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Venture Thus Far
Hi guys,
I want to introduce myself as Venture's new intern. As a journo major on work assignment for a 200-hour internship, I'm handling some of the outgoing online and print communications for Venture. I do other stuff I'll mention later.
I first heard of Venture as a sophomore at North Central University. That was when four crazy students decided to ride across the United States to raise money for AIDS relief in Africa. It was a cause everyone readily rallied around, and it's still going today!
A few years later, in Spring 2007 I reconnected with Aaron and his dream through an Advertising/Marketing class taught by the venerable communicator (at least in the North Central University part of the world) John Wirtz.
My classmates and I did a a little marketing, creative work and video production for our client, Mr. Smith. We showed up to our meeting feeling pretty good about our chances of helping him.
Well, under John's watchful eye, we bombed the entire presentation-- not the creative side but the marketing. Without an account executive to communicate between the marketing side and the client, we failed in our attempt to open a new market.
John said to us, "At this point in the proposal, with your client having just said, 'I'm not selling to these people,' you should run."
One big stupid mistake later, we learned an important lesson about marketing. Get an AE who really knows what's up!
At least our marketing group did some actual qualitative research which is assisting me even today as I attempt to jump into the creative fire that is Venture.
It's interesting how I got here.
Still ungraduated and looking for internships, I been moving away from traditional "byline and hed" journo for some time, and this Fall I finally decided to make that critical 90-degree turn to head somewhere different.
"Copywriter" sounded like a good job for a guy obsessed with concise and accessible word patterns, so I started spending time at Minneapolis Central with the Advertising Redbook.
This directory of local firms helped me gain a good idea of the creative landscape in Minneapolis. It's still promising, nearly twenty years after the heyday of Harley and Campbell Mithun and whatever the heck else they did back then.
After several hours of research, I had arrived at the "C's" in the Redbook. At that moment, I felt God impressing on me that I should pursue an internship with Venture, so I returned the Redbook to the 3rd floor librarian and quit for the day.
A few months later, I'm happily doing PR, copywriting, permission marketing and editing for the Ride:Well Tour. God knew that Venture was looking for an intern, and Aaron agreed to bring me on board.
It's a big job, but somebody's gotta' do it. Working for a small nonprofit is like working on a small farm. The agriculturalist must be a "jack-of-all-trades," especially when he has a choice between fixing the tractor himself or not eating for the next week.
And so, in the nonprofit world, we scrap, we toil and we labor for our cause. Tomorrow, network updates will go out to our Venture community, and I'm excited to reconnect with our amazing band of overachieving adventurers.
That's all for now. I hope you enjoyed or learned something new from my story.
Best,
Andrew Black
Copywriter, Marketer, Editor, Public Relater
I want to introduce myself as Venture's new intern. As a journo major on work assignment for a 200-hour internship, I'm handling some of the outgoing online and print communications for Venture. I do other stuff I'll mention later.
I first heard of Venture as a sophomore at North Central University. That was when four crazy students decided to ride across the United States to raise money for AIDS relief in Africa. It was a cause everyone readily rallied around, and it's still going today!
A few years later, in Spring 2007 I reconnected with Aaron and his dream through an Advertising/Marketing class taught by the venerable communicator (at least in the North Central University part of the world) John Wirtz.
My classmates and I did a a little marketing, creative work and video production for our client, Mr. Smith. We showed up to our meeting feeling pretty good about our chances of helping him.
Well, under John's watchful eye, we bombed the entire presentation-- not the creative side but the marketing. Without an account executive to communicate between the marketing side and the client, we failed in our attempt to open a new market.
John said to us, "At this point in the proposal, with your client having just said, 'I'm not selling to these people,' you should run."
One big stupid mistake later, we learned an important lesson about marketing. Get an AE who really knows what's up!
At least our marketing group did some actual qualitative research which is assisting me even today as I attempt to jump into the creative fire that is Venture.
It's interesting how I got here.
Still ungraduated and looking for internships, I been moving away from traditional "byline and hed" journo for some time, and this Fall I finally decided to make that critical 90-degree turn to head somewhere different.
"Copywriter" sounded like a good job for a guy obsessed with concise and accessible word patterns, so I started spending time at Minneapolis Central with the Advertising Redbook.
This directory of local firms helped me gain a good idea of the creative landscape in Minneapolis. It's still promising, nearly twenty years after the heyday of Harley and Campbell Mithun and whatever the heck else they did back then.
After several hours of research, I had arrived at the "C's" in the Redbook. At that moment, I felt God impressing on me that I should pursue an internship with Venture, so I returned the Redbook to the 3rd floor librarian and quit for the day.
A few months later, I'm happily doing PR, copywriting, permission marketing and editing for the Ride:Well Tour. God knew that Venture was looking for an intern, and Aaron agreed to bring me on board.
It's a big job, but somebody's gotta' do it. Working for a small nonprofit is like working on a small farm. The agriculturalist must be a "jack-of-all-trades," especially when he has a choice between fixing the tractor himself or not eating for the next week.
And so, in the nonprofit world, we scrap, we toil and we labor for our cause. Tomorrow, network updates will go out to our Venture community, and I'm excited to reconnect with our amazing band of overachieving adventurers.
That's all for now. I hope you enjoyed or learned something new from my story.
Best,
Andrew Black
Copywriter, Marketer, Editor, Public Relater
Add a Comment
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Comment by Andy on February 14, 2009 at 10:05pm -
Jeffrey,
Thanks for the comment. I still have a ton to learn about marketing, but I'm making immediate contributions to direct mail copywriting and PR strategies. Ride:Well tasks occupy most of our time, but Aaron is also putting together a strategic plan. I only work two days a week and haven't been a big part of that process. I've reviewed a SWOT and a few other docs regarding our future, but Aaron, Ryan or Elissa would have more (permission) to talk about that than I do. I'm just the intern :-]
Keep watching, though. In a year or so, things will start to really move.
-Andy
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Comment by Jeffrey Miller on February 14, 2009 at 2:25pm -
Excellent Andrew!
Glad Aaron has someone in Marketing! I'd love hear (& see in action) your plans for opening up markets and what you consider the necessary requirements to get it accomplished!
- Jeffrey
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