Northern Michigan University 2018 marketing alumna Senja Spelman presented at Top 500 Live, the home improvement industry's leading sales and lead-generation conference. The event features CEOs and experts focused on today's best practices in sales and marketing, along with home improvement business owners and entrepreneurs. Spelman currently works as the marketing director at BathWorks.
The conference was held in Las Vegas. It marked Spelman's first time speaking at a large event. Normally she speaks to more intimate groups of 30-50 attendees.
Spelman has a bachelor's degree in marketing with a minor in Spanish from NMU, and a master's in digital marketing and strategy from the University of Florida.
While pursing her undergraduate degree, Spelman wanted to teach English to Spanish-speaking students. Upon graduation, she picked up and moved to Peru and did just that. While in Peru, she discovered she had enjoyed the combination of human psychology, data and analytics used in marketing, and missed the challenge of NMU Professor Gary Brunswick's capstone course.
“Dr. Brunswick added a level of realism to the classroom,” Spelman said. “His capstone was in depth. He pushed us to go deeper than social campaigns and TV scripts. He pushed us to find data, spending and results, which is used in real-world marketing positions like mine.”
Spelman launched her career at a dental office, then moved into disaster preparedness then to the home service industry. This type of marketing is less focused on top-of-mind marketing and branding. It focuses on lead generation--capturing interest in a product or service--and direct response.
Spelman's advice to students is that there is no perfect first job. Finding a “sexy” marketing job after graduation is inaccurate. She expressed there are so many industries that generate more revenue than some of the big-name businesses or corporation used for case studies in college courses.
“Do not discount an industry because it is not familiar,” said Spelman, who quickly learned that home improvement is a 500-billion-dollar industry in the United States.
In past positions with home service companies, she served as a point of contact between her employers and professional sports teams on partnerships/sponsorships. The teams included the Milwaukee Brewers, Green Bay Packers and Florida Panthers.
“A bachelor's degree gets you in the door in marketing, but be patient, there is a lot you can learn from other positions before you get to a certain level. It is very rewarding looking back,” she said.
Spelman has expertise in digital marketing and direct response strategies. She held leadership roles with other top home improvement brands including Tundraland Home Improvements and Leaf Home Enhancements.