Business Education

Local entrepreneurs speak to St. Martin’s marketing students

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Beyond any standard marketing class curriculum, the greatest lessons can often be taught by entrepreneurs who tell of their own struggles, adversities and triumphs.

During the first seven weeks of 2023 Spring Semester at St. Martin’s University, 23 School of Business students earned valuable insight and knowledge from four local leaders who served as guest speakers to the school’s marketing class.

The social-media leader

TwinStar Credit Union’s Social Media Engagement Specialist, David Crawford held a special relationship with St. Martin’s University before serving as a guest speaker. Crawford had worked on campus for seven years as the school’s recreation manager. Having transitioned into the digital field he loves, Crawford shared various concepts for creating sales funnels and engagement for TwinStar, which also has a top relationship with St. Martin’s University.

Crawford also presented his own entrepreneurial background, including starting two thriving companies, Floorball Guru and CrawMedia.

The marketing guru

Bigfoot Creative Agency’s Alek Beers preached to the class that his mindset on producing content was that “done is better than perfect.” Getting the work out there, consistently, matters more than delivering one perfect piece of content, which may not be seen as much as several quality pieces of content on the same subject.

Beers shared with the marketing students that he launched his own marketing agency against other area competitors, increasing his clients’ overall reach and traffic, including for the 2022 Thurston County Fair, despite having only six weeks of lead time on the project.

The small business advisor

The marketing students at St. Martin’s University School of Business also welcomed the Washington Small Business Development Center’s (SBDC) Certified Business Advisor, Jennifer Dye. At the SBDC, Dye has helped several local small businesses as they’ve recalibrated their planning toward cost-saving efficiency. Dye also shared her experience running a Karate Center, training Homeland Security agents in self-defense, and consulting for Starbucks Coffee with its “third place” marketing concept. Both the School of Business Dean Dr. Chung-Shing Lee, and School of Business Chair Dr. Donald Conant attended Dye’s presentation.

The soldier-turned-restauranteur     

Finally, before the 2023 Spring Break, on March 3, the marketing students heard from a 22-year military veteran Kelly Wynn, who launched her own hot wings business in 2022, called Ikonic Wings. The recipient of a Thurston Economic Development Council pandemic grant, Wynn spoke for 45 minutes without any notes about her life story. She shared how her business has thrived as she continually revamped her original concept with the help of area business coach Daryl Murrow.

Attending the class with Wynn was Wynn’s 17-year-old protégé, who promised the class that she would be applying to attend St. Martin’s University School of Business when she graduates from Yelm High School.

The BA 330 Marketing students will return to the classroom on March 13 for the remaining two months of their Spring Semester. During that period, they are scheduled to hear from several more guest speakers from the local business community as they continually work on assignments that include various marketing plans and concepts. A key focus for the students has been increasing the number of tangible concepts each student can utilize upon graduation with local businesses in the Thurston community. These assignments include business-to-business marketing for food distribution warehouses, understanding car dealership sales promotions and engaging higher public transportation ridership while considering diversity, equity and inclusion.

Troy Kirby, of Lacey, owns several businesses in Thurston County and teaches marketing at St. Martin’s University.

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