Written by Kate Fitscher
In the short period of time that I interned at Discover716, I felt that it had been a great learning experience for me both educationally and professionally.
Throughout my time at Discover716, I truly got to experience the business’ mission of local supporting local. I really enjoyed working with other companies to help them gain a larger audience and brand exposure. I feel that my assignment to market local businesses was the task that pulled me out of my comfort zone the most. At the beginning, I was weary of calling a CEO on the phone and asking how they would like me to market for them. It is nerve wracking talking to a stranger that holds so much power. I always had to be conscious that I was representing Disocver716 professionally and was scared at times that my knowledge of marketing would not be fit to the CEO’s expectations. Marketing for businesses strengthened my communication skills and confidence when showcasing the skills I have to offer.
There were a few things I learned as an intern at Discover716 that I did not realize prior to becoming a part of the business. First, what you see a business posting on social media is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the marketing plan for the business. There were so many emails, spreadsheets, forms, and phone calls I had to do before a social media post was ever created. As an outsider, all that is seen are the nicely edited photographs the business posts, so marketing seems like easy work.
Secondly, no employee’s job title ever stops at “marketer”. Every intern had more than one important skill that contributed to marketing for a business. If your job field is marketing, chances are you are also a photographer, writer, or video editor.
Finally, you must market yourself before you market others. Discover716 currently has over 29k followers on Instagram alone. With all of our social media accounts, website, and app, we can successfully reach a large audience. This leads businesses to come to us to post content marketing their business. Discover716 was not built overnight. It took a long period of time to build up to the point where we have the power to influence our followers. All of the work done to get to the point where Discover716 operates as a marketing agency and continues to operate successfully was thanks to social media, word of mouth, and consistent advertising for local businesses.
I value everything I was able to learn during my limited time at Discover716 over winter break. It was exciting to finally use the skills I learned in school in the real business world. It is motivating to me now to see that even the textbook curriculum is beneficial to my future job. Even when a semester is very challenging and I feel that I will never use the information I am learning again, I know now that everything I learn will be useful for my career. Some of the ideas I learned in class and thought nothing of became the most popular marketing tactics for Disocver716 and truly helped our business out. From now on, I will remain openminded about the skills I learn. You never know which goofy textbook acronym will change your marketing skills for the best.