Three Lessons From LeBow's New Media Marketing Class

JED SINGER

When New Media Marketing, a digital marketing overview course, launched at LeBow in 2012 it was met with intrigue both on campus and online. The hybrid class features digital marketing concepts, frameworks, best practices and real-world case studies from local and national experts in the space.

Each week explores a new digital marketing channel, led by instructors from some of the world’s largest brands, like Comcast and Amazon, to thought leaders from Philadelphia’s interactive agency scene, like AWeber and Seer Interactive.

Now, four years later, New Media Marketing has built up a following on campus, and each time course registration opens up to students, #DrexelNMM (as it’s known on Twitter and Instagram) is filled beyond capacity in minutes.

Jed Singer, LeBow graduate and designer of New Media Marketing, maintains a relationship with former students of the class. “The big value to students of New Media Marketing outside of the course material, itself, is the opportunity to network with the experts who present each week. The combination of real-world knowledge of the digital marketing landscape and their newly built network of local influencers gives them a leg up when it comes to getting that first job out of school.”

Singer, president of Socialight Media, a B2B social marketing consultancy in Philadelphia, recently had a chance to catch up with several recent graduates and former #DrexelNMM students. Here are some things they learned:

• “I’d have to say the biggest takeaway was learning how each piece of interactive marketing fits together in the bigger picture. The course is made up of 10 modules, and it was amazing getting a channel-specific deep dive each week, but now that I look back on it, the class also gave me a greater understanding of the overall digital marketing picture. I didn’t realize that I was putting together pieces of a puzzle until it was over.”

James Corr, Analytics Associate at Seer Interactive, a search marketing agency

• “The biggest thing I learned from the NMM class was how important networking is for your career. The more people you can meet, the better. You never know where your connections will take you. New opportunities can surprise you when you least expect it. It was so valuable to meet and hear from all of the different expert presenters and explore their real-world digital marketing case studies.”

Katerina Ikonomou, Account Executive at 20nine, a creative branding agency

• “Before I took New Media Marketing at LeBow, I only really thought of social media, SEO/SEM, and email as the main components of digital marketing. All of my previous experience was on the agency side handling mostly events, so until NMM, I wasn’t exposed to the breadth of the industry. It allowed me to hone my interests so that when I graduated, I knew exactly what type of company I wanted to join. NMM led me to an interview at Curalate and the role I am in today.”

Tyler Rohrbaugh, Market Development at Curalate, a marketing technology company