Written by Paige Dawson
As I sit drinking coffee, I reflect on my first few weeks as Marketing Coordinator for MPD Ventures Company. Compared to my internship, my responsibilities have increased in number, in intensity, and in interest level. Not that my role as an intern wasn’t interesting, that is inherent in the work; but the more you take on, the more you get to see and do.
“What could she have possibly learned in such little time?” you may ask. More than you might think and more than I thought. Working in an agency has unique benefits; some of which I didn’t fully appreciate as an intern, while others I didn’t anticipate as a full-time employee. But nonetheless, almost overnight, I was shown the advantages of starting my first full-time position with MPD Ventures.
As a marketing agency, we assist with everything from total brand overhauls to social media posts. Other than a few daily tasks, my “To Do” list changes, if not from day-to-day then from week-to-week. Projects and their deadlines come and go, but the workload does not. When I walk into the office in the morning, I don’t know what will come up during the day that my supervisor needs me to handle. I may work on projects for three or four different clients in the same day. I enjoy this as it keeps my routine from becoming monotonous and also gives me valuable experience in different aspects of marketing.
What do a lingerie store, a preconstruction technology company, and a municipal airport have in common? They’re all clients of MPD Ventures. At MPD, our client base has no set industry niche or theme, except that of companies who need assistance with public relations, branding, and marketing. I dive into a variety of industries, company cultures, and media styles every day. Unless we have a big project, I don’t spend inordinate amounts of time on any one client, which means the scenery is always changing, so to speak. This too, keeps my day from becoming monotonous and makes me appreciate the phrase “variety is the spice of life.” It is refreshing to experience and participate across industries and companies.
I’ve always been the type of person who enjoys learning. And, I enjoy it even more when I’m not going to be tested later. One of my favorite aspects of agency life is that learning happens every day. For example, while helping compile and populate website content for a public finance law firm, I learned about an aspect of law I didn’t know existed.
Lately, I’ve helped draft and edit content for a preconstruction technology company. Fascinating stuff. What will I do, outside of work, with the knowledge that I have about the issues with construction projects and how this company’s software can solve them? I don’t rightly know, but I’m glad I know it.
I’m exposed to professions, problems, and opportunities I didn’t know existed weeks ago. Turns out that my job is providing life lessons and knowledge I wouldn’t experience otherwise, because I’m learning more about the world and the way it operates. Granted, I bet quite a few jobs and professions provide similar ongoing knowledge opportunities, though I’m particularly enamored with the communications realm where I now work.
For me, the most unexpected benefit of working at a marketing agency is the opportunity to meet new people with our client contacts, their end clients or prospects as well as work with our extended team and vendor partners. As our client base is so diverse, we end up meeting fascinating people with knowledge on all sorts of topics.
Plus, I’ve learned that our client list is diverse by design; it seems one of our founding principles is that we will only work with one client per industry at a given time. Per our founder Paige, we become an integral part of our client teams and can’t ethically represent companies concurrently that may be competitive. Makes perfect sense to me.
I’ve also learned that our clients love us and refer us to their friends and network. It seems we’ve been a marketing firm that doesn’t actually market ourselves, a bit ironic. As the overwhelming majority of our clients are small business owners and entrepreneurs, they tend to associate with like-minded people who would value our approach and delivery. It’s been interesting to connect the dots as to how clients found us and also how we even have served as matchmaker between clients.
In my first weeks as a full-time employee, I’ve attended a breakfast panel discussion hosted by one of our clients, an executive recruiting firm. As you can imagine, the breakfast was attended by CEOs, COOs and other people in “high places.” For a girl from rural Texas, dining with people of that professional caliber, in a club frequented by George W. Bush mind you, was surreal. I’ve also participated in brainstorming and project meetings and calls with our technology clients for construction estimating and mechanical engineering as well as even an angel investor organization.
Working at a marketing agency is fulfilling, fascinating, and fun. (Plus, I’m now a “blogger” with my periodic company posts; another new skill.) I’m thankful for the opportunity and look forward to growing professionally and personally during my time here…and more importantly, to help our clients grow and succeed.
