Evergreen Media has it all. Friendly faces, puppies, hiking, and an open work space; what’s not to love?
As a photography student in the BFA program at Black Hills State University, I am required to complete a 150-hour internship. I explained what I was looking for in an internship to my advisor, Steve Babbitt, and he introduced me to the possibility of Evergreen Media. I knew as a first semester junior it might have been a long shot, but I had to try.
In 144 days I will be graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design along with six months of intern experience in hand. I was fortunate enough to work at Evergreen Media over the last two summers and collaborate with professionals and fellow interns. Last summer my focus was on the development of advertisements and the basics of design. Going into the internship I had only completed a handful of design courses, most of which were online. I was unfamiliar with the Adobe Suite, which is an essential for designers. I never had my work critiqued. And I had never worked with clients.
The Black Hills’ most innovative movers and shakers will congregate in the Evergreen Media office for the second annual Startup Weekend in the area. Organizers Brian Rupert and Lindsay Frankenfeld sat down to give us the scoop.
Startup Weekend is a 54-hour event over an entire weekend in which teams pitch and plan a business idea to present in front of a group of investors. And it isn’t all fun and games—about 10% of Startup Weekend ideas become actual businesses.
Rapid City and Minneapolis are sisters, not twins. With the utmost respect for my beloved hometown, life in the foothills is less fast-paced, more traditional, and takes a different approach to marketing and communications. With two years under my belt at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, I had been led to believe that the field of communication is elusive and favors the fit. That every day is spent among skyscrapers, elbow to elbow with Fortune 500 executives, thinking about campaigns to launch several years into the future. That a trendy office space offsets the demanding workload, and that I’d be lucky if the boss knew my name.
I applied for the Evergreen Media Summer Internship immediately after attending the dress rehearsal for Evergreen’s annual Raw Couture Fashion Show with my college’s Public Relations Club. The fashion show made such a positive impression on me, and I knew this was a company I wanted to work for. After applying, interviewing, and eventually being offered the internship, it hit me that I had no idea what I had gotten myself into. I didn’t know what to expect.
When you’re in sales, you can’t just sit back and expect customers to come to you; being proactive is the key to success. But you need a good reason to reach out – “I just called to say hello” isn’t going to cut it! Looking for a good excuse to follow up with a prospect? Here are a few to try.
There’s a lot of talk about SEO and SEM these days, but unless you’re a marketing guru, you might be unfamiliar with the terminology. Mastering these acronyms will help your business achieve higher search engine rankings—and that can give your bottom line a healthy boost!
Feedback is one of the most powerful sources of information you can gather from your customers. It’s a great way of learning what they think of your business and can help you focus on strengths and weaknesses. If you’ve just put on an event, hearing from people who attended will help make your next event even more successful. Whether you’re conducting a poll, having people fill out a questionnaire, or directing customers to an online review site, surveys are an invaluable tool for your business! But how do you go about collecting that information?
Every summer, Evergreen has a tradition of welcoming a college intern to the team. The program has been a great success, providing interns interested in careers involving sales, marketing, design, photography, writing and more with an opportunity to gain some valuable real-world experience and establish a professional network. For the first time ever, we decided to expand the program this year, quadrupling the number of interns. Each has a different career interest, and all are excited for the opportunity to spend the summer learning various tools and tricks of the trade. They aren’t full-time employees but are much more than minions, so we are calling them our EG Minis.
It takes a combination of hard work and finesse in order to turn leads into sales, whether you are offering a service or product or simply trying to promote your brand. Follow-up is key to helping you achieve these goals. Doing so tactfully is a skill that takes time to master, but it can be done. Here are some tips to following up politely and respectfully and turning that “maybe” into a “yes!”