My name is Frances Smyth and I’m a junior at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business studying Marketing and Management Information Systems. So why do I enjoy marketing? I like to solve problems and apply creative solutions to any business challenges that I’m faced with. In short, I’m a nerd for problem solving and marketing is a great space to challenge yourself creatively in business.
Fall 2017: General Member
I started my first semester at Boston University knowing that I wanted to contribute to a club with a mission. During the first week of classes, I attended SPLASH, looked clubs up online, and asked around for references. I came across Guerrilla Marketing Society (hereafter GMS), and immediately knew that I wanted to join.
When I became a general member, I gained a greater appreciation for Marketing as both a discipline and career. I was assigned to the Runkeeper working group, which proved to be the starting point for not only my GMS tenure, but also my career. After working as a general member for a semester, I gained a great wealth of experience. I leveraged experiences such as identifying B2C target personas and analyzing primary market research for my summer 2018 internship applications.
Spring 2018: Account Manager
During the spring of 2018, I was offered the opportunity to not only join the leadership team, but also lead my own team. I was given the task of developing a guerrilla marketing focused go-to-market (GTM) strategy for Berts Footwear: an Australian ecommerce footwear brand. Berts was hoping to launch in the US, and needed a creative positioning strategy to support GTM efforts. I led a team of seven general members as a freshman and loved every moment of it because I had the challenge of orchestrating various internal and external deadlines while trying to set an example for my team.
Serving as an Account Manager played a major role in securing my freshman summer internship, because my work at GMS gave me a great edge in comparison to other underclassmen applicants. at Focused Image: a boutique marketing consulting agency based in Virginia that worked on rebranding consulting projects for government contractors.
Fall 2018: Chief Content Officer
The fall of 2018 offered me another chance to develop my skills as a marketer. But this time, I would focus on digital marketing. It was at this time that I became more interested in pursuing Management Information Systems as a second concentration in addition to Marketing. I asked the GMS executive board team if I could start the fall semester with a digital marketing focus, and they obliged. So, for the rest of the semester I worked as GMS’ Chief Content Strategy Officer and worked closely with various members of the leadership team to drive digital engagement and strategy. Membership during this time exploded, the leadership team expanded, and my passion for marketing in the tech industry began.
Spring 2019 - Present: Executive Board Member & Head of Inbound Marketing
January 2019 ushered in a new set of challenges and opportunities because I was offered the chance to expand upon my role as Chief Content Strategy Officer. I fulfilled one of my freshman year dreams of joining the GMS executive board, and continued pursuing my interest in digital marketing by accepting the role of Head of Inbound Marketing for GMS. To explain, Hubspot defines Inbound Marketing as “a business methodology that attracts customers by creating valuable content and experiences tailored to them.” Additionally, I plan to deploy several new strategies to drive membership engagement, develop digital positioning strategies, and orchestrate GMS content on a consistent basis.
Altogether, my time at GMS has been a great part of my life at Boston University. I joined the club as an eager freshman, and have grown a lot as a student, leader, and marketing professional. As an underclassman, GMS exposed me to industry methodologies and prepared me for working as a Marketing Intern in both the government contracting and high tech fields. If you want to surround yourself with professionally driven students, wish to solve business challenges with creative solutions, and add some great experience to your resume, then I encourage you to join GMS. You won’t regret it.