Jack of All Trades, Master of None

Hey there, anonymous reader. Like yourself, you’re probably interested in studying advertising, at least in part, because of its versatility in the professional world. Want to be a graphic designer? Perfect, there’s a spot for you. You’re rock solid with analytics? Cool, there’s a spot for you. Interested in the strategy behind advertising communications? Even better, there’s a spot for you too! The best kind of advertising internship is one where you can explore the profession as a jack of all trades, but a master of none.

I have been lucky enough to participate in an internship where I have the opportunity to try my hand at a little bit of everything in the digital marketing space.

Prior to COVID-19, my internship hunt was going well. I was pursuing some promising leads through a number of professors in the department. Then, everything came to a screeching halt. Organizations of all varieties told me that they were closing off their internship pipelines for the immediate future. Who can blame them? COVID has been rough on everything, including company budgets.

My saving grace was a phone call from a professor in the department, Richard Bosler. He was aware that I was struggling to find an internship and offered that I come fill an intern, assistant-type role at his personal digital marketing firm, Bosler Digital. I knew that my responsibilities at Bosler Digital would include a wide variety of tasks and that I wouldn’t be locked into doing busy work or grabbing coffee for higher-ups. Rather, my internship has taken on a sort of mentor and student dynamic.

Bosler Digital works with clients of all varieties, focusing primarily on SEM. This is the type of work that I spend most of my time doing. I’ve become increasingly familiar with best practices to implement for clients via Google Ads. Learning to work with Google’s often-confusing and arcane search algorithm can be tricky at times, but once you can figure out the special formula that reaches your goal, the performance is impressive and satisfying to watch over time. My main pay-per-click responsibility is a client offering college exam prep in Southern California. It’s incredibly unique to research competitors and market landscapes in a faraway corner of the United States. I’ve also had the privilege of working on one-off projects that I otherwise never would’ve touched if I stuck entirely to SEM. From content writing to creating extremely robust slide decks for client sales meetings, I feel like I’ve been able to dive into some areas of the profession that I might have missed out on if I were in a more defined, strict-role.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong in seeking out a super-defined and straightforward internship where you have a single major responsibility. But, if you’re an open book like myself, don’t be afraid to jump into unfamiliar waters.