In October, I attended Moxie All Access, the Atlanta marketing agency’s open house. During the event, Moxie showcased their stunning Future X Lab and some of its recent innovations. I had a blast networking and learning more about the exciting projects that Moxie is working on. Check out some of my observations and reflections below!

 

Experimentation is Vital

From the moment I stepped inside the open house, it was clear to me that Moxie prioritized innovation and experimentation. Each project was thrilling to behold, as both a consumer and a marketing professional. In some of the most impressive project showcases, it was clear that the innovation came before the application. It was obvious to participants that Moxie not only wasn’t afraid to experiment, but was also actively building innovation into their office culture. For me, seeing these really stunning projects really emphasized the value of both encouraging and budgeting for experimentation.  

Familiar Faces

During the course of the open house, I recognized, and interacted with many marketing professionals that I had met at other networking events like Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association (AIMA)’s Generation Z panel and American Marketing Association (AMA) Atlanta’s Emerging Martech Solutions panel. It was delightful to touch base with everyone again and to see some people in a different professional context. It felt fantastic to see my hard work networking produce results as these connections remembered me. 

Emerging Trends

Many of the trends and buzzwords of digital marketing that I’ve learned about at AMA Atlanta and AIMA events were central themes of Moxie’s open house. Virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI), and biometrics dominated the open house, and rightfully so, because these are some of the most up-and-coming technologies. it was exciting to see some of these technologies in action at a marketing agency after learning about them at panels and seminars. 

Interested in learning more? Reach out to me via email

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In early October, I attended “Ready for Takeoff: Navigating Today’s Emerging Martech Solutions.” The event was my first American Marketing Association (AMA) Atlanta event as a member. I had a blast  learning more about upcoming digital marketing trends and building my professional network. Hosted by the Association’s Innovation Marketing Special Interest Group, the event featured a panel of three fantastic marketers: Jason Brett of IBM Watson Marketing, Joanie Twersky of AT&T, and Tod Szewczyk of Leo Burnett. Check out my list of five things I learned below!

5 Things I Learned at AMA’s Martech Panel

1. Consumers want brands to stand for something

As all three panelists emphasized, consumers expect brands to take a stand on current events and social issues. This consumer expectation is borne from a recent shift within the last two decades towards increased socially conscious consumerism. More than ever before, consumers want to cast their vote with their dollars. As consumers look to buy from companies that echo their activism, marketers must rise to the challenge of creating brands that are associated with taking action on social issues.

2. Objects populate the internet

More devices than ever before have internet capability. At the same time, the cost of these devices is decreasing, making them more accessible to consumers. Every device with internet capability is linked to an IP address, populating the web with devices ranging from the familiar to the unexpected. Cell phones, artificial intelligence (AI) smart-speakers, smart watches, washing machines, coffee percolators, and light fixtures now populate the internet. Collectively, this Internet of Things (IoT) produces tremendous user data that marketers must sift through. This sudden wealth of usable data poses an overwhelming challenge to marketers as they must evaluate how to use it. 

3. The rate of change for technology is dramatically increasing.

As the above point illustrates, the rate of change for technology is rapidly increasing. As panelist Joanie Twersky of AT&T outlined, AI machine learning and virtual reality (VR) technologies have significantly altered the marketing landscape. With an influx of new technology, marketers are faced with a steeper learning curve for not only themselves, but consumers. Twersky explained that oftentimes marketers find themselves trying to utilize tech for marketing that consumers may not even be familiar with, citing AT&T’s recent augmented reality campaign to promote its 5G data network.  

4. Keeping up with trends is hard work

So with all these technological jumps, how can marketers stay on top of changes?  There is no simple answer. As all three panelists noted, the best strategy is to read as many sources as possible, talk to consumers, and get out of the office. One panelist boldly argued that as marketers we should all live by the acronym NIHITO— Nothing Interesting Happens In The Office. Although there is no singular answer on how to stay abreast of martech trends, avid reading and data-gathering an excellent start. 

5. We must build experimentation into the budget

As one panelist stated, if you’re not experimenting you’ll be left behind. The same panelist argued that marketers should create a core budget for regular, expected expenses as well as an additional budget for experimental projects. The panelist argued that this calculated experimentation was the key to innovation. `

Interested in learning more? Reach out to me via email

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In September, I attended one of Turknett Leadership Group‘s Women in Leadership (WIL) Seminars with Agnes Scott College. The WIL Seminar series is a monthly small group forum that has met for over 16 years. The program features accomplished women speakers who share their leadership experiences through lectures. 

During the event,”How to Spur Creativity, Teamwork and Innovation in Your Organization,” speaker Lisa Fey,  led a series of interactive activities designed to build collaboration and problem-solving skills. Fey is the president of Lisa Fey Speaks LLC and a former Sales & Marketing Leader at The Coca-Cola Company.

Inspiration In Improv

In her talk and corresponding activities, Fey often drew upon improv theories. She explained this inspiration, arguing that improv simulates the conditions of the contemporary workplace. Most of the time, we do not have the luxury of a rehearsal in the workplace and instead must be adaptable. Fey  postulated that improv simulates this everyday time constraint and helps us become more creative thinkers in a crunch. Most importantly, she argues, improv teaches people how to listen and collaborate in group settings. Both the aforementioned pressure to generate creative solutions in a designated time and the pressure to perform collaboratively with a group become motifs in Fey’s talk that permeated each activity. 

Using "And" Instead of "But"

Activity Premise

I volunteered to participated in Fey’s first activity “Yes—And.” During this activity, the other three participants and I had to plan an imaginary event together. Each participant had to generate an idea in response to the idea of the person who spoke prior to them using “Yes—and” as a transition phrase. 

For example, someone might say: “Yes— And we should serve cupcakes at the party.” Then, the next person might say: “Yes— And they should be blue to match the theme.” The activity was fast paced, with each idea coming right after another.

Connections to Improv

The activity built upon the two themes of improv mentioned earlier: working under pressure and working collaboratively. The fast pace of the activity applied pressure for each participant to come up with the next line of the plan in front of a room full of people. Despite this constraint, each participant was able to generate creative, innovative ideas. Additionally, we all also had to work collaboratively to build off the idea that the previous person had said. In order to be successful, we had to listen well to understand the idea before adding to it. I observed first-hand how great communication starts with great listening. This activity illustrated both themes and how improv could help us function better in time crunches where we had to collaborate. 

Opening Dialogue

By using the phrase “Yes—And” in our group activity, we created space for possibility and set the stage for innovation. Using this affirming and open-ended phrase showed that there were no wrong answers and created momentum for generating more ideas. The activity made me realize that just as there are phrases that open dialogue, there are phrases to shut it down. One such example is “Yes—But.” Where “Yes—And” created space for innovation, “Yes—But” would have halted creativity. Phrases like “Yes—But” created a standard of censorship and begin to close off pathways for exploration. This activity emphasized the importance of the  language we use to brainstorm creative solutions. 

The Power of Positive Affirmation

For the next activity, Fey asked for a a singular participant and I volunteered. After asking me to stand at the front of the room, she instructed the audience to join her in giving me a standing ovation. She asked me how it felt and I replied that it felt good. She used my response to illustrate how positive affirmation holds the power to value and motivate people. Fey argued that we must recognize supervisors, employees, and coworkers with this same positive affirmation in order to  give them the recognition they deserve. 

Receiving a Standing Ovation 

Application In My Work

Immediately after this event I started using the “Yes—And” linguistic strategy in my everyday work. I found that it was really effective in collaborative projects with coworkers and classmates, but more interestingly, it was also helpful to use with tutoring clients as well as self-reflexively. 

When I used the “Yes—And” technique with clients I helped tutees in the Center for Writing and Speaking to flesh out their ideas. By using “Yes—And” strategy, I was able to assist writers and presenters with building momentum in their brainstorming, which usually led them to produce a greater number of creative ideas. Additionally, this strategy helped me to assist writers and presenters in taking their ideas further by teaching them how to turn off their own internal editors. By using the “Yes—And” method I was able to help clients take generate new ideas and take their innovation further. 

Once I started applying this linguistic technique with tutees, I tried to apply it to how I thought about myself. I used it as a thought prompting tool for everything from generating new ideas for written content to  maintaining my creative momentum on long-term projects to turning off my own internal editor to overcome creative obstacles.  

Interested in learning more? Reach out to me via email

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Professor Michael Smith’s lecture on project management during the Bridge to Business Program helped me to further understand my leadership goals for the next few years. During Professor Smith’s lecture, I realized that every aspect of my professional life is an unofficial project, which I really enjoy managing. Often, the roles and experiences I have thrived in have been unofficial project management positions. From my internship with the Women’s Resource Center to End Domestic Violence to my job as an Agnes Scott College Center for Writing and Speaking tutor, I have worked and thrived in several project management roles.

I was very drawn to the efficiency and structure of project management. Risk register, stakeholder register, and stakeholder management were especially fascinating for me. I realized that I often naturally organize my thoughts using these factors. Therefore, I learned that I want a job where I can manage projects like Professor Smith described and I am even interested in pursuing a project management certification in the future. As I apply for jobs over the next year, I plan to keep an eye out for positions that provide opportunities to lead projects so that I can follow this interest. 

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My Summer as a Digital Marketing Intern in Tourism

Located a little over an hour north of Atlanta, Dahlonega is the site of the first major U.S. Gold Rush as well as the heart of Georgia’s wine country. During June and July, I spent forty hours per week as a digital marketing intern with the Dahlonega-Lumpkin Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau. Using email newsletters, Facebook, and blog posts, I developed social media campaigns and monitored analytics to promote Dahlonega, local businesses, and Chamber commerce events. 

Tourism Meet Our Member Site Visits

Each week I was able to analyze marketing strategy during visits to members of the Chamber of Commerce, during Tourism Meet Our Members (TMOM) site visits. I learned about their business models, promotion strategies, missions, and services in order to help market them via social media as an element of Dahlonega’s tourism industry.

My Role in Digital Marketing Campaigns

Tourism Newsletter

While at the Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau , I redesigned, managed, and optimized the monthly tourism newsletter using Constant Contact. During my six weeks as an inten, I reached  a circulation of 12,530 readers on average per newsletter, increased our open rate by 9%, increased our delivery rate by 2%, decreased our bounce rate by 2%, and decreased our did not open rate by 9%.

Facebook Page

While at the Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau, I managed and optimized the “Visit Dahlonega” Facebook page. By actively posting, responding to messages, and creating original content, I increased average post reactions by 304.55%, average organic page content reach by 149.77%, followers by 3.13%, and likes by 2.82%. 

Dahlonega Tourism Website

Additionally, I researched, wrote, and designed visuals for 12 feature stories for tourism website Dahlonega.org using content management system Joomla!, which increased website average new users by 39.95%.

Evaluating Success

All of these digital marketing duties and their corresponding metrics worked together to create the Visitors Bureau’s digital marketing strategy. Each week, the Director of Tourism and I would evaluate the success of these campaigns in meetings with a consultant from digital marketing firm Reach Local. We used the software ReachEdge and Google Analytics to evaluate our for search engine advertising, Facebook advertising, retargeting, and display advertising. These weekly meetings taught me how digital marketing metrics can impact strategy.

Take Aways

My six weeks as a digital marketing intern cemented my interested in working in social media marketing. It provided me with invaluable experience in data analytics, content creation, and marketing strategy. 

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 I am a senior at Agnes Scott College, earning a degree in Women’s Studies with minors in Business Management, English, and Global Learning. Because of my interdisciplinary background, I have been able to explore and connect my professional interests to make the most out of any opportunity.

During the summer of 2018, I worked as a digital marketing intern for the Dahlonega-Lumpkin Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau, where I ran multiple campaigns for the tourism department. My experience managing social media, creating content, and monitoring analytics firmly cemented my desire to work in the digital marketing industry. 

During the academic year, I work as a tutor at Agnes Scott College’s Center for Writing and Speaking, where I work with students transform their abstract ideas into dynamic speeches, presentations, and essays. Each year I co-teach a college-level leadership course for first-year students, where I am able to help foster their intellectual and personal growth as they interrogate what it means to be a leader. This gives me the opportunity to write original course materials, teach content in the classroom, and design engaging learning experiences

Through my eclectic array of experiences as an American Marketing Association member, Women’s Bridge to Business alumna, and global traveler, I have built my adaptability and critical thinking skills. 

No matter what I do, I always strive to approach my work with a big-picture, goal-oriented attitude that lends itself to structure, collaboration, and innovation.

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