As my summer internship comes to a close, I would like to take a moment and share my experiences from my Growth Channel Marketing Internship. Over the past four months, I’ve worked as a Marketing Trainee at Growth Channel, a SaaS startup that empowers businesses and agencies with marketing intelligence for research, planning, and strategy. Through this program, I’ve been able to explore different functions of marketing, learn new processes and tools, and greatly improve my skills as a marketer. I was given significant freedom, mentoring, and support to explore my strengths and passions in a way that also directly benefited the company. I’ve also gained extra knowledge by doing marketing myself. For example, I got to research marketing trends, write blogs about marketing topics, join online marketing communities, and even attend marketing conferences. I’m very thankful for this experience, and I can’t wait to watch Growth Channel succeed in the future.
A day in the life of a Growth Channel intern
It’s difficult to sum up exactly what I do, as every day is different! That’s one of the benefits of a startup: no two days are exactly alike. My daily agenda typically consisted of making any updates or changes to previously submitted work, then completing urgent tasks and any smaller assignments that popped up during the day, and, when I had time, working on bigger projects and longer content pieces.
Some tasks I performed on a fairly consistent basis include brainstorming and writing blog posts on topics related to marketing or startups, researching, writing, and scheduling social media posts, writing and building biweekly newsletters for subscribers, creating promo for Growth Channel’s product, content, and events, preparing social media images, and writing copy for landing pages. Some other projects I’ve been working on include writing a video script for the explainer video, doing keyword research for content marketing and SEO, identifying guest blogging opportunities and preparing content, making website updates in Growth Channel CMS, preparing copy for paid ads, and creating long form downloadable marketing resources.
Growth Channel is an entirely remote team, with employees around the globe. As such, my entire internship was remote. I was able to set my own schedule and work at the pace and rigor I wanted to. The only things set in my weekly schedule were a few weekly team calls.
Tools I used as a Marketing Trainee at Growth Channel
The Marketing Traineeship is a hands-on program. The tools I used most often include:
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HubSpot Marketing Hub - Growth Channel uses HubSpot for marketing automation, so I learned how to use many of the Marketing Hub’s features, including creating and scheduling social posts, building campaigns with unique tracking links, setting up Facebook ads, and designing newsletters.
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SEMrush - I used SEMrush for many keyword and SEO related tasks. I learned how to monitor Growth Channel’s site performance and keyword rankings, find relevant keywords to write content for, optimize existing content based on popular keywords, and research competitors’ keyword strategy.
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Versoly - Versoly is the content management system. I started my internship by simply writing web page copy and blogs, but I soon got access to Versoly to design new website pages, create and post blogs myself, and optimize current landing pages. Through this process, I learned a little bit more about SEO best practices and front end code.
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Canva - I used Canva almost everyday to create clean, branded images for blog posts, announcements, site pages, and social media. I learned how to use Canva’s templates to create the proper sized image for various content formats. I even used Canva to design an entire whitepaper.
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Slack - Growth Channel uses Slack for internal communication. Since I was used to email communications, I had to adapt to the informal communication style Slack encourages. I also joined a few different Slack communities to promote my content and explore resources shared by other members.
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Trello - Growth Channel uses Trello for project management. Although the workspace looked overwhelming the first time I opened it, I found it incredibly easy to use and navigate. Trello is a great platform to track your own progress, collaborate with others, and monitor what your teammates are doing.
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Clubhouse - I heavily researched Clubhouse for two of my blog posts, so I learned about the app’s features and how businesses can use them to their advantage. Growth Channel also co-hosts a monthly founder interview on Clubhouse, which I typically attended and wrote recap articles for.
The highlights of my internship
I truly had a flexible schedule. I could pretty much work whenever and wherever I wanted to, as long as I had my laptop and a good Internet connection. I was able to change my work schedule daily to fit around my summer class, family activities, and other events. Plus, it was nice to work everyday in leggings and a sweatshirt and never have to set a morning alarm.
One great thing about a startup is that the traditional corporate hierarchy and division between departments is less established. Everyone on the team is in the same Slack channel and Trello workspace, so I could see what the CEO, developers, designers, and sales people were working on. I worked directly with Growth Channel’s CEO on a daily basis, an opportunity most interns don’t get. Even though I was a part-time intern, I was treated as an equal on the team. My ideas were always respected and listened to, and everyone took my feedback seriously.
I really appreciate that Growth Channel let me establish myself as a content marketer and creator. Although my content was posted under Growth Channel brand, I was almost always cited as a direct author, and some of my longer content pieces even include an author bio. When promoting in communities, I was also able to use my own personal profile. All my outreach campaigns came from my work email address, rather than a generic Growth Channel account. This gave me a great opportunity to market myself and build up a personal profile.
Going into my internship, I knew I liked writing and social media, and Maryna, Growth Channel’s CEO, helped me dive deeper into these areas of marketing. After we learned I was good at content marketing, I chose to make it the main focus of my internship. In other words, I got to focus on the tasks and projects I actually enjoyed and excelled at.
I had a lot of freedom in the content I created, so I was able to express my creativity and research topics I found interesting and relevant to Growth Channel. For example, once I got a blog title approved, I could research, write, add links, and create images in my own way. Maryna and I would then collaborate on edits. Maryna expected high quality work, so I was always pushed to never settle for anything less than the best of my capabilities. She always offered great comments, feedback, and suggestions to help me polish my content. I can truly say my content improved and my responsibilities increased as my internship progressed. I’m very proud of the projects I completed under her guidance.
I always felt my work was respected and appreciated, and I was able to make a positive impact on the company. For example, my social posts were actually posted and my original blogs were published on the website (albeit with a few edits and updates). My internship was truly a hands-on experience, and I loved doing work that benefitted Growth Channel.
Want to work for Growth Channel?
Now that my internship is over, someone needs to replace me! Growth Channel’s Marketing Traineeship is a great learning experience and resume booster. Wondering if you’re qualified? You don’t need to have a significant amount of marketing knowledge or prior hands-on experience (I certainly didn’t) to be successful in this position. Here’s some characteristics a Marketing Trainee should have:
- Desire to produce high-quality work, every single time
- Open to feedback
- Passionate about marketing and/or startups
- Ability to work in a fast-paced environment
- Good, stable Internet connection
- Great writing and communication skills
- Excited to learn new things
- Disciplined and organized
- Great at managing multiple tasks at once
- Knowledge of HubSpot, social media, and Canva are a plus, but definitely not required
If you’re interested in the Marketing Trainee program, you can apply on LinkedIn. If you have any questions, you can email hello@growthchannel.org or send me a message via LinkedIn.
That’s all from me for now. Happy hacking everyone!
-Hailey
