Marketing class helps Carbondale businesses promote themselves

Professor Gordon Bruner is working with students to help local businesses

This article appeared in The Southern Illinoisan on Oct. 21, 2007

CARBONDALE - Like it or not, promotion is an essential component of ensuring success in today's business world.

"What causes organizations and companies to grow and prosper? It's promoting," said Professor Gordon Bruner of the Southern Illinois University Carbondale's Department of Marketing in the College of Business.

Bruner is teaching a strategic promotion class where 115 students this fall have teamed in groups of three and four. With direction and assistance of executive director Meredith Rhoads of the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce, they have been assigned businesses and agencies throughout the area to help develop new promotional and marketing strategies.

Success is not entirely revenues and profits. Many of the agencies are nonprofit such as the local chapter of the American Red Cross. Agency heads want to spread the word more about what they do and offer, Bruner said.

Nearing midterm, student groups have identified areas within those businesses that need promotion. They've done secondary research that involves collecting available data such as demographics of a particular target group the marketing effort will attempt to reach.

And now each group is ready to embark upon the fun or creative part - generating ideas for promotional and marketing strategies.

"We're bouncing ideas off each other. We're coming up with ideas for advertising and selling," said Brian Quinn, a senior radio and television major.

Quinn said he sees how marketing interweaves with the mediums of communication he is studying. He likes Bruner's class because it allows for an opportunity to go out in the "real world"rather than learning strictly in the classroom and the textbook.

"There is definitely an advantage here. This allows you more of a hands-on approach," Quinn said.

Quinn and three of his classmates, Eric Konicek, Jenny Hart and Chris Hagstrom, have been assigned the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce.

They have visited the agency three times, conversed with Rhoads and have identified strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and potential threats.

Bruner is expecting a creative list with at least 50 ideas.

"The more ideas the better," Bruner said.

The message of promoting to ensure success is something that touches all fields.

Bruner said he has agriculture, hotel management, fashion merchandising, engineering and even physics students enrolled in his class.

"We live in a world where everyone wants to get their message out. We promote ourselves - it's a part of life," Bruner said.