Hi! Welcome! My name is Caroline and I am the summer marketing intern at VSG Marketing. I am heading into my senior year at UW Tacoma, working toward a degree in Communication.
“What is it like being an intern at a Marketing Agency?”
I’m so glad that you asked!
Walking in on my first day was nerve racking. I don’t remember a whole bunch from the day, but I do remember the welcoming environment. I was introduced to a lot of people. I scrambled to remember their names, hoping I wouldn’t get quizzed on them later.
(Spoiler alert, I didn’t get quizzed. But I for sure would have aced it if I did).
After a quick orientation, I jumped into work right away. With assistance from the Marketing Director, Alex, and Digital Account Coordinator, Justin, I got to write my first blog post! It was the summer slowdown blog. Check it out here if you have not had the chance to read it yet.
Not only did I write that blog, but I learned how to post it to our website, create and send out a promotional email to our audience, and post it on social. I quickly learned about open rates, click rates, and the importance of getting valuable content to the right people.
I kind of felt like a kid getting thrown into the deep end of the pool, and I was still learning how to swim. It was all new, I was hearing words and phrases that I had never heard before.
“What the heck is an SEO? And how am I supposed to know how to improve it?”
Thankfully I had some great VSG team members to guide me along the way, and they made me feel comfortable asking all of my silly questions. And I mean ALL of them.
“What is one thing you love about your internship?”
For some weird reason, I really like sitting in on meetings. I like seeing the office dynamic, and watching everyone come together and bounce ideas off of each other. I like listening and absorbing all of the information that I can. Sometimes I think it is good for me to sit back and listen, because I like to talk. A lot.
I also really enjoy shrink wrapping orders in our production area. It is a very satisfying task. You should try it some time.
“What’s been the most challenging part of your time at VSG?”
For me, the hardest part was recognizing that it is OK to make mistakes. That is the point of an internship, to learn. It was a challenge for me, at the start, to want to write blogs and voice my opinion on what I thought because I was afraid of making a mistake or being wrong. But I soon learned that the feedback that I received was always going to be constructive and encouraging. Sometimes my initial drafts of the blogs weren’t that great, but I was always walked through where there was room for improvement. Yay for improvement!
“What is something that you did not expect?”
I didn’t really go into this experience with expectations, considering this was my first internship. But, one thing that I did not expect was getting the opportunity to work with all of the different teams at VSG. I have been able to shadow almost every department like web development, production, account management, and social media coordination.
“What advice would you give to a future intern?”
Advice that I would give to a future intern would be to go in open-minded. This is something that I did and it made my experience very enjoyable. I was ready for any job or task that was given to me, no matter what department it was in. I think that as an intern you have to be ready to explore and have the desire to try as much as you can!
“What skills will you take with you into your final year of school?”
Having this internship has allowed me to build confidence in my ideas, and speak up when I have input. It also gave me work experience that can apply to information I am learning during my classes. I think it is exactly what I needed to preface my senior year!
Have any more questions for Caroline about her internship experience? Let’s hear them! Email applied@vsg360.com
