Lisa D. Spiller

Curriculum Currency: Integrating Direct and Interactive Marketing Content in Introductory Marketing Courses

This study investigates the extent to which educators address direct and interactive marketing concepts in undergraduate introductory marketing courses. As practitioners seek more accountability from their marketing efforts, so too must academia respond with more relevant content. Results from textbook content analysis suggest that direct and interactive marketing content coverage has grown significantly over the past decade, but survey results from marketing faculty indicate coverage in the classroom lags. This study establishes a baseline of the related topic coverage in introductory marketing courses and suggests a variety of teaching resources to integrate direct and interactive marketing content to improve curricular currency without trying to add more to an already “saturated sponge.”

Analyzing media types and content orientations in Facebook for global brands

Purpose – This study aims to examine current practices of social media marketing among major global brands across five product categories (namely, convenience, shopping, specialty, industrial and service). Assessing the frequency, media type and content orientations of corporate Facebook pages, this study aims to isolate the qualitative factors of a brand’s social media message that are most likely to facilitate a consumer response. Design/methodology/approach – A content analysis of 1,086 social media posts was conducted from the corporate Facebook pages of 92 global brands during a one-month (snapshot) time horizon in July 2013. The data collected from each individual post include its media type (i.e. text, photo or video), its content orientation (i.e. task, interaction and self-oriented) and the number and type of consumer response it generated (i.e. likes, comments and shares). Findings – Research findings reveal that global brands actively utilize social media, posting on average three messages per ...

Integrating Metrics Across the Marketing Curriculum The Digital and Social Media Opportunity

Modern digital and social media formats have revolutionized marketing measurement, producing an abundance of data, meaningful metrics, new tools, and methodologies. This increased emphasis on metrics in the marketing industry signifies the need for increased quantitative and critical thinking content in our marketing coursework if we are to adequately prepare our students for industry needs. This article discusses the growing relevance of marketing metrics, reviews the metrics currently available for digital and social media, provides two real-world examples of organizations using digital and social media metrics to drive strategic marketing decisions (especially integrated marketing communication decisions) and offers both suggestions for how to weave more digital and social media quantitative analysis and critical thinking skills into our marketing courses and examples of student work using social media tools.

Senior citizen discount programs: which seniors to target and why

Explores the use of senior citizen discount programs and asks who uses these programs and for what products and services. Reports on a study of female consumers 65 years and older conducted in a midwestern US city. Demonstrates that a segmentation approach based on product type is desirable inmarketing to older consumers. Discusses some potential bases for segmentation.

50 Ways to Enhance Student Career Success in and out of Advertising and Marketing Classrooms

Educators share the responsibility of preparing the next generation of advertising and marketing professionals by teaching state-of-the-art concepts and strategies. The challenge is how to equip students with the relevant skills they need to think critically and creatively while applying the theories and concepts they have learned in their advertising and marketing courses to real-world business scenarios. The objective of this paper is to showcase 50 innovative teaching techniques used in graduate and undergraduate advertising and marketing courses to prepare students for career success and to empower faculty by sharing tips on how to successfully infuse these teaching components into their courses. Each technique is tagged with the appropriate learning objective according to Blooms Taxonomy. The paper concludes with a discussion of the challenges educators face in delivering a relevant education to students in todays world.

Cross-Border Student Collaborations: Opportunities for Videoconferencing

Globalization has prompted businesses to adopt burgeoning technologies that support the efforts of distributed teams. This project unites students from geographically dispersed masters-level programs on two continents. Using videoconferencing, virtual workspace, telephone, and e-mail, MBA students at a U.S. university teamed with students from Germany to prepare reports on behalf of the International Trade Centre. In addition to mastery of course content, students on both sides of the Atlantic experienced and conquered cultural, language, and logistical complexities associated with cross-border collaboration. The use of videoconferencing promoted stronger relationships among distributed team members and increased student satisfaction with the cross-border assignment.

Environmentally Friendly Consumers

While the number of environmentally friendly consumers continues to rise, government support for public and nonprofit services continues to decline. Therefore, it is important for marketers of nonprofit and public sector environmental programs to become more strategic with their efforts and expenditures. The purpose of this study was to explore the potential association between environmental consciousness and environmentally friendly behavior. The empirical results support the importance of educational programs and demonstrates that higher levels of environmental consciousness are associated with higher levels of participation in environmental protection activities. In addition, the research indicates that the environmentally friendly tend to be homogeneous, donate to more than one environmental cause, and participate in both individual activities and environmental protection programs. The implications of the research findings are discussed and some recommendations for increasing participation in environm...