How to Get a Marketing Internship – Moving into marketing as a career can be so overwhelming, especially for beginners who have little or no knowledge about marketing.
This has been the challenge that a lot of people have been facing over the years; mostly those who are new in the industry.
Over the years, we noticed that whether you are a student or a graduate who is looking for a new work path, you can get started in marketing by applying for marketing internships.
Perhaps, as of today, there are lots of marketing internships that are available, but the issue there is that there is a lot of competition in those marketing internships.
Perhaps, we recommend that you, first of all, understand the processes that are involved and what it takes to secure a marketing internship.
In this guide, we will discuss the various steps on how to get a marketing internship, to help you get your foot set in the marketing field.
Furthermore, this detailed guide will assist you in landing your first marketing job, and also it will help you to expand your knowledge in the marketing field.
Steps on How to Get a Marketing Internship
If you intend to get a marketing internship, follow the steps below:
#1. Select your desired marketing niche
As a marketer, you should know that selecting your desired marketing niche is the first thing you should do before thinking of applying for marketing internships.
When you have discovered the area that you have an interest in when it comes to marketing, you can be able to focus on that area and expand your knowledge as well.
Besides marketing, when you measure in a particular field, you can be able to know much about what you have focused all your attention on.
At this age, choosing a specific area in marketing may be hard, since there are lots of marketing niches that are closely related to each other.
Perhaps, we recommend that you choose up to three marketing niches that are related to each other when choosing your marketing niche.
For instance, you can choose from social media marketing, content marketing, search engine marketing, website development, email marketing, print/radio/tv marketing, influencer marketing, product marketing, etc.
There are assorted marketing niches that you can choose from; just ensure that you have passion in the area that you are choosing.
Having selected a few marketing niches that you have passion for, it’s time to spend time researching and upgrading your knowledge in your chosen niche.
In this digital age, there are so many materials that you can use to improve your marketing niche even while on the go.
#2. Update your resume
When you have selected your desired marketing niche that you have passion for, the next thing you are expected to do is to update your resume so that it will match your interests, experience, qualifications, and skills.
We recommend using a standard resume template whenever you are designing or updating your resume.
You can look for pre-built templates on Canva and other related platforms that offer quality stand-out designs.
When choosing your desired design, it is advisable to choose a design that reflects your personality; but it should look professional and presentable.
The next thing you should do when you have selected your desired template is to start to layout your content. The content that should appear in your resume should be presentable and well arranged.
We recommend that you write a compelling personal profile that will help your resume to be very effective upon presentation.
Ensure that your resume offers a little insight into who you are and the exact things you want in terms of a career in marketing.
Also, your resume should indicate your main goal of becoming a marketing intern.
Furthermore, your resume should contain a list of all of your qualifications, skills, and relevant experience, and also a well-written profile about yourself.
#3. Make your portfolio outstanding
As a marketer, you should strive to have a customized portfolio where you can freely showcase your work. The reason for this is that a lot of marketers who are experts in the field all have a well-designed portfolio where they showcase their work to potential employers.
Perhaps, even if you are still a new marketer or probably you don’t have experience in marketing, it is recommended that you create a portfolio where you can showcase the little knowledge you have and what you have achieved with it.
From experience, we have come across some people that think that it is pointless to start up an online portfolio without any experience.
Perhaps, even if you don’t have much that you will include in your portfolio, you can add your school projects or projects that you did out of a passion for marketing (probably some test projects).
If you have blogs or social media pages (of course you are meant to have all these), we recommend that you include links to these platforms where you have uploaded some of your projects.
They can be in written form or video content that you shared on your social media profile.
Hereunder, you can even include some links to content you think is great. These contents may not be your contents – perhaps, you must ensure to add credit to their references.
From research, we discovered that one of the most favorable ways you can use to improve your online portfolio is by asking local businesses if you can promote their brand on your blog.
You can as well create a social media marketing plan for these local businesses.
#4. Improve your network
From our recent discoveries, we found out that one of the best ways to market an internship is by growing your network (also known as networking).
With networking, you as a marketer can be able to meet important and interesting people in the marketing industry.
Perhaps, improving your network or growing your network may seem discouraging if you are still new in the marketing field and you have the mindset that you don’t have much to offer.
Moreover, we want to bring to your notice that even someone that is not a marketer has something to ship in when it comes to contributing ideas that can be used to skyrocket a marketing business plan.
You should know that everybody has something to share and also that networking is quite a great way to showcase what you’ve done or what you’re interested in doing; probably in the future.
From the findings, we noticed that one of the ways to grow your network as a marketing beginner is simply by asking questions that are related to marketing.
For instance, you can start by asking “how did you intend to get started in marketing?” “What area do you measure in marketing?”
With questions like this, you can be able to fetch valuable advice from different people. In turn, it will help you to extract information from your fellow marketers that are on the same pane as you.
#5. Get involved in creating engaging LinkedIn content
LinkedIn is one of the popular social media platforms for growing connections and can serve as a tool that you can use to contact people that are in your networking jurisdiction.
While growing your network, you can as well share your LinkedIn profile link with your fellow marketers so that you can easily connect with them on LinkedIn.
When you have established a few connections, the next thing you are meant to start doing is to start creating marketing-related content which we recommend that you include proper graphics.
This will help trigger insights into your search for the right marketing internship.
The experience you have in the marketing field will enable you to relate with other entry-level marketers and also marketers that are higher-level executives and may be able to give you some career advice in the marketing field.
Also, we noticed that if you get involved in posting and updating recent content on LinkedIn, it will serve as a great channel to get the attention of several companies as well as potential employers who may be advertising marketing internships in their connection space.
When you have engaged in most of these activities that we listed above, it will help you to reach out to businesses yourself and also to express your interest.
#6. Get in touch with the right companies
Regardless of the method you are using to apply for a marketing internship, probably on job sites or taking the direct approach via LinkedIn connections or email, the most important and recommended thing you are to do is to get in touch with the right companies.
Your journey in getting a marketing internship will be successful when you choose the right companies in your niche.
We recommend that you choose the right companies even before you start doing your research on getting a marketing internship.
You can get in touch with the right companies by looking at the company’s website where you will find everything you need to know about the business; this should include what the company does, their brands, who the company is, and other related info.
When you consider all these, then you can be able to decide if the business is right the right fit for you.
Perhaps, when thinking about going for big brands when planning on getting a marketing internship, also ensure that they are willing to accept people even with the little knowledge they have.
Unfortunately, these big companies and brands that you may be seeking may not always be the best places to start, because they may end up seeing you like a little fish in a big pond.
This means that you are not in their class or probably you are not the type they are looking for.
In this scenario, we recommend that you opt for a small to medium-sized business that can offer a great experience to you.
#7. Research each brand thoroughly
Whenever you have finished finding the companies and brands that you intend to apply for their marketing internship, we recommend that you spend time researching each brand thoroughly.
Your research will expose you to certain things you need to know about each company; for instance how they operate, how they organize their internship, etc.
Also, try to inspect what they expect from their employees, and also you should strive to understand the type of people that each company employs.
If possible, you can further consider connecting with a few of the employees who work at the company and find out some relevant information from them.
You can do this by speaking with them to get a better understanding of the business and how the company operates.
As someone venturing into an internship, you should endeavor to pay close attention to the job description you are seeking if it is available at the moment you are doing your findings.
The information you are to extract from the company should include what the job you are seeking involves, and the requirements that qualified candidates must have before they can be considered during employment.
If you can be able to gather all this information, it will help you with any application and interview planning.
#8. Get prepared and stay focused
You should be a marketer who is always prepared. Probably if you are invited to an interview, you shouldn’t start gathering materials or necessary documents that will help you scale through in the interview.
Imagine if you are called for an interview overseas and you don’t have any document that can take you to the place of an interview!
Over the years and from research, we come to realize that one of the best ways to prepare for an interview is to ensure that you know the company inside and out.
This will help you to know the type of questions you are to expect from the interviewer and also how you are to approach each question.
Also, you can even document all your experience and compare it to the company’s job description.
This will help to show how your skills can benefit the company business that you are enrolling in.
Also, you can as well sample some of your experiences and how it is connected to the job you are applying for.
You can even document some questions that you will ask during the time of your interview.
Conclusion
While applying for a marketing internship, you should know that there are lots of competition in the marketing internships that are available within your jurisdiction.
Perhaps, with the steps we detailed in this guide, you can easily know what to do and how to go about getting your desired marketing internships without much hassle.
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