Sandra Chang, one of my business fraternity sisters at New York University, has always been a helpful, smart, and kind individual. Read to find out the tools and qualities every marketer must have, according to Sandra.
Your first job after graduating NYU Stern was at PepsiCo and as a Marketing Analyst you juggled many responsibilities. What would you say are your 2 biggest takeaways?
My first big takeaway is understanding and empathizing with consumers is key. In marketing, we’re constantly building out strategies, creative assets, and innovation for our brand’s consumers. Even though I worked on brands like Mountain Dew and Pepsi, I actually don’t drink a ton of soda myself, so I realized it was critical for me to spend time and effort in understanding consumers and thinking from their lens as I make decisions in my job. For example, when I worked on Mountain Dew as an intern, one of the things I did to get to know the Mountain Dew consumer better was immersing myself in the consumer’s hobbies (e.g. following NASCAR celebrities on social media, learning about fishing and hunting, etc). Another example is when I worked on packaging innovation, my team held various focus groups where we observed consumers interact with our packaging prototypes.
It was a fascinating experience and taught me how to not let my own opinions dominate my decisions at work, but rather listen from the consumers we’re serving and prioritize their feedback and opinions.
The second takeaway is to be confident! PepsiCo is my first job out of college, so there were definitely moments when I felt like my opinions didn’t matter in such a big company. However, I had really great managers who encouraged me to speak up and assured that all opinions mattered. I was eventually given opportunities to speak in meetings with senior leaders and although it was nerve wrecking, it was also very empowering!
No matter where you’re starting your first job, know that your voice matters and that managers and leaders are always looking for fresh perspectives.
How would you say, in terms of the daily routine and responsibilities, is your current role at Facebook different from the one at PepsiCo and what attracted you to the role at Facebook?
Daily routines are pretty different between my two roles! My role at PepsiCo was more brand management, whereas my role as an Account Manager at Facebook is more sales. At PepsiCo, a lot of my responsibilities were project management and campaign creation (e.g. managing the project timeline of a new product launch, working with cross functional teams and agencies to create a brand campaign from concept creation to creative production, creating shopper marketing programs for specific retailers, etc). At Facebook, my main responsibility is to manage client relationships for a handful of advertisers. For example, sharing Facebook advertising best practices, offering tailored recommendations and strategies to help advertisers get the highest return on ad spend possible, etc. Another major difference is the shift from more traditional marketing at PepsiCo (TV, Radio, Print, etc) to digital marketing at Facebook. I was drawn to Facebook because I was craving more digital marketing experience.
What are the digital tools you interact with on a daily basis and which skills do you think every marketer should have?
At Facebook, there are a ton of amazing internal tools built for account managers like me to do our jobs well, such as dashboards that aggregate relevant data to help us make informed recommendations for the clients that are advertising with us.
Professional skills that every marketer should have:
Consumer empathy: As mentioned earlier, it is so important to understand who your brand resonates with and who that consumer is. Your job as a marketer is to build and grow brands for these consumers, so do everything you can to know them!
Analytical skills: Marketing is becoming increasingly data centric, where decisions are no longer just a gut feeling, but needs to be backed up with either good consumer data, industry trends, media performance data, and so on. Analytical skills could range from familiarity with excel or learning how to make sense of data that is available. I don’t think you have to be a computer science wizard or R/ Python expert to do your job well - you just have to be comfortable with analyzing data and using data to support your decisions at work.
Personal skills that every marketer should have:
Communication/ collaboration skills: A marketer can’t do his/her job alone! A huge part of being a marketer is to work with cross functional teams/ agencies/ internal experts in order to accomplish things like a new product launch or a TV/ digital campaign launch.
Prioritization skills: A marketer can get pulled into multiple directions (e.g. a local field rep wants you to do A, but sales in headquarter wants you to do B, and your team leader wants you to do C). Or if you’re client facing, you have to juggle multiple client needs.
All in all, it is important to understand your own limits, evaluate all the different opinions/ needs, and prioritize those that really matter.
What are some of the challenges you face on the day-to-day and how you overcome them?
A challenge I’m facing now is information overload! Being newer to Facebook as well as the fast paced and always changing landscape of digital marketing, I’m constantly learning and intaking new information. Sometimes it can get really overwhelming as I’m trying to learn as fast as I can.
I’m learning to show myself grace and remind myself it’s not humanly possible to know everything.
Instead of trying to learn everything, I try to find experts in the company that I can rely on, as well as learn how to prioritize so I can dedicate focused time and effort to solving bigger problems.
Having experience at both, a huge global food & beverage company to a tech giant, do you think there is a difference in the work cultures? If so, how?
Let me start by saying both PepsiCo and Facebook are great companies! Both companies have great programs in place to develop young talent and also offer great benefits and career growth opportunities. In terms of difference in work culture, while PepsiCo does have diversity programs in place, I feel that Facebook takes diversity really seriously and puts in a ton of effort to create space for everyone to be able to be their authentic selves at work. You can already see the fruits of its efforts by seeing a ton of women in leadership positions and the diversity among current employees. While there is still room for improvement, I feel proud to be able to work in a company that values diversity and offers a ton of great employee events and groups to support diversity initiatives. Another difference is at PepsiCo, the organization is more hierarchical and career trajectory is more like a ladder (pretty standard for other large CPG companies as well), whereas at Facebook, organization is less hierarchical and career trajectory is more like a jungle gym. At Facebook, I feel less pressure to “climb the corporate ladder” and feel that there is more room to just be curious and learn before I move on to my next position.
What’s an advice you’d give yourself when you were in college?
Since I pursued a marketing major in college, I knew it was important to get internship experiences since what I learn in class is mainly high level concepts and strategies. It was crucial that I got some real work experience to see how I can apply what I learned in class to the real world. I was very open to any marketing internship experience - I interned at start ups as well as campus research assistant jobs. I think it’s important to keep an open mind and get a wide range of internship experiences in order to develop your strengths and preferences before you apply for your first full time job.
In terms of classes, while I enjoyed my marketing courses, I was also craving some hard skills knowing that most industries, including the marketing world, are becoming more data centric. In my Junior year, I tried out Intro to Information Systems and instantly was craving for more. I calculated the number of credits I had left before graduation and realized I had to give up my Psychology minor (which I was one class away from fulfilling) in order to double major in Marketing and Computing & Data Science. I made the switch and in hindsight, it was a great decision! Marketing and Psychology are good complementary majors to pursue together, but personally I felt that Computing & Data Science really challenged me to think about the future of marketing as we evolve into a world that is becoming increasingly dependent on data and machine learning.
On-campus clubs definitely made up a huge part of my college experience as well. I was mainly involved in two clubs - Phi Chi Theta (a professional fraternity) and Asian American Christian Fellowship (AACF). At Phi Chi Theta (PCT), I met a lot of amazing mentors who were invested in shaping and growing me professionally. Thanks to PCT, I was equipped with interviewing and networking skills that no doubt helped me jumpstart my professional journey. Beyond classes and jobs, I also really value personal growth, and what that meant for me was growing in my faith. AACF not only helped me grow spiritually, it was also a place where I got to give back to our community through ways such as welcoming students during new student orientation, giving out care packages during testing season, etc.
I encourage all students to find a good balance between school work/ job searching AND personal growth/ wellness. I think it’s really easy to let school work and job search consume your student life, but it is equally important to take care of your mental and personal wellness
Whether it be through joining fun clubs or taking a fun class (acting, dancing, or music lessons are all great options)!
How do you think COVID 19 is going to impact your industry and will it impact your role? If so, then how?
There is no doubt that COVID 19 is impacting all aspects of our personal lives as well as a wide range of businesses and industries. Since I communicate with a handful of advertisers in the CPG industry, I have to adapt and learn to be more empathetic as I’m having client conversations. Some advertisers might be going through a tough time financially, or some of the people I talk to might be facing less job security. Being empathetic to clients and letting them know I am here as a resource to support them and their business during this time is key!
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