Alex Fulkerson didn’t intend to work in the fishing industry or fall in love with the sport, but soon after recommitting himself and focusing his efforts at Kansas State, he found his passion.
Fulkerson started his journey in 2007 when he initially enrolled at Kansas State. Once he got there, he realized that his degree field wasn’t what he aspired to be, but after stepping back and thinking about his passion, Fulkerson found his niche with the University’s fishing team.
“When I first started at Kansas State, I was majoring in Nutritional Sciences. I didn’t want to spend 14 years in college and be in my 30s before I started my life,” Fulkerson said. “So I took three years off to figure out what I wanted to do. I went to a guide school in Colorado and fell in love with the outdoors.”
When he returned to school in the fall of 2011, he knew he wanted to work in the hunting or fishing industry. Kansas State had just started a Wildlife and Outdoor Enterprise Management program and that was Fulkerson’s fresh start.
Another new addition to his life was college fishing. He heard about competitive fishing at the college level and he became interested in that opportunity. Next thing he knew, he was the treasurer of the fishing team and actively competing across all platforms.
After logging a couple of quality finishes and capping his career with a trip to the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series National Championship at Lake Chatuge, Fulkerson took an opportunity to work with Garmin.
With Garmin, Fulkerson connects fishing and hunting fans around the world to the Garmin brand through multiple social media platforms as the company’s Social Media Content Creator.
“Garmin started, at least on social media, as just a strictly Garmin channel. We would interact with bass anglers, pilots, cyclists, runners and also soccer moms using our products,” Ted Gartner, Garmin Director of Communications. “It was long overdue for us to start breaking out of these social media channels and into specific niches so we created the Garmin Fish & Hunt pages for the outdoor anglers and hunters.”
As a former college angler, the Kansas State graduate knows how anglers talk and what they want to see in a product. Using that communication between Garmin and its pro staff anglers has been extremely beneficial for the brand to grow a stronger presence in the industry.
Fulkerson accepted this position and was able to hit the ground running because of the experience that college fishing gave him. Talking to other anglers, making friends and interacting with sponsors are some of the best networking opportunities that any amateur angler needs.
The 2015 calendar year was big for Garmin, as they returned to the freshwater market and hit the bass fishing industry with everything they had. They gained interest from numerous Bassmaster Elite Series pros and also turned some heads with their new Panoptix technology. For a company that had gone completely saltwater, a return to bass fishing yielded a great response.
“Its one thing to have the marketing strategy, but if you don’t have the technology to pair with it then it doesn’t really matter,” Gartner said. “Garmin is all about the product, but I tip my hat to the people here who realized we needed to central our marketing efforts within the industry. We are here to stay, not only in the saltwater, but also now the freshwater market.”
Technology makes the world turn, and with the advances both in social media and the product, Garmin is finding its way in the industry. For Fulkerson, he is now a part of the ever-growing industry, where his passion for the outdoors and college fishing contributed to his opportunity to create his new career path.
“To this day I still believe college fishing one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”
