Theresa Clarke on Tomorrow’s Amazing Marketer: Part III

by Scott Huch

Part III concludes my interview with Theresa Clarke, Ph.D., recipient of the 2015 DMAW/EF O’Hara Leadership Award and a professor at James Madison University (JMU). Dr. Clarke teaches marketing to undergraduate and MBA student,s and here she focuses on helping direct marketing companies identify and attract qualified students

Q. How can direct marketing professionals identify and attract qualified students with educational backgrounds in direct marketing?

First, get involved with the Collegiate MAXI competition. Come to watch the presentations or come and volunteer as a judge. Talk to the students and see how they perform. The MAXIs are where the best students go. They compete because they want to and because the field intrigues them. Also, the competition provides opportunities to interact with the students during downtimes while the judging is going on. With this generation, it’s important to make a personal connection and this is a great way to get to know the students.

Also, connect with professors, especially as a guest speaker in the classrooms. When I tell students a fact, and a guest speaker tells students a fact, guess which fact the student remembers? The guest speaker, of course.

Getting involved with career and internship fairs is another good way to meet qualified students. I’m also noticing a trend called externships. These are much shorter than an internship, perhaps a week over Spring Break or Christmas. The students might shadow someone in a DM company, for example. This is a great way for students and employers to get a look at each other, like speed dating!

Finally, students in this generation are heavy users of social media. If your DM company isn’t already active, get active. Feature an option—like a tab on your website—to demonstrate interest in prospective employees.

Q. Do any of your former students now working in direct marketing help supplement your teaching?

I pair former students with current students, so each current student has a mentor. Current students are assigned to contact former students and do a short phone interview about their college experience, where they’re working now, and any advice they have. Then they send me a summary. As they’re going into the workforce, this connects our current students with our alumni. It’s a new program, but feedback so far reports both groups love it.

I also have a strong network of seven or eight former students who come back as guest speakers in my class. Sometimes, they serve as judges for presentations, too.

Q. Do you have a sense of the rough percentage of students who take direct marketing courses and go on to a career in the DM field?

I don’t. But I have a large number of students. I teach close to 200 students each year, all seniors, and they go in many different directions.

Q. Is there anything in your curricula where you can see a student having an “Ah-ha” moment?

In my class, I’ve persuaded students to look at direct mail differently. I always tell them, “When you see a direct mail piece that makes you think—or you hold a direct mail piece, turn it over in your hands and look at it—then that direct mail has done its job.” Now, I have students sending me direct mail packages that struck them. That’s how I know I’ve made a difference in their perception.

Scott Huch is president of The Delta Group. He is secretary of the DMAW/EF Board of Directors.