Learning from the Experts - Speaker Series: Volume 1

A student who is about to start their career in the Digital Marketing sector is always skeptical about the road ahead. But if you get to hear directly hear from industry stalwarts about their experiences, journey, and learnings, it gives you confidence and motivates you to achieve your goals. Having started with the second semester of the Digital Media Marketing course at George Brown College, we have had the chance to hear from 2 successful marketers about their journey and advice for individuals who are starting their career in this field. This is the first article that I am publishing about the speaker series that has a lot of experienced speakers to come and share their insights with us.

First, we had the privilege of listening and interacting with Ms. Caroline Berryman. Caroline is the Marketing & Communications Supervisor in the Transportation Services Department with the Regional Municipality of York. Coincidentally, it is the same region where I reside. Caroline is a marketing professional with over 25 years of experience within the industry (both private and public sector combined).

The first question that came to my mind when I saw her profile was that since she had experience in both public and private sectors, was asking the difference in the work environment between the two. She explained that in the private sector, her focus was more on sales and marketing. Whereas the public sector is heavily focused on social, educational, and informative marketing. She also emphasized that we should not be afraid or hesitant when we come across a contractual position as it gives you equivalent learning and might lead to permanent roles in the future.

In the end, we also discussed a case study on the York region campaign of “Stay Safe While Walking at Night” which is a great initiative to raise awareness about pedestrian safety on road. One of the major discussion topics was, "How changing behaviors is not an easy process and the resistance that marketers face when trying to change behavior". We discussed the challenges like people do not accept change easily since they have their set ways of doing things and thus have no reason to listen to marketers trying to convey the message otherwise. Marketers should gather feedback, incorporate it in their marketing materials, and then try to change behavior thereby resulting in less resistance. Marketers must always think on their feet and come up with a unique solution. Here is the video of the campaign.

With the amount of learning and exposure from the first guest speaker, the excitement and enthusiasm for the next speaker were unparalleled. In the next week, we had the pleasure of listening and learning from Ms. Cathy McKnight. Cathy is currently working with The Content Advisory as VP of strategy and consulting and the chief solver of problems. Cathy comes with a global work experience of over 20 years and has expertise in content strategy, content management, intranets, content and marketing technologies, and customer experience. Cathy is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) (a certification that I always wanted to obtain).

Despite having such vast experience and working with CXOs on regular basis, Cathy was very humble and brought heaps of positive energy and enthusiasm to the session. She shared her career path, and all the students were in awe of her achievements. Cathy also shared how she was studying Public Relations and then let it go as she did not feel the connection and alignment with her career goals. She shared this important mantra that you should always follow and pursue what you want along with what interests you so that you are always inquisitive. While Cathy was sharing her journey, she further mentioned how varied/ exclusive the experiences are when you are working for a boutique agency versus large consulting firms with the pros and cons of both. She also explained that while boutique agencies give you a platter of activities (including activities that are not defined in your job description) that help you become a jack of all trades, some people want growth specific to a domain. Cathy also explained that there is growth in both types of organizations, and it is just a matter of fit. Our skill sets must align with the organizational goals and objectives so that there is no expectation mismatch thereby leading to dissatisfaction and this is what we need to take care of while searching for our internships as well.

During our interactions with these speakers, we confirmed our belief that we must always pursue the path that we are interested in and give our 100%. If we do that, no matter the size of the organization, we will achieve success. Another thing that we learned was that everything takes time and there is no need to rush for results. There is something out there for everyone, and we need to spot that and reach for it. We are our competition, and only we can limit ourselves.

Thank you, Wendy Greenwood, for scheduling these delightful, and inspirational speakers. Thank you, Caroline Berryman and Cathy McKnight for taking out the time and sharing these brilliant insights as we begin our careers.