The renowned business consultant was invited to a virtual chat with students from our Master’s degree in Digital Marketing.

By Liz Yanira Del Valle
Collaborator
It was a professional virtual chat, but when it came to renowned digital marketer Mark Schaefer, the tone of the exchange was infused with warmth.
The author of the book Marketing Rebellion is charismatic by nature, expressive, entertaining, and approachable. For Sagrado professor Celeste Martínez, the prominent international speaker and business consultant is “a rebel with a cause.” In fact, this is how she presented him to her students of the Master’s degree in Digital Marketing during the chat she organized.

“Marketing can breed friendships. I am here and I will be here because you are my friend – referring to the teacher – and you did it,” said the author of other publications, such as KNOWN, Social Media Explained, Return on Influence, Born to Blog, The Content Code and The Tao of Twitter, which are assigned reading in more than 50 universities around the world.
As the Rutgers University professor explained, today’s consumers are different from those of the past. “They now have all the information they need about their products and the manufacturers in the palm of their hand. They can make good decisions,” he explained.
Schaefer strays from the traditional discourse of many in the business, who aim at so-called consumer manipulation.
“Consumers must be listened to, respected, believed, and build human relationships with them. They do not have to be manipulated. That’s history. Currently, the narrative behind brands is very important. The story of each product is important,” he expressed when answering questions from the audience.
On other topics, he made it clear that a marketing campaign via email is still more efficient than one on social media. “It can be powerful and free, since it doesn’t have to abide by the rules of the platforms. Organically creating your mailing list is effective,” he added.
In addition, he stressed that at present, global brands with successful campaigns develop close and emotional human histories with their consumers. He cited the strategies used by firms like Adidas and Nike during these times of the pandemic.
For the creator of the {grow} blog, marketing goes beyond selling something. “It is creating a great emotional connection with people, helping them, listening to them, treating them as what they are: human,” he said.
Schaefer spoke about the use of apps by big brands and assured that influencer marketing is just beginning and will continue on the rise.
The guest praised the quality of the questions from the students, whom he hopes to meet as soon as he can travel to Puerto Rico.
For these Sagrado graduate students, coming into contact with someone as renowned as Schaefer was a huge privilege.