Introduction

Hi! I'm John Perkins, currently a Marketing student at Western Washington University. I'm an intrinsically curious person with an academic affinity for constructing logical arguments to solve problems. Logical arguments, along with their accompanying proper justifications, are a huge component to the marketing research process. In Digital Marketing this quarter, I'm hoping to expand this notion into the technological forefront. I'd love to learn more about modern methods of data analytics, and how to apply these methods to obtain tangible findings.

Response to Readings

In Schlee and Harich's "Knowledge and Skill Requirements for Marketing Jobs in the 21st Century," significant emphasis is placed on balancing marketing education between conceptual knowledge and technical skill. Both entities are valuable to students and prospective employers, so it is important to mix in both types of skill building into ones' marketing curriculum. According to the article, marketing students aren't often fully equipped with the software capabilities to perform advanced but necessary functions in the business world. While I, for the most part, agree with Schlee and Harich, their piece begs the question: how much responsibility for these technical skill falls on the educator? Marketing is a broad and diverse subject, so it is obviously imperative that professors cover the basics of the aforementioned conceptual and technical tenants in their teachings. From there, though, I would argue that the burden of specialization falls on the individual student, who is more attuned to their own career path, and can seek the skills they require independently (there are lots of technical skill opportunities in open source online).

One reason for the increased focus on technical skill in marketing is the rapid advancement of technology and integration with our lives, to the point of ubiquity. Thus, digital marketing is born. Shar VanBoskirk, in her piece "US Digital Marketing Forecast, 2014 To 2019," examines the transition of both marketing research and marketing practice into the digital world. The increasing amount of people living second "digital lives" on the internet, coupled with the widespread media permeation of all corners of the web, provides a grand opportunity for a company to deliver a relevant, cost effective ad. Social media involvement also continues to grow, allowing companies to develop reciprocal communicative relationships with their customers, facilitating development of brand identity and consumer loyalty. The future of advertising lies in online messages like banner ads, where companies get paid per click and receive informational feedback that helps profile a segment. One thing that struck me in consideration of the rise of digital marketing is the newfound capability of a firm to deliver a marketing message to an individual specific to their interests, with the same cheapness of generic mass production. Digital marketing allows marketers to have the best of both worlds.

While digital marketing is advancing as an industry, the transition from college into a full time digital marketing job has proven to be a bit of an inefficiency for firms looking to hire. According to the Online Marketing Institute in "The State of Digital Marketing Talent," in addition to their being a disparity of talent between new and established employees, locating new talent has been a significant difficulty. Many companies struggle to find room in their budgets to hire new marketers. Therefore, when they do have an opening, they invest plenty of effort in finding a suitable applicant to fill the position. However, with a large percentage of students receiving ineffective or irrelevant training, resumes often display inflated skill sets, increasing the workload of recruiters. While I do follow the logic of this dilemma, I would argue that the skill gap could be quickly made up with proper instruction from the firm. Sure, they're investing extra resources to teach employees their preferred skill set, but it is a valuable investment. From my own personal conversations with recently graduated digital marketers, they learned a lot on the job that wasn't taught in the major, but they were able to learn quickly and produce results for their firm. Yes, my evidence is purely anecdotal, but it drives home the point that companies can still create even with undereducated hires.