Alumni Spotlight: Joshua Arter
My name is Joshua Arter. I graduated in 2012 with a bachelors degree in advertising. I grew up throughout the Midwest staying in Minnesota and Michigan. But once I landed in Wisconsin to attend Marquette, I fell in love with Milwaukee. I have stayed here since.
Dear students: go and network your heart out.
Currently, I’m the Director of Social Media at STIR Advertising & Integrated Messaging. The best part of my role is that we’re a small but incredibly talented team. I’ve been able to get my hands dirty and learn so much about other aspects of digital marketing and account management. I really pride myself on building client relationships, and in this role, I get to not only help at the ground floor with potential new clients but once we’re hired, I get to nurture those relationships over time.
I am a very creative person. I’ve always loved writing, photography, and music, so I spend most of my time listening to records or making my own music and running around Milwaukee shooting pictures with my Gameboy Camera (yes that’s a thing!).Throughout college, I had a few internships at ad agencies around town ranging from public relations to social media marketing and content development, but my first full-time job was a digital marketing position at a company that specialized in web and custom app development. I oversaw managing the social media accounts, email newsletters, and web content. From there I moved on to Briggs & Stratton as part of their digital marketing team. I managed projects ranging from product updates on several brand websites to detailed email marketing initiatives. I did miss the agency world, so after some time, I found a position that let me manage client relations, social channels and developing content calendars, and monthly reports. That was one of the first positions that really let me take a deep dive into data, and now I absolutely love digging into and analyzing what works and what doesn’t. After making my way up the ranks, I’ve been a Director of Social Media now for six years. I absolutely love learning about new clients and their problems and discovering innovative ways to solve them.
The classes I took in the Diederich College not only provided a great foundation for what I’m doing now, I absolutely enjoyed guest lectures from local veterans in the industry. My advisors also instilled the importance of networking and interning to get actual hands-on experience before graduating.
My favorite memories I had at Marquette were probably move-in day, the trees in the Wisconsin Avenue median changing colors in the fall, or getting a chance to go up into the Carillon at the top of the Marquette Hall tower.
If I could offer a piece of advice to students, it would be: never stop learning. You’re also in a position where 9 times out of 10, as a student, no one is going to say no to talking over coffee. Go and network your heart out. Learn about the career you want to go into from those who have been doing it.
