Because of the upcoming introduction of a new University website design, existing Service Stories on the site are being migrated to our Service Learning Blog so that they will remain in our archive.
This article was originally published in the ’19-’20 academic year.
MARKETING COMMUNICATION PLANS
MKTG 352
Kim Land’s MKTG 352 – Marketing Communications class services six local small businesses or non-profits in our community every semester through extensive research, evaluation and recommendations that are developed into a full Integrated Marketing Communication plan for their business.
Since Fall of 2016, Land and her students have assisted over 37 Spartanburg companies including Creature Comforts, the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium, Crepe Factory, United Way of the Piedmont, SAFE Homes/Rape Crisis Coalition, Downtown Deli and Donuts, Chapman Cultural Center, and Palmetto Twist.
The course is designed to teach our marketing majors about the concept of the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) plan – how everything businesses choose to do to market their product should form synergies for maximum impact. The concept of the community partnerships was born when Land was searching for a way to leverage her local business connections to allow hands-on experience working with a client to conduct research, develop recommendations and create marketing collateral while the company would receive the benefit of free marketing expertise and the development of a full IMC plan. The students create their recommendations based on budget constraints defined by the customer. At the end of the semester, the students present their plan to their customer in class, much as if they were working in a marketing agency. The customers receive a bound copy of the full plan and have the opportunity to provide feedback to the student group.
This program is an amazing opportunity for our students to get practical experience while serving our community! The students take pride in assisting these small businesses and non-profits in an area where many of them struggle to allocate resources or do not have the expertise. It’s truly a win-win for our community!
A Community Partner’s Perspective
“The students researched, used critical thinking, and meaningful reflection to develop and present a thought provoking presentation that included an in-depth marketing plan for our organization. The group presented ideas and information that gave me new, unique, and thoughtful insight into marketing and communication possibilities. There was no doubt the students had developed a plan that had impact on their education and the community.
After the presentation I was presented with a large binder to take with me so that Girl Scouts of South Carolina-Mountains to Midlands always has on hand their recommendations and the avenues to make them happen. This group of students, with Kim Land as their lead, is making impact in our community that I would not have imagined possible when I was in college. As it relates to me and my organization they developed a plan that will develop more women as leaders in our community.”
– Karen Kelly, Director of Marketing and Communications, GSSC-MM
A Student’s Perspective
“Mrs. Land also provided a unique experience that no other teacher did: the chance to work with real life companies to solve their real-life problems. Every one of Mrs. Land’s classes concluded with a massively weighted project which required extensive research and team collaboration, simulating a real life problem-solving scenario. The most impactful being the Marketing Communications project in which my group created an IMC Plan for the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium; a plan that was used by management after our presentation to them. We set up our own meetings with the operators of the auditorium, discussed in-depth the problems they were facing, and formulated a plan to solve their problems.”
– Kyle Juell, December 2017 graduate
Jennifer Evins of the Chapman Cultural Center and her student group
Debra Patrick of Palmetto Twist and her student group