“We really function exactly as an agency. We do everything from social media to SEO to content creation and analytics,” said Alex LaBrecque, UNH assistant professor of marketing, who advises Voice Z Digital, a student-run digital marketing agency. (Courtesy of UNH)
Voice Z Digital, a digital marketing agency run by students at the University of New Hampshire, recently celebrated working with its 100th client.
During a recent “Down to Business” podcast, we visited with Alex LaBrecque, assistant professor of marketing, who serves as the agency’s faculty advisor; Maddie Nerden, a marketing student at UNH; and Erika Halaby of Rooted Rose Recreation and Wellness.
They talked about how the program works and how it has helped both students interested in getting hands-on experience in marketing and small businesses who need help promoting their products and services.
Q. Alex, can you share with us more about the program?
LaBrecque: Back in 2019, UNH was facing a crossroads of how do we get students better prepared for the next steps in their careers, and that fell in line with how do we get them more experience? Out of that, Voice Z Digital was born. We really function exactly as an agency. We do everything from social media to SEO to content creation and analytics. Since then, we’ve worked with over a hundred clients and delivered more than $1 million in services, all while giving students that real-world, hands-on experience — which replaces that traditional learn-it-and-then-maybe-use-it-later approach.
Q. Where does the funding come from for this program?
LaBrecque: We’ve been lucky enough to partner with the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) of New Hampshire, and they’ve been really helpful.
We’ve secured grant funding at different levels. There is a Peter T. Paul Fund for Innovation grant that helps support a lot of areas at Paul College and throughout the university. We’ve been able to secure funding for this year’s wave of clients through that innovation fund.
Q. Does it take any convincing for clients to work with college students?
LaBrecque: The nice part about this is we’ve really built this close relationship with the SBDC over the past six years. And as a part of that, we’ve done workshops with the SBDC so that we’ve really built that trust, and you have to earn that trust throughout that relationship. But between the advisors and the leadership of the SBDC, we come very highly referred. When a new client comes into the SBDC and they need digital marketing help, it’s oftentimes Voice Z is the first call.
Q. Erika, what was your experience working with university students?
Halaby: The thought was, “Finally, I have a marketing team to turn to for the business that I co-own with my fiance. I have people outside of my home to share with.” Through the SBDC, just like Alex said, I was one of those clients in need, and it was one of the first recommendations that they gave me. … I was overall looking for support through a burnout period in the business. We are a seasonalled business. I’m a graduate student, and I just needed a refresh and help with the direction, because we are a multidisciplinary business from events to courses to training. It was just too much, and I needed more hands in the fire.
Q. What was it like collaborating with students to help grow your brand?
Halaby: It was very fulfilling and inspiring to see them getting experiential education opportunities, because that’s what my business is rooted in. There was a lot of reciprocity going on. There was quicker progress than I believed. I had a large team at first, and I was really blown away from the analytics to working on my copywriting to graphics. They were just ready to dive in, and I was so ready for them too. So that helped us just go for it.
Q. Maddie, was it nervewracking to work with an established company?
Nerden: No, I was very excited to work with Rooted Rose, especially since it was in social media, which is an area that I specialize in and really enjoy. It was great getting to work with Erika and the rest of my team to come up with new solutions.
We tried to streamline content planning.
We gave Erika a three-month content calendar to use so that way she can plan out when to promote certain events or trainings and stuff like that. We also used some of these video clips that she took in the past that she hadn’t really used much for in her content, and we turned those into videos for her.
LaBrecque: We’ve really developed a leadership structure so that, by the time new members come in, they have people who have been in the agency for two or three years that are now in our lead team that have served on up to 10 or more client teams. They not only have support from me, but they have support from their peers and are really able to understand this entire client onboarding process and how to work with clients.
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