Impact of Covid on Careers & Job Prospects. How should students ​ better prepare for changing marketing careers and jobs in Kansas City and in the country

Panelists from some of the top Marketing organizations in Kansas City answered student questions about the impact of Covid-19 on marketing careers and job prospects. This presentation was sponsored by the Bloch Marketing Advisory Council and was facilitated by Mark Yardley, Chief Integration Officer at VMLY&R.

Panelists included:

Ellen Junger: Helzberg Diamonds George Weyrauch: ROCK Creative Network Andrea Kirsch: MAKE Digital Group Kim Yates: Russell Stover Chocolates Corey Hampton: VanTrust Real Estate Delaina Lee: BlueScope Buildings North America, inc. David Patrick: WizeWebz Bruce Scott: INNOVA Consulting Group Andy Tretiak: Airshare Jan Curry: Cerner Corporation Alma Azuara: T-Mobile Mike Yardley: VMLY&R Angela Connelly: T-Mobile Andre Davis: Built Interior

WATCH THE ZOOM PANEL CAREER ADVICE RECORDING ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17tmur62zHg&feature=youtu.be

Q1) Relative to the pre-pandemic time, what has changed about marketing careers (e.g., which have become more popular, less popular)? Why? Any other changes? Are these changes likely to be permanent?

● There hasn’t been a fundamental shift in careers, there are still great careers in agencies, , B2B. Clearly categories have been hit harder than others, entertainment and travel for example. ● The shift to Digital Commerce has been huge and permanent. It was an ongoing change in consumer behavior that was accelerated by five years. ● Data Analytics is fundamental to marketing and understanding your consumer ● Marketing is the blend between Art and Science, it’s one of the reasons it’s an amazing career for whole brain people. ● But, you must have a fundamental grasp of the consumer and how to use data to drive the business. ● Much innovation emerging from small entrepreneurial companies, so I encourage getting experiences at small agencies, companies, even starting your own social commerce business.

“If it was digital first now it is digital first, second, third, fourth and even fifth. In no way shape or form is dead. Anything digital or e-commerce is probably the way to go. I definitely think these changes in marketing are going to be long lasting. Our e-commerce business which was a priority before, was clearly an area we were investing in as a growth area. It promptly doubled” Ellen Junger, Chief Marketing Officer at Helzberg Diamonds https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellen-junger

Here were a few of my thoughts from the webinar: * If your digital presence (site UX, SEO, Keywords, , ecommerce) is not strong, you need to focus on this. We are going into a strong digital world.

* Even though Digital and Technology is key, the ability to embrace and utilize technology, building relationships is going to be even more important. People want to work with people they trust and believe truly want and can help them.

* We have all been too comfortable. I was talking with a management consultant earlier this week and his comment which I thought was spot on was we need to rethink how we are doing business. We need change our mind set of what we truly can be as professionals and businesses

* Ad Agencies are getting beat up by the Big Management Consults like Accenture and McKinsey because the MC's are looking at the brands business needs, strengths and weaknesses, Customer Experience and building the and campaign around this. Not just creating a story about your brand wrapped around pretty creative

* We need to help our prospects and customers with Fresh New Ideas, it may not be on your scope of work, but we should always be thinking about how we can help our clients even more while researching our prospects and giving them Fresh Ideas based on their industry

“Right now we need fresh ideas and we need to learn to be good at pivoting. We are going hard into technology & virtual communications, but it is still about building strong relationships. We have to be able to connect with someone via zoom, but you have to have that relationship and build on that for it to really work out. From a job standpoint, anything in the digital space, technology, user experience, can really help your customers or prospects think differently about their business and how to grow it. “ George Weyrauch, President at ROCK Creative Network https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgeweyrauch

Q2) Relative to the pre-pandemic time, what has changed about marketing job prospects (e.g., which marketing areas have seen stronger prospects? Weaker?) Why? Are these changes likely to be permanent?

“Marketing, the way it’s delivered is changing but ​ the quantity and quality of it hasn’t changed. Employers are looking for marketers to take the lead within their marketing departments and to help with a variety of roles. Marketing jobs are in demand and growing but what is most in demand is a niche market, specific skills or and certifications. Understand social media and not only the front end, but the backend data analytics behind it, the performance marketing side is what really matters.” Andrea Kirsch , President at MAKE Digital Group https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreakirsch

1. “BIG DEAS: The power of consumer insight driven big ideas hasn’t ​ changed since the pandemic. Big Ideas are and will always be one the most powerful levers that we lead as marketers, both from a marketing tactic/communication standpoint and in new product development. As such, candidates who understand who to mine for consumer insights, where to look for trends, and then think about how to turn those into ideas leading to communication plans and products, will always be in high demand. For students, this doesn’t mean that you need to have already demonstrated this skill set in a working setting, but it is critical to show how you have leveraged insights and trends in your class projects, organizational leadership roles, and work-related experience, to lead to new processes, communications, programs, or just overall better outcomes.

COVID has ramped up the need for great digital communication and on-line/ecommerce shopping. Therefore, the more savvy you are in the digital, social, ecommerce spaces, relative to Big Ideas and marketing leadership in general, the better.

2. NETWORKING: Executives and truly all employees are busier now ​ more than ever before. Recent data suggests that the average employee is now working an extra 2-3 hours a day as they work through their former commute time and what was left of a lunch hour. Candidates must be mindful of this as they think about marketing job prospects. It is vitally important to leverage your network. People generally often hire people who are personally recommended to them or endorsed by someone else whom they know and trust. This allows the job search process to be more efficient and for the hiring manager to take a leap of faith on a candidate who might otherwise be an unknown entity. Make sure that you have a profile on LinkedIn. Build your LinkedIn network. Then, leverage that tool to find out who you know who may know the person/people with whom you will be interviewing. Ask those contacts to make an introduction or to put in a good word on your behalf. You can and should also go old school on this as well – leverage neighbors, parents’ friends, school contacts – your full network to make connections.

3. EXECUTIVE PRESENCE: In a virtual environment, you will need to ​ work a bit harder to ensure that your ‘executive presence’ comes through in an interview. Be prepared – do your homework, practice your answers to top questions, and be prepared with questions for the interviewer. Dress for the discussion – whether that be for an interview or a virtual networking opportunity. Wear a suit or a jacket – dressing not just for the job you want, but one level beyond. Put in the same effort that you would for an in-person interview personal preparation (hair, makeup, etc.). Be mindful of what is in your background. We are all giving each other a great deal of grace relative to pets and kiddos infiltrating our Zoom calls these days, but you’ll want to minimize distractions while in career discussions. In terms of room set up, pick an area of your home that appears professional and polished. Finally, check out your lighting to ensure that your face is well lit during your

virtual call interactions. Consider a ‘selfie light’ available for as low as $20 on Amazon – they will make more of a difference than you might imagine.”

Kim Yates, Vice President Marketing & New Business Development at Russell Stover https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimyates12

“It’s all about digital for us and e-commerce. Our business is having one of the best years that we’ve had and it is because of e-commerce. People that are hiring marketing positions are hiring for a specific niche because budgets have been cut.”

Cory Hampton, Vice President/ Business and Strategic Development at VanTrust Real Estate, LLC https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreyhamptonvantrust

Q3) I have applied to over 100 job postings and received only 1 phone interview. I am frustrated. What might I do differently? Relative to the pre-pandemic time, what has changed about the recruiting process and salary levels for entry-level and mid-level marketing jobs?

“First, if you haven’t already, make sure someone else has reviewed your resume. Oftentimes, we forget our previous accomplishments or how other work can be directly applied to the role you’re applying for. Also, ensure your resume has the key words found in the job description. Most applications go through an ATS

(applicant tracking system) that weeds out applicants whose resumes don’t “match” the job description. Each resume you submit should be unique to that particular job. Ensuring you have as many keywords in your resume (and cover letter) will help boost your chances of breaking through the ATS system.

Second, look at your contacts and try to find connections to the companies you’re applying to. If you have a contact or even a secondary contact, reach out to them and see if they can offer advice or tips on how to get your name noticed. As the job hunt relates to pre-Covid, versus Covid, many companies have throttled back on hiring due to the uncertainty in the economy. That doesn’t mean you can’t find a job in your field. It just means it may take longer and on the top applicants will get the call back. I haven’t seen any indication that salary levels have shifted down for marketing roles. In fact, now is a great time to hire a marketing person, especially someone who is very strong in digital and online content. Imagine all the brands out there trying to reach their core customers without being able to attend or hold events or even travel. Digital events will continue to rise in popularity. This was once considered a niche skill, but is now going to be expected. Do you know the best practices of hosting a webinar? Can you help a company get better at them? If so, put that in your cover letter and highlight it in your resume, where possible.

Lastly, research the company you’re applying to. Look at their website, social channels and news articles. Try to find ways to incorporate your observations (focus on what they’re doing right, but be prepared to address things you can help them improve) into your cover letter. At the very least, be ready to weave your findings into a phone call when given the chance. Whatever you do, don’t give up! I also spoke about the importance of being a clear, concise communicator. If you know you’re not a strong writer, work on improving that skill today. It’s critical for ANY marketing role.”

Delaina Lee , Vice President/ Marketing at BlueScope Buildings North America, Inc. https://www.linkedin.com/in/delainalee

”Have a conversation with someone or find some ​ connections. Create the game board that’s going to allow you to win the game. A lot of the time the employers will ask who are and why are you here. You know who you are, but they want to know why they should have you there.”

David Patrick President, Partner at WizeWebz https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidfpatrick

”Linkedin is where a lot of business’s go to look to hire. Networking is a very helpful way to get a job. Know the company, know the positions that hire, and look who the CMO is. (research the company). Help the employers understand how you can be an attribute to the business.“ Bruce Scott , Vice President Of Business Development at INNOVA Consulting Group & BPM911 https://www.linkedin.com/in/brucescott1111

Q4) Academically & non-academically, what should students do ​ differently to be perceived as attractive job candidates? For example, academically, are there any courses or certifications that students must definitely take?

● Digital knowledge/expertise - our world is becoming even more digital post-covid ● From a marketing perspective, being able to target customers where they are (e.g., Search (organic & paid), Programmatic, Social media, Virtual Retail) ● Think about the customer first. (digital through a consumer lens) -- How can we service them? How can we connect with them? How can we communicate with them? How can we make it easy for them to do business with us? ● What is your omni-channel approach (e.g., Digital, Retail, Telesales)? ● What other marketing tactics can you leverage? For ex, direct mail can still be an effective tactic within your . ● Explain things in a simple manner, are we easy to follow and understand?

● Marketing strategy, critical thinking, being able to pivot quickly ● Soft skills are just as important - being open, adaptable, team-oriented, project / matrix management ● Take on leadership roles on team projects and local marketing & community organizations (e.g., American Marketing Association of Kansas City) ● Volunteer to gain new skills ● Don't forget to network - be open to meeting new people, finding mentors, etc.

“Digital data is incredibly important, the nature of marketing now is really focused on those areas. The basic fundamentals are still around marketing strategies and creative thinking. For Airshare it does present an opportunity around the pandemic in that safety has because more of the forefront.” Andy Tretiak , Chief Marketing Officer at AirShare https://www.linkedin.com/in/andytretiak

”Take as many courses as you can across all the different areas of marketing as well as finance and accounting. You need to understand why we do things and data analytics. A business degree is so important because you need to understand the financials. Know what’s going to resonate with your customer, whether your B to B, or B to C.

Understand that journey in the different personas within your target audience. Take leadership roles in your sororities or fraternities or any organization you belong to. All of that will help you lead and help you present and gain people's buy in.” Jan Curry , Sr. Manager/ Digital & Campaign Strategy in Worldwide Marketing and Communications at Cerner Corporation https://www.linkedin.com/in/innovatorjancurry

“It’s all about really understanding the customer's ​ journey. It’s very important that you are resourceful, you know what questions to ask when you are leading a project, because a lot of the time it is project matrixing and just making sure that you know what to ask and where to go to. Also networking and finding local groups is very important. It can provide the experience and development skills to make you a strong fit for a marketing career.” Alma Azuara, Marketing Manager at T-Mobile https://www.linkedin.com/in/almaazuara

Q5) Relative to the pre-pandemic time, what do you believe should the Bloch school do differently to help their students?

What we can do to help UMKC Block students? Define the landscape, in ​ particular the new virtual landscape, of the corporate world. ● Digital marketing ● Retail marketing ● Share what skills are needed in the new virtual world ● Virtual tools ● The hiring and onboarding process is different

Suggestions: ● Be proactive – don’t be afraid, be bold. It’s even harder to stand out now so use your voice to be front and center and bring your best game ● Be a self-starter – it’s easy to sit back and wait for opportunities and people to come to you, don’t fall into that trap. Be a critical-thinker and problem-solver, realize that everyone is dealing with the pandemic, how can you fit in or make a difference given this? ● Don’t be afraid to fail – failures are the best learning opportunities and you won’t grow if you don’t take risks ● Don’t be anxious – don’t create anxiety for yourself

● Be a self-starter – it’s easy to sit back and wait for opportunities and people to come to you, don’t fall into that trap ● Check on the parents and loved ones – Check on your parents and make sure you’re not adding to their anxiety. They have enough to deal to work with while working through this pandemic and financing your college costs. ● Be self-aware – seek feedback from many angles ● Fully utilize opportunities the Bloch School provides – be proactive in seeking out resources ● Mentor program, MAC members – we’re here for you so reach out! ● But don’t think Bloch is going to give you all that you need for your specific career aspirations

“Biggest skill set is soft skills, you need to be able to make mistakes and grow from your mistakes. You have to be willing to take something that has little definition and make it into something, and make it a part of something else without the collaboration taking place day in and day out. These qualities make for a leading marketer.” Mike Yardley, Chiefs Integrations Office at VML https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-yardley-6034a11

“Volunteer and get involved and do some things on your own. Be proactive, know yourself, and make your mark on the world. Knowing business is really important, if you know business you can be at the table and help companies be more successful.” Angela Connelly, Senior Brand Strategist at T-Mobile https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelaconnelly

“A few tips to help right now: ​ *Check on your parents and make sure you're not adding anxiety to them. They ​ have enough to deal with while working through this pandemic and financing your college costs. *Don't create anxiety for yourself when you don't need to. *Be grateful for the good things in your life and live in the moment. *Research companies that have a good culture and inquire if your skillset could be of use. *Approach organizations with a "critical-thinking" and "solving problems" attitude. *Understand, everyone is dealing with the Pandemic, what do you bring to an organization?”

Andre Davis, Corporate Engagement Executive at Built https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreldavis

MARKETING ADVISORY COUNCIL KANSAS CITY LEADERS HELPING TO DESIGN AND DRIVE MARKETING EDUCATION FOR THE FUTURE

The Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management at the University of Missouri Kansas City and the Henry W. Bloch School of Management is home to nationally recognized faculty who take pride in teaching scholarly and applied research. We partner with an active Marketing Advisory Council (MAC) composed of marketing leadership from the Kansas City area and the practicing community. Together we strive to develop high-quality graduate and undergraduate students who are skilled and trained to solve marketing problems and who are sought after by marketing employers.

Written Responses of Teams to Covid Questions Not Asked at the Event

Q6): Has technology been a threat or opportunity for your organization since Covid began? How did your organization adapt to Covid? Team 6 Response - Grant Gooding, Kelly Hancox Response #1: Technology has most certainly been an opportunity for our organization. Pre-COVID we used a lot of face-to-face meetings and events to generate business and strategic partnerships. Once everything got locked down we had to pivot much our biz dev strategy to online only. One of the things we did was create a subscription 5-part education series we ran live through Zoom. We had hundreds of attendees and was way more successful than we thought it would be. It allowed us to fill our pipeline and close business through the lock down. We have decided to use these tactics as a permanent part of our marketing mix.

Response #2: During Covid, technology has been an opportunity for my company. When the world went urgently to a work from home approach, my company’s IT department jumped into action to enable new tools for our business including a swift deployment of Microsoft's Teams virtual conferencing suite. This enabled teams to continue collaboration and real-time development by adding new virtual conferencing solutions and adding new features on-going to enable more collaboration to replace in-person meetings. Our company's global construct enabled us to adapt to the new virtual conferencing culture quickly but with new video capabilities, we were able to have even more interaction and collaboration with our colleagues and business partners around the world in a virtual video experience. The teams have implemented the discipline of adding MS Teams video conferencing to all meetings to ensure maximizing collaboration no matter where associates are located. For my department, we adapted quickly as an organization. As soon as covid work from home occurred, I started a Monday 15-min stand up meeting and Friday 15-min stand up meeting to stay connected and attune to each other. On Monday, we do a round robin sharing our goals for the week or some other subject and on Friday we do round robin sharing our high & low for the week. It has been a great way to stay engaged with each other and to learn about tailwinds and headwinds of each other. over the past 7 months during Covid.

Q7) What are some common misconceptions of the marketing industry? Can you share few marketing trends that you see in the future? Team 7 Response - Roy Johnson, Chris Kovak Q7) Response #1:

● What are some common misconceptions of the marketing industry? ● Often times individuals confuse “Marketing” with “”. Marketing focuses in on identifying and understanding customer and consumer needs and determining a strategy of how to best meet those customer and consumer needs. Advertising is a component of a marketing strategy that drives awareness and demand of the product or service that meets a customer or consumer need. ● Often times individuals think you need a big budget to make an impact in marketing and more specifically advertising a product or service. The key to marketing and advertising is clearly identifying a customer and consumer need and determining the best strategy to meet those needs. For example, Tesla spends very little on traditional marketing and advertising but has strong brand recognition and demand.

● Can you share few marketing trends that you see in the future? ● Digital marketing will continue to play a more important role as we move forward. Additional, omnichannel digital marketing across multiple platforms like website, email, social media, apps and content integration will be critical to connect with customers and consumers at a variety of touch points with consistent messaging. ● Marketing will continue to become more personalized with product and service offerings and how consumers and customers are made aware of these products and services.

Q7) Response #2: Common misconceptions regarding the marketing industry is that everyone is a potential customer. For a vast majority of businesses, the ideal customer includes fairly narrow audiences. We caution clients against having a ‘one-size fits all’ approach. Instead, we recommend focusing on identifying key customer personas, their attributes and what channels they are active in. We then try to

understand the customer journey, from awareness to conversion. Each ideal customer persona should have unique messaging that is targeted to that specific persona. We recommend starting with the top 3-5 target personas and build individual marketing programs for each persona, using a test and refine strategy. Additionally, marketing programs can be changed in real time. Using analytics, we can identify underperforming campaigns and make adjustments ‘on the fly.’

The trends in marketing change extraordinarily quickly – change is the only constant. Often times we focus on the new ‘shiny object,’ whether it’s a new social media platform or a new technology like augmented reality. Those platforms and technologies are simply tools. We encourage folks to focus on the fundamentals first; those fundamentals include the following.

1) Start with marketing and business objectives. What is the goal of your campaign and how do we measure success? What are the most relevant KPIs (key performance indicators)?

2) Who are the target audiences (personas)?

3) What differentiates your product from the competition? What are the proof points?

4) What are the key messages for each audience persona?

5) What channels are your target personas most active in (TV, radio, social, print, email, etc.)?

6) What’s the ‘one thing’ we want to convey to the target audience/s?

7) Map the customer journey and each marketing touchpoint to integrate communications within all channels. Utilize data and analytics to validate marketing hypotheses and identify the marketing ROI (mROI).

8) Create a customer advisory panel to validate customer trends and other marketplace insights. Seek feedback often from the advisory panel.

Q8) What was your role pre-Covid and has it changed in the current Covid environment? Tips for virtually networking on LinkedIn? Team 8 Response - Jimmy Keown, Melissa Hendricks Q8) Response: My fundamental role and job duties haven't changed significantly, but the methods and ways of working have. I lead a lot of large-scale strategic consulting projects, and COVID required significant changes to how we conduct research, meet with clients, and ultimately deliver value of these services within a virtual world. Traditionally I have been on the road a significant amount - for purposes of new business development, research, and client presentation. COVID has significantly decreased the amount of new business development travel, but that has been replaced by a significantly heavier LOE (level of effort) for research and client presentation. We have had to increase our thought leadership to help supplement the lack of in-person meetings, and virtual business development meetings are just harder to conduct, so there haven't been many of them.

Some tips for virtual networking. While many professionals are busier than ever, that should never hold you back from reaching out for informational coffee sessions and discussions to learn more. You may have to be more persistent, but a majority of people are still willing to give you 30 or 60 of their time. Offer up different modalities - instead of doing another zoom call, maybe ask for a phone call. Prior to your outreach to connections, be sure to do your homework and come with a POV for their business and the questions you want to explore with them. Don't focus primarily on trying to find an employment opportunity, rather have a meaningful discussion about the business, what they've experienced, and what they see in the future of their company or industry. This is important. They will remember you if you come with a sharp perspective and ask provocative questions.

Q9) What has been the most challenging aspect of Covid-19 on your role? On the marketing industry? Team 9 Response - Ted Sowle, Kristy Lewis Q9) Response: First, know that my perspectives are viewed from a food and beverage lens. The most challenging hurdles in my role have been getting a better understanding of stimulus and Covid-19 related impacts on exchange rates, as the majority of the volume I am responsible for is exported. We do forecast market factors such as

droughts and their respective impacts on our dairy commodity competitiveness (vs. Eurasia), as well as other macro factors. However, the notion that a pandemic would cause such wild swings in availability and channel switching was nowhere in our sights.

For the domestic portion of our business, the most challenging aspect has been the struggle to balance inventory with an increased demand for categories in retail, as foodservice has been so adversely affected. Not that we have supply and inventory issues like Clorox wipes, but we do see several categories in the dairy sector gaining steam where prior to Covid-19, they were not growing as fast. Fortunately, most of our products have relatively short shelf codes, with lower weeks of supply. That’s good for return on assets, but can cause logistical deliveries to our customers that try to keep up with demand.

As far as the marketing industry as a whole, I think marketing food and beverages within the digital space is only going to escalate as we are going from familiarity, to everyday usage of delivery platforms and more convenient/hands free shopping services. As adoption of Instacart and similar services for retail, as well as foodservice delivery platforms such as UberEATS, etc. gain penetration, the need to persuade consumers in that space, and a more direct methodology to trace marketing effectiveness will lead to more growth in digital campaigns that drive these platforms.

Q10) What are some qualities in a student or professional that you would look for, and feel are crucial for success? Piece of advice for graduating marketing students? Team 10 Response - Laura Scobie, Marcia Youker Q10) Response

● Creative eye and creative ability ● Writing expertise – tell the story to sell a service or product ● PR/Social knowledge – understand the nuances of digital business communication ● Self-starter to seek opportunities and bring ideas/solutions to the table ● Understand how marketing/sales contribute to the business financially ● Have general business awareness and knowledge ● Know the company in and out to help promote strengths and differentiators