explaining my marketing job to 3rd graders (in plain english!)

What is marketing?You could describe marketing this way:

It’s about finding ways to tell people about a product they might like or might find useful.

If those people are interested,they might buy the product.

People who work in marketing are called marketers. They market things, like products, services or even just ideas, to other people.

So, what is my job?

I work for , a largecompany with offices in over 100 countries.

They report news, build software and write books to help other people do their work.

I work with marketers in the USA, Europe, Australia, Canada, India and South America.

The company has many websites, and my job is to think of ways to help people find them.

How do we market to people?

Email

Mail Advertising

Events

There are many ways to reach people, such as…

There are also many ways to interest people in a product. Marketers need to be curious and creative!

Data (facts and numbers)To market a product, it helps to know a lot about that product, and about the type of people that might like it. We need to know:

• Why might they like it?

This kind of data can help marketers make good decisions when it’s time to be creative. If they don’t have much data at first, they can learn more by asking and experimenting.

• Why might they prefer it to something else?• How much might they pay for it?

Testing ideasImagine you work for a toy company and you need to market a new video game.

You have 3 great ideas for a TV commercial but can’t decide which idea is best.

You could put all 3 commercials on YouTube to see which one is most popular.

You could then put the winning commercial on TV, feeling confident it will be successful.

Online marketingMost companies use websites to help market their products.

Websites can use words, videos, pictures, and other information to interest their visitors.

But people will only visit a website if they know about it.How do we help them find it?

This is what I do at my job.

Helping people find a website

We can either

• tell them about the things they can find on the website

or

• try to ensure they find it when they search for something we have on the website.

Social media marketingMany people use social networks such asFacebook, Instagram, and Twitter to share newsand photos with friends, family and colleagues.

Social networks can be great places to tell people about what’s on a website, or to interest people in a business or their products. I help other marketers use social media to do this.

One of our company leaders wrote on our website,describing how there might be more robots in the future.

We wanted to tell people on Facebook where they could read what he had written.

We thought this picture would make more people notice.

This is the local marketing team I work with in Ann Arbor. We had just played a game to help us work well together. We put the photo on Instagram to help other people seethe company is a fun place to work.

SEO (search engine optimization)When people use Google to find something, Google may suggest thousands of websites.

SEO is about trying to ensure your web page is one of the first on the list when people search for certain things.

SEO for the schoolSearch engines can tell people about things in their local area, such as which schools are nearby.

The school website is not always easy to find, so I have given Mrs. Potts some tips to make it easier.

Other examples of marketing

Billboard

Facebookadvertisement

Magazine advertisement

Could you be a marketer?How would you explain to adults why your school is so great?

Your assignment:Use paper and markers or crayons to design a poster for St. Paul Lutheran School, Ann Arbor.

Use BIG letters and pictures to explain why the school is so good. Make everyone want to go to this school!

Your poster will be used to market St. Paul on Facebook!