The Digital Marketing Trends event was held at the University of Colorado Denver Business School on Wednesday Oct. 5th. Industry panelists included
- Rich Donahue, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Ibotta
- Chris Glode, Vice President, Digital, Under Armour
- Zack Houck, Lead Marketing Manager, Uber
- Mike Lee, Strategic Director, Cactus
- Ann Oleson, CEO and Founder, Converge Consulting
- and Nick Williams, Interactive Media Manager, Digital Fusion.
Sue Wyman, Director of the Business Career Connections, moderated the panel. Opening comments were given by Vicki Lane, Marketing Program Director.
Described as the promotion of products or brands via electronic media, digital marketing has become an integral part of business with the internet and mobile devices serving as the discipline’s two primary channels. Digital advertising revenues have skyrocketed from $12.5 billion to over $59.6 billion in the past ten years alone, while mobile revenues have grown at an equally astounding rate from $1.6 billion to $20.7 billion in the past four years.
The panelists have industry experience with top brands that include Kellogg’s, Kimberly-Clark, MapMyFitness, HP, Best Buy, HJ Heinz, Colorado Lottery, Denver Zoo, and the University of Colorado. They highlighted the importance of marketing analytics due to digital marketing’s unique ability to be measured in real time. Panelists noted that the role of analytics has expanded far beyond a single department, therefore all marketers need to be savvy in that area. Also discussed was the need for a deep understanding of marketing fundamentals, great writing and communication skills, and the ability to learn and leverage ever-changing marketing tools.
Additional trends discussed were Geofencing, Live Video Streaming, Storytelling, Customer Experience, Mobile, and Virtual and Augmented Reality.
Ann Oleson, CEO and Founder of Converge Consulting, recommended that students interested in digital marketing take advantage of training and certifications from multiple industry leaders. “Digital marketing is a constantly evolving field and marketers have to be self-motivated and continuous learners to keep up,” said Oleson.
Her presentation shared insights on HubSpot Academy courses and certifications including Inbound Certification, Email Marketing, Inbound Sales, and Content Marketing. The full list can be found at https://academy.hubspot.com/certification. Google offers online Analytics courses that can be found at https://analyticsacademy.withgoogle.com. Salesforce offers brief online courses at https://trailhead.salesforce.com/modules
Another panelist, Chris Glode, discussed the importance of remaining hands-on with your product and brand. “Marketers who specialize in the digital mediums are especially vulnerable to becoming disconnected with the customer. Data only tells part of the story. Time spent in the field, standing in real-world marketplaces and selling products to customers directly by talking to them, yields crucial insights that are simply hidden from analytics, surveys and other digital approaches,” said Glode.
“The speakers were fabulous,” said Vicki Lane, Director of the Marketing program, “The Digital Panel provided insight to our students about what is happening in the digital world right now.”
The event was co-sponsored by Business Career Connections and the Marketing Club.
