Biggest Challenges Faced by a Social Impact Marketing Manager at Discovery Education
Amira's biggest challenge as a Social Impact Marketing Manager is the industry-wide understaffing of marketing departments, particularly in social impact initiatives, forcing Amira to "wear and juggle multiple hats." This is compounded by the need to constantly justify social impact programs' value, not just emotionally, but also by demonstrating "the monetary return" to gain buy-in from stakeholders focused on the bottom line.
Overcoming Challenges, Workplace Challenges, Industry Realities, Communication, Problem-Solving
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Amira Davis
Social Impact Marketing Manager
Discovery Education
University of Georgia - Terry College of Business, 2016
UCLA Anderson (FTMBA 2025)
Marketing
Education
Communication and Marketing
Scholarship Recipient, Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School, Greek Life Member, LGBTQ, Transfer Student
Video Highlights
1. Many marketing teams are understaffed, requiring employees to handle multiple roles and responsibilities.
2. It can be challenging to secure sufficient funding and resources for social impact initiatives.
3. To be successful in social impact marketing, professionals must be able to demonstrate the business value of such programs and initiatives and to communicate this value effectively to stakeholders who may primarily focus on financial returns
Transcript
What is your biggest challenge in your current role?
Across the industry, this is kind of a challenge. This is not isolated to just me and my role. Marketing is usually a subset of sales a lot of the time, and sales gets the most attention, if you will.
Often, dollars, head count, and the number of people who can be hired are vastly catered towards the sales side, not the marketing side, especially when we're talking about social impact. So, there's usually a lot of understaffing.
The challenges of having to wear and juggle multiple hats without enough hours in the day are significant. Always having to fight for or justify why you need more help or support is probably the biggest challenge.
This also comes with programming and justifying why people should care about social impact and corporate social responsibility. If it doesn't make business sense, people don't understand or feel the need or desire to give back, especially if it's not part of their company values.
Having to persuade people to invest in these kinds of programs and this work can be difficult if you don't speak that business language. This is a skill that you have to be able to articulate: it's not just about making a difference in someone's life, but also about the monetary return you'll get from spending this money. Sometimes, that's the bottom line people care about.