Post # 7

Hours: 9.00-17.00 Thursday (8hrs, 64hrs total).

Looks like it's going to be another one day week this week, so I'll be back in next Thursday.

More writing projects today. We're going to try to get a few more blog posts out of that 15-page white paper, and there are a few other blog posts that I edited. The blog is an interesting marketing tool. It gives the reader a real connection to people at the company. They can give direct feedback and ask questions. It's one of those things that I think will ultimately be the demise of the highly formal press releases and white papers that have been so important to the industry so far. I guess it's a bit of a west coast high-tech thing, to have informal dialogue like that (reminds me of the whole anti-tie, hawaiian shirt, cutoff shorts movement), but it really provides a nice human connection that is lacking in other forms of media.

Post # 6

Hours: 9.00-17.00 Thursday (8hrs, 56hrs total)

My mentor didn't come in to the office today, so it's a one day week I'm afraid. Thursday saw the creation of a new marketing tool for trade shows: chotskies, in the form of 1GB USB thumb drives, loaded up with a bunch of marketing material including an analyst video from Gartner. I had to figure out how to get a hyperlink into the video, which was not easy. I ended up calling on the Flash skills I got at MSAT to come up with a solution. That was the creative part. Then there was the not so creative aspect of copying the content onto 100 USB drives. With the aid of a Def Leppard album and a cup of coffee, I finished in just over an hour.

Post # 5

Hours: 9.00-17.00 Thursday & Friday (16hrs, 48hrs total)

The Cloud Services press release went out early this week, and what d'ya know, I was quoted in itexaminer! Technically Barry Shurtz, Director of Marketing was quoted, but I wrote it! As another marketing team person told me: for a writer, it's publish or perish. 

I started a new project: reworking some of that big old 15-page white paper into a series of blog posts. It is amazingly difficult to translate something an engineer has written into comfortable, readable English; it's worse than legalese. The engineers themselves are nice guys, but there is an underlying mutual distain for marketing and sales that has apparently existed since the beginning of time (see Dilbert). It's all good and professional though.

Much of the middle part of today was taken up with the monthly lunch with the extended marketing group at Skates on the Bay in Berkely (the fish and chips are really good). The company paid for it, but there wasn't much business discussed. I suppose it's important to have events like this to keep up the moral and team spirit of the group.

Post # 4

Hours: 9.00-17.00 Thursday & Friday (16 hrs, 32hrs total)

This Thursday, I did a bunch of work on the press release for Sendamail Sentrion Cloud Services. Basically, it's a service that allows some of the computing to be done off-site, which cuts down on costs for the customer. I continued doing the scan of the Fortune 500, and I started writing the report. I'm learning to appreciate the need for high-level data when presenting to high-level executives. It's been good doing an in-depth analysis of the F500, I've learned a lot about the companies (I had no idea Boeing moved its headquarters from Seattle to Chicago). 

I've begun to sit in on the weekly "product meeting", in which issues about Sendmail's products are discussed. Today, it was announced that we lost an important customer in the UK. Not so good. Another UK company wants to continue to use Sendmail's software-only product, even though it is being phased out. They're a big customer though, so we'll accommodate them.

Friday saw continued editing work on the Cloud Services press release, and rewrting of a big old 15-page white paper. I also did a somewhat menial job: moving a bunch of files from the "old system" to the "new system". It was a bit boring, but I got the chance to see a change in progress and learn more about the ways Sendmail communicates with customers and "leads"(prospective customers).

Post # 3

Hours: 09.00-17.00 Thursday & Friday (16hrs, 16hrs total)

I've worked it out with my mentor to work two days a week (Thursday and Friday). Since I'll have the 80 hours in five weeks, I guess I'll do the last posts retrospectively.

This Thursday, I got settled in, and was introduced to everybody. I have a feeling the "office politics" are going to be very interesting to observe. There is a big long list on a whiteboard of things for me to do, so I'm pretty sure I'll stay busy. 

I'm getting acquainted with all the terminology of the corporate marketing world. "Marcom" = marketing communication. A "white paper" is a document recommending a particular course of action (usually: buy lots of our products). There is also a lot of slang used, especially with sales people or when referring to customers. Getting "creamed", "screwed", "screwed over", or putting one's "ass on the line" are common expressions used to express dismay with a particular outcome, or illustrate one's personal hardships. If something doesn't make sense or has no apparent logic, the author was probably "smoking crack".

On Friday, I started my first bit of real work, copy editing a press release. It's tough wading through all the technical jargon, but that will get easier over time. I also worked on a project to use a tool developed by Sendmail to scan the domains of the Fortune 500. The tool determines if the systems comply with any of the security standards set by the industry. 

Post #2

My ideal project would be something that is both beneficial to the organization, and something that I could take away with me and add to my own résumé. I am looking forward to doing a lot of copy editing and writing, and a portfolio of all of that work would be a great final project. I'm learning that a lot of the work that goes on in marketing is focused around writing and manipulation of language and information, which is something that I am good at. There's a good chance that a lot of what I end up writing will go into press releases and may even get published in tech journals.

Post #1

After much searching, I have found a WLE position at my dad's company, Sendmail, inc. in Emeryville, CA. I'll be working with my father and his team in the marketing department working on content.


Initially, I contacted my junior year mentor, private investigator Kurt Ginter. Mr. Ginter told me that they were too busy with business expansion to take on an intern. I then tried to find a position with a city government planning department, another of my interests rooted in my fascination with sociology. The governments of San Rafael and Novato, whom I contacted, both wanted only college interns and refused to let anybody work for free (crazy in this economy, right?). That's when I got the Sendmail position.

At the beginning of the search, I wrote off working at Sendmail because I really have no ambition to work in the high tech industry. As my search became more desperate, I convinced myself that it would be a good experience to see how a high tech firm works. Luckily for me, my dad's only subordinate on the marketing team resigned last week (crazy in this economy, right?), so I'll be able to do some actual work with content like writing and editing press releases, copy for websites, and the like.