ABSTRACT. Over 90% of recruiters utilize LinkedIn as a sourcing tool to find and vet candidates for their client companies (Conner, 2019). For job seekers, having a completed LinkedIn profile is nearly as important as having a resume. Teaching students to complete and optimize their LinkedIn profile is crucial. “Optimizing” involves strategically enhancing profiles to increase the odds that job candidates will show up in searches leading to jobs in the specific career field they are pursuing. In my teaching moment, I share a LinkedIn profile optimization project that is easily incorporated into numerous marketing courses. Grading rubric included!

Reference: Conner, R. 2019. 6 Little-Known LinkedIn Strategies That Help Recruiters Find You. Retrieved from: https://workmonger.com/6-linkedin-strategies-that-help-recruiters-find-you/

ABSTRACT. COVID-19 had forced many schools into remote learning environments. It can be a challenge to keep students engaged or have collaborative projects when classes are in an online asynchronous format. Marco Polo is free video messaging app, available on all smart phones, that allows students to create and send video messages one on one or to a group. Recipients can watch the video at their convenience and respond by sending another video. This app can be leveraged for group introductions and other exercises. It creates a sense of connection between students, beyond what a typical discussion board can do.

ABSTRACT. Connectedness in an Online Environment- RECORDED

Kerrie Anne Ambort-Clark, The University of Texas at Tyler, USA

As educators faced with an ever-evolving classroom landscape it is now, more than ever, essential to foster a sense of connectedness in our online learning environment. Connectedness between faculty to student and student to student. Connectedness to content through theory and application. A new way of engagement that dives deeper to create a symbiotic learning environment built upon a platform that enables high level learning to take place between the limitations of a screen. Such connectedness presented through the key elements of presence, engagement, and analytics.

ABSTRACT. To conclude a study of the “target audience” concept, Principles of Marketing students are asked to evaluate the reason for which Nike purposefully developed the controversial 2018 Colin Kaepernick campaign. Working in small groups, they consider four categories (Demographic, Geographic, Psychographic and Behavioral) and record specific characteristics to describe the target audience for which they believe Nike created the Kaepernick campaign. As a result of this exercise, students begin to realize the importance of “target audience” and recognize that Nike took a strategic risk of losing some customers in an effort to more strongly appeal to its target audience.

ABSTRACT. At graduation many students enter the job market. Upon reviewing job postings, students see requirements of minimum years of experience that can’t be met. The application process creates discouragement and can result in underemployment.

Obtaining industry certifications as part of course curriculum can help the student overcome minimum experience barriers especially in Digital Marketing. Introducing various industry recognized certificates provides a pathway for students to pursue outside of the classroom to further their specific job role.

ABSTRACT. My Marketing Strategy class has shifted from traditional face-to-face class to fully online this past Spring, then shifted from online to hybrid this Fall. Nowadays, two of every 100 people have been tested COVID positive. How do we protect our students and in the meanwhile improve effective learning?

1. In-class demonstration section a. Create a sitting chart b. Deliver the lecture live on Teams in Marketing strategy channel and recorded for sharing. 2. Online section a. Article critique via virtual meeting on Teams b. Video lecture (mp4) on Canvas I supplement each short paper section with a 10-minutes lecture video with PowerPoint to explain the marketing theory behind each writing requirement. This will enrich students’ knowledge structure that they not only know how to write a marketing plan but also know why should write this way.

ABSTRACT. During Spring 2020, professors worldwide had to rapidly shift their on-ground classes to online due to the coronavirus pandemic. With so much pandemic related hardship and change vying for students’ attention, delivering an engaging course became paramount to student success. Combining social media marketing strategy with sound pedagogical practice proved to be one path to success. Simple and easy to implement best practices from a successful course, based on student grades and course evaluations, will be shared. These best practices will turn you into an influencer of your students, no designer clothes or exotic car necessary!

ABSTRACT. The move to online learning creates a challenge for instructors to develop active learning activities in the online environment. A method is provided for students to use online collaborative tools to interact in an online environment by creating and sharing their own original content during the lesson. This method enables students to create content that can be immediately viewed and commented upon by the instructor synchronously during a class meeting or asynchronously. Groups are also able to use the same methodology to collaborate remotely. The method scales well for both small and larger classes. Through this pedagogy, active learning is implemented into the online classroom and lessons become more interactive and engaging.

ABSTRACT. This experiential exercise is intended for a graduate-level retailing or marketing channels course. It requires students to select a focal business format frnachise in the QSR space, and then develop a marketing strategy and discuss its implications on bottom-line profitability. The setting is the Covid-19 disruption.

ABSTRACT. This applied PR student experience comprises a two-step assignment, learning and doing, where the students first analyze best practice PR strategy cases. Then students work as PR consultants to “remote” clients and suggest improvements based on the firm’s unique PR challenges. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated the reinvention of the traditional classroom online. This PR student experience is uniquely adaptable to distance learning while meeting the growing need for experiential learning in a curriculum. Our pre/post COVID findings demonstrate how this two-step applied PR assignment provides experiential learning and high student satisfaction regardless of the class modality.

ABSTRACT. Many students dislike group projects. In a remote teaching situation, group projects can become even less popular by students. Groups are frequently used when students are assigned to create an in-depth marketing plan as a cumulative learning assignment. However, in a capstone course, students have usually created an in-depth marketing plan in a previous course. As an alternative to repeating this type of group assignment, I designed a one-page marketing plan assignment that allows each student to develop an individualized, concise, detailed marketing plan that incorporates the customer journey.

At the beginning of the semester, each student is required to find a company that will allow them to create a one-page marketing plan on their behalf. Students are encouraged to choose a company for which they’d like to land a job after graduation with the intent that this assignment will give them a “foot in the door” when hiring is competitive.

Recently, students tailored these marketing plans as “recovery from COVID-19 plans” to help businesses adapt to the changes (both positive and negative) that the organization faced as a result of COVID-19. However, these one-page marketing plans could be created in a “normal” economic climate.

Students were encouraged to incorporate things they learned from previous marketing courses (digital marketing tools, ROI measurables, data for a needs assessment, etc.) in a visually appealing format that required brevity. Many chose to use Canva to create eye-catching one-page documents.

This assignment allows students to create a professional, working document on their own and also forces greater accountability. Students who may ride the coattails of others in a group project do not have that option because this is an individual assignment. It also becomes a tool they can use as leverage in a job interview or as an addition to a personal website.

While grading individual assignments sounds like a daunting task, it actually is quite easy because the assignments are brief. Students also grade them via peer review in a discussion board format prior to turning in a final draft, so this reduces a lot of the usual feedback required. Details about the assignment are used as a basis for providing feedback. Students see the quality of the work completed by peers, receive feedback from peers, and rise to a higher standard in their final draft.

ABSTRACT. Giving students quizzes prior to class time reinforces that they have done the required readings. This allows instruction during the class session to involve higher level learning activities. Some students suggest that they do not know what will be on the quizzes since the content has not been covered in class yet. The “Give Me Five” quizzes allow students to fully explain any five concepts they have learned from the reading. This shows they have completed the readings, understand new concepts, and allows the instructor to answer questions during class about confusing concepts for students.

ABSTRACT. This activity was created from a compilation of brand personality exercises done out in the “real world.” Students learn about how the abstract idea of “brand personality” is used by marketers. Importantly, we first discuss how brands they love have personality characteristics that parallel their own and how that plays out in marketing. The activity has 4 stages: (1) brainstorm positive/negative adjectives using sticky notes, (2) discussion sorting adjectives into keep and toss piles, (3) combine yes attributes to reduce the number, & (4) write final personality traits and come up with unique analogies.

ABSTRACT. Students expect that for a few hours each week, professors will be available to answer questions or ask advice. However, many students have no desire to participate. Two principles of marketing classes are offered two different office hour types. The first class is offered standard office hours, which take place in the faculty member's office. 20% of students came to these office hours. The second class is offered office hours that take in a coffee shop in the college of business lobby. 80% of students came to these office hours. Obviously, I no longer have office hours in my office.