Week Four - Changing Perspectives

2 months down, 1 to go. I am more than halfway through my Marketing Communications internship at Venture Outdoors, so I've had more time to look at how my perception of this internship has changed from when I first started. When I first walked into the Venture Outdoors office, I was expecting to be running around Pittsburgh taking pictures at events and contributing to the social media. However, I have spent most of my time behind a computer screen, researching potential clients and making contact with them. In the beginning, I thought I would be following heavy guidance from my mentor, but now I realize that self-direction and independence is highly valued (and practiced) in the Venture Outdoors office.

An extremely valuable lesson that I learned from the first half of my internship was to not have any fears when it comes to reaching out to people. At first, I was hesitant about sending out communication letters that encouraged people and companies to consider booking Tyke Hikes. However, after dishing out email after email, I realized that if 80% of the companies don't respond, that's okay! I still got the message out to 20% of people who cared and seemed excited about Venture Outdoors. While many of the marketing efforts may seem tedious, the little successes might end up be the most important. Plus, 20% is better than nothing!

Since my Tyke Hikes marketing plan has been completed for the most part, I have started to work on a new marketing project - Custom Outings. Custom Outings are outings that are booked by private groups, whether that be HR departments, schools, youth groups, or birthday parties. They can include nearly any activity from kayaking to biking to snowshoeing to rock climbing! This project is more intimidating since I'll be contacting big company HR departments instead of mom blogs. However, I think I'll be able to handle it...hopefully.

And for some visual entertainment, here are some chalk signs that I designed for the Venture Outdoors Summer Members Day. It was a really nice break from the regular routine, and I admittedly spent way too much time on them.