> issue of THE BEAT!<br />

i<br />

n connection to our feature story,<br />

Surviving the Talent Crunch (page<br />

12), our outside back cover offers<br />

up data on salaries for marketing positions<br />

ranging from entry-level to senior-level<br />

managers. One of the most surprising<br />

(and promising) pieces of information<br />

we uncovered in our research came from<br />

the National Association of Colleges<br />

and Employers (NACE), revealing that<br />

employers expect to hire 16.9% more<br />

new graduates from the Class of <strong>2019</strong><br />

than they did from the Class of 2018 for<br />

positions in the US. That’s the biggest<br />

increase among recent graduates since<br />

2007! This helped us to understand the<br />

enormity of the talent crunch, and the<br />

competitive landscape employers are<br />

facing when seeking top candidates to<br />

fill entry-level positions. We also learned<br />

that employers are often<br />

met with disappointment<br />

when the new hire doesn’t<br />

appear to be as “workready”<br />

as they had hoped<br />

for. Terri Bartlett, President<br />

of Marketing EDGE, sheds<br />

some light on the “workready”<br />

part of the new-hire<br />

equation as she explains<br />

John Falconetti<br />

CEO, Drummond<br />

how her organization helps to train and<br />

prepare marketing graduates for real-world<br />

marketing positions.<br />

You’ll be able to sink your teeth into our<br />

Insights story (page 4) as it speaks to SEO<br />

reports that are C-suite worthy and shares<br />

how to gather the information to create<br />

them. Our digital download resource<br />

(e-book) dishes out 22 free (yes, we<br />

said free!) SEO tools that are tested and<br />

top-rated by Moz.com and other highly<br />

reputable sources. Score! Share the e-book<br />

with your marketing department and<br />

encourage them to explore these tools.<br />

Finally, to our cover story. Ann Handley<br />

found time in her busy calendar (in<br />

between speaking engagements, writing<br />

her newsletter, serving as the Chief Content<br />

Officer at Marketing Profs, and traveling) to<br />

spend time with Tim Sweeney, our writer<br />

extraordinaire. She delivered<br />

nuggets of great information on<br />

developing your brand voice and<br />

creating great newsletters. Her<br />

book, Everybody Writes, is one of<br />

our favorites and also one of our<br />

summer giveaways. Register to<br />

win Ann’s book or a pair of OluKai<br />

sandals (Brands We Love, page<br />

10) at drummond.com/giveaway.<br />

EXPERT OPINION<br />

Read insights from the following<br />

contributors in this issue:<br />

Ann Handley<br />

Chief Content Officer, Marketing Profs, and<br />

best-selling author talks about your brand voice<br />

and marketing. (Page 6)<br />

Terri L. Bartlett<br />

President, Marketing EDGE, explains how ME helps<br />

connect and train marketing graduates, academics,<br />

and corporate leaders. (Page 16)<br />

Trish Witkowski<br />

<strong>The</strong> foldfactory.com owner and 60-second<br />

Super-cool Fold of the Week author offers two<br />

unusual direct mail formats<br />

to consider. (Page 5)<br />

Follow us online facebook.com/Drummond-Press linkedin.com/company/the-drummond-press-inc-<br />

THE BEAT is printed on 100# Gloss Cover/100# Gloss Text paper<br />

01 Welcome<br />

Letter from the CEO, plus a selection of<br />

the key contributors writing in this issue.<br />

02 Insights<br />

Ideas, opinions, news, and trends.<br />

06 Cover Story<br />

Interview with Ann Handley on the topics of<br />

brand voice and mediocre marketing.<br />

10 Brands We Love<br />

OluKai: Direct mail, social marketing, and<br />

philanthropic partnerships make this a brand we love.<br />

12 Surviving the Talent Crunch<br />

How Marketing Edge is helping graduates,<br />

academics, and corporations.<br />

16 Spotlight<br />

Marketing EDGE program details.<br />

Executive Editor<br />

Cindy Woods, cmoteam.com<br />

Contributing Writers<br />

Tim Sweeney<br />

Stephanie Walden<br />

Carro Ford<br />

Design: Diann Durham<br />

©<strong>2019</strong> All Rights Reserved<br />

Printed and distributed by Drummond<br />

www.drummond.com


<strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2019</strong><br />

INSIGHTS<br />

NEWS<br />

| REVIEWS | IDEAS | OPINION |<br />

DIGITAL MARKETING »<br />

DIY website-building services such as<br />

Squarespace, Wix, and Unbounce make it very<br />

simple to set up customized landing pages, even<br />

for business owners without any programming<br />

expertise. <strong>The</strong>se platforms also allow practically<br />

anyone to get a handle on basic metrics<br />

monitoring and data analysis—a key element of<br />

fine-tuning your digital marketing funnel.<br />

But perhaps you’ve noticed a trend in your<br />

landing page data: you’re getting clicks but not<br />

conversions. If this is the case, poor design,<br />

clunky user experience, or overkill on the copy<br />

might be the culprit. Luckily, a few tried-and-true<br />

tactics can make your landing pages an invaluable<br />

element of any inbound marketing campaign.<br />

Landing pages are an inbound marketer’s<br />

not-so-secret weapon. Here’s how to use<br />

them to turn clicks into conversions.<br />

By Stephanie Walden<br />

work as a complement to direct mail marketing if<br />

you add a CTA to print materials directing people<br />

to a link or QR code.) It’s literally where visitors<br />

“land” when they express interest in your product,<br />

service, e-book, etc. after following up on a<br />

marketing message that’s piqued their interest.<br />

<strong>The</strong>re are two primary types of landing<br />

pages: lead generation and click through. For<br />

lead-capture landing pages, the CTA prompts<br />

visitors to enter information such as their email.<br />

Click-through pages, on the other hand, are more<br />

directly sales and conversion focused; they might<br />

feature a prominent Buy Now button that adds<br />

an item directly to visitors’ shopping carts.<br />

A BETTER<br />

LANDING<br />

PAGE<br />

In <strong>2019</strong>, landing pages have serious clout:<br />

research has found that companies with 40+<br />

landing pages generate about 12 times more<br />

leads than businesses with fewer than five.<br />

And yet many companies overlook landing<br />

pages’ potential. A recent survey found that<br />

44 percent of B2B campaigns still direct to home<br />

pages—a practice that HubSpot calls tantamount<br />

to throwing away leads.<br />

ADOPT A MINIMALIST MENTALITY<br />

<strong>The</strong> overarching theme for crafting a successful<br />

landing page is simplicity. All the links, explanatory<br />

text, and fancy modules on your home page—your<br />

manifesto; detailed product descriptions; the<br />

explanation of your mission, vision, and values;<br />

even your navigation bar—have no business on<br />

your landing page.<br />

LANDING PAGES VS. HOME PAGES<br />

You already know the importance of landing<br />

pages, but here’s a quick refresher: landing pages<br />

differ from other pages on your website, as they’re<br />

typically standalone sites that prominently feature<br />

an offer, promotion, free trial, or lead-gen form. If<br />

your home page is the star battalion of your digital<br />

marketing front, your landing page is a highly<br />

specialized sniper.<br />

While your home page typically handles<br />

organic search traffic, a landing page works in<br />

tandem with a Google AdWords, banner ad, or<br />

social or email marketing campaign. (It can even<br />

Click-through landing page<br />

Lead generation landing page


INSIGHTS <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2019</strong> 03<br />

3<br />

Ways to Stick the Landing<br />

Marketing expert Neil Patel compares bad landing pages to going fishing<br />

without a net: “You might land a big one on your hook, but you won’t be<br />

able to drag it into the boat.” Beyond the basics (a mobile-friendly page and quick<br />

loading times are givens), here are a few tips for building landing pages that convert.<br />

If your landing page is failing to convert,<br />

perform an audit of design and copywriting<br />

decisions: Do images steer the eye to the CTA<br />

with effective use of lines, graphics, and color?<br />

Is your copy concise and informative yet direct<br />

and authoritative? Do your lead-capture forms<br />

contain an intimidating number of fields? (Pro<br />

tip: Lowering the number of form fields from the<br />

average of 11 to just 4 can boost conversions by<br />

a whopping 120 percent.) You can steer visitors<br />

further down the funnel by providing clear<br />

navigation cues via these visuals and copy.<br />

A final step for constructing a successful landing<br />

page is to follow up with a thank-you page or email<br />

that confirms receipt of the form and/or details the<br />

next steps for claiming an offer. This crucial form of<br />

follow-through is more than just a nicety—it ensures<br />

prospective leads aren’t left hanging and gives you<br />

an opportuity for another CTA. ■<br />

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1. KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE: THE CTA<br />

This should be the first thing visitors’ attention is drawn to when they come to<br />

the page. While you should choose just one CTA (instead of repeating various<br />

ones throughout the landing page, which risks distracting, fatiguing, or confusing<br />

visitors), don’t be afraid to A/B test a<br />

variety of copy and design options.<br />

Alternate between coaxing asks<br />

and emphatic commands—adding<br />

an exclamation point or using allcaps—and<br />

bold color choices to see<br />

what drives the most conversions.<br />

Patel emphasizes the importance<br />

of making the place to click clear,<br />

suggesting that you design the CTA<br />

as an obviously “buttony button.”<br />

2. USE VIDEOS OR GIFS INSTEAD<br />

OF GETTING COPY HAPPY<br />

It’s quite literally an unwritten rule of good website design<br />

that too much copy is distracting. A well-executed video<br />

or GIF explainer can help drive conversions by as much<br />

as 80 percent. A visual that clearly explains a promotion,<br />

showcases the benefits of the product, or provides a teaser<br />

of a service is a simple way to pack a lot of information into<br />

a small space without resorting<br />

to daunting paragraphs of text.<br />

3. DATA, DATA, DATA<br />

As with any inbound marketing<br />

tactic, data is a foundational part of<br />

the process. Keep an eye on metrics,<br />

including demographics, conversion<br />

and reconversion rates, and other<br />

key data points by using tools such<br />

as Crazy Egg, Optimizely, Google Tag<br />

Manager, and Google Analytics. Paid<br />

sites such as UserTesting can also<br />

provide valuable insights into what’s<br />

working and what’s falling flat for your<br />

landing page strategy.


<strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2019</strong><br />

INSIGHTS<br />

NEWS<br />

| REVIEWS | IDEAS | OPINION |<br />

SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS »<br />

THE MUST-HAVES OF<br />

SEO REPORTS<br />

SEO reporting offers an opportunity to pulse<br />

check the performance of your website,<br />

landing pages, and digital campaigns.<br />

Here’s how to learn the ropes.<br />

s<br />

EO reporting is one of those terms that can cause eyes<br />

to glaze over and minds to wander to greener, buzzier<br />

marketing pastures. But these reports are more than<br />

convoluted technical terms and ambiguous line graphs—they’re<br />

invaluable tools for measuring the effectiveness of your website<br />

and related campaigns.<br />

SEO reports provide actionable insights into what’s working<br />

and where there’s room for improvement with your website or<br />

landing page’s front- and back-end build-out, including elements<br />

such as copy and backlinks. <strong>The</strong>y also allow marketers to capitalize<br />

on momentum and fine-tune online campaigns. We’ve outlined a<br />

brief primer on developing clear, effective SEO reports.<br />

WHERE TO SOURCE USEFUL SEO DATA<br />

Get a glimpse of your SEO efficacy by tapping simple resources<br />

without shelling out top dollar. If you’re fuzzy on SEO strategy,<br />

you’ll want to educate yourself on the latest trends and<br />

terminology beforehand. We are particularly fond of Moz as a<br />

helpful educational resource; the site offers useful SEO guides,<br />

ranging from beginner to expert level, as well as live workshops<br />

and instructor-led training sessions.<br />

When it comes to sourcing SEO data, turn to resources such<br />

as Google Search Console or HubSpot’s Website Grader, free<br />

services that allow you to monitor how Google perceives your<br />

website. To get more granular, check out Moz Pro, a freemium<br />

service where you can find on-page optimization suggestions<br />

and error alerts. Linkody is another popular platform that lets you<br />

analyze keywords, generate backlink reports, and monitor social<br />

shares; plans start at about $15 per month.<br />

WHAT TO INCLUDE AND HOW TO FORMAT<br />

YOUR REPORT<br />

Once you’ve gotten a snapshot of your current SEO status, it’s<br />

time to format it in an easy-to-understand document that can be<br />

distributed to company executives or stakeholders. A solid SEO<br />

report contains a few basics, with staples including year-to-date and<br />

month-over-month growth, unique visitors, traffic sources, page<br />

views, and keyword rank tracking. <strong>The</strong>se items should be displayed<br />

in comparison charts or another visual manner that makes shortand<br />

long-term trends immediately clear upon a quick scan.<br />

3 STEPS to Effective SEO Reporting<br />

Optimizing your website so it appears front and center in search results is a linchpin of successful digital marketing,<br />

and reporting is a key way to examine your efforts. Below are three steps for crafting reports designed to impress.<br />

1<br />

Don’t just data dump. One key to<br />

effective SEO reporting is to strike<br />

the right balance between detail<br />

and simplicity. <strong>The</strong> amount of data to<br />

parse through can be daunting. When<br />

composing your report, start with top KPIs<br />

and the most relevant data points. <strong>The</strong>n,<br />

pair this information with familiar visuals<br />

such as bar graphs, line graphs, and pie<br />

charts. Use layman’s terms to explain the<br />

significance of these findings. Lastly, aim<br />

for quality over quantity; when preparing a<br />

report for presentation, two to three pages<br />

is a good goal.<br />

2<br />

Expect and embrace<br />

fluctuations. Because<br />

of the dynamic nature<br />

of SEO, regular reporting is<br />

key. You’ll want to establish<br />

a cadence, whether weekly,<br />

monthly, or quarterly—and<br />

stick to it. When downswings<br />

inevitably occur, frame them as<br />

opportunities for improvement.<br />

Include year-over-year and<br />

year-to-date data.<br />

3<br />

Let a third party handle<br />

the formatting. Moz Pro,<br />

Raven, Varvy, HubSpot,<br />

and dozens of other platforms<br />

offer clean and simple SEO<br />

report templates—and many<br />

of them are free or reasonably<br />

priced. Advanced reports can<br />

be white labeled, branded,<br />

or custom-tailored to your<br />

business.


INSIGHTS <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2019</strong> 05<br />

THAT’S FOLD-TASTIC »<br />

Clarity is crucial when crafting a report. Your company<br />

higher-ups may not know precisely what backlinking or<br />

canonical tags consist of, but they certainly care about<br />

conversions, lead generation, and ROI. An effective report<br />

should distill complex data about traffic, bounce rates, and<br />

keywords into insights that directly showcase how specific<br />

strategies are affecting KPIs.<br />

A basic report template might be broken into four<br />

categories: (1) status update, (2) goals and KPIs, (3)<br />

completed tasks, and (4) results and recommendations.<br />

If you are tracking specific campaigns, those should have<br />

stand-alone reports of their own. Start with the nitty-gritty<br />

domain metrics—organic traffic, rankings, backlink health,<br />

etc.—displayed in a clean visual such as a double-line graph.<br />

Be sure to link these metrics to overarching marketing goals<br />

or strategies, explaining the connection between the data<br />

point and the end goal in plain English.<br />

Next, outline the steps you’ve taken to improve<br />

these metrics, being sure to highlight impact in the form of<br />

successes and setbacks. Finally, turn the data into actionable<br />

recommendations: Can website copy be tweaked to<br />

encourage clicks or conversions? Can keywords be altered<br />

to improve visibility? Answer these questions as simply and<br />

succinctly as you can—in a single sentence or two, if possible.<br />

PATIENCE PAYS OFF<br />

SEO strategies aren’t instant fixes; it can often take months<br />

for results to materialize. This is why constant and in-depth<br />

analysis is paramount. Vigilance and attention to detail will not<br />

only help you navigate the constantly evolving world of SEO<br />

but also have real impact on ROI. ■<br />

DOWNLOAD OUR E-BOOK:<br />

22 Best Free SEO Tools<br />

SCAN the QR code or VISIT:<br />

drummond.com/SEOtools<br />

THE DOUBLE SWINGER<br />

Trish Witkowski specializes in creative<br />

solutions and engagement strategies for direct<br />

mail and marketing. She is also the curator of<br />

the world’s most exciting collection of folded<br />

print and direct mail samples, sharing the best<br />

of her collection on her popular e-video series,<br />

60-second Super-cool Fold of the Week. Check<br />

out our two super-cool folds below, and request<br />

the dielines directly from us!<br />

<strong>The</strong> Double Swinger offers two great<br />

opportunities for visuals on the cover—one<br />

under the other—and swings into motion in<br />

opposing directions when opened. For display,<br />

this format creates a self-standing, almost<br />

sculptural appearance.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Double Swinger is 15" by 7" unfolded, and<br />

finishes to a 5" by 7" rectangular format. This<br />

format is not self-mailing, so if you intend to<br />

mail this format, it is designed to fit into an<br />

A7 envelope.<br />

Scan this code with your mobile<br />

device to watch it unfold!<br />

THE SQUARE IRON CROSS<br />

<strong>The</strong> Iron Cross features a classic, plus-shaped<br />

format. Much can be done to customize the<br />

Iron Cross to make it your own. This format can<br />

carry additional light materials, such as square<br />

or shaped insert cards.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Iron Cross fold is 17.19" by 17.19" unfolded<br />

and finishes to a 5.75" by 5.75" square format<br />

and fits into a 6" x 6" square envelope.<br />

Reminder: square mail will incur additional fees<br />

for hand sorting.<br />

Scan this code with your mobile<br />

device to watch it unfold!


06 <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2019</strong> COVER STORY<br />

Ann Handley is a writer, digital marketing<br />

pioneer, and Wall Street Journal best-selling<br />

author. She is the Chief Content Officer at<br />

MarketingProfs, a marketing training and<br />

educating company with more than 600,000<br />

subscribers. As a keynote speaker and writer,<br />

she inspires and empowers audiences to create<br />

marketing their customers will love. Tim Sweeney<br />

tracked her down and fired some questions her<br />

way about some of her favorite topics (and ours),<br />

including how to find your brand voice and<br />

how to make sure your marketing<br />

isn’t just mediocre.<br />

AN INTERVIEW WITH<br />

ANN HANDLEY:<br />

Finding Your Brand Voice and Avoiding Mediocre Marketing<br />

By Tim Sweeney<br />

MUST-DO: Visit annhandley.com and subscribe<br />

to Total ANNARCHY, Ann’s newsletter. It’s free,<br />

totally spam-free, and is one of our all-time<br />

favorite newsletters!<br />

Q: You help businesses escape marketing<br />

mediocrity. What do you think are the top<br />

causes for mediocre marketing, or marketing<br />

that doesn’t have the impact it could?<br />

Ann Handley: I think it’s a few things.<br />

Mediocrity comes out of fear, because producing<br />

great marketing very often means taking risks.<br />

You won’t know 100 percent if something works,<br />

but if you get to know the audience better, you<br />

will have a better idea what will work. One way<br />

to understand the audience better is to have<br />

pathological empathy for what they need from<br />

you, and that means actually talking to them. I<br />

talk to marketers all the time who rarely talk to


<strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2019</strong> 07<br />

those they market to. Sales and customer service<br />

people do, but marketers often don’t. That doesn’t<br />

mean talking just from a demographics standpoint<br />

or thinking about them as personas. It means<br />

getting a sense of who the people are by really<br />

understanding what motivates them and what are<br />

their greatest issues. That’s where insights can<br />

help you craft marketing that is not mediocre, is<br />

really targeted to your audience, and reflects how<br />

you fit into their lives.<br />

Q: Any advice on how marketers can speak<br />

to their audience in ways that truly connect<br />

with them?<br />

AH: Understand that it’s not about you. It’s<br />

about your audience and why you matter to<br />

them. That’s true whether you are B2B or B2C<br />

and whether they are customers, consumers, or<br />

prospects. That sounds obvious, but I see a lot<br />

of corporate-centric messaging. I see companies<br />

approach their marketing by saying, “We want to<br />

say THIS” versus “Our audience needs what from<br />

us?” In order for the audience to feel a sense of<br />

belonging and feel some emotional resonance<br />

about your brand and your products, you need<br />

to convey that you understand them better than<br />

your competitors.<br />

I talk to marketers all<br />

the time who rarely<br />

talk to who they market<br />

to. Sales and customer<br />

service people do, but<br />

marketers often don’t.<br />

FIVE TIPS FOR CREATING A<br />

GREAT NEWSLETTER<br />

Ann writes a biweekly newsletter about what she’s doing or things she<br />

believes in, and she feels strongly that a compelling newsletter is a<br />

marketing tool that brands should take full advantage of. “Your audience<br />

is opting in to hear from you,” she says, “and it comes down to offering<br />

something of real value.”<br />

1<br />

Make it<br />

human.<br />

Use a conversational<br />

tone in your writing.<br />

It’s a letter.<br />

2Make it<br />

personal.<br />

Your newsletter<br />

should be from<br />

a person, not a<br />

brand. And not<br />

DoNotReply@...<br />

3Consider<br />

your voice,<br />

visuals, vibe.<br />

Everything about it is<br />

all you. And only you.<br />

Those who read your<br />

post on LinkedIn are<br />

on there interacting<br />

with LinkedIn. But<br />

when they read<br />

your words in your<br />

newsletter, they are<br />

interacting with you.<br />

Q: Your company, MarketingProfs, trains<br />

people worldwide. What topics do you get<br />

asked about the most when it comes to<br />

executing marketing?<br />

AH: It’s two things at opposite ends of<br />

marketing. We get asked most about strategy,<br />

which is looking at things through a big lens—so<br />

things like what are we trying to accomplish, what<br />

is our “why,” our purpose, and our story. At the<br />

live MarketingProfs B2B Forum we hold every<br />

year (the next one is in October in Washington,<br />

DC), the strategy workshop is always the first to<br />

fill up. With so many new platforms and means<br />

of communication, people want to know how to<br />

fit those into a strategic framework and be sure<br />

it is part of a coherent and cohesive plan. On the<br />

other end, we get questions like, “What should I<br />

be doing on Instagram?” That’s a super tactical<br />

and super specific topic. I think the questions<br />

4Make it<br />

reciprocal.<br />

Can your subscribers<br />

or customers hit reply<br />

and write back to you?<br />

5Make it<br />

valuable.<br />

<strong>The</strong> cornerstone of<br />

an email relationship<br />

is trust. Subscribers<br />

opt in because they<br />

trust that you’ll<br />

deliver something<br />

of value. If you break<br />

that promise, they’ll<br />

unsubscribe. You<br />

cannot darken their<br />

doorstep ever again.<br />

(Brutal. But fair.)<br />

are indicative of the state of marketing more<br />

broadly—there’s a definite need for big-picture<br />

strategy but also a need to understand and do the<br />

tactical things really well.<br />

Q: Speaking of that, a lot of businesses<br />

seem to want to know a strategy for every<br />

platform today. It seems like there is a<br />

disease of brands feeling like they need to be<br />

everywhere. Is this true?<br />

AH: For sure. And that should be part of your<br />

strategy. You don’t need to be everywhere, trying<br />

to talk to everyone. Pick one platform and do it<br />

ridiculously well. What’s the one you like doing?<br />

It comes back to our instinctive value on writing<br />

abilities and the art of marketing. If you are able to<br />

use one platform super well, then that gives you<br />

not only the ability to reach more people but also<br />

the confidence to figure out what else you want


08 <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2019</strong> COVER STORY<br />

to do and determine what would perform well with this<br />

particular tactic.<br />

Q: What is a marketing tool that you feel brands are<br />

missing out on?<br />

A lot of marketers miss out on email and newsletters. I am a<br />

firm believer in email and email newsletters because online,<br />

email is the only place where people and not algorithms<br />

are in control. Your audience is handing over their email<br />

address and saying, “Yes, tell me what you are all about.”<br />

That’s an amazing opportunity for brands and companies,<br />

but I think many are using it as a distribution strategy.<br />

<strong>The</strong>y don’t respect it as an email newsletter to the degree<br />

that they should. I tell people to focus on doing their email<br />

newsletter well. Don’t worry about a lot of other things until<br />

you do that first. And when it comes to the content in your<br />

newsletter, offering something of real value is crucial.<br />

Q: You seem to place a high value on writing ability,<br />

but in many marketing departments, it seems as<br />

though the emphasis on words gets shoved aside.<br />

In an era of shorter attention spans, what is the<br />

importance of good writing skills?<br />

AH: First, I think we need to reframe what we mean<br />

when we talk about writing. Writing doesn’t necessarily<br />

equal long form. Writing short form is just as legitimate<br />

as any other kind of writing. I don’t think writing is<br />

old-school, and I don’t think good writing is going away.<br />

Writing is the backbone of how we communicate—it is<br />

emails, newsletters, blogs, video scripts, and storytelling<br />

in general. And it’s not about bloated writing and wasting<br />

your audience’s time. When you know how to write well,<br />

you know how to communicate well.<br />

Second, writing well is not a binary choice. I don’t<br />

believe that if you choose to focus on written content<br />

it means you don’t choose another area, like Instagram<br />

or another visual medium. Without a doubt, too many<br />

companies are not thinking about their tone of voice, which<br />

includes things such as the words on their website and<br />

social channels. Ask yourself if you have identified your tone<br />

and used it to differentiate from competitors.<br />

Q: Your latest book is called Everybody Writes: Your<br />

Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content.<br />

What do you mean by “everybody writes”?<br />

AH: In this day and age, everyone is a writer. If you have a<br />

website or a newsletter or you have an Instagram account<br />

or a Facebook page, you are a writer. I wrote the book<br />

DETERMINING YOUR<br />

By Ann Handley<br />

I get plenty of questions about how to find your<br />

brand’s voice. My recommendation is to think about<br />

three (or four) adjectives that best describe who you<br />

are as a brand and how you communicate. Write them<br />

down and then have a brainstorming session with your team. For<br />

example, at MarketingProfs, we got everyone in our marketing team<br />

together and determined who we are, what we are about, and how<br />

we want to communicate as a brand. <strong>The</strong>n we chose these words for<br />

the reasons I’ve explained here.<br />

1. Accessible – We want to use clear language and short sentences.<br />

We want to explain buzzwords if we use them, speak in simple terms,<br />

and use jargon sparingly. We only use jargon to show other marketers<br />

that we get them and what they are doing.<br />

2. Personal and Affiliative – In other words, we are marketers<br />

marketing to marketers, so we want to make it clear that we understand<br />

you and get you better than other companies who are not marketers.<br />

3. Smart – Because we are selling training and education, we want<br />

to make that clear.<br />

4. Enjoyable – We want to be sure we communicate in a fun way.<br />

For example, the communications around our B2B Forum are livelier<br />

than other areas of our communications because we care about the<br />

personal experience. We try to infuse this with a sense of fun.<br />

We don’t check everything against these attributes, but they are<br />

embedded in the organization, so our marketers know them and<br />

adhere to them. It’s also a great tool for our freelance writers to get<br />

a sense of who we are. We don’t use our brand guidelines as a strict<br />

prescription. We use them as bumpers at a bowling alley. <strong>The</strong> idea<br />

is certainly not to strip anyone’s voice away. That’s important. We<br />

say, “Here’s how we want you to use your own voice within these<br />

guidelines.” It doesn’t mean that everyone sounds the same, but it<br />

sounds like everyone comes from the same place. You are hearing<br />

from an individual, but it’s an individual who is part of this group.<br />

Once you determine what your voice will be, it’s important to be<br />

bold in your choice of content in order to communicate that voice<br />

well. In addition to MarketingProfs, here are three other brands that<br />

I believe communicate their authentic voice well. ❱❱❱


<strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2019</strong> 09<br />

BRAND VOICE<br />

1In the B2B world, Uberflip is a content delivery and management<br />

platform. At styleguide.uberflip.com, the brand outlines exactly<br />

who they are as a brand and how they apply their voice. It’s online<br />

and accessible for everyone who writes for the brand, but it’s also<br />

available to their audience, so it keeps the brand accountable. <strong>The</strong>y<br />

also use their platform to present their brand guidelines, so it serves<br />

as a marketing tool as well.<br />

Accessible<br />

Accessible, but not fluffy.<br />

We want our customers and visitors<br />

to feel as though they can approach<br />

us about anything and everything<br />

content marketing.<br />

Cheeky<br />

Cheeky, but not offensive.<br />

We have a personality and we’re<br />

not afraid to show it.<br />

Progressive<br />

Progressive, but not aloof.<br />

We want to stay ahead of the curve<br />

and implement new strategies<br />

and techniques to do so.<br />

2In the B2C landscape,<br />

Freaker USA (freakerusa.<br />

com) is a very quirky<br />

company. I love that<br />

their quirkiness is<br />

embedded throughout<br />

everything they do<br />

and every way they<br />

communicate.<br />

3Another B2C company, BarkBox sells to dog people who are<br />

obsessed with their dogs (like me). <strong>The</strong>y use humor to great effect.<br />

In one of their emails,<br />

they used “customer<br />

profiles” (of dogs)<br />

and matched them<br />

with human qualities,<br />

then matched those<br />

qualities with a dietary<br />

supplement they sell,<br />

which I thought was<br />

hilarious and really<br />

caught my attention.<br />

because I saw a gap between people like you and me who<br />

self-identify as writers and studied writing and, on the other<br />

hand, people who think they can’t write. I think anyone<br />

is capable of producing good content—maybe not great<br />

writing, but if you know guidelines and embrace the rules,<br />

you are capable of creating ridiculously good content. With<br />

the book, I wanted people to read a manual that felt fun<br />

and didn’t feel like a chore to read. I also wanted it to be a<br />

companion to help people understand that everything they<br />

do in communication is writing—including sending personal<br />

mail and email—and understand what they can do to<br />

improve. I wanted to be an inspiration as well as a teacher<br />

and cheerleader.<br />

Q: How have organizations changed their setup or<br />

structure regarding external agencies in an effort to<br />

be more content focused?<br />

AH: I see companies using agencies as a creative<br />

resource. However, increasingly I see brands bringing the<br />

creation side of it in-house, and I counsel brands to do that<br />

because nobody will love the brand the way you do and no<br />

one can tell the story the way you do. Long term, I think<br />

you want your own people owning the story and telling it<br />

to the people you want to connect with. I believe this has<br />

a lot to do with the rise of influencers. I participate as a<br />

B2B influencer for a lot of companies, and when I’m talking<br />

to the people who are at the company themselves, it’s a<br />

much better relationship than when the agency is in the<br />

middle. For the most part, the smartest agencies will help<br />

the brand bring some of this in-house and function more<br />

as a creative strategy resource and then let the brand itself<br />

execute, although I’m sure an agency would argue the<br />

other side of that. ■<br />

WIN<br />

ANN’S<br />

BOOK!<br />

SCAN the<br />

QR code or<br />

REGISTER at:<br />

drummond.com/giveaway


10 <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2019</strong> BRANDS WE LOVE<br />

Brands We Love:<br />

’s invitation to “bring Aloha to<br />

your feet” sure is an inviting one. Even if you’ve<br />

never set foot on one of Hawaii’s beautiful<br />

islands, the notion sounds appealing.<br />

Founded in 2006 by Hawaii native Bill<br />

Worthington and his friend Matt Till, the now<br />

120+ person company is headquartered in Irvine,<br />

California, and makes footwear that “combines<br />

durability for the waterman and ocean lifestyle.”<br />

<strong>The</strong>ir marquee products—leather sandals that<br />

retail for up to $85—were designed to meet the<br />

needs of people in places with laidback lifestyles,<br />

where it’s just as acceptable to trade in dress<br />

shoes for up-market sandals when heading to a<br />

nice dinner as it is to wear them on the beach.<br />

<strong>The</strong> company believes in operating with<br />

high moral character, and its website says as<br />

much. OluKai touts its own “strong values and<br />

roots”—which can be a tricky thing to do—<br />

while also stressing the “style, comfort, and<br />

craftsmanship” of its products.<br />

When a company declares itself to be<br />

responsible in its business approach, it can<br />

sometimes be difficult to see the products<br />

through the self-congratulation. That’s not the<br />

case with OluKai. <strong>The</strong> footwear is still the main<br />

attraction. An entire section of the website is<br />

dedicated to explaining how the company’s<br />

approach to making sandals is based on<br />

modernity, sophistication, and soulfulness.<br />

From the materials used to the aesthetic and<br />

anatomical design benefits, there is a reason<br />

for every choice they make. That, of course,<br />

inspires confidence in a consumer looking to<br />

buy, and it probably becomes more important<br />

for a consumer buying $85 sandals.<br />

<strong>The</strong> dedication to product presentation<br />

starts with the OluKai.com homepage, which<br />

puts the products front and center in an elegant<br />

manner, with imagery displaying the footwear<br />

in its natural habitat as well as up close and in<br />

use. <strong>The</strong> simplicity of the navigation is brilliant.<br />

Three choices: Men, Women, and Explore.<br />

Who can resist an invitation to explore! On<br />

the homepage, we counted five major calls-toaction<br />

with several additional links to individual<br />

products, including “Our Favorites.” An inspiring<br />

video tells a heartwarming story, and it’s only<br />

upon watching it the second time (and you will<br />

watch it more than once) that you realize there<br />

are glimpses of OluKai sandals in a few scenes.<br />

Deeper into the website, every product<br />

page offers a robust description of why the<br />

product was made and what it is intended<br />

for, as well as a clear and succinct layout of<br />

product features and benefits. A live chat<br />

button lets you connect with a customer<br />

service person straight away.<br />

W


<strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2019</strong><br />

11<br />

“Giveback to Hawaii.” All product pages<br />

feature a link explaining that every pair of<br />

footwear ordered means a donation to the Ama<br />

OluKai Foundation, which works to “preserve land<br />

and ocean, serve Hawaiian communities, and<br />

maintain the Hawaiian culture and traditions.”<br />

OluKai was giving back years before the business<br />

was even profitable; it’s simply part of the<br />

brand’s core values. <strong>The</strong> OluKai website is<br />

visually calming, inspirational, and informative,<br />

and offers a great user experience.<br />

OluKai is also a Certified B corporation,<br />

meaning the company meets higher standards<br />

of social and environmental performance<br />

and accountability, and is a member of the<br />

Conservation Alliance, partnering with other<br />

brands to protect wild places for their natural<br />

habitat and recreation values.<br />

Still, in order to give back, OluKai needs to<br />

make money, and the company knows how to<br />

market their products to do just that. Online,<br />

they excel at telling product stories in short<br />

bursts, using copy in just the right places to<br />

describe how a partnership with a Hawaiian<br />

artist or the choice of a particular flower<br />

influenced a range of footwear. Articles on their<br />

blog are about people who use OluKai products,<br />

and not so much about the products themselves.<br />

At the bottom of each product page, product<br />

reviews from customers help convince<br />

WIN<br />

skeptical shoppers to make the leap while<br />

their “Shop the Story” feature makes it easy to<br />

hook up with the specific products. After you<br />

visit their website, you will be targeted with<br />

ads elsewhere online, but they are minimally<br />

invasive and not overly frequent.<br />

A winning direct mail catalog. <strong>The</strong><br />

elegant brand presentation on OluKai.com<br />

carries over into their direct mail catalog, where<br />

product details are effectively highlighted, as<br />

is the lifestyle the brand exudes. <strong>The</strong> imagery<br />

in the catalog is a healthy mix of product shots<br />

and people using those products to live life by<br />

the ocean. Of course, their direct mail pieces<br />

are printed using FSC paper from responsible<br />

sources, and FSC-certified printers. <strong>The</strong>ir<br />

packaging, it should be noted, is also printed on<br />

partially recycled paper. <strong>The</strong> entire back cover<br />

(and mailing panel) is dedicated to explaining<br />

how every pair of OluKai shoes sold gives back<br />

to Hawaii, with a secondary one-line message<br />

about how the brand “is proud to support the<br />

Hawaiian Lifeguard Association,” of which<br />

OluKai is the official footwear. In fact, all 450<br />

lifeguards play a role in testing new ideas and<br />

developing OluKai products.<br />

Live events. In order to get the brand in<br />

front of more young consumers, the company<br />

a pair of<br />

‘Ohana sandals!<br />

TO REGISTER<br />

scan the QR code or visit:<br />

drummond.com/giveaway<br />

5 Reasons We Love<br />

the OluKai Brand<br />

♥ A strong culture of “giving back”<br />

♥ Engaging social media presence with<br />

highly active followers<br />

♥ Sustainability efforts echoed in their<br />

choices of paper and print (direct mail<br />

and packaging)<br />

♥ 5-Star user experience on the website<br />

♥ Exceptional storytelling using humaninterest<br />

stories about their followers<br />

and consumers<br />

has recently upped its number of event<br />

sponsorships. <strong>The</strong> focus seems to be on events<br />

that attract young people who aren’t afraid<br />

to chase a variety of life experiences. Events<br />

have included a PGA golf tournament, concert<br />

events like BottleRock and South by Southwest,<br />

the famed Bay to Breakers road race in San<br />

Francisco, and the GoPro Mountain Games in<br />

Vail, Colorado. At many events, OluKai offers<br />

fans an opportunity to share their experience<br />

with the brand on social media, while a few<br />

lucky fans are invited “behind the scenes.”<br />

Social media. <strong>The</strong> OluKai YouTube channel<br />

boasts high-quality content pieces that focus<br />

on people living healthy lifestyles. One series<br />

called “Anywhere Aloha” profiles people living<br />

the “aloha way of life” in a variety of geographic<br />

locations. <strong>The</strong>re are, of course, gratuitous shots<br />

of OluKai footwear throughout the short videos,<br />

but the products and brand are never mentioned;<br />

the content is advertising a way of life more than<br />

products. One story about the members of the<br />

Hawaiian Lifeguard Association chronicles their<br />

dedication to a healthy lifestyle and why that is<br />

vital to the job they do.<br />

On Instagram, the brand’s nearly 100,000<br />

followers see close-ups of OluKai footwear<br />

in only every third or fourth post. Instead, the<br />

imagery is mostly about inspiring followers with<br />

pictures of people doing things they love near,<br />

in, or on the water—driving, sailing, swimming,<br />

hiking, or stand-up paddle boarding.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Aloha lifestyle looks like a life most of us<br />

wouldn’t mind living! ■


BRAND BUILDING<br />

12 <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2019</strong> FEATURE<br />

Surviving the<br />

Marketing Talent<br />

CRUNCH<br />

By Carro Ford


BRAND BUILDING<br />

<strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2019</strong><br />

13<br />

i<br />

f your business hasn’t experienced the<br />

marketing talent shortage yet, don’t<br />

worry. You will. According to the “<strong>2019</strong><br />

Marketing Talent Crunch Survey Report” (Spear<br />

Marketing Group), 90 percent of companies<br />

have trouble finding marketing talent. Half<br />

describe their marketing departments as<br />

somewhat understaffed; more than a third<br />

identify as significantly understaffed. How<br />

did that happen?<br />

Digital Marketing<br />

Is Now Mandatory<br />

Like never before, marketing is a technical<br />

game with an ever-increasing budget allocated<br />

to technology. Hiring trends reflect this in<br />

the growing number of roles that require at<br />

least a basic understanding of martech. <strong>The</strong><br />

talent crunch survey cited marketing analytics<br />

positions as most difficult to fill (61 percent),<br />

followed by marketing ops (47 percent),<br />

demand gen (45 percent), and content<br />

marketing (33 percent).<br />

Maybe all this is news to you. Or maybe<br />

you already feel the pinch. More than 80<br />

percent of open marketing roles take over<br />

five weeks to fill, and almost a third sit vacant<br />

for more than two months, confirming that<br />

the talent pipeline has struggled to keep up<br />

with demand, especially the demand for<br />

data-focused marketers. Lesson one: connect<br />

to talent resources before you find yourself<br />

needing them. For this reason, we decided<br />

to introduce you to an organization that is<br />

addressing the marketing talent crunch,<br />

Marketing EDGE.<br />

Marketing EDGE is the only nonprofit with<br />

a track record of preparing college students<br />

for careers in data-focused marketing. <strong>The</strong><br />

Marketing EDGE mission is to educate,<br />

develop, grow, and employ college students—<br />

to launch the next generation of inclusive<br />

marketers. This mission perfectly suits the<br />

challenges marketers face today, but what’s<br />

mind-blowing is that Marketing EDGE has<br />

been around in one form or another for<br />

decades, always in step with market needs,<br />

if not a step ahead.<br />

Mad Men on a Mission<br />

<strong>The</strong> organization was founded by<br />

contemporaries of performance marketing<br />

pioneers, such as Lester Wunderman and<br />

David Ogilvy, to satisfy the emerging appetite<br />

for direct marketing. <strong>The</strong> mad men icons<br />

creating direct marketing discovered few<br />

students coming up were actually aware<br />

of this tactic, much less able to practice<br />

it. <strong>The</strong>se pioneers banded together with<br />

academics to share information that<br />

professors needed to understand and teach<br />

direct marketing, performance marketing,<br />

and marketing in general.<br />

Marketing EDGE has stayed true to<br />

its mission to this day, and that’s a good<br />

thing, because the need for a contemporary<br />

marketing workforce hasn’t waned. “All those<br />

skills needed to operate in a world where we<br />

deliver ads one exposure at a time grow out<br />

Marketing EDGE is<br />

the only nonprofit<br />

with a track record<br />

of preparing college<br />

students for careers in<br />

data-focused marketing.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Marketing EDGE<br />

mission is to educate,<br />

develop, grow, and<br />

employ college students<br />

—to launch the next<br />

generation of inclusive<br />

marketers.<br />

Giving Students<br />

An<br />

EDGE<br />

Carlos Sirotnikov didn’t<br />

plan to major in marketing.<br />

Two years into a computer<br />

science degree, he realized<br />

he didn’t see himself coding<br />

for the rest of his life. When a friend<br />

recommended marketing, he made<br />

the change. In search of an internship<br />

to learn the field, he came across<br />

Marketing EDGE.<br />

After participating in a Marketing<br />

EDGE Collegiate Summit, Sirotnikov<br />

nabbed an internship at the New York<br />

SaaS company that created the first<br />

iPad app. “<strong>The</strong> [summit] provided<br />

networking sessions and a group<br />

competition where we were assigned a<br />

business problem to solve and present.<br />

Combined with other EDGE events,<br />

this gave us a cumulative experience<br />

we otherwise might not have had,” he<br />

says. “School doesn’t give you that level<br />

of exposure.”<br />

<strong>The</strong> Marketing EDGE experience<br />

played a huge role in where he is today.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Baruch College graduate eventually<br />

went from New York all the way to<br />

Seattle, where he’s now an Associate<br />

Brand Manager at Amazon. “Marketing<br />

EDGE did a great job at pulling together<br />

a smart, passionate group of students<br />

and helping us with skills needed in<br />

the marketplace,” Sirotnikov says.<br />

Handshakes and Networking<br />

“<strong>The</strong>se students need help, especially<br />

first-generation college students,” says<br />

Terri Bartlett, President, Marketing EDGE.<br />

“EDGE caters to their circumstances,<br />

not just skill development, and provides<br />

opportunities to engage and feel<br />

more comfortable with executives. It’s<br />

amazing how this impacts the lives<br />

of students through connections,<br />

networking, and even handshaking<br />

practice. <strong>The</strong> fact that someone believes<br />

in them builds confidence and poise<br />

that are palpable.”


14 <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2019</strong> FEATURE<br />

Marketing<br />

Goes to<br />

College<br />

Companies need talent<br />

that understands modern<br />

marketing, but they can’t<br />

hire talent if it’s not trained.<br />

Professor Ed Malthouse notes<br />

it’s unrealistic to<br />

expect marketingready<br />

talent right<br />

out of colleges<br />

that teach old-world<br />

marketing. Marketing<br />

EDGE recognized this years<br />

ago and built academics<br />

into the model.<br />

A statistician by training,<br />

Malthouse got into direct<br />

marketing in the early ‘90s.<br />

As a result of postdoctoral<br />

work studying direct<br />

marketing problems, he<br />

joined Northwestern’s Medill<br />

School, which offered one<br />

of the world’s first direct<br />

marketing master’s degrees.<br />

He also became part of the<br />

Direct Marketing Educational<br />

Foundation (DMEF), a<br />

forerunner of Marketing<br />

EDGE. “Professors are good<br />

at organizing but need input<br />

from what’s happening in the<br />

world, and DMEF gave a lot<br />

of access,” Malthouse says.<br />

DMEF released data sets that<br />

companies made available<br />

for teaching and research. “It’s<br />

valuable having real data for<br />

the classroom and creating<br />

assignments off that. It adds<br />

credibility,” he explains.<br />

To close the gap between<br />

classroom theory and market<br />

reality, corporate leaders also<br />

talk about their marketing<br />

journeys, so students see<br />

theory and learning applied<br />

to the marketplace. “You can<br />

see the transformation as<br />

they start to be more acutely<br />

aware of what<br />

marketing really<br />

involves,” says<br />

Terri Bartlett.<br />

Esteemed Thought<br />

Leadership<br />

Another EDGE benefit is<br />

the esteemed academic<br />

publication Journal of<br />

Interactive Marketing,<br />

for which Malthouse<br />

served as editor for five<br />

years. He notes, “We do<br />

original research and break<br />

important stories. One<br />

was on customer lifetime<br />

value—now a core principle<br />

across many companies.”<br />

Companies buy articles à la<br />

carte or subscribe. “It’s highly<br />

regarded by organizations<br />

wanting to be on the cutting<br />

edge of thought leadership.”<br />

of direct marketing. What’s happened is that<br />

all of the digital jargon that was minor 20<br />

years ago has become mainstream, and so<br />

must student training,” explains Edward C.<br />

Malthouse, professor at Northwestern’s Medill<br />

School, longtime Marketing EDGE supporter,<br />

and past editor of the organization’s publication,<br />

Journal of Interactive Marketing.<br />

Traditional Marketing<br />

Doesn’t Fit Anymore<br />

Most marketers would agree that not having<br />

the right marketing talent will negatively<br />

affect the implementation of their<br />

marketing plans and strategies.<br />

Carlos Dominguez, President of<br />

Sprinklr, a longtime Marketing<br />

EDGE corporate sponsor, spends<br />

a lot of time with CEOs and CMOs; according<br />

to him, “not one says life is easy and good.<br />

People are forced to change at a pace we never<br />

imagined, and they’re wrestling with a radically<br />

different world.”<br />

When you look at what’s required in<br />

marketing today, it’s a different skill set than<br />

in the past, with new channels, generational<br />

speech, and changing expectations for<br />

response times. “This represents an incredible<br />

shift, yet most companies still operate in<br />

their own traditional ways,” Dominguez says.<br />

In this world of new expectations, he sees<br />

opportunities for “organizations that adapt,<br />

because not everyone will. If you can, and<br />

you do, the marketing benefits and results<br />

are much greater.”<br />

Graduates Hit the<br />

Ground Running<br />

What makes Marketing EDGE graduates a<br />

better hire? What gives them, well,<br />

an edge over other marketing<br />

rookies? Clearly something is<br />

different. Drew May, Marketing<br />

EDGE Board Chairman and Acxiom<br />

SVP and Chief Customer Officer, cites successes<br />

such as one alumna who went on to roles<br />

at Unilever and Hershey. “She’s a fantastic<br />

example of how a person with Marketing EDGE<br />

experience can really kick-start their career,” he<br />

says. “<strong>The</strong> students hit the ground running into<br />

top-tier brands and have impact right away. <strong>The</strong><br />

hiring company gains an entry-level person who<br />

comes up to speed much faster.”<br />

Acxiom has also hired interns from<br />

summer programs, and according to Drew<br />

May, two things make these students a better<br />

hire. “Look at the quality of content and<br />

programs that Marketing EDGE produces.<br />

No other organization offers the same level of<br />

content for students in the field of marketing.<br />

Secondly, the bar for admission is high,<br />

requiring well-rounded students.”<br />

“<strong>The</strong> students hit<br />

the ground running<br />

into top-tier brands<br />

and have impact<br />

right away.”<br />

<strong>The</strong> agency ForwardPMX has filled most of its<br />

entry-level staff with hires from Marketing EDGE<br />

talent programs. Chief Growth Officer, Chris<br />

Paradysz explains why: “<strong>The</strong> most important<br />

thing is meeting the students. Imagine buying a<br />

car without seeing it. Same with hiring. You’ll find<br />

Marketing EDGE has done absolutely the most<br />

successful screening, filtering, and interviewing of<br />

students, bar none! <strong>The</strong>y have a knack for finding<br />

motivated students.” Paradysz serves as a board<br />

member and longtime supporter of Marketing<br />

EDGE, while ForwardPMX contributes as a<br />

corporate sponsor. ■


<strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2019</strong><br />

15<br />

SAVE MONEY<br />

“Recruiting costs will<br />

go down due to the<br />

prescreening process of the<br />

candidates. <strong>The</strong>se students are<br />

motivated to succeed,” says Chris<br />

Paradysz. “You won’t be replacing<br />

bodies at the same rate as you<br />

would with less motivated and<br />

less qualified candidates.”<br />

BECOME A BETTER<br />

MANAGER<br />

“<strong>The</strong>se students bring a<br />

point of view you may not have,”<br />

says Paradysz. “If you truly listen to<br />

them, they ask difficult questions<br />

that require accountability.”<br />

GAIN EXPOSURE<br />

TO NEW BUSINESS<br />

CONTACTS AND<br />

RELATIONSHIPS<br />

<strong>The</strong>se young hires have friends<br />

at other companies on both<br />

client and agency sides, and they<br />

rise very quickly to positions of<br />

authority and influence. Marketing<br />

EDGE alumni as well as the<br />

Marketing EDGE team are very<br />

good connectors, making it a point<br />

to generate introductions and bring<br />

connections to board members<br />

and other business participants.<br />

BRING MORE<br />

DIVERSITY INTO<br />

YOUR BUSINESS<br />

Study after study finds diversity<br />

increases audience awareness<br />

and, yes, profitability. Yet for<br />

all the correlations, diversity<br />

remains underused. Competitive<br />

advantage, anyone? “Bottom<br />

Reasons to Get Involved with<br />

Marketing EDGE<br />

Conversations with board members, staff, program<br />

graduates, professors, and others resulted in this list<br />

of reasons your business might consider learning<br />

more about Marketing EDGE.<br />

1<br />

2<br />

3<br />

4<br />

line—diversity works for business.<br />

From a business perspective, there<br />

needs to be no more reason than<br />

that,” declares Marketing EDGE<br />

President Terri L. Bartlett. In spite<br />

of its increasingly technical nature,<br />

the new marketing is about people,<br />

and the more diverse you are, the<br />

better you can relate.<br />

5<br />

HAVE BROADER<br />

ACCESS<br />

Marketing EDGE is<br />

intended to be a steady pipeline<br />

of exceptional talent and a talent<br />

pool that spans the country.<br />

6<br />

FIND INSIGHT<br />

THAT DELIVERS<br />

<strong>The</strong>re’s something<br />

extraordinary that happens when<br />

business organizations partner<br />

with academic institutions:<br />

students emerge knowing what real<br />

companies need from incoming<br />

marketers. “We have a mission of<br />

educating people around direct<br />

marketing, database marketing,<br />

and other topics,” Malthouse<br />

explains. “In the past, it was hard<br />

to find people who were trained in<br />

this.” Marketing EDGE collaborates<br />

with universities and professors<br />

to create the right content for<br />

modern marketing. “Without that<br />

level of support, we’d be teaching<br />

traditional models and theories,”<br />

says Dominguez. “Instead, the<br />

market becomes the recipient<br />

of students who understand<br />

marketing theory and real-world<br />

applications. <strong>The</strong>y are much better<br />

prepared to step into a job and<br />

contribute from day one.”<br />

7<br />

GET FRESH EYES<br />

ON MARKETING<br />

PROBLEMS<br />

Marketing EDGE’s Collegiate<br />

ECHO Marketing Challenge<br />

offers a real-world problem from<br />

a participating company for<br />

students to solve. “It’s incredibly<br />

exciting as we watch students<br />

present to actual executives. That<br />

accessibility and the experience of<br />

dealing with real-world business<br />

problems isn’t found often in<br />

school settings,” notes Carlos<br />

Sirotnikov, a graduate of Marketing<br />

EDGE. “If you’re a business looking<br />

to expand your talent pool or your<br />

exposure to students studying<br />

marketing, think about partnering<br />

in a case study. Students<br />

appreciate the opportunity to be<br />

more tactical and tangible and use<br />

the concepts they learn. <strong>The</strong>y’re<br />

also looking for experiences they<br />

can add to their resume.”<br />

8<br />

SEE A PHILANTHROPIC<br />

HALO EFFECT<br />

As Bartlett points out,<br />

“Companies want to give back,<br />

and Gen Z and millennials pay<br />

attention to what companies<br />

do from a corporate social<br />

responsibility standpoint. <strong>The</strong>re’s<br />

a wonderful halo by showing<br />

you support the industry and<br />

demonstrating the desire to give<br />

something back.” May agrees:<br />

“It’s important for all of us as we<br />

go through our careers to invest<br />

in up-and-coming talent, and<br />

anything to better prepare them<br />

for careers in marketing benefits<br />

us all. That’s big.”<br />

9<br />

ENHANCE BRANDING<br />

AND POSITIONING<br />

Many organizations<br />

work with Marketing EDGE to<br />

elevate their profiles as forwardfacing<br />

brands and build positive<br />

connections across student,<br />

academic, and corporate partners.<br />

“Like the UN, where we have all<br />

these groups represented that<br />

come together and galvanize<br />

around particular issues, we<br />

do that around marketing and<br />

marketing talent,” explains Bartlett.<br />

HAVE FUN<br />

Both businesses and<br />

individuals can get<br />

involved, and once they do, they<br />

tend to stick around. Just ask May,<br />

who’s been active since 2006, or<br />

any number of others. Paradysz<br />

says, “<strong>The</strong> awards are fun, and the<br />

events are a blast. It’s an incredible<br />

amount of industry energy!”<br />

Good times. Good talent. Good<br />

information. It all adds up to a great<br />

opportunity for today’s marketing<br />

community to get involved with<br />

Marketing EDGE. ■<br />

CONNECT!<br />

Turn the page to learn<br />

how how to to get get involved involved with with<br />

Marketing Marketing EDGE. EDGE.


16 <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2019</strong> SPOTLIGHT<br />

Marketing EDGE:<br />

Securing the Next Generation of Marketers<br />

Terri L. Bartlett<br />

President, Marketing EDGE<br />

TLBartlett@marketingEDGE.org | www.marketingedge.org | 212.790.1510<br />

Marketing EDGE is the only nonprofit with a proven track record of connecting students,<br />

academics and professionals to the resources and relationships they need to see, move, and stay<br />

ahead. Founded in 1966, we were known by different names over the years, including Direct<br />

Marketing Educational Foundation, and in June 2013, we took the leap and changed our name<br />

to Marketing EDGE. Our mission was clear—to Educate, Develop, Grow, and Employ college<br />

students in the field of marketing. We are supported solely by corporations and individuals who<br />

want to give back to the marketing community. Thousands of students have taken advantage<br />

of our programs, becoming prepared to enter the field workplace-ready. We encourage the<br />

Marketing EDGE Programs<br />

Marketing readers of THE EDGE BEAT, who Programs are interested in next generation talent and development, to contact<br />

Our range of programs deliver on our mission to Educate, Develop,<br />

Our us to range learn of programs more about deliver the on our benefits mission of to Marketing Educate, Develop, EDGE and how they can become involved.”<br />

Grow and Employ colleges students in the field of marketing.<br />

Grow Terri Bartlett, and Employ President, colleges Marketing students EDGE in the field of marketing.<br />

Marketing EDGE Programs<br />

Marketing EDGE Programs<br />

Collegiate Collegiate Summit Summit<br />

Student Career Student ForumsCareer Forums<br />

Our range of programs deliver on our mission to Educate, Develop,<br />

Our range of programs Grow and deliver Employ on colleges our mission students to Educate, in the Develop, field of marketing.<br />

MARKETING<br />

Collegiate<br />

EDGE MARKETING<br />

Summit<br />

EDGE<br />

Grow and Employ colleges students in the field of marketing.<br />

Student Career Forums<br />

COLLEGIATE COLLEGIATE SUMMIT SUMMIT<br />

Our immersive summer “boot camp” connects<br />

For almost 30 years, our career forums<br />

high-achieving Collegiate undergrads Summit from across the country<br />

Student have introduced Career Forums<br />

Our<br />

students to the world of digital and<br />

Collegiate immersive summer “boot camp” connects high-achieving<br />

For almost 30 years, our career forums have introduced<br />

Our Summit immersive summer “boot camp” connects high-achieving Student Career Forums<br />

almost 30 years, our career forums have introduced<br />

undergrads with top from marketing across the country professionals with top marketing to explore how leading students to the world performance of digital and data-driven<br />

undergrads from across the country with top marketing<br />

students to the world<br />

marketing.<br />

of digital and<br />

<strong>The</strong>se<br />

data-driven<br />

forums deliver practical<br />

progessionals to explore how leading MARKETING companies EDGE and brands<br />

marketing. <strong>The</strong>se forums deliver practical information to<br />

companies progessionals MARKETING and EDGE brands to explore COLLEGIATE are how using leading SUMMIT digital companies platforms and brands<br />

marketing. information <strong>The</strong>se to forums students deliver on practical what they information can do to prepare<br />

are using digital COLLEGIATE platforms and SUMMIT data to create innovative<br />

students on what they can do to prepare for a career in<br />

multi-channel data to are<br />

campaigns. create using digital innovative At the<br />

platforms<br />

Summit, multi-channel and<br />

students<br />

data<br />

attend<br />

to create campaigns. innovative<br />

marketing At while they<br />

students<br />

are for still a career on<br />

in school.<br />

what in they<br />

Offered marketing can do<br />

regions<br />

to while prepare they for are a career still in in school.<br />

fast-paced multi-channel workshops led by highly successful industry<br />

across the country, the forums also provide students<br />

the Summit,<br />

Our<br />

students<br />

immersive campaigns. summer At<br />

attend<br />

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participate in led panel by discussions, highly high-achieving successful and industry For almost 30 years, our<br />

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the day-to-day the country, have introduced<br />

undergrads from across the country with top marketing<br />

students the world lives of of the digital marketers forums and data-driven also as provide students<br />

undergrads<br />

connect by highly from across<br />

one-on-one leaders successful the country<br />

and with academics, peers and industry with top marketing<br />

professionals participate leaders at several panel and discussions, academics, students to the world of digital<br />

well as providing them with provide and data-driven<br />

progessionals to explore how leading companies and brands<br />

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several internships and that students well first lives as job on providing of out what marketers of they school. them can do with as to well prepare valuable as for valuable tips a career of how in<br />

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students on what they can do to prepare for a career in<br />

tips to of land how<br />

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multi-channel<br />

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internships<br />

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and that first job out of school.<br />

EDGE Awardsfast-paced workshops led by highly successful industry Corporate Leadership across the country, Program the forums (CLP) also provide students<br />

fast-paced workshops led by highly successful industry<br />

across the country, the forums also provide students<br />

leaders networking and academics,<br />

leaders events. participate<br />

and academics,<br />

in panel discussions,<br />

participate<br />

and<br />

in panel discussions,<br />

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and<br />

glimpse into the<br />

with<br />

day-to-day<br />

a glimpse<br />

lives<br />

into<br />

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as<br />

lives of marketers as<br />

EDGE Awards<br />

Corporate Leadership Program (CLP)<br />

connect one-on-one connect with peers one-on-one and professionals with peers at several and professionals at well several as providing them well with as valuable providing tips them of how with to land valuable tips of how to land<br />

networking events. networking events.<br />

internships and that first internships job out of and school. that first job out of school.<br />

EDGE Awards<br />

EDGE Awards<br />

Marketing EDGE’s signature fundraising event, the EDGE<br />

Awards pays tribute to the vibrancy and evolution that<br />

EDGE Awards<br />

Corporate Leadership Program (CLP)<br />

A premier sponsorship program was launched four years<br />

ago to offer corporations the opportunity to engage in all<br />

is moving today’s Marketing marketing EDGE’s field signature forward. fundraising Held every event, the EDGE that Marketing EDGE A premier has to offer, sponsorship including: program was launched four years<br />

June, 600 of the industry’s leading marketers – and next<br />

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who 500 combine corporations, of professional the generation industry’s to excellence lifetime talent leading – gather with achievement an to marketers—and undeniable honor honorees, the year’s award We<br />

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marketing talent. corporations, to lifetime achievement honorees, and<br />

industry<br />

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What distinguishes the overriding the EDGE tribute Awards among from all all others categories is to honor those<br />

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winners, ranging What distinguishes from Rising the EDGE Stars, Awards to from distinguished<br />

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EDGE leaders offers and you opportunities top academics.<br />

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Deliver the Edge that Will Enhance Your Corporate Profile to impart your thoughtleadership,<br />

service, and support to impact today’s students<br />

the overriding tribute among all categories to launch those their marketing<br />

Deliver<br />

careers.<br />

the Edge that Will Enhance Your Corporate Profile<br />

who corporations, combine professional<br />

commitment<br />

to excellence<br />

to<br />

lifetime with<br />

giving back<br />

achievement an undeniable<br />

EDGE offers you opportunities to impart your thoughtleadership,<br />

service, and support to impact today’s students<br />

to support generations<br />

honorees,<br />

of<br />

and<br />

who combine professional excellence with an undeniable<br />

EDGE offers you opportunities to impart your thoughtleadership,<br />

service, and support to impact today’s students<br />

commitment to giving back to support generations of<br />

more. marketing What distinguishes talent. the EDGE Awards from all<br />

– increasingly first-generation students – through our<br />

commitment to giving back to support generations of<br />

marketing talent.<br />

– increasingly first-generation students – through our<br />

programs, events, and scholarships as they prepare to<br />

others is the<br />

marketing<br />

overriding<br />

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programs, events, and scholarships – increasingly first-generation they prepare to students – through our<br />

tribute among all categories<br />

launch their marketing careers. programs, launch their events, marketing and scholarships careers. as they prepare to<br />

launch their marketing careers.<br />

to honor those who combine professional excellence<br />

with an undeniable commitment to giving back to<br />

support generations of marketing talent.<br />

Corporate Leadership Program (CLP)<br />

Corporate Leadership Program (CLP)<br />

A premier sponsorship program was launched<br />

four years ago to offer corporations the opportunity to<br />

engage in all that Marketing EDGE has to offer, including:<br />

• Support Your Business Goals We connect you with<br />

resources and relationships through premier events<br />

where you can exchange ideas with other industry<br />

• Deliver the Edge that Will Enhance Your Corporate<br />

Profile EDGE offers you opportunities to impart your<br />

thought-leadership, service, and support to impact<br />

today’s students—increasingly first-generation students<br />

—through our programs, events, and scholarships as<br />

they prepare to launch their marketing careers.<br />

Interested in Getting<br />

Involved?<br />

1. Be a speaker as part of the EDGE<br />

Speakers Bureau (in classrooms<br />

nationwide), Student Career<br />

Forums, and Collegiate Summits.<br />

2. Network among industry elite<br />

through national EDGE Awards<br />

and regional events.<br />

3. Engage with the EDGE<br />

Community through initiatives<br />

to further next-generation talent,<br />

thought leadership, and industry<br />

innovation.<br />

4. Volunteer through mentorship,<br />

committee, and board service<br />

to strengthen and further the<br />

mission and our programs.<br />

5. Contribute through individual<br />

and corporate initiatives and<br />

events, including our major<br />

Corporate Leadership Program<br />

to expand our impact.<br />

OUR IMPACT by the numbers:<br />

103,000+ Students impacted over<br />

the past 50+ years<br />

$576,000 in Scholarships awarded<br />

275+ Colleges and universities<br />

participating<br />

33% First-generation college<br />

students in the program<br />

100% Giving back to the next<br />

generation of marketing leaders!<br />

Find and follow us on Social Media:<br />

linkedin.com/company/marketingedge-org/<br />

twitter.com/mktgEDGEorg<br />

facebook.com/marketingEDGEorg/<br />

linkedin.com/groups/1878900/<br />

For Academics:<br />

Journal of Interactive Marketing ®<br />

Professors’ Academy and<br />

Professors Institute, with SMU’s<br />

Brierley Institute<br />

Interactive Marketing Research<br />

Conference<br />

Collegiate ECHO Marketing<br />

Challenge<br />

For Corporations:<br />

Access to top Intern and<br />

Entry-level Candidates<br />

Corporate partner programs<br />

Volunteer, speaking, and<br />

mentoring opportunities<br />

www.MarketingEDGE.org


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Marketing<br />

Manager<br />

earnings begin at:<br />

$112,578<br />

SENIOR-level<br />

Marketing<br />

Manager<br />

earnings begin at:<br />

$92,840<br />

Source: careerexplorer.com<br />

Mid-level<br />

Marketing<br />

Manager<br />

earnings begin at:<br />

$79,352<br />

Junior-level<br />

Marketing<br />

Manager<br />

earnings begin at:<br />

$72,776<br />

CALIFORNIA<br />

$61,585<br />

WASHINGTON<br />

$61,590<br />

ARIZONA<br />

$59,557<br />

NORTH DAKOTA<br />

$61,500<br />

Average Mid-level Marketing<br />

Manager salary by STATE:<br />

Source: ziprecruiter.com<br />

TEXAS<br />

$55,311<br />

OHIO<br />

$57,309<br />

GEORGIA<br />

$55,398<br />

NEW YORK<br />

$67,267<br />

FLORIDA<br />

$50,962<br />

<strong>The</strong> average Senior-<br />

Level Marketing<br />

Manager salary in<br />

the United States is<br />

$101,663<br />

as of May 31, <strong>2019</strong>, with a range<br />

between $88,581 and $119,690.<br />

Source: salary.com

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