Are marketing internships what they claim to be?
Over the years, we’ve come across many instances where the internship is portrayed under the limelight of good intentions, but it ultimately boils down to running random errands for their superiors. While the title
intern` holds no weight, the role of an intern in an organization is swiftly evolving, wherein on many occasions, interns find themselves managing a small team and even working alongside higher officials.
From the context of marketing, it is crucial to understand where you fit into the system, which areas you are required to cover as a marketing intern, and how important it is to enter into the field with the right mindset. Building the right foundation with your marketing internship enables you to succeed in future marketing jobs that require all the more zest and creativity.
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What is a marketing intern?
A marketing intern is a trainee in the field of marketing who has signed on with an organization for a brief period. As a marketing intern, you aim to obtain work experience and gain a sense of marketing operations in the industry you`re interning in.
There are both paid and unpaid options for marketing internships. They can also span across the world as in-person opportunities, be completely remote, or a mix of both, known as hybrid
. There has been a steady increase in the number of paid internship opportunities in the marketing field, which is good news, and the trend is also inclining toward more remote opportunities.
Most international marketing internships and their local internships typically last from a few weeks to two years. For long-term internships, you are more likely to receive compensation. This may include a monthly salary and, in some cases, other allowances such as accommodation, gym memberships, transportation, and meals.
It is common to receive a full-time offer after completing a marketing internship at a company. According to an article in the Economic Times, 70% of employers are more likely to ask current interns to find and hire full-time positions.
Where can I get a marketing internship?
The world is your oyster, as paid marketing internships are not confined to any particular region. Fancy working for a digital marketing agency in London or learning about incorporating marketing under an NGO in New York or Singapore? Consider interning abroad!
An international internship can help give you a competitive edge in today`s saturated job market. An international internship is a fantastic way to help you build a global career and network. We can certainly help you on this front; start here!
If doing international marketing internships doesn`t sound like you, you still have the vast ocean of remote marketing internships awaiting you. A remote marketing internship lets you intern at a global company from the comfort of your home, giving you the best of both worlds. Even if you’re not physically abroad, remote internships have many benefits and even provide a global perspective.
Additionally, as mentioned above, there are more remote marketing internship opportunities than ever. This means deciding where and with whom to do your internship.
What tasks do marketing interns have?
What exactly does a marketing intern do? This depends on the specific industry and the type of internship you sign up for. Depending on the company, requirements vary from internships to comprehensive support with market research.
But remember, interns are basically supporting roles, at least initially. Once you join, your primary role will be to understand the business with the necessary support, learning, and development. Once you get a feel for things, you are expected to do your part.
Here’s a summary of what you can expect to do as a marketing intern:
Contribute to marketing efforts!
It’s highly unlikely that you’ll be asked to manage a major project from the get-go. Starting a marketing internship may seem like a small step for companies: For example, let’s say you simply want to understand how your company functions, and see where all your colleagues fit in the company and what problems they solve.
In addition to job shadowing, you can examine all your marketing efforts, from research to social media, and match them to your job description. By doing so, you will eventually reach a level of control over yourself.
The day-to-day role and responsibilities of an intern include:
- Social Media and Email Management: You may be required to help manage the company’s social media, write emails to customers, and speak with customers on the phone. similar tasks. Your day might also include designing social media posts, scheduling them, and creating an overall strategy for your posts.
- Marketing Data Collection and Analysis: As marketing professionals, it is important to collect and interpret both quantitative and qualitative data from various marketing campaigns. See what works and what doesn’t in each campaign and adjust your next campaign accordingly.
- Event Processing: Marketing Interns are often asked to oversee the planning of important events. You may be asked to help prepare for an upcoming event, from deciding on a venue to arranging resources for the event, such as keynote speakers.
- Market Research: Although marketing is a creative field, it still has a lot of importance. Events, the statistical side of things, involve key factors and differentiators.
To understand what’s selling and what’s not, it’s important to stay on top of industry trends and conduct a variety of market research. If you study, your role as a marketing intern might be to work on new projects and provide recommendations on how to run them.
Gain work experience
As the main objective is still to learn and develop in the field of marketing, the activities and tasks are focused on lots of trial and error and the emphasis is on forming skills that will be useful in the future. It will be done. Is your career journey possible?
This is divided into two main areas.
Hard Skills Training
Hard skills are the technical skills needed to successfully perform your internship duties and ultimately your job. Marketing examples include social media marketing, copywriting, SEO optimization, and more.
Develop Your Soft Skills
Soft skills are just as important as hard skills because they are about your ability to connect with people and build mutually beneficial relationships. They are nearly universal in any industry, including emotional intelligence, exemplary communication, social skills, organizational skills, and active listening skills.
Soft skills are essential not only for successfully integrating into a company but also for better standing with customers and other stakeholders.
Observation
This is often the first approach for interns, not just marketing. This is because you are using a system for the first time that requires a lot of learning to fully understand.
As the name suggests, this practice consists of ‘watching’ someone perform a daily task, observing their activities, and learning through second-hand experience what their role means. will be done.
Most companies achieve this best by assigning each intern a dedicated mentor. These mentors help the interns by providing opportunities to observe them, see how they are functioning, and provide ample space for the interns to interact with others in the company. We will help you build a strong foundation.
They are essential guides for these interns as everything from their performance to their questions is encouraged and resolved by their mentors. Job shadowing is a great way to gain deeper insight into the day-to-day operations of the marketing industry.
Expanding Job Responsibilities As he advances and moves up the
career ladder, he will eventually gain the ability and confidence to perform additional tasks efficiently. Based on your performance in the first few weeks, team members, especially your mentor, will assess your current skills and reliability and assign additional tasks accordingly. The better you perform, the more responsibility you will be given.
This is a great opportunity to build your reputation with your employer. Additionally, this is not a promise but rather supports your statement that you would like a full-time position at the same company after your internship.
While this is generally true, it is important to demonstrate that you can efficiently handle the workload assigned to you, so you don’t have to bite off more than you can chew.
Networking
Marketing is an industry where you need to be in the thick of things and know all the current trends in your particular industry. Building a professional network will not only help you secure more job opportunities in the future but also connect you with many other people in your industry and learn more about how they work. It’s also helpful to know.
There are many other things you can get inspired by and help improve your marketing skills.
Here are some examples of the types of networking marketing interns.
Find Influencers
Across social media, influencers are (obviously) interested in how the tone and content of their messages vary within different categories, and how they can help sell without going directly to the sale. Very influential in understanding how to strategize.
Forming a Peer Support Group
Other marketing interns and professionals past the internship stage can be very helpful in gaining different perspectives on the profession as a whole, from expectations to other prospects.
Connecting with Managers and Colleagues
One of the easiest ways to network may be directly from your own company, especially if everyone is nice and considerate. You can talk to other members of the marketing team to learn more about their professional backgrounds and how they address the many challenges within the marketing department.
Final Thoughts
A marketing internship is the best preparation if you want to effectively enter this career. It includes a compact package that gives you your first taste of working as a marketing professional without all the training and responsibilities of a full-time position.
It also gives you an advantage over people who aim for a full-time job straight out of college. Because they still miss some of the professional tricks they learned on the job.
If you’re considering a paid marketing internship, Capital Placement can step in and help you secure a memorable and valuable internship opportunity, either remotely or in major cities like New York, London, and Singapore. For more information, please call us to make a reservation.