Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Event highlighted successful IM grads!

November 2, 2010 Interactive Marketing Student Advisory Board Inaugural Event Summary

Thanks to Will Johnson for this great event summary!

On November 2nd, 2010, the Interactive Marketing program played host to a packed house of aspiring interactive marketers. Four successful interactive marketing program students shared their stories on how they found their first positions outside of college and shared the skills that they had learned from the program.

Tara Vanderheyden Invitations By Design (Class of '05):
Tara found her first position from networking with the professionals who frequently enter Barsema Hall to guest lecture for interactive marketing students. During her time at Restaurant.com, she was able to use her professional communication skills and knowledge of online marketing to develop a stronger relationship with Restaurant.com partners.

From there Tara founded her own company, Invitations By Design. She admits that without her college of business training, she would not have been able to even fathom the idea of starting her own business. She is a strong proponent of networking with not only businesspeople, but with friends and family, as anyone can lead to a new opportunity.

Courtney Danner ARS Interactive (Class of '06):

Courtney, armed with her knowledge of Search Engine Optimization and Paid Search, entered into a small agency right out of school. As the agency grew, so did her responsibilities and she quickly took up an account executive position. She now works with her clients to meet their business objectives using online channels. Courtney's work-life in an agency has been the most appealing for her and she encouraged the students to not rule out small companies and to instead, feel if a position is right for them and decide based on whether they could enjoy going to work everyday.

Ryan Eugene IT Supplies Class of '09):

Ryan graduated on a Saturday and started his job on the very next Monday. His overnight success was really a culmination of his studies in interactive marketing and then receiving a graduate degree in OM & IS from NIU as well. Ryan sought out a greater understanding of how data flows and is a strong proponent of life-long learning as he continues to improve his knowledge of technology. He found his position through the interactive marketing advisory board and has continued to take on responsibilities as he tacks on paid search campaigns and managing additional websites as a e-commerce webmaster for a mid-sized IT Supplies company.



Will Johnson Uline (Class of '10, degree expected in December)

Will found his position before he graduated. He received an SEO internship at Zebra Technologies through the interactive marketing program and then found a position at Uline, a large shipping supply company, performing paid search management. Will discovered Uline first through the many companies that students are exposed to in the program. His well-rounded knowledge of online marketing made him an ideal candidate even though he could only work part-time while completing his degree.

The career night gave students an idea of what to expect when entering the marketing world and allowed them to network with already successful alumni. After the event, amidst pizza and conversation, the current students shared their career hopes and the alumni gave a great deal of encouragement to these bright, future marketers.

This event was the first in a series of guest speaker events being held by the Interactive Marketing Student Advisory Board. Students on the advisory board meet with professionals who support the interactive marketing program and attend networking events from several marketing organizations.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Mary Aurich gets full-time job from internship at Lever Interactive

Mary Aurich writes, "The internship at Lever Interactive went great! I am still there, and they offered me a full-time position upon graduation. I learned and am still currently learning a lot. I am currently working on my Google certification for the company and learning such tools as Google Ad Words and Analytics. I have learned so much and have used my knowledge from the Interactive Marketing Program! I am enhancing my understanding and skills in Microsoft Access (used for database analysis), SEO, Paid Search as well as enhancing my knowledge in programs such as Google Adwords and Analytics and other software such as Miva (ecommerce), and Merchant advantage.

I use these programs on a daily basis for pulling and creating customized reports for different clients. These reports all differ and consist of analysis on the performance from all the search engines, shopping comparisons, keywords, and adgroups the client uses for paid search as well as CPA, CPC and much much more! The solid foundation from the IM program gave me something to build upon at my job.

Depending on what client I am assisting, my roles and duties change.I have also assisted in some email marketing campaigns, new ad launches in new regions/markets, and assisted in the creation of new ad copy for some clients.I am also learning more about html and the backend of things. These are just the basics but the environment at Lever is constantly changing (depending on the clients needs), and this has helped me to stay up-to-date in an ever-changing world."

Learn more at http://www.leverinteractive.com/

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Amy Obert uses her IM skills at Dex One!

Amy Obert reports that she works for Dex One and the says the company focus is to simplify the complex task of local search marketing for businesses. Dex One publishes the AT&T Yellow Pages and offers businesses advice and internet SEM/SEO solutions, direct mail, websites, and mobile solutions as well, both B2B and B2C.

Amy focuses on working with firms as a marketing consultant to their business. By learning about the business and its focus, their customers, their needs, and most importantly the volume they can handle over the coming year, she builds them a message and program that best fits their business needs, including websites, profiles, and print.

Amy says "Dex One is able to track activity on almost all key areas of their advertising solutions so we know where people are looking most frequently for the business. Based on budget and growth needs, we place the customers message accurately and try to ensure their ROI will be a positive.

I am regularly looking at what works best in the market, staying up to date on building brand recognition, awareness, and where people are searching locally. Facebook, twitter, & YouTube, are great ways for small business to network and promote themselves and improve their customer touch points. (without extending a large amount of time) Plus, these tools extend the reach of their paid advertising programs. "

Amy provided a link that tells more about Dex: http://www.dexknows.com/info/index.asp
and says that the firm offers business seminars to help in learning good ways to stay ahead of competitors. http://kmcontent.quris.com/dex/?xL4V.HPc.HXrNUUfqkoEYLoM0s70Rho2x

Thanks Amy for all the good info. Glad to see you are doing so well.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Wen Long used her database skills and visited China this summer!

Wen Long reports that she was a Digital Solutions Summer Intern, ADP Dealer Services, Hoffman Estates, IL this summer. She used her database marketing projects to help her get the job by showing she could do quantitative analysis.

She then performed qualitative analysis on marketing efforts for the Customer Touch Team, rebuilt and formatted collected data to concise meaningful campaign reports, analyzed dealer campaign reports to determine overall effectiveness and the ROI for clients and identified the effectiveness of Dealer Direct Mail Campaigns vs. Email Campaigns through a rebuilt and redesigned report.

Wen also said that she was exposed to numerous digital advertising platforms and worked with Customer Touch Team and Management to develop statistics to prove program trends and benchmarks. She also fit in some volunteer work for Chicago Care this summer and some international experience, by visiting the ADP office in Shanghai, China. What a great summer internship!

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Social media challenges for educators

This past week I was on a panel on social media at the PrepMe College Readiness Institute. The audience was educators and counselors at the high school level and also on the panel were Linda Tuncay Zayer from Loyola and David Koehler from UIC. The Chicago Public School system has banned educators from communicating with students in any other forum than the CPS email. I assume the CPS wants to keep a handle on communication and protect everyone involved. Here is the problem: The younger generations don't like email, preferring social media and texting for communication. We have trouble at NIU getting students to read email even when money is involved, like scholarships.

I suggested that the CPS start its own social network, perhaps on Ning, to engage students and share information. We use social networking extensively in our Interactive Marketing program. We have a special group under my page to share job information and other updates and do the same in Linkedin. We are also going to be starting a Facebook fan page for the IM program because the program has become so big that we need a little bit more formal way to communicate. I don't know how I would let students know about jobs when they are five years out without Facebook. I have been a member since 2005 and it is a great way to stay in touch.

We also talked about the negatives of social media, including fostering a short attention span and poor communication skills. We wonder what the next generation will be like? Will they be able to or even need to write a business memo. Any comments?

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

'06 IM grad Courtney Danner still using program skills for interactive campaigns

Courtney Danner, an'06 IM grad writes, "After gradation I took a position as a client manager/SEO specialist at a very small Web Design & Internet Marketing agency. The company was small - only 4 people, so there was not much training. Thanks to the NIU Interactive Marketing program I was able to hit the ground running with ease. Some of my everyday tasks involved editing basic html in order to make SEO changes, executing email marketing campaigns, and managing my client's PPC campaigns - all skills that I learned from the IM program.

After 3 years of experience it wasn't difficult to land my current position at a larger Interactive agency. At a larger agency I am now less hands on, but having a strong background helps me work with my team and communicate with my clients more effectively. I am also now a go-to person for SEO, SEM and social media questions. I am now executing larger integrated campaigns which involve media buying, social media, SEM and SEO, I am enjoying my new learning adventures and the principles from IM are still helping me along the way."

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

SEO intern Will Johnson Uses IM Program Skills

Will Johnson, a current IM student writes, "As a search marketing intern at Zebra Technologies in Vernon Hills, I work with the global web team to optimize the Zebra website for search engines. During the two months I have been here, I have researched hundreds of keywords, optimized dozens of web pages, measured change in search engine rankings and organic click-through-rate, and changed the strategy based on the results.

Zebra has given me the opportunity to expand more on my Search Engine Optimization (SEO) knowledge by encouraging me to keep on current events through blogs and examining past paid search reports from search marketing agencies. Also in this internship, I have been the resident SEO expert and taught several of my co-workers the basics of SEO.

While SEO has been my primary focus, my time never seems to stay focused on one task. Projects from other areas of marketing seem to pull me in as I act as an online marketing guru. Early on in my internship, I was involved in helping to expose web analytics to a database marketer and explaining how to use the application as well as showing what revelations can be discovered through website data. Using Google Analytics and WebTrends, I showed insight into prospect behavior on the website to this seasoned database marketer. It’s a great experience to be able to help someone who has over ten years of experience in marketing to learn something new.

The information I learned from NIU’s Interactive Marketing program on Social Media and SEO helped me become a resource for the PR team as they developed a new blog focusing on the various industries that Zebra products service. I explained SEO best practices for blogging (e.g. keywords in the title, headers and body text, focusing on only a few core keywords, using semantic keywords) to the team and analyzed their past blog entries for an SEO update.
Overall I have had an amazing experience at Zebra and I’m incredibly thankful for the Interactive Marketing program’s curriculum as well as the support from the professors. Without them, I would not have even heard of this opportunity."

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

NIU IM Grad Veronica Weinberger uses skills in auto industry

A recent grad, Veronica Weinberger, writes the following...thanks to today's guest blogger!

"It's incredible how much I apply the things is learned from my Interactive Marketing classes at NIU. Being the marketing coordinator at Continental Honda and Continental Nissan, I have had to control and monitor PPC campaigns, go through media buying procedures and create and maintain social media strategies and cross-channel marketing strategies on a regular basis.

Some other things that are emerging for the company are viral video and blogging, all of which I have been introduced to before starting my job, which puts me at an incredible advantage over many marketers, especially in the automotive field which tends to lag and put a lot of faith in old media.

Many of my colleagues do not have anywhere near the knowledge that an average NIU IM grad would have, as some are still asking for the full meaning of PPC and are wondering if social media is actually worth the time. Although my boss is also my father, he is amazed on a regular basis because of the advanced knowledge I possess, largely because of NIU’s Interactive Marketing Program and the IM faculty, Mrs. Domagalski and Dr. Zahay.

I can’t thank Mrs. D. enough for drilling into my head that marketers have to beg for every penny they would like to spend for a company, as I live it to the fullest. I cannot count for many times managers ask me if there is any way that I can get people in the door ready to buy cars… for FREE. A marketer’s job is never easy, but I have to say that I love every minute of doing exactly what I went to school for, something that I have such a passion for. I was a born Interactive Marketer."

Thanks Veronica and continued good luck!

Friday, July 2, 2010

Diane Dietz from Safeway, NIU grad, is media marketer!

Just got back from the Online Marketing Summit where the talk was all about content creation and curation. Now an NIU grad, Diane Dietz, CMO at Safeway, says even the grocery chain is seen as a media company today.
http://adage.com/cmostrategy/article?article_id=144515

Thursday, July 1, 2010

IM grad takes social media intership at Tilbury Corp via Linkedin!

Katrina Jefferson from my Interactive Marketing class of May 2009 writes, "This is Katrina Jefferson. I would like to take the time to personally thank you for the job posting for Tilbury Corp. After communicating with Tilbury via Linkedin, I was scheduled for an interview to discuss the position and later was offered an internship! I am excited to learn more about social media in this internship position and expect to make the most of this great opportunity!"

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Online Marketing Institute Partnership

PRESS RELEASE: APRIL 30, 2010

The Interactive Marketing Program at Northern Illinois University is proud to announce a partnership arrangement with the Online Marketing Institute. The Institute is part of Online Marketing Connect, which operates the educational programs at the Online Marketing Summit and also provides certification in Online Marketing through the Online Marketing institute.

NIU’s Interactive Marketing Area of Study graduates about thirty undergraduate students every year versed in the areas of Social Media, Search, Email, Web Analytics, Design and Usability, Database Marketing and Integrated and Direct Marketing Principles. The program has been in existence since 2003, when Debra Zahay Blatz was recruited to develop and teach the coursework.

NIU students in the Interactive Marketing Program will now be able to take the advanced courses in the Institute’s certification program for a reduce fee to obtain a specialization in Search Marketing, Demand Generation or any of the topics provided by the Institute. Local executives seeking online marketing knowledge will also get discounted access to Online Marketing Summit programs and the Online Marketing Institute’s certification program.

Debra Zahay Blatz, Associate Professor of Interactive Marketing and head of the Interactive Marketing program at NIU is delighted with the association. “I evaluated a lot of programs out there and the Online Marketing Institute and Online Marketing Summit provides their attendees the opportunity to learn without the distractions of vendor sales pitches. It is a true learning environment, which is consistent with our mission here at NIU. The topics covered are nearly identical to our curriculum. I get a lot of inquiries from working professionals for our type of education but an undergraduate daytime program does not meet their needs. Now, however, we will be able to help our students gain an online specialty which will increase their chances of gaining employment after graduation and also provide executives access to material similar to that covered in our courses but in a real-time, online environment best-suited to their schedules.”

Aaron Kahlow, CEO, Online Marketing Institute, Online Marketing Summit and Online Marketing Connect, Inc. echoes Debra Zahay Blatz’s sentiments. “We value our University Partnership arrangements and were pleased to develop an association with NIU’s program. What NIU is doing at the undergraduate level is ahead of the curve in terms of giving marketing students knowledge of current online marketing practices. Now we can provide students with access to even more material from leading practitioners through the online certification modules. NIU’s network of contacts will also help us get our material out to a broader audience that is looking to receive this kind of education online.”

Take advantage of the partnership. Find out how to measure social media and buzz and much more at #OMSCHI on June 30 http://bit.ly/NIUOMS. Use code NIU20 for twenty percent off!

NIU IM Grad uses PPC, social media skills on the job

Eric Castellucci, who graduated in Spring 09', writes, "I have been doing Online Marketing for a company called Wrigleyville Sports; we sell merchandise for all the Chicago Sports teams. The job dabbles in everything from PPC, to Blogging, to Social Media. Pretty much, any online channel that has the potential to bring in sales. Much of what I learned in the IM Program at NIU helped me get this job, especially PPC.

Wrigleyville Sports was previously outsourcing their PPC to a third party in California, but they were not pleased with the results they were receiving. When they discovered I had experience with PPC through school, they hired me on full time. It has been a good match for both of us.

From what I've seen in the IM industry, the knowledge IM Graudates possess is GOLD to companies. I believe that at this moment, the demand for individuals with an IM background is much greater than the supply of knowledgeable graduates. Plenty of companies are learning the immense value from Social Media, and they are more willing to hire someone straight out of college who uses these Social Media tools on a daily basis."

Monday, June 21, 2010

NIU IM Grad contributes as search intern at iProspect

It is always great to hear from former students. James Kelley graduated in May (2010) and worked hard to get a position as a Search Marketing Intern with iProspect. James writes, "I had little time to get aclimated as on my first day the company landed a big client and had to launch the campaign ASAP. The atmosphere is pretty laid back...I STILL GET TO WEAR JEANS! WOOT! I haven't been on the job for too long but have already been involved in some big projects.

I have written ad copy for the PPC Ads on Google, and am excited to think about how mwny people will see them. I have also been given a spreadsheet of over 7,000 keywords and links to check to see if the link to the landing page is relevant to the keyword. That task took a while and was repetitive but quite important. How chaotic would a search be if the landing pages had nothing to do with the ad/keywords in the search?!!

I have also been through the Adwords Editor and recorded the ad groups/campaigns and their ad variance. Overall I am very happy with my decision to pursue SEM and very happy with iProspect, keep your fingers crossed for me that this turns into a full time hire! Good Luck at NIU! Thanks again. James"

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Web site for search engine marketing jobs

Heather Priest, a May 2010 IM grad, found the website below the other day. The website tracks and posts job openings in SEO accross the country. There are a couple jobs here in Illinois that some recent grads might find of interest. A person must be a member of the site in order to receive e-mail updates (kind of expensive), but not to see the jobs and get the information on the them. Enjoy and Good luck to those on the job search! Website for Search Engine Marketing Jobs http://www.sempo.org/jobs/

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Final database marketing class

Good job Marketing 455 students! The students presented the final case, a Harvard one, entitled, "Pilgrim Bank" which is a study in how to determine the most profitable customers for a mythical bank. Students analyze the data in stages and at first it looks like online banking does not make a customer profitable but then we need to take age and income factors into account and when doing so, online banking is a factor in profitability. Students run various regression models and come up with the solution with the most explantory power. The students did well and were able to understand and analyze this advanced case. Their SPSS skills have improved and they were able to get to the heart of the case with some legwork. We also discussed what other types of data Pilgrim Bank might want to use to better understand its customers, both internal and external and how the Bank can manage customer relationshps for maximized lifetime value. Database Marketer extraordinary, Rob Jackson, an interactive marketing advisory board member, came to class and helped provide insight to our discussion. Thanks, Rob!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Database class update

I am so proud of my database marketing class. We have spent the last several weeks working on some non-statistical techniques of data analysis such as RFM, neural networking, decision trees and cluster techniques. We have also introduced the class to data mining as a discipline and the SPSS Clementine data mining software. The students were so familiar with SPSS that it took a while to get used to Clementine. Although Clementine has an 'easier to use' graphical interface, the students liked the control offered through the traditional SPSS interface. Clementine is more of a 'black box' environment, although it makes certain functions easier than in traditional SPSS. Some of the functions that are easier include neural networking, creating lifts and gains charts and comparting multiple models. Clementine also includes advanced graphics capabilities. I like being able to get a graphic representation of how large a cluster grouping is and the relative importance of different variables in creating the clusters. The students handed in their data mining assignment today. It was great seeing them play with the program and the data and get a real life taste of data mining.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Database marketing used to support sales efforts

I haven't had much time since returning from the Online Marketing Summit to blog about my experiences. There was a lot of information relating to interactive marketing. From a database perspective, on e of the most interesting presentations was from Adam Needles at Silverpop. Adam talked about something that is called 'demand generation' which really is using database and web technology to manage the lead generation process for the sales force. I know when I was in B2B sales we always complained about the quality of leads from marketing. Just a few years ago, leads for sales from marketing were confined to purchased lists and trade show leads, many of which were unqualified. Telemarketing to pre-qualify helped improve the quality of the lead. The problem is that companies want that experienced sales rep to be given an actionable lead. Research shows that only about 5% of the sales process today really involves direct contact with the salesperson. Most of the sales process occurs before the sales rep gets involved, as is reflected in changes in B2B spending. There was a 19% decrease in spending for B2B marketing spend in tradeshow, print and digital but an uptick in content marketing through digital channels. B2B buyers now spend most of their time researching products online and leveraging the groundswell of social media to make their decisions. The successful B2B marketer today seeks to capture the B2B buyer's attention during this phase by drawing the buyer into the web site and once, there, keeping the buyer with meaningful content on products and industry issues and concerns. Everyone wants content today, ways to do things better and more effectively. Once a lead is captured at the web site, the B2B marketer's job it to nurture that lead. Now, through the internet and database technology, we can tell if a prospect that has registered at the site has downloaded a whitepaper, email a follow up to see if there are questions, send related content and nurture that relationship to the point where it is worth the salesperson's time to contact and try to develop a sale. The B2B marketer needs to make sure that the company is providing thoughtful content through twitter, blogs and other social media sites so the B2B buyer will want to visit the web site. Search engine optimization plays a critical role also in attracting that buyer during the evluation phase, before a sales rep is involved. From a database perspective, marketing can track leads and report the success of its program in a way that until recently was difficult to do. Leads can be segmented. Some can be discarded, some sent to the sales force right away and others nurtured through the process and marketing can report on its demand generation process just as sales has for years reported on its sales process. There are software tools to help automate this process. So although the power has shifted and the B2B buyer is more in charge of the process, the B2B marketer has more data to work with to try to nurture and report on customer relationships. Look for more and better automation technologies in the future, to integrate marketing and sales.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Segmentation and buliding the database

The last week and a half we have been talking about putting the marketing database together. We take internal information, external information and modelled data and create a database that really works for marketing applications. Internal information is transaction oriented, typically and includes information about what the customber has purchased and when. But transaction information only tells part of the story. We might not even have the customer's name if the product was shipped to a different person than a purchaser (b2b) or not have information about the household if just one person in the house buys our product (b2c). We need to enhance the database to get value and we talked about buying data from an outside data source to supplement our internal data. Typically, we send our raw data files to an outside source and they do a merge/purge and cleanse our data and append to our data records. We can then begin the process of modelling our data to identify our best customers. We talked about RFM (Recency, Frequency and Monetary Value) as a way of segmentation but that the RFM approach is only a starting point. Marriott uses a CAP model which includes capacity and propensity to purchase. The different types of segmentation that are discussed in the book are a good starting point for data anlysis but more sophisticated companies eventually develop their own proprietary segementation schemes.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Database Marketing Gets Serious!

The students successfully completed the first assignment with descriptive statistics, cross tabs and chi squared analyes. They learned that categorical data puts data in groups (think cross tabs) and that metric or continuous data is more suited to other types of statistical analysis such as t-tests, correlation and regression. In marketing, we like variation and the null hypothesis is usually what we don't want to have happen, no difference in counts for the chi square, no difference in means for a t-test and no linear relationship for correlation and regression. We are looking for a p value of under .05 for significance level. We had fun looking at live data and used the President's approval rating as a dependent variable in a simple regression. There was a regression relationship (F stat is <.05), 83% of the variance (Adjusted R sqared) in approval rating is explained by ONE significant variable (p < .05), unemployment rate. Interpreting the regression, the President's approval rating drops by about 6.6% for every one percentage point increase in the unemployment rate. The class is working now on creating a model to predict performance in our IM classes. They are looking to create a parsimonious model, that means as few variables with the most explanatory power, to explain an particular hypothesis.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Database Marketing: A New Semester

I am going to blog here about database marketing and on our NING social network for Marketing Technology. We began with a simple exercise called PC's unlmited to familiarize or refamiliarize the class with descriptive statistics in SPSS, how to create a new variable, perform cross tabs and other basic tools. Smart students will go back to this handout throughout the course of the semester for looking up tasks like how to create deciles and quintiles, etc. Students were asked to recreate the information listed and then to provide a marketing interpretation of the graph or table. For example, if most of the company's customers are men does it mean the firm should focus on men as customers or branch out to serving more females? We then had a review of direct marekting and linked direct marketing to database marketing through the use of customer information. It is the database that underlies most direct marketing campaigns that allows DM practitioners to measure, adjust and re-launch their campaigns. Finally, we concluded the two week period with a brief statistics review, focusing on mean, standard deviation, correlation and other descriptive tools like histograms and bar charts. An important concept here is categorical versus continuous data. Categorical data cannot be used to calculate means but can be used in a cross tabs. With continuous data and two groups, a t-test can be conducted.