Marketing Students & Search Engine Marketing
Personal observations around marketing students and the future of Search Engine Marketing
Search Engine Marketing and Future Marketing Professionals
I presented at my "Alma mater" (West Chester University of Pennsylvania) to a class of senior marketing students. I gave a 20 minute presentation about search marketing and SEO, and I tried to keep it as interesting as possible by showing trends of traditional marketing dollars being re-allocated to search marketing. I also asked the senior marketing students some questions that returned some interesting responses.
Why Don’t Marketing Students Know About Search Engine Marketing?*
I find it very interesting that when I asked a group of over 30 senior marketing students if they have ever heard of search marketing, only one student raised their hand. This reemphasizes the issue of an extreme shortage of search marketing professionals in the marketing industry.
College marketing students are not receiving a complete marketing education.
Current and future marketing students will not receive a complete marketing education until colleges and universities are able to incorporate some level of search marketing education into the marketing curriculum.
Studies show that marketing budgets are continuing to shift at an increasing rate from traditional forms of media such as magazine ads to search marketing. This trend increases demand for skilled search marketing professionals who can do more than just traditional marketing. In the near future, students looking to fill marketing positions will need some fundamental knowledge of search marketing to be eligible for a marketing position. Students who have no knowledge or experience with search marketing will be at a significant disadvantage when looking for a job compared to their search marketing aware counterparts.
Search marketing jobs will become more attractive to students choosing a career path as salaries and the demand for search marketing positions increase. Students will start to only consider colleges and universities that offer search marketing classes and institutions that refuse or are unable to provide search marketing classes will be left behind. Colleges and universities who find qualified professionals who truly understand search marketing and are willing to keep up with the dynamic nature of the search marketing industry will become the top marketing schools.
*Note: I understand that one marketing class at one university does not represent the collective group of marketing students. These are just my personal observations; if I were conducting a more comprehensive study I would most certainly expand my sample size to multiple students at multiple higher education institutions.
Is Google The Only Search Engine?
Out of curiously I asked the marketing students to raise their hands if they used Google when searching the internet. All students raised their hands. I then asked how many students use a search engine other than Google, and only 3 students raised their hands.
I think this is more powerful than it seems at face value. These are upcoming generations that are “growing up” with a search engine preference. If this continues, it could support the belief that Google will continue to gain market share unless another big player starts making some serious changes to their strategy of acquiring internet searchers at a young age.
When I discussed this with Ray Rosti, he brought up a good point that at some point internet users will realize how much personal information Google collects, and they will start to choose alternative search engines with better privacy policies.