Mickie Casper, Madison Media Partners digital recruitment specialist, is a lifelong resident of Oregon, Wisconsin. She graduated from Oregon High School, where she participated in cheerleading, and then attended the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, earning a B.S. in animal science, with an emphasis on horses, and a minor in chemistry. One of three children, Mickie’s family is deeply important to her; growing up with a brother with special needs shaped much of who she is and what matters to her, emphasizing the importance of being accepting and supportive of others.
Beck Henreckson, Madison Media Partners digital marketing content producer, asked Mickie some questions so you can better get to know her and her role on our team. You can connect with Mickie on LinkedIn.
What was the first job you ever held?
What was the first job you ever held?My first job was at Rocky Rococo’s in Oregon. We had some close family friends who worked there, and — well, I was 16 and wanted to buy my own stuff. Within a couple months, I got a second job working at a vet clinic.
What does your path to Madison Media Partners look like?
I wasn’t content working in the vet industry and working with animals. I made a shift to selling animal pharmaceutical products. When things began changing where I was at, I decided it was a good time to look elsewhere. I had a grip on sales and had been successful in that industry, so I found this position at Madison Media Partners — the rest is history!
Describe your role at Madison Media Partners.
I’m specifically in recruitment. My job is to reach out to employers who are hiring and discuss with them their open positions, what they’re currently doing to advertise those positions, and find out what tactics we have at our disposal to help them reach more ideal candidates and fill their openings.
What is unique about what Madison Media Partners has to offer clients?
The core part of my job is to listen to clients and what their needs are — to find out where they may have holes in their marketing, and share what we have to fill those holes. It’s also important to us that we have reporting for everything we do. Everything we’re about here is helping our clients succeed and accomplish their goals, while staying consistent with the client’s business values.
Share with us an experience you had working with a client that made you feel proud.
I have one client, an assisted living community, who wasn’t doing a lot of advertising and whose website was pretty minimal. They explained that they’d had a position open for four months and were still shuffling to find someone. My contact asked me to put together something for him based on our conversation. When I sent over the ad copy that I’d crafted, he showed it to his boss and told them, “Mickie gets it, she understands what we’re looking for.” When I recently renewed him for another month and asked him what he wanted to do, he said, “What do you think? I’m going to lean on your expertise.”
It’s really affirming, being fairly new to the job, to already have earned a position of trust — to have a client who really defers to me, whose attitude is, “If this is what you think is best, let’s do it.”
What is a marketing lesson you’ve learned recently?
What is a marketing lesson you’ve learned recently?You need to make sure you look at the big picture and ask the right questions — not just, is this what the client asked for, but who is this directed to, how is it going to look for that intended audience, and is it going to have the message the client wants to get out. That requires really listening to the client’s needs, which is such a big part of successful marketing.
What’s your favorite spot to get food in the area?
Hmm, I don’t branch out a lot. We do have this fro-yo place in Oregon that’s great — Oregon Frozen Yogurt, or OFroYo — and I love how they support the local community. Headquarters Bar & Restaurant in Oregon also is great; they have whatever you’re looking for, whether it’s quiet dining or an outdoor patio. They’re also really supportive of local sports. They have a wall with tiles for different sports teams on it. When members of those teams come in, they sign their names on the tile and the restaurant uses those as ceiling tiles. Headquarters is part of the community, not just in the community.
Share your favorite thing about Madison.
What I love about Madison is that you can have that big city and small country feel at the same time. It’s crazy to be driving down some city street and all of a sudden — ope, let me stop for these deer and turkeys to cross the road. There’s also such strong support for UW-Madison’s sports. Whatever you’re looking for or craving, you’ll find it within Madison. And you don’t have to go far.
