As a final-year student of Communication Management
at Artevelde University College, I was expected to do an internship for 4
months. I’ve chosen Showpad because mobile devices are the future so I
definitely knew it would be an interesting enterprise. On top of that, Showpad
is situated in the center of Ghent, which is of course the most beautiful city
in Belgium.
So very
excited, all well and good, BUT….Starting somewhere new while not knowing what
specific role you get, not knowing what your capacities are and doubting about
your competences, scared the hell out of me.
The beginning
Showpad
made this easy for me by being very welcoming and supporting. First and
foremost, I had to understand and work with the Showpad-application. No bad
word will come out of my mouth! Then they introduced me to the newest marketing
technique, which is not yet well-known in Belgium. From then on, I was the
Inbound Marketing intern. I am deeply grateful for that because I feel like I
am one step ahead of others in Belgium. Inbound marketing is just such a great
technique because there is no need to push information to customers, which is
very irritating. It is about creating relevant content that really helps them.
Finally! Showpad is a start-up, so I experienced right from the beginning the
launch of inbound marketing at the enterprise and the very first results of
using it. A-we-some!
Tasks
Writing
blog posts, setting up a Pinterest account, making a welcoming brochure, helping the content creator with everyday
tasks she has to deal with as an inbound marketer, were some of the many
interesting tasks I got. At the beginning, they even challenged me for giving a
presentation about inbound marketing. Due to my shyness, this definitely was
something out of my comfort zone. But I am very grateful for that. Showpad is
an international company so everything should be done in English.
They
didn’t expect I knew everything. They wanted me to make mistakes and learn from
them, which I definitely did. I think that after these 4 months, I have
expanded my writing abilities and my English. And most important, according to
Hubspot (inbound marketing specialist), I am now fully capable and skilled in
the methodology of inbound marketing. I’ve been tested on best practices and
I’m now in possession of a certification.
I can rightfully say that I have come out of this
experience as a more knowledgeable person!
Atmosphere
What this
internship made even more unforgettable, is the atmosphere and interaction
between colleagues. I’ve never known the feeling of having -like they say- ‘a
second family’. Well, now I have. Everyone is being so nice. There isn’t a
cold formal atmosphere here, which is great. They are very professional though.
Everyone is so passionate about what he/she does. So passionate that it is
almost common to work 10 hours a day. (Say what?!)
A day that
I’ll never forget is the teambuilding day to welcome new employees (Americans).
It was a great day where I got to know everyone that little bit better. We were
spoiled and I felt like I was a real colleague.
Many thanks
So I would
like to thank the Showpad team, especially Anabel De Vetter & Louis
Jonckheere, for letting me be a part of all the excitement for my last semester
at school. The past few months have been an amazing learning opportunity and a
great deal of fun.
My
internship experience has provided me with a newfound passion for (inbound)
marketing. That’s why I’ll feed my interest a little bit more by studying
Digital Communications in Brussels next year.
Thanks,
Brett Dufort
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