The Intersection of Creativity and Strategy: A POWER Marketing Intern’s Mid-Summer Reflection

Marketing is one of the most intricate, transitional, and expansive industries in the workforce. It is fostered by challenging the status quo and pushing boundaries, all while curating a safe space that enables the craziest, outlandish ideas one could think of. It is the right industry for someone like me, who prefers pathos over logos and thinking abstractly over concretely, and has been a career path I have ventured down even before my higher education journey. However, prior to my internship with POWER Marketing Company, my exploration was limited to Canva templates and basic event recaps posted for a club's Instagram page. 

Within a month of working with POWER, I have already learned a plethora of invaluable skills and information that I don't think I could have received in any college course. The experience thus far has pushed me beyond the status of an intermediate graphic designer and provided me with insights into almost every pertinent aspect of the marketing sphere. My perception of what it means to work in marketing is now a very different image than the one I viewed before May, and I feel now that I have a better foundation to build off of as I enter my senior year of college and prepare for my future endeavors. While it is impossible to perfect an equation that guides one through approaching the many facets of the industry, the following components are among those that POWER has taught me to be the most crucial for becoming a strong marketer. 

Learn From Your Competitors

As humans, our biggest growth opportunities come through communication and encounters with our counterparts. We weren't put on Earth to know all the answers, and we aren't expected to figure things out on our own. 

When it comes to marketing, it is imperative to allow ourselves to be influenced by the practices we see around us. The key to success is rooted in trial and error, along with evolving and expanding the methodologies we see being used around us. The first step to improving internal operations is to research what other companies are doing and reimagine them so they fit the mold we aspire to. 

With POWER, a means of doing this as an intern materialized through thoroughly researching the background, vision, and practices of the company’s clients, and then developing a competitor analysis that included social media and paid advertisement audits to identify potential areas of growth. As POWER strives to create customizable solutions, it is crucial to draw inspiration from others to find adaptable strategies to serve our clients best. 

Be Bold and Stand Out

With millions of companies established worldwide, one has to stand out. While there is an extreme level of importance placed on the business side of things, where focus is put on its technical and functional structures, how the company presents itself is just as critical, perhaps even more. 

This is where it is important to be daring when marketing. What makes the content you create worth the pause during someone’s endless scrolling session? How can you make your advertisements so “in your face” that a user can’t help but click for more information? How many keywords can you exhaust so that your blog posts are one of the top results in Google searches?

In helping POWER achieve this aspiration, one of the more tedious and formidable tasks assigned involved creating content calendars for clients. And it encompasses more than just graphic design - as that is just merely one step sandwiched between preparation, brainstorming, organizing, and copywriting. Content creation is a game of personification, a way to bring the brand to life in an authentic, on-brand, and consistent manner. In order to convey an appropriate representation of the company, additional attention must be given to the effectiveness of the content, ensuring that it is in line with current industry trends. In an internet landscape with many ebbs and flows, innovation and flexibility are non-negotiable. 

Don’t Ignore the Numbers

Admittedly, I am not the biggest fan of numbers. While I’ve always been fairly proficient at math, I enjoyed  English and Social Studies in school. However, despite my preferred interests, statistics is an extremely critical element of marketing and should be one of the biggest elements to consider when building strategies. 

POWER emphasizes results-focused optimization, and this is evident through the analytical and reporting work they assign during the internship. A plethora of tasks revolve around compiling and synthesizing data about advertising and social media performance, identifying key trends, and dictating future directions. From social media insights and audience outreach to keyword engagement and website traffic, every number that helps indicate the success of digital communication forms is a metric too significant to ignore. 

While numbers may not tell the full story of a company’s success, they can note how effective their outreach is. These statistics are fundamental to campaign building and are alarms for potential faults. So despite their overwhelming nature, you can’t ignore the numbers - they don’t lie. 

Concluding Thoughts

All in all, my internship with POWER has enriched me with an unparalleled level of guidance, insight, and experience in how to succeed in marketing. I am by no means an expert now - which in all seriousness, I doubt anyone is - but I can confidently say that with any simple direction and framework, I am equipped with the skills and mindset needed to formulate a strong solution to one of the many facets of the industry. The months of May and June have already been incredibly transformative for me, so much so that I cannot predict what is next in store. 

To follow along with the rest of my summer journey, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn!