By Sabrina DuFran
Photo provided by Moore Norman Technology Center website
Communications and professionalism are strategies that David Joplin, Director of Marketing and Communications at Moore Norman Technology Center, has mastered; however, in his unpretentious way, he confides that the “truth is, none of us have all the answers.”
Joplin actually began his career in communications working on movies, such as “Rainman,” “Offerings,” and a commercial spot for Nissan. He then began as Video Producer for the Oklahoma Department of CareerTech, where he developed corporate, promotional and training videos for new and growing Oklahoma companies.
“Between film, commercial, public relations and marketing, I have worked in the communications field for almost 20 years,” he explained. The past 12 years Joplin has been Director of Marketing and Communications, first at Canadian Valley Technology, and now at Moore Norman Technology Center. He supervises a marketing and communications department of six full time and eight part-time staff members for a $30 million plus organization. Joplin and his staff are responsible for all marketing, public and media relations, advertising, crisis communications and student recruitment.
Joplin received his undergraduate and master’s degree from the Gaylord College of Journalism at the University of Oklahoma. Broadcast Journalism was his emphasis for his undergraduate degree, and for his master’s degree he studied Public Relations. He also conducted graduate work at the University of North Texas and was accepted to UCLA’s film school.
The importance of research in the communication profession cannot be stressed enough, as far as Joplin is concerned. “You must be diligent about conducting research on the front end to guide your communication strategies and messages, but even more importantly, be able to provide post-campaign evaluation data…you must be able to ‘show’ results,” Joplin said.
Joplin advises future PR professionals to consistently follow the R.A.C.E. formula (Research, Action Planning, Communication, Evaluation) for successful results. “Ours is a nebulous profession; therefore, the more we hold ourselves accountable to demonstrate irrefutable results, the more we will succeed,” Joplin advised. He also stressed the importance of learning from your “elders” in the public relation field, as well as focusing on all job responsibilities of the positions in the public relations department. “Each job matters,” he explained, “and we must learn from others throughout our entire professional lives.”
Public relations is about effective communication with your audience. “At the end of the day, the questions will always be: did your audience understand your message, and did that message make a positive impact?” he concluded.
