Working as an Intern at The BLU Group

Have you ever stepped out of your comfort zone by working in an unfamiliar environment? If so, how did it feel? As a student I was involved with numerous activities and internships that were in my comfort zone. When I got an advertising and marketing internship with The BLU Group, I was unsure if I could succeed in this environment because I did not have any sales experience and only introductory knowledge of marketing concepts.

As a Communication Studies student, there is no direct path towards a career. Through trial and error you find your niche and work towards that goal. For me, that has been quite hard to figure out. I have changed what I have wanted to do several times during my college career. I’ve thought about sports, healthcare, management, and getting started in the music industry. However, I never thought about the opportunities there are with marketing.

Being proactive, I desired to get more experience under my belt. I wanted to learn different things that would help me in my future and The BLU Group helped me do that and much more. At first it was hard coming into the office not knowing a lot of the marketing and advertising terminology, but I quickly became a part of the team. My daily schedule consisted of internal meetings, shadowing the duties of the various departments, listening in on client meetings, and learning the importance of social media. The BLU Group has held true to their word and has given me the opportunity to learn and gain hands-on involvement through special projects.

When the agency’s President, Tony Roberts, brought me on the team, he stated that they could get me to where I wanted to go according to my interests. My first task when I joined the awesome staff at BLU, was to contact music artists to let them know of our broad range of services. I reached out to many of my favorite musicians and found many new up-and-coming artists. Through research of their current social media, I customized e-mails to each artist to comment on what I saw with their social media use, and also add a personal touch to each message. I drafted and sent follow-up e-mails to these contacts a week later to tell them that our agency is always here to help them. This task was uncomfortable to me at first; however, under direction, I was able to build confidence and work towards the goal of acquiring new business contacts.

In addition, I have been involved with so many other different tasks. I have gained knowledge in handling clients, creative direction, social media, and much more. It has been great to be a part of the brainstorming process to help companies brand their image through different facets. Being able to communicate with our team on the behind-the-scenes processes has shown me all of the work that goes into managing an account that I would not have learned anywhere else. In addition, I have acquired knowledge of many local companies through research and assignments for internal projects. My experiences have given me a more well-rounded set of tools that I can present to prospective employers.

In the end, I can say that although it was overwhelming at first, I feel like I fit in and know what I am doing in my short time here! I have learned that if you are proactive and ask questions to learn new things, you will be able to succeed in this type of environment. I am so glad that I took on the internship in an area that I was not familiar with. I have already noticed how differently I think about things in not only my work life, but also my personal life. I want to thank everyone at The BLU Group for giving me an exceptional experience.

Mackenzie Hautala