The summer is coming to an end, and that means summer internships are, too. Lauren and I were the summer interns here at Responsive Inbound Marketing (you probably already knew that if you read our introduction posts from the beginning of the summer). Neither of us had ever had a summer internship before, so this was a new experience for both of us. And, looking back, there was a lot that we didn’t know when we started. It’s been a summer of fun and a summer of firsts, but for us it’s mainly been a summer of learning. You might be in a similar position – in a new internship or job – or you might just be interested in a newcomer’s take on working in inbound marketing. Either way, Lauren and I want to share with you the 20 things we learned from our first summer internships!
Lauren learned…
1. How to look forward to Fridays for more than just the weekend.
Each Friday we experimented with cookie sandwich flavors and also typically had collaborative team meetings, which was a nice way to close out the week.
2. Coffee is never too far away!
Adjusting to the "real world" work schedule meant a few extra doses of caffeine; however, that was no problem considering our office had a Keurig, and Boston provides a Dunkin Donuts on just about every block. (With that said, I also learned that a "regular" coffee in Boston means cream and sugar is added, unlike in New York where it means black.)
3. Be creative.
Being able to share ideas with real-world clients and professionals and receive feedback proved to be incredibly beneficial.
4. Ask questions.
Working with professionals in a field of interest, such as marketing, was the perfect opportunity to ask anything and everything! Lindsey and Meaghan were both able to provide a lot of helpful tips and advice, while also sharing their experiences in the workforce thus far.
5. Strive for what you want.
Lindsey's story of her creation of Responsive Inbound Marketing is the perfect example of going after what you've always wanted – it's not too late to be an entrepreneur!
6. Place yourself in a new environment.
Boston provided so much creative, entrepreneurial, and marketing inspiration.
7. How to use Hubspot.
8. The importance of social media, networking and connecting, and the use of inbound marketing to promote your brand and its cause.
9. How to create promotional pieces, such as white paper offers.
10. How to create fun campaigns and/or contests.
We learned how to gain followers through the use of interesting content, catchy titles and hashtags, and imagery.
Gretchen learned…
11. What inbound marketing is and how to use it.
It was an entirely unfamiliar concept at first, but interesting (and helpful!) to learn about.
12. How to deal with lots of deadlines.
The “real world” has more concrete deadlines than schools, and there are often more of them with less time to rest in between.
13. How to write lots of marketing content.
I learned more than just how to write in the style and vocab that’s used in marketing; I also learned how to write a lot of content quickly and keep it well-written. And, learning to keep it more interesting than your average research paper for college classes!
14. Speak up and make your voice heard in meetings and group brainstorming sessions.
Shyness doesn’t help anybody, so it’s important to say something if you have ideas. I’m one of the shyest people I know, so it took some work to get used to that.
15. The importance of collaboration among people with different specialties.
Instead of people working independently, everybody pitched in on their area of expertise, and decisions were usually made with input from everybody.
16. How to deal with more responsibility.
This work has real-world consequences, not just a letter grade attached, and that’s stressful for somebody who’s never had to deal with it before.
17. How to create original content in a way that catches people’s attention while staying informative and professional.
18. Ask for help.
Being new to something means you’ll probably need help with it, and it’s important to realize when you need to ask for it.
19. Plan your commute.
I’ve never had a commute longer than 10 minutes before I started working here, so I had to learn how to estimate driving time and take traffic into account. (I also learned the typical Bostonian’s dislike for the MBTA and its unpredictable bus schedule.)
20. And, finally – how great it is to do work that actually means something and matters to both you and the company.
So, these are the top 20 nuggets of knowledge that we wanted to share with you. Getting the chance to work here with the team and experience an inbound marketing internship has been an amazing experience. Now, our internships are ending and we’re headed back to school, but we definitely won’t forget these lessons that we’ve learned – and we hope they might be helpful to you, too!
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