Project Summary

My largest task I've had so far is getting up a new website for Celio. I believe my technical skills from my previous career made me a strong candidate for this internship. I'm not using those technical skills directly so much as I'm leveraging them to better advise our vendors as they put pieces together for us.

However, this has been such an educational process. Previously I worked for a public university and it was not an environment that was very results driven-- stuff got done, but deadlines were often passed. This has been such a fun place to learn to do business. I've got a budget to get my projects done, but getting something that works isn't the most important part-- I also have to make sure the website converts to revenue in some way.

So I'm getting to dip my toes into some market-research by exploring what effectively steers customers-- this isn't just ad-copy but also making sure the site is friendly and intuitive. You can only get so far with intuition-- it also comes down to anlayzing data and seeing how customers are actually behaving.

Another task I'm taking on is writing some copy and analyzing the messages. A large part of building a brand is consitently showing what the brand is and does. The are some unique challenges because our product isn't a laptop, but it lets you use your smartphone in a similar manner. How do you communicate that to consumers concisely?

I'm really greatful for the chance to explore this company and this market. It's definitely fast paced and it is a great opportunity to learn how marketing works. Going with a startup has been good for a few reason. I didn't have much marketing background, so getting to start immediately is going to give me about 2 extra months of marketing experience. Also, I'm getting such broad experience in so many areas. Utah has a strong venture backed startup industry-- I'd really suggest people look at it thoroughly when they are looking for jobs and internships.