Many students understand that online marketing is the best career to get into in this day and age. However, there is a majority of them that are not aware of how to find the best marketing internships and create an opportunity for themselves.
There are many problems with finding an internship in digital marketing including not knowing where to look, getting no response from companies when you do reach out, and having to pay for your internship (which is expensive).
This article shows exactly how you, as a student, can go about finding the right online marketing internship without all of the pain associated with this process. It also explains why students should learn how to leverage automation tools so that they can scale the creation and sending of messages quickly and efficiently, instead of having to manually send out thousands of emails to get a positive response.
What Is An Online Marketing Internship?
An online marketing internship is an educational program in which students learn several digital marketing strategies to drive traffic to a website and increase revenue through various means.
These may include paid advertising on social media, search engine optimization, outreach to other companies or any of the various aspects that online marketing brings with it (more on this later).
Students that are interested in becoming an intern can see if they are eligible for such a position and test their skills by following the application process set up by various companies. This can include sending out internship applications followed by reaching out to companies that they want to intern for.
As a potential intern, one important skill is to be able to market yourself so that potential employers will reach out to you after reviewing your application. This is valuable as it teaches students how a real position in digital marketing works, including how much effort you have to put in if you want something done properly.
Who Is An Online Marketing Internship For?
The ideal candidates for online marketing internships are students who want to work with digital marketing in the future. Digital marketing interns are people looking to go into the advertising or business industry, as they will be able to hone their skills through this internship program. As a result, they will be able to start an online business of their own down the line.
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The following is a list of people who could benefit from an online marketing internship:
How To Find The Best Online Marketing Internships
While many people suggest using sites such as indeed.com, there are far better alternatives to achieving your goals. Instead of using a general site, you should narrow your searches down to websites that are associated with the industry or company with which you want to work with.
For example, if you only want to intern for companies in New York City then you should search for "digital marketing internships NYC" instead of "digital marketing internships".
You can also take this strategy and broaden it out even more by searching "online marketing internship + location", such as San Francisco, Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver. This is extremely valuable as many students do not realize that they can get an internship at a big company located within their location, without having to move away and spend thousands of dollars to take part in this engaging experience.
How To Create An Opportunity For Yourself
If you are reading this, then there is a possibility that you might have emailed companies before and got little response or none at all. If that is the case, then you should consider learning how to do outreach instead.
Imagine that you have found a couple of good opportunities. However, they are most likely too competitive for your resume so that the company would reach out to you. So, what marketing strategies should you follow to create the right opportunity?
This is very simple and it is best done by using automation tools such as IFTTT.com. The way this works is you will set up different rules with IFTTT regarding what the tool does after something happens (it could be something triggered manually by yourself or through a third party action).
Image credit: https://ifttt.com/
For example, if "online_marketing AND jobs" get tweeted, then IFTTT can send you a job alert containing all of those tweets. This allows you to build massive mailing lists of people who are looking for an opportunity with online marketing as well as companies that you can reach out to. The key is to stay persistent in connecting and reaching out to people, but also respecting their time by trying to make the connection with them very quickly without being pushy.
You will have a much greater chance of getting emails answered if it comes from someone already interested in their company or business, not just some random person sending an email because they hope someone at the company would like their resume enough to contact them (more on this later). Make sure you avoid spamming though or your outreach will be useless.
Sending outreach emails to digital agencies to volunteer your time is not only a great way to gain practical experience as well as soft skills, but it is also an excellent way for you to network with industry professionals.
If you can gather enough attention from the company through your first contact, then the agency will most likely want to know who you are and why they should take on an internship/volunteer position from you.
This is also a great skill to learn when it comes to marketing yourself. As you continue to grow your skill-set, you will be able to create more and more connections on your own which will lead to bigger opportunities in the future.
Best Online Marketing Software To Do Outreach
In addition to above-mentioned IFTTT, one of the best software to do outreach involves Linkedin. In fact, here are some of the best Linkedin automation tools that will allow you to search for connections within different companies and message them directly without having to do much yourself.
Linkedin is great for outreach because it allows you to easily get in touch with specific employees or executives within different companies. Linkedin also allows you to create a list of people that should be your point of contact at the companies you’re interested in. This allows you to get in touch with them and follow up in the future as well.
Image Credit: http://hotinsocialmedia.com
Linkedin will also make it easier for you to find different professionals as well as other job types that are related to your search. As we mentioned, networking and getting to know the right people (while providing value in return) is crucial to getting what you want.
How To Send Outreach Messages That Get Answered
If you are still not getting responses to your outreach emails, then there might be something wrong with the way that you structure your first contact messages. To get these answered, you just need to make sure that your message is clear and easy for the other person to understand.
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Let's go over some ways on how to write a great outreach email:
Examples Of What Your Day-To-Day Might Look Like As An Online Digital Marketing Intern
The day-to-day activities that interns do will depend on what type of job they are responsible for. Some online marketing internships require you to be more involved with the company such as working directly with a content marketing team or creating social media marketing campaigns for different brands.
However, there are also other types of jobs where an internship is mostly focused on aiding employees in sending out outreach emails to professionals to find new talent for them.
Interns usually have certain duties that they must complete daily (and sometimes hourly) such as:
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Online Marketing Internships - FAQs
The only way that you can get an online marketing internship is by having the desire to learn the skills that you need to succeed. However, if this is not your number one priority, then an online marketing internship might not be the right move for you.
If companies see that you took initiative and went out of your way (by learning how to reach out to people in this case), this shows them that you at least have the willingness or intent to do a good job.
Doing outreach is by far the most important aspect of an online marketing internship. This is because it allows you to find companies that might be willing to work with you by providing you the training needed to take your skills to the next level.
There are various tools (including those for Linkedin) that will help you with automating your outreach so you can increase your odds of success.
Absolutely. By doing an internship with these companies it shows potential employers that you at least had the desire to improve your marketing skills and that you will be able to keep your cool under pressure during tough situations (which do happen in the day-to-day operations).
Doing an internship is also very valuable because it allows students to see what working life is like. It also makes them more valuable to a company because it shows that they are not some college students who will quit as soon as the going gets tough.
Final Thoughts On Taking The Path Of An Online Marketing Intern
In conclusion, the best way to learn about online marketing is to get an internship at a marketing agency or organization that can help you learn all the ins and outs of online marketing.
You then can apply what you have learned with your own website or blog and use it as an asset that you can show to future employers (in addition to the various skills that you will have gained during your internship).
Learning the skill of online marketing is nowadays one of the quickest ways to get hired, so if you have the opportunity of such an internship, go for it and make the most out of the experience.
Last Updated on February 6, 2023 by Hanson Cheng