Marketing Internship Business Analysis - MBA Write-up

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NuCanoe Marketing Internship Analysis

Marketing Internship Analysis 2009

Internship Overview

Internship Description

The 2009 Marketing Internship with NuCanoe was designed for those with an interest in gaining experience in marketing and impacting a growing business. As part of the responsibilities, the intern was charged with assessing the sales and marketing efforts of the business and to help refine plans and to implement new programs. The position called for one who was a self-starter and motivated to perform tasks under limited supervision.

Internship Duties

As a part of the duties that I was assigned, I was asked to first gain a feel and understanding for the business, its strengths, niches, and targeted market by studying the collection of materials available. I was then asked to compile a list of prospective dealers in which NuCanoe could contact in hopes of creating greater awareness and expanding the dealer base further throughout the United States and Canada.

Next, I was given the assignment of contacting these business prospects by phone and introducing NuCanoe to them, if they didn’t already know about it. I was also in charge of getting their contact information so that we could add it to our prospect emailing list. The prospect emailing list is a list of companies that offer products similar to current NuCanoe dealers that could become potential dealers in the future. For those that were not interested in being a part of our email lists but still wanted to know more about us, we sent information by standard mail to their respective businesses that explains what NuCanoe has to offer them.

After contacting all the contacts on the list, we began compiling emails that would be sent to each business contact that would discuss various issues regarding NuCanoe and the benefits to them as prospective dealers. A total of 7 emails to be sent out each month were compiled containing different topics of interest that helped to illustrate the many ways in which NuCanoe could help them grow their businesses. I was assigned to write the content of these emails and insert photos and videos appropriate to their themes and messages.

On top of these tasks I was assigned the responsibility to analyze the website and blog and make notes of things that needed to be added or changed to better communicate our message. I suggested that the blog take on a format similar to a website with topics on the sidebar to help the viewer navigate to important information throughout the blog. The sidebar topics would cover our core strengths such as fishing, paddling, hunting, and rowing among other topics. In order to obtain a better web presence and visibility on the web, I suggested making separate blog URL’s for each topic that would have the appearance of the blog home page, in order to give the illusion of not leaving site whenever a new topic on the navigation bar is selected. The topics were to be written with the intent to educate readers about

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these core competencies and would not need to be updated frequently. This would drastically cut down on the amount of maintenance that would be needed on the blog. Essentially, the blog home page would be the only page that would be updated frequently and the others periodically when necessary.

The blog quickly evolved into an elaborate task for several weeks, as I made updates, inserted photos and videos, and designed the blog in a way to be fun, exciting, and informational to readers. I even made it possible for viewers to add us as a friend on Facebook and Twitter, or add the blog feed to their reader feeds. At the conclusion of this project, the blog has transformed into a quick reference medium for people to view more personal and in-depth information than on the website and should help to give us a bit more of the web presence that we desire. Already the blog has helped bring in more traffic to it and the website.

One of the most interesting tasks that I was able to perform was designing, and administering a survey to existing NuCanoe dealers. This survey helped us gather information that helps us in understanding better what dealers think of NuCanoe and what they think we should keep doing and what we should change. The results were both helpful and intriguing.

Some of the other things that I was able to do include but are not limited to the following:

Design layout for Targeted Market Flyers featuring our core strengths Analyze website and suggest ways to mesh with the blog and vice versa Study The Ultimate Sales Machine and apply its principles to NuCanoe and internship Gather Sportsman Media List of fishing and hunting publications with contact info Study and gather unique info regarding web traffic using Google Analytics Compile a list of ideas for additional photos and videos that would be useful Help design postcard mailer Review Press Release info Make cold calls to prospective businesses to introduce NuCanoe

Internship Assessment

The internship was a good opportunity to see business in action from a small company’s perspective. The fact that NuCanoe is still so small and young and expanding made the experience even more personal and meaningful. The parts that I most enjoyed were the tasks involving creative writing and design. Designing the blog was among my favorite tasks. This allowed me to ask questions from a customer’s perspective and think of what they might want to know if they were viewing NuCanoe’s blog. Writing the educational postings and thinking of what photos and videos might work best with the message was a lot of fun and challenged my creative sense.

Designing the Prospect Email Templates and the Dealer Survey were also among my favorite tasks. Again, they challenged my creativity as I had to come up with statements directed at dealers and how NuCanoe could benefit them directly. I feel like it really strengthened my writing skills so that I can be more direct in my communication and avoid wordy traps that distract from the targeted message. I



learned that the more simple and honed in my message was the stronger and clearer it became. Blake was an excellent mentor in tuning up my writing skills. He provided me with respectful advice and commentary that led me to think outside the box and avoid some of my common mistakes in writing.

Cold calling was, as it is with most people, one of my least favorite tasks. But it did give me a boost of confidence in speaking to people. Overall, people were friendlier than I had imagined and I learned the value of presenting my message with confidence and enthusiasm, which is really important for anyone in the business world.

The internship overall, I believe, was a success. It gave NuCanoe a better web appearance that will, in turn benefit customers and dealers that seek information regarding NuCanoe and its products. It also gives a better potential to be found on the Internet by people browsing the Internet. Using Google’s search engine, NuCanoe’s website is the number one item found when typing the words “Fishing Canoe” and when typing the words “Fishing Canoe Blog,” the NuCanoe’s blog is the second entry. There are many other combinations of search words that also place NuCanoe high in Google searches. Certainly, a revamped blog interface with more focused words will only serve to aid users to better discover NuCanoe.

Another benefit of this internship was that it helped spread the word a bit more among businesses within NuCanoe’s target market. Researching, finding, and contacting these businesses allowed us to introduce or reacquaint our business to these prospective business partners and better know them as well. With these efforts we were able to establish a mailing list of people to contact to give information to regarding our business. Our intention is to feed these prospects enough information and acquaint them enough with our business that contacting them again in attempt to sell NuCanoe will be easier, as they should already better understand our business. In this regard, I believe that this internship opportunity was also a success and should pay off in the long run with an expanded market in the future.

Conclusion

The internship challenged my skills and abilities and put into practice valuable lessons learned from my MBA program, especially in regards to marketing, MIS, leadership skills, and MOP classes taken previously in my first year program. I gained knowledge about how to be a leader and an initiator by designing and implementing marketing strategies. I utilized valuable lessons learned in MIS to design charts and compile data in Excel that I used for the internship and that can be used and referenced in the future. My marketing studies helped me to analyze data, notice trends, and concentrate sales and marketing efforts towards the appropriate target market. Overall, the internship validated previous knowledge gained from my program and challenged me to develop new skills and learning that will aid in my future education and career.
