Written by Jessica Holden and Noe Moreno
Maroon Marketing Co is a non-profit organization run by the Missouri State University American Marketing Association (MSU AMA) students. As a student-led marketing agency, it provides students with the opportunity to gain industry experience, fulfilling client work from start to finish.
The agency offers services such as; web design and development, photography, videography, branding, creative design, social media marketing, and search engine optimization. The wide selection of services provided allows students amazing learning and skill development opportunities as it is the students providing their work for real clients.
The agency focuses on working with small and start-up local businesses. Currently, the agency is starting to do pro-bono work for K9’s for Camo, a non-profit organization that helps rehabilitate inmates through training dogs to assist disabled veterans. Start-up businesses and smaller non-profits are met through various networking events, social media, and industry recommendations. As Maroon Marketing Co is a non-profit with proceeds going back into the MSU AMA chapter, the agency can maneuver clients’ budgets and agency pricing to provide a service that helps the client and provides value to the students. Helping non-profit and start-up organizations is the main focus for Maroon Marketing Co. as it allows for both the agency and business to be actively involved and work together, creating marketing content, brand logos, websites, social media content, and videos.
The array of content created by students provides ample opportunity for agency-business relationship building and student skill development. Students can build up a portfolio of real client work and gain the real-world experience required by jobs once they graduate. The experiences offered by both AMA and Maroon Marketing Co. teach you how to interact with business professionals, allowing you to understand what it is going to be like in a business environment, and help you apply classroom knowledge to industry work. AMA President Chase says, “It definitely gives you confidence in the field that no amount of classwork will prepare you for.”
Maroon Marketing Co. is only just beginning and has experienced a lot of growth, expanding from three positions last semester to seven this semester. Agency Head Jenna explained they look to keep growing the agency and helping it become more established, with more student involvement. Those involved with the agency can see it growing to around 30 students, creating a lot of room for student growth and position development. Although Maroon Marketing Co is a marketing agency it is open to all students of all majors and ages from Freshmen to Post-Graduates. There is a lot of opportunity for growth and development for everyone no matter your experience level.
Maroon Marketing Co. meets within the American Marketing Association Chapter Meeting on Thursday evenings from 7-8 pm in Glass 344.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact the following:
Head of Agency – Jenna Nichols at jn296s@MissouriState.edu
MSU AMA President – Chase Westover at clw283s@MissouriState.edu
Instagram – @mostate_ama
