Real results and information benefiting real clients are the goals of a pair of projects by marketing classes in Radford University's College of Business and Economics (COBE).

The students will use social media to try to make Kathryn L. Jordan's motivational book "Voices: Words From Wise Women” a bestseller and will develop information about the New River Valley commercial office market on behalf of the RU Corporate Park.

"These are two wonderful examples of the way COBE helps our students experience business and make a contribution," Dean Faye W. Gilbert said.

Eleven groups from two sections of Assistant Professor Gary Schirr's social media marketing class will use different platforms to promote "Voices," which offers women tips for success and stories from women who have already achieved their goals.

 To be deemed a bestseller, "Voices" has to sell the most books in its genre on Amazon.com within a 24-hour period on April 24. Each of the student groups will develop and apply social media campaigns using Twitter, Facebook, video blogging and online advertising to maximize sales on that day.

Senior Randi-Lyn Randall, a communication major from Groton, N.Y., recapped one group's social media promotional plan: “We will be using YouTube to create teaser videos and release a success tip every month. We will also have the author answer questions and share helpful information in a video blog.”

In a more conventional but equally competitive industry, 13 COBE students are gaining experience while generating a product for their client in commercial real estate. The graduate and undergraduate students have organized a marketing research team that will help the Radford University Real Estate Foundation to market the RU Corporate Park.

Advised by James Lollar, chair of the marketing department, the group is fanning out across the New River Valley to interview business owners and lessees about their office space needs and expectations. Data from the interviews will be used to guide the foundation in developing the 100,000-square-foot office complex off U.S. Route 11 in Fairlawn.
 
"We are genuinely excited about the opportunity to have this enthusiastic help," said John Cox, executive director of Radford University Foundation Inc., which oversees the real estate foundation. "The group gives us a force to better understand the market for a building like this."

Each four-person team comprises three undergraduates and a full-time MBA student who is the leader. Each team will devise strategies and schedules, and make calls in its assigned territory, with the leader responsible for establishing deliverables and maintaining the schedules.

The MBA students are in Maneesh Thakkar's Marketing 671: Special Topics course, and the undergraduate students are being advised by Lollar and MBA student Koehler Slagel, who is serving as project manager. The semester-long campaign began with a three-hour training course and will include more training sessions at which the students will share findings and get guidance from the faculty management team.

 "We hope to help the foundation with the branding of the property by offering recommendations about how to position it in the market," Lollar said. "The students will get valuable experience from meeting one on one with people in the field as they gather the data for the recommendations."

RU Corporate Park, owned by the RU Real Estate Foundation, now has 11 tenants representing professional and nonprofit organizations. It has more than 30,000 square feet of space available for office use.