Coffee Chats Vol 4: Marketing Masterclass Every Business Student Should Hear

Marketing has always been an industry painted as volatile and unreliable compared to other areas of business. Yet marketing has always been so fascinating to me. The combination of creative work with data analysis is what made me so interested in this industry. Despite the red flags I've heard about marketing, my coffee chat with Michelle Clark, Senior Director at G3 Enterprises, has completely changed the way I view this field in the best way possible. Today, I want to share the most valuable lessons I took away from someone with such a tenured and diverse background in this industry.

Lesson 1: Where you go to school matters less than what you make of it. One of the most impressive things I learned about Michelle is that she was accepted into UPenn, one of the most prestigious undergraduate business programs you can get into. But sometimes the hardest part isn't getting in. Sometimes the cost of attendance is a deal breaker for even the most qualified students. As someone who has constantly underrated himself for choosing community college, the message she left me with is that talented people can succeed anywhere. She believes that "if you are a smart, talented person, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter where you go. You can be successful at any school. It's all about what you make of your situation."

Lesson 2: Do what you love and the money will follow, but make sure you can pay rent. You've probably heard that first line from the NYU art major who's struggling to pay off their student loans, but Michelle's version was much more realistic. She does believe that "you will make the most money in your life if you're doing something you're passionate about," but she's also aware that "everyone's got bills to pay." Her first PR job offer out of college simply didn't pay enough to cover her rent, despite being the first offer she'd gotten in months. Eventually that patience paid off, and she landed a job at the LA Times with nearly a 50% salary increase. You have to be realistic when chasing your dreams. Of course, pursue what you love, but do your homework first, and make sure your industry can support the lifestyle you want to live.

Lesson 3: Marketing masterclass. I asked Michelle straight up: is marketing still a viable career, and if I wanted to break in and build a successful career, what should I do right after I graduate? Here's what I learned. Marketing is still absolutely a viable career. Obviously it's not as lucrative as high finance or tech, but you can still reasonably break six figures.

Now here's my game plan to break into marketing (feel free to steal it).

Lesson 3.1: Good marketers are both creative and analytical. Know where you sit on that spectrum. Michelle told me that to be successful in marketing, you should have a grasp of both the creative and technical sides, but know which one you lean toward. Why? Because you should know your specialty, which will help you break into larger companies. Here are two tips she gave me for each side. Creative-leaning people should be cautious entering fields like graphic design and copywriting, because AI is taking over and strategy roles are key. As she put it, "you can't just be a copywriter anymore, because chat will do it. But what you can be is a strategist who can tell chat what it needs to write and review it and edit it." Analytical-leaning people should learn how to differentiate interesting data from useful data, and be able to turn that data into insights that influence decisions. Marketing insights is the most important skill Michelle looks for in candidates.

Lesson 3.2: Bigger really is better. For my early career, I'm going to try to break into as big of a company as possible, ideally a Fortune 500. Even though bigger companies are typically harder to break into and more demanding once you're in, the best time to work for one is early in your career. Why? Michelle boiled it down to three things: you can build a bigger network, you'll be exposed to a ton of incredibly smart people in a variety of roles, and you can often increase your earning potential. She told me that "after the first 10 years, every job I've gotten has been through networking." She called networking "the number one most important thing you can do in the first five years of your career." Last, is you more likely to receive a higher salary and more resources, which you can leverage later in your career to at least match or exceed your salary in future roles.

Michelle taught me so much about marketing, and it was an absolute pleasure to learn from someone as impressive as her.