If you’re like me (ok, I could be alone on this one), you constantly browse your favorite book store, which in my case is Barnes and Noble, in search of new nuggets of knowledge. With my background being in communications (primarly advertising and PR), I tend to stick to that section, always hoping to run across something new and interesting.

Fortunately for me, there is no shortage of good advertising/marketing books. Or so I thought. The fact is, once you’ve read one, you’ve read them all. I’ve read books from Seth Godin, Brian Solis, and other marketing greats. But, after getting to the second or third book, I’ve realized a trend. They are all saying the exact same thing. I’ll even go as far as saying that they repeat themselves constantly, chapter after chapter.

What is it they they repeat? They all say the same thing, that being — listen. Listen to your customers. And then act accordingly. That’s it. That’s what every book spends chapter trying to explain.

To me it was frustrating to read these books. I wondered if ‘listening” was really that big of a change for the industry. Yes, we have this new technology known as social media, and many authors treat learning social media as if it’s on par with learning advanced calculus. The truth is, it’s not. Using social media is easier than reading any of the books trying to explain it.

My point is, if you are in the communication business, don’t look in the marketing/advertising/sales section. Focus on learning other things. Look at authors that focus on trends, human psychology, pop culture. Or maybe look at something that inspires you, like art books/magazines or plain old fictional stories.

lickystickypickyme:

College is a bunch of rooms where you sit for 2,000 hours or so and
try to memorize things. The 2,000 hours are spread out over four
years. You spend the rest of the time sleeping, partying, and trying to
get dates.

Basically, you learn two kinds of things in college:

1. Things you will need to know in later life (two hours). 2. Things you
will not need to know in later life (1,998 hours).

The latter are the things you learn in classes whose names end in
-ology, -osophy, -istry, -ics, and so on. The idea is you memorize
these things, then write them down in little exam books, then forget
them. If you fail to forget them, you become a professor and have to stay
in college for the rest of your life.

please read more here

In an attempt to spread the light on the future generation of the employment force, I’ve decided to keep a loose diary on my experiences/thoughts of the professional world (namely marketing, advertising, and PR related). This is the first entry.

Internships are a no brainer. Especially if you are still a college student. They provide not just job experience, but also insight into the real world — at all angles.  You see in college, and I say this with first hand knowledge, things are unintentionally shielded from your young virgin eyes. Coursework teaches you the terms and practices, but rarely does it teach you how those terms and practices are actually put to use or how they tend to change on a daily basis.  And that is the biggest problem I wish to point out here.

With technology advancing so rapidly, it is so important to be able to stay in touch with the change.  The world is digital now. However, in my five years of school, I did not take a single course on digital technology. And I’m not just talking about how to use twitter or facebook (a small child can figure that out). I’m talking about how these technologies are changing the world. I’m talking theories and trends and how you can use them to create a community. I’m sure as I say this, many colleges are quickly changing their strategy, but I’m sure many aren’t.  Which is why it is so important for the student to make up for this. Please bookmark all the technology sites, blogs, whatever. Start with Mashable.com. It’s pretty much amazing. Code your own website. It doesn’t have to be amazing. Simpler is better. Check out all new media outlets, and figure out how to utilze them. How do stories become top stories on digg.com? How does a single youtube video, along with the billion other videos, get noticed? I’m not saying there is one single answer for these, but it is something to think about. Traditional advertising is done. The only people who take it seriously are people in advertising. It is important now, to be able to have a two way conversation with your audience. Listen, learn, talk.

Check out these schools, as they are among the best in the digital world:

Boulder Digital Works at CU

VCU Brandcenter

Hyper Island