I was on the ski slopes in minus five degree weather when I signed my product marketing Internship contract at a Software as a Service (SaaS) company. I was too chill to worry about the research study I will conduct as well as the 18 credits I will take simultaneously with the 40-hours a week internship I was going to actively attend.
Here is how I did it and what I recommend you to do:
I started the internship thinking that I am the most valuable asset the company has as I could provide the freshest window to how one should approach marketing. I knew all the latest theories, I could objectively see how the customers might experience information, and I could spice things up with a bit of Gen-Z creativity.
First things first, product marketing has barely anything to do with marketing LOL – that’s totally my bad. My first recommendation is to make sure you understand the position you are applying to. It helps with saving time since you would have more confidence in the position. In the interview process, I was asked “why product marketing?”. I unapologetically answered “I actually wanted a position in Digital Marketing so I would appreciate it if YOU could answer that question”. He appreciated my honesty.
Next argument: Theory does not mean practice. Just because you responsibly did your weekly readings does not mean you are good to go. If what you need is time and you are in the same position as I was, do not bother to bring by-the-book suggestions to the table. I know you are excited, but this is not your dream job, this is your first job. You are not trying to prove anything, you are trying to improve. At first I was assigned to a project in which I had to develop a Return on Investment calculator. I thought “monetary returns – huh? The book says always communicate value over numbers”. I was proud to bring literature to my manager. I ended up with a huge burden of proving my point. I did competitive analysis, talked to separate departments, realized that communicating customized value is not easy. I tried to create the calculator, again, again, and again. Then I stopped. I felt so demotivated, so drained, so not seen… No one cares about the effort you put in if you do not reach the expected result. But I did take advantage of my situation. See how the TuRnS HaVe TaBlEd? I got the research in my pocket through this task. I did save a good amount of time. So the real question is not whether you should attempt to contribute or not but whether you are capable of turning a rainy day into a sunny one.
Creativity. Creativity who? The maximum you can do is to use the least used brand color from your corporate palette. And everyone will tell you “How about we fill in a content approval form for this one?”. Hear me out: How long would an e-mail approximately take you to write? 5 minutes? If you are an over-thinker like me – 20 minutes? Just because of this content approval procedure an e-mail took me ONE full month to write: Marketing revised it, IT said make it more technical, CMO said do it simpler. It is incredible how much care goes into content. But this is exactly why you should opt for full-time. You get a lot of time to yourself while a project is on review. This was new to me. I thought I could just make a to-do list and cross the tasks as I go – but no. I literally have the exact same list ever since day one and I assure you I am great at my job (now).
In the end, I passed my courses with 8.0s, I met amazing people at work, I learned time management, and this blog is how I sign-off on the research study. Till’ next one! Bye 🙂