The Advantages of a Digital Marketing Internship
Gone are the days when simply making the grade would be sure to land you the job. These days, employers want a strong academic record and experience related to your field in order to consider you for a full-time spot. In few industries is this truer than with digital marketing.
Some marketing courses of study even set aside credit hours for aspiring professionals to spend working at an internship. The value of an internship is astronomical — and can go far in landing your dream job.
- A digital marketing internship allows you to apply classroom skills in the real world and accomplish goals in a supervised environment.
- Internships will give you experience. You can find out if a career is right for you.
- Digital marketing internships allow you to earn real-world experience on complex topics, including search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, web development, and more.
- Your time completing an internship is also an investment in your professional network and portfolio.
- There is so much to the world of a digital marketing internship — including the anticipated results and where to find them.
- Before you apply, take the time to understand what your responsibilities may look like, what skills you can gain, and what you should bring to the table.
What Does a Digital Marketing Internship Include?
- Some films may have you believe an intern simply runs for coffee and possibly provides a last-minute pitch for an idea that saves the company.
- However, most digital marketing companies know the value of an intern lies in building essential skills with real-world experience. After all, an intern today could be an employee tomorrow!
- Most internships will require 10 to 20 hours a week and will be unpaid.
- Certain educational requirements will need to be met, sometimes entailing prerequisite courses or a copy of your transcripts.
- You should be enrolled in a course of study, typically a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree program at a university or be a recent graduate.
What Can I Expect to Do?
- Digital marketing agencies often assign a range of responsibilities and duties designed to give you exposure to all areas of the agency.
- You will rarely work alone and may even be part of a team of interns or staff members to develop content, strategy, and other deliverables for clients.
- If you have a passion for graphic design, you may be able to put this to use as an intern by creating for company media platforms. You could even help code from scratch!
- Interns are often tasked with social media strategy development. After all, you may be part of the target market they are trying to reach.
- Plus, today’s college students are often well-versed on all things social media.
- You may work closely with clients to identify ways to market their business, create marketing campaigns, or generate media channel reports.
- Combine all of this with constructive feedback from industry professionals and you will leave with a better understanding of your emerging professional identity. An internship is a place to make mistakes, learn your strengths and weaknesses, and emerge a competitive young professional.
Digital Marketing Intern Abilities & Skills
With all of this to gain, what do you need to bring to the table to land the internship?
Certain abilities and skills will help you stand out in the applicant pool. Industry knowledge is always a plus but does not require professional experience. You can gain some skills through studies of related coursework, including communications, journalism, media, marketing, or a similar area. Any skills in social media platforms, content management systems or Adobe Suite will also bolster your competitiveness.
- Agencies also seek candidates with strong written and verbal communication skills, prioritization, and organization.
- The ability to collaborate is also necessary because you will often be working with professional staff or other interns on projects and staff.
- Multitasking is a must — not only as an intern but also just for the field of digital marketing where the work hardly slows down and always overlaps.
What Will I Gain?
Your internship will be more than a new line on your resume. It is the first step into a competitive and ever-evolving field. The connections made here can help land a job at a reputable, established agency. You will have direct connections to professionals with their own backgrounds and stories to share. Using your experience and learning from theirs will help you find a full-time career later.
Industry Experience
- This experience can go directly to your portfolio. Actual data and results from real-world projects will be highlights for future applications.
- Most internships will be willing to play to your interests, so you may be able to strengthen your portfolio in the specific areas of marketing that interest you.
For example, if you run a local SEO campaign or manage social media for a client, you can compile those project results with metrics from your campaign. This shows future employers you know what you are doing and have already produced results.
Strengthen Your Professional Network
This has been said before but can hardly be said enough: your network matters. The job market is competitive and you do not want to be another resume in the recruiter’s stack. One call from a connection can get your resume the extra scan needed to get a callback. Many people find their first job based on professional or personal networking. Building your contacts allows you to tap into their networks and gain the confidence needed to stride into your career.
- If you are ready to start your career in digital marketing, we have some tips that will help.
- First and foremost, take advantage of opportunities for internships or apprenticeships at companies where there is demand for the skills you want to learn.
- These types of positions allow students to apply what they’ve learned from their education in a supervised environment while completing objectives along the way (hopefully).
- This hands-on experience can be invaluable when it comes time to find employment because graduates will have proof that they know how things work on the ground floor.
- Plus, having an internship under one’s belt is often considered by employers as equivalent experience or even more valuable than other candidates who do not get this type of opportunity before entering into the workforce.