My Internship as a Marketing Specialist!
Marketing Specialist
Last summer, I had the chance to intern at a small promotional products company. Promotional products refer to items branded with a company logo or design. The main purpose of these items: promoting said company. You know the USC branded pens that they pass out to students during fairs? That pen right there is a promotional product! The company I worked for was the liaison between companies who wanted to purchase a bulk number of promotional products and manufactures in China who produced them.
What do you think of right away when you hear marketing? Some might think of social media or advertisements on billboards. My position was a little like those examples and more. If I had to describe the role in one word, I would say this: “A marketing specialist (at Global Promo LLC) is a role where someone takes the creative role to create graphics and manages the company’s website and social media”. The role of marketing can be vague depending on which company you work for. It can even have aspects of management and taking direction while still being an “entry-level” role.
Simpler jobs that might help you visualize what I did as a marketing specialist include:
• Artist
• Director
• Influencer
Artist
Right away, you might see the role of a marketing specialist as a creative role, and you wouldn’t be wrong. Some creative responsibilities that I had was:
• Taking product photos
• Creating graphics out of those photos
• Edit brand’s images onto product templates as a mock design
Let me tell you about one of the projects I worked on! One of the manufacturers that we worked with released a new line of pocketknives. They were able to have designs laser etched into the blade which was super cool. I remember taking these knives outside near a park. Then, I grabbed my camera, and started to capture many pictures with it. I then brought those pictures onto my computer and added creative text graphics to it. Finally, creating a social media graphic showcasing the item number and description. Being responsible for this project’s creative direction leads me to my next category!
Director
As a marketing specialist, I was able to be my own director much like that of a film. The workspace was a true collaborative environment. I was able to direct people and managed their tasks. This allowed turned my creative ambitions into a full-fledged project! During the project, I did the following:
• Told overseas website managers what to put as the product’s description
• Assess the performance of social media posts through website data
• Present my creative direction for the project to the CEO and marketing manager
It was motivating to have a sense of freedom when given the opportunity to be my own director! Having my own autonomy, I felt proud when I showed the CEO and marketing manager my work. They allowed me to also bring in my own experiences in graphic design to the table. I am someone who scrolls through Instagram and Pinterest a lot. My slight addiction has led to me developing a great eye for newer, trendier graphics.
Influencer
At the end of my internship, my boss said to me: “You should really try to become a social media influencer”. To be honest, that statement shocked me but then I found that I ended up doing influencer-like things like:
• Scrolling through social media to see what's trending
• Posting on the company’s social media pages
• Gathering insightful data of social media posts to determine performance
I never realized how similar my position as a marketing specialist is to a social media influencer! Of course, it was more formal and targeted to a different audience, but all the skills and responsibilities were there. Who knows? Maybe I will become a social media influencer in the future. I mean I already have 15,000 followers on TikTok but that is a story for next time…until then, I am really grateful for the opportunity to be not just an influencer, but also develop traits as my own director and artist. Working in marketing is a little like doing art but with other aspects that still tie it to business.
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Hi Matt,
ReplyDeleteWhat an impressive position! I like how you organized your experience into the three different categories of artist, director, and influencer. I am glad that you had creative freedom within this internship, allowing you to further develop your skills. It also shows that your team trusts you! You described marketing in a way that highlights how it goes beyond just selling the product, as it also requires strategic management and analysis.
This sounds like such a cool role you were able to participate in over the summer! Props to you on that wood photoshoot, very creative and a good setting for what the item was! I do think it isn't an easy job. When I find a brand on instagram that sells clothing or stationary items for example, I admire how great the product photography is. The overall description of your job makes it sound very fun and more than reading graphics on canva like many would imagine.
ReplyDeleteHi Matt, Your experience sounds really awesome, and encompasses a lot of different artistic talents. Seeing a product through its artistic design to marketing is really impressive, and I can't imagine how rewarding it feels to see a product succeed when it gets distributed.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great experience for an internship, they really enjoyed your work and I'm sure you were really thrilled to see your talent come to fruition. I wish I was that creative with digital imagery and logos. Do you want to continue a career in marketing?
ReplyDeleteI really loved the honesty in you recognizing how your "addiction" to your phone allowed you to excel in this internship. It actually makes a lot of sense that being on your phone a lot would make for an excellent Marketing intern. I think that is who we actually need in Marketing roles; people who are socially aware and know what is trending!
ReplyDeleteHi Matthew! I've always been curious what a marketing specialist actually does, thank you for your insight. I liked how you broke the job of a marketing specialist into three different sections, where you explain different examples of what you did. I also really enjoy scrolling through Pinterest, I feel like I can be on that app for hours, so I'm glad you were able to make that work and benefit you :)
ReplyDeleteHey Matthew! This is awesome. I am really interested in marketing and want to pursue it as a career. Personally, I have not had as much personal freedom and creativity during my marketing internships, so I think it is awesome how you were able to take a project and make it your own. I would love to hear more about this... (and also the story about how you have over 15,000 followers on tiktok).
ReplyDeleteI think you should 100% become a social media influencer. Your personality really shines through in your writing! I wouldn't even need to see your name to know this was you so hats off to that. This sounds like a really cool job and it seems like you really enjoyed it so yay! I feel like you went into the right amount of detail while simultaneously keeping us engaged and intrigued by what you were going to talk about next.
ReplyDeleteHi Matt! This is such a well-rounded internship to have under your belt and I loved reading your description of your day-to-day activities. I also really liked your inclusion of the hook about USC pens that are give out to both get our attention but also to better understand what you did as a marketing intern. Also big props to you for being able to withstand the pressure of staying up to date with media trends.
ReplyDeleteHi Matthew. Thanks for sharing your experience as a marketer! It was interesting to learn more about something that a lot of us don't really think about. Marketing is a huge part of selling products so it was cool to learn more about it.
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