Today@Sam Article

Marketing Students Assist in Brand Implementation

Jan. 13, 2025
SHSU Media Contact: Emilee White

Sam Houston State University strives to set its students up for success post-graduation by incorporating real-world circumstances into its curriculum. The College of Business and Administration’s Marketing Consulting course does just that, giving students essential consulting skills through hands-on experiences with real clients to ensure they feel prepared and confident in their future roles.

“Overall, the class built our skills as marketing consultants by showing us how to deal with negotiations, clients and working with a team to fulfill the project,” said marketing graduate Sonia Diaz.

To be accepted into the class, students must apply and be approved. During the Fall 2024 semester, those admitted conducted a field consulting project and developed a promotional plan to meet the needs of the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Department at Sam Houston State. The university has been in the process of rebranding, with the help of consulting firm Simpson Scarborough.

The initial phase of the rebranding included establishing the brand and content guidelines, or “pillars.” The marketing course students were assigned to help IMC develop a strategic approach to content creation that targets four main audiences – undergraduates, transfers, parents of prospective students and graduate students – and aligns with the content pillars as well as the new brand identity.

From audience research to content recommendations, the project involved setting objectives, developing project parameters, gathering and analyzing data, developing actionable solutions and communicating key findings and recommendations that target and support the four main audiences.

Recent marketing graduate Tiona Thomas, along with Diaz, were assigned to research the parents of prospective students and how SHSU can better target the audience. What they found was parents want to show their support, and strive to stay involved in the application process and beyond.

“Every parent we talked to mentioned how they want to help their student in any way, whether that's emotionally, physically or financially,” Thomas said. “They just have an issue figuring out how they can help.”

One of their key findings included a language barrier in the university’s marketing materials. To overcome this barrier, Thomas and Diaz created content ideas like billboards and YouTube reels in English and Spanish that adhere to SHSU’s demographic makeup and prevent any language limitations, which can apply to the other audiences as well. The bilingual marketing materials they created also aimed at providing better guidance for parents eventually helps their students make the best decision for themselves.

“The student makes the final decision as to where to go to college,” Thomas said. “We wanted to create those content ideas to increase awareness and help students choose SHSU.”

While Thomas and Diaz’s audience was more parent-centric, senior marketing major Mariana Loeza Orozco and her group focused on undergraduates. They found that incoming first-year students and recent high school graduates take pride in their values. When looking for schools to further their education, other factors students take into consideration are proximity to home, tuition costs and the campus environment. Orozco feels it’s important for students to know what to expect since there wasn't much information out there for them already.

“An idea we had was the Success Starter Pack,” Orozco said. “This essentially would be a little package that would come in the mail that had a pamphlet of top tips for success, budgeting for beginners and a letter from a current Sam Houston student. This allows students to experience that community feeling before even accepting the offer to come to Sam Houston.”

By the end of the course, students were able to successfully work as marketing consultants and meet the needs of IMC. From Orozco’s perspective, the biggest takeaway from the course was learning how to be adaptable.

“In general, the marketing field is consistently changing, and people also are changing,” Thomas said. “When you work with a marketing client, the direction of everything can change at any moment. There's a lot of adaptability within the field that keeps you on your toes.”

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