Mark Skeba

Mark is an assistant professor at North Central University in Minneapolis where he teaches marketing, sales, and business communication.

He has spent more than 16 years in consumer marketing with a specialization in brand strategy and messaging. He has worked on more than twenty national brands across multiple marketing roles. Within General Mills, he helped oversee stage early social media teams and launched a small in-house advertising agency that did award-winning work. Mark consults with brands, non-profits, and start-ups to clarify and differentiate their message. He works to create clear, succinct, and unique marketing messages to attract customers and investors.

---

Education: St. Olaf College and Kellogg School of Management

16 years working in consumer marketing and messaging

Why you are passionate about staying on top of changes and trends that might impact business and marketing – 

It is impossible to stay on top of everything going on in marketing and media. You’ll go nuts. It is most important is be curious about the trends that are most impacting your hero customer and your business. Specifically the ones that intersect with their path to purchase. Focus and testing the two to three things that might be big in the future (I bet every youth brand wishes they were experimenting on Tik Tok in four years ago).

Why this topic is important to you and/or why do you think it’s important in the world today

As a professor, I probably learn more about what is coming from my students. Bet (they taught me that word). Consumer behavior and creation on media and tech keeps changing and accelerating. As a brand you can no longer “control” the message…instead, you need to have a point of view that guides consumers as they run with it. The brands that are emerging have such a clear point of view that consumers are doing most of their marketing for them.

Connect with Mark on LinkedIn!