An M.B.A. Would Just Slow Him Down
Jason Miller doesn't have a moment to spare. As LinkedIn's group manager for content marketing and social media, and the recent author of Welcome to the Funnel: Proven Tactics to Turn Your Social Media and Content Marketing up to 11, Miller is making waves. And when he made the transition from marketing in the music industry to more digital-intensive companies, time was of the essence.
"I went back to school to get my master's degree, but it was taking too long," Miller says. "I was learning a bunch of stuff that wasn't relevant. And so with a little bit of research online, I found the UC Berkeley Extension marketing certificate and enrolled in the digital marketing course. I had to get something on my résumé that showed that I was qualified and this was the only option that would move as quickly as this industry does. By the time I completed the courses, I got my foot in the door at a startup in the Bay Area. I then worked at Marketo for two years. Then LinkedIn called. If it weren't for those digital certificates on my profile, I wouldn't be here today."
I went back to school to get my master's degree, but it was taking too long.
At LinkedIn, he helps tell the stories of B2B marketers on the platform to encourage others who are in the same industry. "I manage a team of four and we talk about top-of-funnel content that's raising brand awareness, establishing trust. Fortune reports that up to 90 percent of the buying cycle is completed before somebody's ready to talk to a sales rep. So all that online research, that's the content that I produce. We focus on search, but we also work on amplifying our own content through native advertising."
