tips for graduating marketing students

1. ©2020: Steven Litt. All rights reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated or posted publicly to a w ebsite in a w hole or in part.
2020
25 Tips & Parting Notes
For your career
Professor Steven Litt
@StrategySteven

2. 25 Tips beyond class
for aspiring managers
Steven’s Tips: 2020
©2020 Steven Litt . All rights reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated or posted publicly to a website in a whole or in part.

3. Tips beyond class
1. Learn how to enter a room. Especially if you are late.
2. DON’T be late! In person, or in RFP’s, bids, business meetings,...
3. ‘Support people’ are real people worthy of your time, thought, respect.
Their savvy/ help may be vital to your success. Power may reside where
you expect it least. Reach out, connect, listen to them, respect them.
©2020 Steven Litt . All rights reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated or posted publicly to a website in a whole or in part.

4. Tips beyond class
4. Follow industry news & trends; being unaware of company news,
competitor activity, industry news (SoMe, regulatory, environment, etc)
can cost your organization money, face, opportunity.
It can also mean insensitivity (Porsche ran ‘sporty’ web ads right beside
news of celeb who had just died aggressively driving…a Porsche).
5. Create alerts on competitors, category descriptors, etc on social media
& google to be news savvy, trend-savvy.
SoMe has made the world more ‘reactive’, more ‘swings’ in sentiment,
support, animosity. That isn’t in your control, but your response to it is, as
is your obligation to deal with those swings. ‘Hoping it will go away’ is not
usually a viable approach.
©2020 Steven Litt . All rights reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated or posted publicly to a website in a whole or in part.

5. Tips beyond class
6. Read contracts: employee, NDA, Supplier, Customer, etc.
Learn what ‘standard clauses’ mean, when exceptions are justified
given legitimately unique circumstances. Proofread!
The devil is in the details.
7. Research a company & industry before a networking meeting, job
interview, customer call.
Read a company’s ‘Ethics/ Values/ Social’ statements AND look for
evidence of their actions. It’s easy to talk about ‘being responsible’
• Does the firm put their $ where their mouth is?
• What ACTIONS have they taken?
• What resources have they allocated?
©2020 Steven Litt . All rights reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated or posted publicly to a website in a whole or in part.

6. Tips beyond class
8. If expected to do a presentation: learn the ‘abbreviated format’; know
how to do a 45 minute presentation in 30 minutes. Or 15. Or even in 5.
You must even be ready with a poised 20 second ‘elevator’ version, too.
9. Learn different presentations formats that suit different situations: ‘front
of room external audience’ is a ‘classic’, but also practise online pitches,
internal front of room screen presentations, and sit-down 1 on 1’s, etc!
10. Learn how to write an Executive Summary. Leave lots of time to do it.
An Exec Sum is often all that the Executive will read.
©2020 Steven Litt . All rights reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated or posted publicly to a website in a whole or in part.

7. Tips beyond class
11. Respect Sales! In some sectors (& nations), Sales is underappreciated.
Successful sale professionals are not mere ‘golfers who tell jokes &
shake hands’. They listen, plan, anticipate, coordinate, contribute
strategically.
12. Find a ‘spike’ (an area of expertise); if you become known in a firm as
an expert in ‘X’, Executives vital to your career may ask you for updates
on that topic ‘X’ any time, even years later. That may be your ‘moment’.
©2020 Steven Litt . All rights reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated or posted publicly to a website in a whole or in part.

8. Tips beyond class
13. Get your hands dirty! Go where your service is provided, visit stores
where your product is sold.
There’s no room for ‘theory-only’ marketing professionals or agencies.
Recommend realistic programs. To do that, get into the field---you will
learn TONS in ‘the field’!
14. Math is relevant; the math that makes a difference often isn’t complex
math.
Calculating % Growth Rate (CAGR)?
Breakeven units?
End-price in a multi-player distribution sequence?
Research sample overlap?
None of these involve ‘complex math’.
Math is a ‘cost of entry’ expectation for Marketing. Learn it. Use it.
It’s basic math, not nuclear physics.
©2020 Steven Litt . All rights reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated or posted publicly to a website in a whole or in part.

9. Tips beyond class
15. Your boss will only tell you something once.
[ No you’re not in Kansas any more, Toto ]
©2020 Steven Litt . All rights reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated or posted publicly to a website in a whole or in part.

10. Tips beyond class
16. Get connected; stay connected.
If you message a colleague or instructor 3 years after graduating & haven’t
stayed connected, don’t be shocked if that colleague is too busy to help.
A network helps you stay updated on new skills to be trained in, new
practices, new threats on the horizon and so much more.
©2020 Steven Litt . All rights reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated or posted publicly to a website in a whole or in part.
Professional Networks: Join the CMA &/or the AMA Toronto Chapter:
For students, it’s free! Gain insights, updates & networking POV’s on
‘breaking news’ issues, trends, skills your colleagues are working on, etc.
Attend some events!
link to AMA’s Toronto chapter:
https://www.ama-toronto.com/
Link to CMA chapter
https://www.the-cma.org/

11. Tips beyond class
17. Data is the new Gold but just because you can collect data, doesn’t
mean you should collect it. Collecting data may land you &/or your firm in
trouble if it’s the ‘wrong kind of’ data, if it involves vulnerable populations,
if it blurs the lines of acceptable explicit ‘consent’ (eg Sidewalk Labs, Air
Canada/ CBC attitudinal profiling queries, StatsCan’s bank data grab, etc)
18. Periodically stand back; consider ‘lessons’ about job expertise (in this
role, of all the tasks I do, which could I be more comfortable doing? How
do I learn how to do that?). Jobs evolve – will you?
19. Find a workplace mentor. Many organizations have formal mentor
systems, yet your mentor need not be in your department or at your firm.
Consider the contacts you encounter at CMA, AMA, LinkedIn Groups, etc.
20. Learn how to schedule and manage time. This is no small skill.
©2020 Steven Litt . All rights reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated or posted publicly to a website in a whole or in part.

12. Tips beyond class
21. Think Local to back-translate a brand name, a tagline, a survey, etc eg
Nova, Lumia, Mist, The Golden Stool Restaurant, Lucky Driving School,...
It isn’t just about accurate literal translation; it’s about being savvy to
local customs, idioms, colloquial / slang, figures of speech, taboos,…
©2020 Steven Litt . All rights reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated or posted publicly to a website in a whole or in part.

13. Tips beyond class
22. Know what’s permitted/ethical locally & ALSO in your Home Nation.
‘Acceptable’ business practices/expectations vary industry to industry,
nation to nation. A few examples:
• Meeting Start End Times: In Central & South America, parts of Southern
Europe, it’s not unusual for meetings to start late, run late. In Germany, Japan
& North America, most meetings start on time, have an ‘end-time’
• Transition from Casual to Business conversation: in Latin America
meetings often begin with lengthy casual banter (sports, family, etc).
Meetings might be held via an unhurried beverage/meal. In Germany, Japan
& North America, meetings tend to be on-site; the ‘casual/general
conversation’ (in North America)tends to be brief.
• Bribes: A Canadian-based engineering firm had a subcontractor who
allegedly hired an associate of an autocrat national leader in Africa in 2012.
NB: That Canadian firm is accountable for ethical/legal standards established
for Canada, not for Africa; their Execs face continued legal & social trouble
[YET also in 2012; Russia finally eliminated tax deductions for bribes paid by
Russian firms bidding for foreign contracts]
 Customs and Rules vary around the world
©2020 Steven Litt . All rights reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated or posted publicly to a website in a whole or in part.

14. Tips beyond class
23. Joining your first big organization? You may find its culture, signals,
‘coded’ customs & language to be…. complicated; I’ve left some tips &
stories at link here. [It’s ENTIRELY subjective- read at your own risk].
http://strategysteven.com/ropes-2/
©2020 Steven Litt . All rights reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated or posted publicly to a website in a whole or in part.
24. Did you mess up? Own it.
Integrity means owning your own errors -and not repeating them.
25. Keep your cv up to date. It isn’t all about you & your performance.
Great performance won’t protect you if your firm undergoes a mandated
Restructuring or a Corporate Takeover. Be ready for the unthinkable.

15. Sources
Steven Litt, StrategySteven.com accessed July 29, 2020
strategysteven.com
©2020 Steven Litt . All rights reserved. May not be scanned, copied, duplicated or posted publicly to a website in a whole or in part.