Hi, my name is Lyle Andrews and I’m the Director of Marketing for SoundOut Media. Our firm focuses on Online Marketing, Social Media Marketing and SEO. Recently we’ve been giving some thought to creating a scholarship in the name of our client, Matt Cutts. Matt is a well-known SEO expert and author of the hugely popular blog post series on SEO in 2019. Each of his blog posts is a goldmine of information, and the thought of giving something back to the SEO community just felt right.

Who Needs An MBA To Run A Marketing Campaign?

The first question that comes to mind when thinking of an MBA is – who needs one to run a marketing campaign? Well, for one thing, a compelling narrative often helps to drive marketing performance. The ability to tell a story and engage an audience is one of the biggest draws of an MBA. Whether you’re writing a business plan or pitching a marketing plan, being able to paint a picture of the future in vibrant detail can be extremely effective.

Storytelling is also a crucial part of SEO and digital marketing in general. Coming up with a compelling narrative and being able to prove that your product or service is the best on the market are both vital to driving traffic to your site. In a nutshell, having an MBA will make you a better marketer, no matter which stage you’re at.

Why An Online Marketing Scholarship Could Be Beneficial

Let’s take a step back for a second and consider the purpose of an MBA. An MBA is designed to prepare you for a leadership role in a business, or to be the person that oversees a large portion of a business. In these roles, you’re responsible for planning and implementing marketing strategies and plans to grow the company.

An online marketing scholarship is a perfect fit for someone looking to gain an edge in the competitive digital marketing job market. Having the ability to create and grow digital marketing campaigns from the ground up is a fantastic skill to have in today’s ever-changing world. Being able to demonstrate that you’re constantly learning and adapting to the ever-changing world of marketing is what sets you apart from others.

With more and more marketing departments moving to the digital sphere, finding jobs in marketing can be tricky. Many marketing managers and executives do indeed have a vast digital marketing background, having worked for large marketing agencies before founding their own practice. However, being able to run a digital marketing campaign from scratch, proving yourself in a niche where you can showcase your skills and knowledge to potential employers makes you stand out above the rest.

How Can An MBA Fit Into A Marketing Manager’s Career?

An MBA can be integrated into a marketing manager’s career in a couple of ways:

• As previously stated, one of the primary responsibilities of a marketing manager is to plan and implement marketing strategies and plans to grow the company. An MBA can help you determine the most effective strategies for achieving that goal, as well as provide you with the ability to research and analyze marketing and business data to prove that those strategies are, in fact, effective.
• An MBA can also help you find the best suited career path for your unique skillset. Every bachelor’s degree has some kind of preparation for a managerial role. For instance, the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) can put you ahead of the competition for jobs like business analyst, controller or market researcher. An MBA can guide you towards a specialization that allows you to shine and land that dream job.
• As a marketer, you’ll undoubtedly encounter various statistics and numbers from analyzing traffic to sites to determining a customer’s purchase likelihood. An MBA is a perfect guide for ensuring that you’re using data to prove the effectiveness of your strategy and for helping you find the right metrics to evaluate its success.
• An MBA can also be a stepping stone to further education and advancement in your chosen career. After you obtain your degree, you can further your education in a variety of ways – including receiving a graduate degree in business administration. With an MBA under your belt, you’ll have a greater foundation upon which to build a successful career.

The Scholarship Application Process

We’ve thought long and hard about how to integrate an MBA into our 2019 marketing scholarship program, and after much consideration we’ve decided that applying for the scholarship is the best way to go. Applying for the scholarship allows you to showcase your unique skills and knowledge and ensures that you’re actively looking for work. Most importantly, it helps to create a sense of community and gives you the opportunity to contribute to a worthwhile cause.

To be considered for the scholarship, you must be a graduate of an accredited college or university with a bachelor’s degree in a business-related field. You must also be willing to write a 500-word essay on any topic related to marketing that is posted regularly on the Matt Cutts blog. Additionally, you must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher throughout your entire undergraduate degree. Last but not least, you must submit an up-to-date resume and a brief personal statement that summarizes your skills and why you’re qualified for the position.

Once we have your resume, we will contact you to set up a time to interview via phone or video chat. This will be followed by a formal interview and group project where you’ll work with other applicants in a team of three to come up with a marketing plan for an online store.

The Four-Month Training Program Includes:

The following is a list of everything included in the four-month training program:

• A stipend of $5,000
• Three months of paid training at SoundOut Media
• One-on-one mentoring with a professional manager
• Access to the Google Ads Platform (up to $2,000 value)
• Access to the Google Analytics Platform (valued at $1,000)
• Access to a virtual office space (valued at $500 per month)
• 24/7 access to a live chat support representative

The Application Deadline Is…

The application deadline for the 2019 SMM Scholarship is April 1st. As with all things scholarship related, we highly recommend that you apply as soon as possible. This way you can take advantage of the maximum number of applications to ensure you’re considered for the award.

We will be in touch as soon as the application process has been completed. Good luck!