MARKETING IS A FULL-CONTACT SPORT

For the last 30 years, I’ve started every new term with the comment that marketing is a full-contact sport and to effectively learn it, you have to dig into the corners. Learning, I tell them, will not come from memorizing lists or sitting silently in class. Why do I tell them this? It’s simple; in the hundreds of conversations I’ve had with students and their employers, two ideas have consistently been listed as keys to their success or why they were originally hired. These concepts are a solid knowledge of core marketing theories and how to modify these theories to deal with real world problems.

Effectively teaching such ideas requires coming up with innovative ways that not only garner the attention of a student, but hold it so he/she can effectively process the information. To accomplish these tasks, I use a variety of teaching practices. The most basic is to constantly engage the class in conversation and reward students for coming forward with their thoughts, while another is to build exams around one issue facing a company; for example, Boeing’s evaluation of the market for a new airliner. It also includes allowing students to use their smart phones to participate in quizzes or discussions.

Examples of companies using the techniques discussed in the book are how students learn best and they provide the added benefit of demonstrating how theory often has to be modified in practice. The examples used in my classes come from a variety of sources including personal experience as a business owner, clients I’ve worked with over the years, businesses launched by students and current happenings in the news. In the capstone class, the students are given regular assignments to investigate the causes or implications of a marketer’s decisions. These have ranged from looking at the opportunities open to Apple as iPhone sales peak or Panera’s recent decision to close its Panera Cares outlets. These examples are supplemented by having students work on marketing problems facing local firms. In these projects, the students serve as consultants and bring their marketing knowledge to bear on a given problem facing the small business. Projects have ranged from developing a distribution channel for a new brand of taco chip to determining ways for a local restaurant to boost sales. The final method I use is bringing in guest speakers. Some of you will say this is a tried-and-true method and you are right but often the speaker is an experienced executive or business owner. These “gray hairs” offer a wealth of experience but often aren’t seen as relevant by the students. To address this, I employ a different approach: bringing in past students who are at most 10 years older than those in class and asking them specifically to talk about how they’ve used their education in their current position. As an added twist, I call upon former students from around the world to provide a global outlook. For example, one of my former students from Thailand discussed what it’s like to be the Thai Airways country manager in Norway, while a former Canadian student discussed how she went about doubling the size of the family business, and another discussed what it’s like to be L’Oreal’s country manager for Australia.

Are these methods a success? I like to think so, as many students at UND have signed up for multiple courses with me and have reported how much they enjoy this teaching style. More importantly, many have said they want to return in a few years and be the guest speaker.

-By Rob Warren

The Support Squadron at the Grand Forks Air Force base recently approached Dr. Jennifer Stoner’s MRKT 310: Consumer Behavior Class for help evaluating some of their facilities and print media. Marketing students from that class performed consumer audits on five Air Force base facilities as well as the base’s print magazine. This opportunity provided students a chance to apply course information to a real world context. Groups of students toured their assigned facility and then provided their evaluation and recommendation in both a written report and oral presentation.

“The Marketing Department here at the Grand Forks Air Force Base greatly benefits from partnering with the UND Consumer Behavior students by getting to hear their fresh perspective on the different facilities in our squadron,” said Ashleigh Babbington, Marketing Director at the Grand Forks Air Force Base. “It’s very helpful to see an ‘outsider’s view’ from an audience who may not be familiar with the atmosphere of a military installation. It’s beneficial to hear what they believe we are doing right and we take their constructive criticism to heart. We greatly enjoy working with the students at UND and are considering some of their suggestions for improvement!”

-By Dr. Jennifer Stoner

701.777.3693 jaye@UNDfoundation.org