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Week 3: Sell It — Business Marketing Careers

6th Six Weeks | Marketing Cluster | 5 class periods (50 min each)

Lesson Objective

Students explore Marketing careers within the Business, Marketing & Finance cluster through Hats & Ladders, design a billboard or bus wrap advertisement using the H&L "Marketing on the Move" activity, analyze how economic conditions affect marketing employment, design a subscription box business using the H&L "Think Inside the Box" entrepreneurship project, and use Google Applied Digital Skills to practice real-world marketing competencies.

Demonstration of Learning

"I can describe at least three marketing careers, explain how economic changes affect marketing job availability, design a billboard or bus wrap ad with a clear message and target audience, and create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for a subscription box business."

TEKS Alignment

  • d(1)(C): Identify various career opportunities within the Marketing cluster.
  • d(3)(I): Define entrepreneurship and identify entrepreneurial opportunities in marketing.
  • d(5)(C): Analyze effects of changing societal needs and economic conditions on employment trends and career choices.

Materials Needed

  • Chromebooks with internet access (1 per student)
  • Hats & Ladders student accounts + H&L Workbook (Ch 5: Business, Marketing, and Finance, pp. 73-79)
  • BLS, Market Research Analysts: bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/market-research-analysts.htm
  • Google Applied Digital Skills: applieddigitalskills.withgoogle.com
  • eDynamic Learning Unit 4.1: Enterprise and Money Matters
  • Xello School Subjects at Work lesson (7th-grade task list)
  • Printed Marketing on the Move ad sketch templates (1 per student)
  • Printed MVP Subscription Box brainstorm sheet
  • Canva for Education (for ad design)

Career Connection

Marketing is the engine that drives every business. Without marketing, even the best product fails because nobody knows about it. In DFW, marketing professionals work at corporations (AT&T, American Airlines, Toyota, Mary Kay, Frito-Lay), at hundreds of marketing and advertising agencies, and as freelance entrepreneurs. The Marketing cluster includes traditional roles (Marketing Manager, Brand Manager) and rapidly growing digital roles (Social Media Manager, Content Creator, SEO Specialist).

What is Happening at Irving ISD? Business Management and Marketing is offered at Irving High School and Nimitz High School. MacArthur High School houses the Business, Retail Management and Entrepreneurship school. Cardwell Career Preparatory Center offers a Business Management pathway. Marketing is not currently offered at Singley Academy.

Vocabulary

  • Marketing: The process of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service. Includes advertising, market research, branding, and social media.
  • Market Research: The process of gathering information about consumers' needs and preferences to guide business decisions.
  • Target Audience: The specific group of people a marketing campaign is designed to reach.
  • MVP (Minimum Viable Product): The simplest version of a product that allows you to test an idea and get feedback before full launch.
  • Billboard: A large outdoor advertisement along a highway or busy street designed to be read in seconds.
  • Bus Wrap: A creative advertisement that wraps around a city bus, designed to grab attention from all angles as the bus moves.
  • Economic Conditions: The state of the economy at a given time, including factors like employment rates, consumer spending, and business growth.

Bridge to Theory (Hats & Ladders)

H&L Ch 5 (Business, Marketing, and Finance, pp. 73-86) covers six pathways: Accounting and Financial Services, Business Management, Marketing and Sales, Real Estate, Retail Management, and Entrepreneurship. The Marketing and Sales pathway is described as: "Finding ways to tell people about products or services and encouraging them to buy." This week uses three named workbook activities:

  • Marketing on the Move (Day 1): Career Climb. Students choose a product or event (new aquarium, smoothie launch, self-driving car promo) and design a billboard or bus wrap ad with checklist requirements.
  • Powerskill: Written Communication (Day 2): Students create a social media post for a Little Free Library, practicing clear messaging and call-to-action writing.
  • Think Inside the Box (Day 3): Career Climb. Students design a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) subscription box, identify their target audience, and develop 3-5 customer feedback questions.

The Hat Research template (Ch 5, p. 80) provides structured fields for marketing career research used Day 4.

IISD Instructional Strategies

  • Modeling: Teacher sketches a billboard ad on the projector before students start, showing the speed test (read in 5 seconds while driving).
  • Sentence Stems: For the economic conditions analysis: "When the economy is strong, marketing jobs _ because . When the economy slows down, marketing jobs __ because _____."
  • Jigsaw: Each team researches a different marketing role (Marketing Manager, Social Media Manager, Market Research Analyst, Brand Manager, SEO Specialist) and presents to the class.
  • 5-Second Test: Ad designs are evaluated by holding them up for 5 seconds, can the audience tell what is being sold?

Week at a Glance

Day Focus Key Activities Deliverable
1 Marketing Cluster + Marketing on the Move H&L cluster tour + Marketing on the Move ad design (Ch 5) Billboard or bus wrap ad sketch
2 Written Communication + Economic Conditions Powerskills Written Communication post + economic conditions analysis Little Library social media post + economic conditions table
3 Think Inside the Box MVP subscription box design (Ch 5) + customer feedback questions MVP design + 3-5 feedback questions
4 Hat Research + Google Applied Digital Skills H&L Marketing Hat Research + GADS lesson + Xello School Subjects at Work Hat Research template + GADS lesson completion
5 Marketing Plan Pitches + eDynamic 4.1 Mini Marketing Plan presentations + eDynamic 4.1 Marketing plan pitch + eDynamic progress

Formative Assessment

  • Marketing on the Move ad design (Day 1): d(1)(C), d(3)(I)
  • Little Library social media post (Day 2): d(1)(C)
  • Economic conditions analysis (Day 2): d(5)(C)
  • MVP design quality (Day 3): d(3)(I)
  • GADS lesson completion (Day 4): d(1)(C)

Summative Assessment

Marketing Plan Pitch (Day 5): Students present a 1-minute Mini Marketing Plan summary that includes: product/service name, target audience, marketing channel, key message, and economic justification ("This product will sell because..."). Scored on marketing career knowledge (d(1)(C)), entrepreneurship application (d(3)(I)), and economic awareness (d(5)(C)).

Differentiation

Scaffolded Learning

  • Provide a partially-filled Marketing on the Move template with the product chosen and one slogan example
  • Offer 3 pre-selected Google Applied Digital Skills lessons to prevent students spending too long choosing
  • Provide a Subscription Box brainstorm template with 5 sample box themes (snacks, art supplies, sports, beauty, science kits)
  • Allow students to present their Mini Marketing Plan in written format if oral presentation is too challenging

Extensions

  • Students design a complete 3-post social media campaign (not just one post) for their MVP
  • Research a real DFW marketing agency (Tracy Locke, The Richards Group, etc.) and present what services they offer
  • Design TWO billboard ads for the same product targeting two different audiences and explain the differences

ELL Language Support

  • Pre-teach: Marketing = Mercadotecnia, Brand = Marca, Target Audience = Audiencia objetivo, Entrepreneurship = Emprendimiento, Subscription = Suscripción
  • Bilingual ad design templates with Spanish slogan options
  • Many of DFW's most successful marketing campaigns are bilingual. Spanish-language ads are an authentic creative choice
  • Pair ESL students with bilingual peers during pitch presentations