KMA Annunal Report

KENNESAW MARKETING ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL REPORT 2013-2014

KENNESAW MARKETING ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL REPORT 2013-2014

MISSION STATEMENT

THEME The efforts and applications Kennesaw Marketing Association will be guided by this year’s theme, “Personal Branding and External Networking”. We will focus on how to shape and brand oneself professionally and then employ our groundwork through external networking opportunities. Our plan is to attend several events hosted by the various Atlanta-based marketing associations; to broaden our personal network and build bridges into the business world outside of college.

The Kennesaw State University (KSU) collegiate chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) is for career-minded students who have the desire to enhance their marketing skills, develop professionally through a variety of real life and professional experiences, and achieve a high level of selfconfidence. With the experience and guidance of our advisor, Kennesaw Marketing Association (KMA) members create a network of resources that expands the students’ competitive edge and thoroughly prepare them for a professional career.

The Kennesaw Marketing Association (KMA) began with 4 corps members forming the executive board. The executive board was led by Joelle Davis, the only veteran in KMA. The first member/ position, the role of vice president, was filled by Alaina Stern and followed by the event coordinator, Skylar Sperin. We hit the ground running by trying to implement activities that would help increase participation in our collegiate chapter. We began planning with the theme, “Personal Branding and External Networking” in mind. Our mission was to focus on shaping and branding our students to help develop skills required to network outside of our collegiate chapter.

Page 1

KENNESAW MARKETING ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL REPORT 2013-2014

The fall semester was rewarding and challenging, providing industry related knowledge, experience and networking opportunities. We closed the fall 2013 semester with an excellent LinkedIn seminar. We continued our theme and highlighted the importance of having a LinkedIn profile in today’s digital age.

After our presentation, a panel of LinkedIn professionals reviewed student profiles to give them advice on how to stand out online.

The Kennesaw Marketing Association experienced exceptional highs in regards of success. We learned how to effectively communicate among our peers and external professionals. While there are many opportunities for our organization to grow, the Kennesaw Marketing Association excelled in reaching our goals for the 2013-2014 academic calendar year.

The beginning of the spring semester began with a rough start. Due to inclement weather, we were forced to postpone our bi-weekly meetings and were unable to meet for one month. It was extremely discouraging, however our members were proactive in communication and we were able to discuss online using Google Hangouts as a tool. The executive board planned to host social media week on campus. It included 2 guest speakers, a 24-hour create-a-thon, and an agency tour.

Unfortunately the event did not receive many attendees due to an inability to advertise with the inclement weather.

We all agreed to gear our focus toward the AMA Atlanta Collegiate Conference taking place the following week.

Page 2

KENNESAW MARKETING ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL REPORT 2013-2014

Each year every collegiate chapter is expected to host a marketing week. The executive board of the KMA made sure to pull out all of the stops. We discussed several opportunities and decided on three industry guest speakers, a motivational speaker, Hubspot’s Inbound Certification, and an agency tour.

The most difficult challenge was deciding how we were going to get students involved. To solve this problem, we created a life-size human form to serve as a guerilla tactic for our promotion. We created the human form using one of our students, saran wrap, and 8 rolls of duct tape. To get students to interact with the form, we placed “Stanley” in the atrium of the business building.

We created content tagging our digital pictures and flyers with the hashtag #WhoAreYouKSU and painted them across the eyes and back of our form. The idea was to get students to take pictures with Stanley and follow the hashtag to get more information about marketing week. While Stanley definitely grabbed everyone’s attention, we did not generate as much traffic as we wished. Most students passed by the form with shocked faces. For those that we saw taking pictures, they did not upload it to social media to include the custom hashtag that we created.

Page 3

KENNESAW MARKETING ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL REPORT 2013-2014

Our goal for Marketing Week was to carry on our theme, “Personal Branding and External Networking.” We prepared our students to meet industry leaders by helping create LinkedIn profiles and encouraging them to create a brand for themselves. We “networked externally” with leading professionals in the marketing and advertising industry, thus incorporating all aspects of our goals.

During marketing week, our industry guest speakers included Jennifer Ross and Zach Mullins from Cox Media Group, and Meghan Stoneburner from WhatsUp Interactive. Jennifer and Zach discussed digital media and their specific roles as leaders in the industry.

Meghan Stoneburner discussed her position as well as how she landed her dream job. We asked Dr. Susan Buice to be a guest speaker because midterms were upon us and our students can always use motivation. Her message on the “Power of Words” resonated with all that were in attendance, most of us left with tears in our eyes.

Thursday rounded our Hubspot Inbound Marketing Certification, and we had a 100% pass rate. Everyone agreed that Friday was their favorite day. We took it upon ourselves to ask 22squared, a leading independent advertising agency in Atlanta, to take a tour of their office. It was extremely enlightening for our members to experience an ad agency first hand. At the end of our tour, we were introduced to a panel of employees from multiple departments where we discussed their positions and major topics in the marketing industry. Overall, our KMA’s Marketing Week was highly successful and we thoroughly enjoyed every moment.

Page 4

KENNESAW MARKETING ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL REPORT 2013-2014

This year, we aimed to position KMA with our theme of “Personal Branding and External Networking". In keeping with our theme, we invited different Marketing professionals in the Atlanta area to come speak to our members about topics of interest in addition to topics that our members would benefit from. During Marketing Week, our members had the opportunity to meet and learn from marketing professionals Jennifer Ross and Zach Mullins from Cox Media and Meghan Stoneburner from WhatsUp Interactive. We also had a Hubspot Inbound Marketing Training session in order to professionally develop our members and get them certified. We were very pleased with the results in that all of the members who joined the session became certified. To successfully end the week of Marketing Week, our chapter toured ad agency 22squared.

There is no doubt that LinkedIn has become essential in today’s job search and selection. With that in mind, we found it fundamental to organize and host two LinkedIn Seminars. We promoted the event around the business building in order to obtain a good turnout. During the seminars, we featured tips and tricks on how to polish their profiles, emphasized personal branding through creating a catchy headline that describes their individual interests, and took attendee’s professional profile picture. Our LinkedIn Seminar was helpful to polish our member’s professional online presence.

Page 5

KENNESAW MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Since our members enjoyed our tour off 22squared during the fall semester, we decided to invite associates from the agency to come speak to our members about their agency, marketing industry, and the day in life of an ad agency. We invited Account Executive Christine Davidson, Laney Estroff from Human Resources, and Influencer Marketing Associate Erin Moulson. At our meeting, they spoke about the culture off 22squared, their individual roles, and answered questions from our members.

ANNUAL REPORT 2013-2014

As part of our theme of “Personal Branding and External Networking", we planned and prepared to attend to the AMA Atlanta Collegiate Conference. Prior to attending the conference, our faculty sponsor Tyra provided our members with tips and tactics on how to work a career fair, reviewed our member’s resumes and LinkedIn Profiles. At the conference, our members had the opportunity to network with other students and marketing professionals in the Atlanta area, listen to speakers, get our resume and LinkedIn profiles reviewed by Atlanta Marketing Professionals and attend the career fair. Overall, our members found the AMA Atlanta Collegiate Conference to be a fulfilling experience.

Page 6

KENNESAW MARKETING ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL REPORT 2013-2014

The Kennesaw Marketing Association volunteered its time and effort to the National Collegiate Sales Competition (NCSC). This event is the largest event on campus every year and draws hundreds of people to campus over the course of four days. Because of the extensiveness of the event, there were many different volunteer opportunities. KMA members aided in the set up and take down of displays, directed competitors to the sales rooms and collected scorecards from and assisted judges, along with any other necessary jobs. The NCSC gave members various ways to feel involved, meet new people, and connect with potential employers.

Several members of the KMA volunteered at the Atlanta Marketer of the Year (AMY) Awards.

This event recognizes those marketers in the Atlanta area who have thought outside the box and used their extraordinary ideas to make an impact. Each volunteer had their own unique task, from helping with registration and showing people to their seats to assisting judges and helping actually present awards. The AMYs gave KMA members the incredible opportunity to meet and mingle with some of the industry’s leading thinkers.

Page 7

KENNESAW MARKETING ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL REPORT 2013-2014

This year we worked closely with the Professional Sales department to raise funds for our trip to the American Marketing Association’s National Collegiate Conference. As a group, we wanted to raise funds in a way that would benefit another group. Our Sales Department is not well known on campus, outside of the business school, and we wanted to help inform other students of the amazing opportunities they might not know they are missing out on. In exchange for our hard work, the Sales Department agreed to give us $2,500 toward our trip.

The first part of this program consisted of setting up a booth in the student center, right in the heart of campus. Members of KMA handed out flyers to passing students and encouraged them to sign up to learn more about the Professional Sales program at Kennesaw State University. We also set up a table in the business building’s lobby and handed out flyers and magazines to students, to raise awareness for upcoming sales events. In total, we put on four promotional events for the Professional Sales department. The other part of the program was volunteering for the NCSC. Every year Kennesaw State hosts the National Collegiate Sales Competition, where students from universities across the country come to compete. This is the biggest event the university puts on, and the Sales Department needs as much help as they can get. The head of the Sales Department asked each member of KMA who was going on the trip to volunteer 25 hours for the competition. In helping with the NCSC, we were granted access to all opportunities the competitors have, including an exclusive career fair.

Page 8

KENNESAW MARKETING ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL REPORT 2013-2014

Throughout the course of the year we have grown from being a single member organization once Spring 2013 graduation occurred. During Fall semester, the Kennesaw Marketing Association recruited 10 AMA-recognized members and became the active organization it is proud to be now. After losing 1 member to December graduation, we have recruited 3 more members into both KMA and AMA, bringing us to a current total of 12. Throughout the course of the year, we have become a diverse group of students from all ages, class levels, and backgrounds. Including members from last semester, we are 23% male and 77% female. Of this demographic, 8% of our students are sophomores, 23% are juniors, and a whopping 69% of us are seniors. This of course brings succession plans to mind, which will be discussed shortly.

During the Fall, we pushed recruitment strategies onto campus through various tactics such as our school’s online web portal, classroom announcements, flyers, and a promotional video. Our efforts unfortunately were limited in success, as most members joined through word of mouth combined with the natural desperation of being a senior seeking great opportunities. During the Spring, a surplus of interest came to our organization, with emails being received on a weekly basis from students interested in joining. Additionally, we at times will have 15-20 students sitting at our general body meetings. Though our total active AMA members is currently 12 for this semester, we strive at each meeting to encourage that these students join the AMA and take advantage of the networking and learning opportunities.

Page 9

KENNESAW MARKETING ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL REPORT 2013-2014

Membership has been retained through a consistent line up of events and engagement. We push to constantly have an out-of-the-classroom learning environment. Many of these past events have been listed above, and numerous more events are scheduled for the remainder of the semester. When students begin realizing what being involved closely with AMA Atlanta can do for them as well as the connections they are able to utilize, they have historically become more involved in our organization..

Unfortunately as 9 of us our seniors, we will be losing nearly 70% of our members to graduation before Fall 2014 begins. Great efforts have been made to plan the succession of officers as we want to assure that the organization is left in great hands.

Page 10

KENNESAW MARKETING ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL REPORT 2013-2014

In order to effectively communicate internally with our members as well as externally with other students, the executive board stayed in contact with each other. The executive board communicated with each other via text message and met weekly in order to work together to ensure that chapter events were being planned, implemented, and communicated sufficiently.

To communicate with our members outside of the meetings, the executive board used an internal Facebook group page. The use of the member’s page allowed the executive board to communicate efficiently and effectively with the members, inform and remind them of upcoming events, and for members who were not able to attend the meetings, the executive board posted notes on what was discussed during the chapter meetings.

To communicate and essentially promote our events to the student body, we utilized the KMA chapter Facebook page and the KMA Twitter account. Our social media manager and other executive board members posted relevant articles, marketing news and upcoming events. We aimed to have our social media pages to be interesting, informative and relevant. In addition to using social media to communicate with and promote to the student body, we also posted attractive flyers about our events tactically around the business building. Our members also shared content to invite their friends to attend the events. The use of social media served to be effective in aiding the executive board in communicating effectively with both our members and the business school student body.

Our executive board also aimed to communicate with Marketing Professionals in the Atlanta area to invite them to speak to our members. The executive board contacted the different professionals via email and LinkedIn. Both email and LinkedIn proved to be effective methods of achieving those goals seeing as they agreed to come speak to our members. Furthermore, 22squared even allowed our chapter to tour their ad agency and our members will tour ad agency Red Pepper in April.

Page 11

KENNESAW MARKETING ASSOCIATION

During this academic year, chapter activities have been planned and coordinated by a team of executive officers: Joelle Davis (President), Alaina Stern (Vice President), Skylar Sperin (Events Coordinator), and our Faculty Adviser, Tyra Burton. Our management strategy surrounded the idea of presenting opportunities and events to our general members and encouraging them to become as involved as possible for the sake of universal benefit. Essentially, getting more involved with the chapter could potentially help launch their own careers upon graduation while giving back to the school through the promotion of KMA.

ANNUAL REPORT 2013-2014

To determine officer positions, the KMA has always relied on volunteerism. We encourage members to step up to open positions by elaborating on the experience acquired and how it can compliment one’s resume. For higher officer positions, we also weigh how much dedication and effort a member has put into the organization thus far. For instance, while contemplating options for next year’s executive officers we consider a student’s academic and organizational efforts, display of responsibility, and other personal qualities to ensure that the organization will be in trusted hands.

Page 12

KENNESAW MARKETING ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL REPORT 2013-2014

Interestingly, our organization had a very unpredictable financial year. When first planning our trip to the national collegiate conference in New Orleans, we planned on pitching to SABAC (KSU’s student funds committee) and holding various fundraisers to get us to New Orleans. Due to budgetary, time, and cost-benefit concerns, we ultimately decided on holding an all day event called Campus Marketing Day on campus on April 12. The event would benefit the business student body at KSU by offering them a day filled with presentations and networking opportunities with several Atlanta-based marketing professionals. Once the decision was made, our financial outlook changed drastically. Below is a chart of how our budgetary plan appeared in the Fall versus how it looks now.

Page 13

KENNESAW MARKETING ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL REPORT 2013-2014

This is obviously a substantial difference from what was originally proposed. After cancelling our trip to New Orleans, we have decided to work with the Professional Sales Department to collaborate on our Campus Marketing Day (April 12). Initially, we were going to be receiving $2500 from the Professional Sales Department to be allocated to the conference registration. Now, we will be using the money we worked to raised for Campus Marketing Day expenses.

At this point, we are sure we want to host a catered lunch hour but aside from that we are unclear of how much funds will be needed for the event.

Page 14

KENNESAW MARKETING ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL REPORT 2013-2014

There are no words to describe KMA’s year other than eye opening. Our journey as an organization has inspired our students to explore opportunities that they did not even know existed. Our theme surrounded the idea that we would teach our students how to develop their personal brands, and then network with professionals in the marketing and advertising industry. We achieved much more than our preconceived goals. We reached beyond the four walls of our university and gained real world knowledge that will only help our students get started in a career that they genuinely love. All great organizations experience hardships, however during those difficult times true relationships are formed and characters develop. As a unit, the Kennesaw Marketing Association persevered and overcame our struggles. We no longer question ourselves as professionals. We are @KMAatKSU.

Page 15