Interning at a PR & Marketing Firm

I have a confession to make. When I finished up my semester this past spring, I was not on top of my internship game. If you are in college or have a son or daughter in college right now, I’m sure you know what I’m alluding to. In the current college and career preparation landscape, internships have transitioned from a beneficial supplement to an integral requirement for most college students’ educations and resumes. Many college majors even list an internship for credit as a requirement to graduate. With that being said, most of my peers and closest friends were scrambling all spring to apply for and secure summer positions.

I set my sights a little lower – I was hoping for a job, let alone an internship. It was a happy accident I stumbled upon Chikmedia’s posting on a local job website. I was intimidated by the thought of applying but I figured I’d give it a shot. I’m not exaggerating when I say it was the best decision I made all summer.

If you’re not familiar with the Public Relations and Marketing fields, then you may not realize the multitude of options students in our major have for interning and ultimately for selecting a career. These two fields are necessary and present in just about every business out there in some capacity. The decision to make is whether one wants to work for a business “in-house,” or within the company, or at a firm, which provides PR and marketing services for several clients. Businesses can choose to have their PR and marketing work done internally, externally with a firm, or a combination of both. Chikmedia is firm, which offered me many unique benefits and opportunities while working for them.

One such benefit was the ability to see the different needs of all of Chikmedia’s clients and the unique ways Meghan and Emily worked to satisfy them. Their clients ranged from restaurants and entrepreneurial start-ups to non-profit foundations and a zoo! Because of this, my work was never boring. One day I could be drafting a press release for a fundraising event and the next day I could be perusing reporter requests for potential story leads. All of the clients’ audiences were different and required different techniques to address them and disseminate the client’s desired message effectively. Seeing and addressing a variety of client PR and marketing needs was a great introduction to these fields beyond what I’ve learned in the classroom.

In addition to that, working for a firm is exciting! Every client has a different PR and marketing plan, goals, and budget, so they always have different events and campaigns going on. Depending on what company one works for, PR and marketing day to day activities have the potential to be mundane and repetitive. While all PR and marketing campaigns require some less-than-exciting (but important and necessary) work to be done, the firm offers the benefit of different looks at this work to keep one’s day interesting. Chikmedia’s array of clients allowed me the opportunity to do things like sit in the audience for a live media interview and to get my hands wet soliciting sponsors and planning for fundraiser events; opportunities I may not have had if I had interned for one specific business!

Abby Foster - chikmedia summer 2014 intern


Overall, the experience and knowledge I’ve gained from interning for Chikmedia this summer has been invaluable. I couldn’t ask for a better first internship experience and better guidance from such intelligent, creative, savvy individuals. Additionally, the choice to intern with a firm has given me a better idea of where I might want to go after I graduate, thanks to the exposure to so many different accounts it offered me. My advice to you, if you’re a PR or Marketing student like me, is to try it out! Even if you don’t think a firm is for you or you’re unsure like I was, the old adage of not knowing until you try is very true. Any and all experience in these fields can only help you!  -Abby Foster