As someone who writes frequently about Internet marketing, I think of my audience as one of professionals—folks who already understand marketing (and probably Internet marketing) who want to keep up with the latest ideas. But what about new marketers, such as college students studying marketing? How are they learning Internet marketing? I learned marketing from a textbook, but can Internet marketing be learned that way?
No, says Elaine Young, marketing professor of Champlain College. At Champlain, they’ve even diced up the senior marketing into a series of one-credit courses highlighting the latest marketing tactics. I’m sure they still use books, but Elaine emphasizes the need to use the Internet to learn Internet marketing.
But the most striking part of her post talks about how students use the Internet for fun, but are floored to get a job interview through Facebook. Unlike veteran marketers who are adapting to Internet marketing as a new tactic for accomplishing age-old marketing goals, college students are coming from the opposite perspective. They are veterans at the Internet, but are adapting to its use in marketing.
So many people talk about cross-functional teams, but maybe cross-generational teams are the next big thing. Veteran marketers can team with young Internet-savvy types who are green at marketing. Maybe it’s so obvious that everyone is doing it already, but I haven’t seen much of it. We’ve always had older marketers working with younger marketers, as in any profession, but are any companies actively recruiting college students and placing them in teams with senior people to attack Internet marketing?
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