What’s it like to be a marketing intern at an international brand?

Kate’s here to tell you! Kate Parsons joined us back in August 2022 for her placement year, whilst studying at Bournemouth University. Read on to find out what her highlights have been and what she has learnt from working with the Reid marketing team.

Could you sum up your role at Reid in one sentence?

Making TikTok videos! Just kidding, my team may joke about my love for making TikToks in the office but, fortunately, my responsibilities as a Marketing Intern at Reid are very varied. I have the chance to get stuck in with lots of exciting projects, alongside creating engaging social content of course.

What tasks could you be doing during the day?

The first thing I do in the morning is check the Reid socials to see what our Reid riders are up to, check out some great shots of our products from our retailers’ socials to repost, and reply to comments and messages. I will then open up our monthly schedule and check over any content published while I was away and then begin scheduling some future content across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn. Scheduling the socials is at the core of what I do; outside of that, my tasks vary day-by-day. If we have new products, I will be adding them to the website, or I could be assisting Beth, our Marketing Coordinator, with designing product assets such as brochures and posters or communicating with our international distributors to make sure they have all the tools they need to shout about Reid in their corner of the world! I just posted a TikTok taking you through a day in my life working at Reid, check it out to see what I get up to in more detail! Linked below.

At Reid we are always striving to be better, what are your Reid goals for 2023?

My main Reid goals for this year have been to grow the social channels as much as I can during my internship. It’s so exciting to see the community of followers grow on these pages, the marketing team have a mini celebration at our desk for every milestone we hit. My personal goal for 2023 is to graduate university with a First in my degree, and with everything I have learnt on the marketing team at Reid, I feel more confident to reach this.

What is your favourite part of your job?

The main thing I have loved about working at Reid is the level of responsibility I have been given. This is down to the amazing Reid team and the respect we all have for eachother. Coming into the office everyday to a supportive group of people, willing to help me learn and grow as much as I can in my year internship, has been an experience I won’t forget! I will also never forget the first time I met the team, I was kindly invited to their Summer Boat Party a week before my start day. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming, it was a great first introduction.

What are the biggest challenges you encounter and how do you overcome them?

In marketing, the biggest challenge can be the unpredictability of your social results. Sometimes, you may think you have a really good video and the algorithm just doesn’t agree! Or on the flip side you may post a video that was really quick to put together and it rolls in the views and follows! Platforms, like TikTok, are always changing so it’s just important to stick to your brand values while evolving with the platform changes and trends where you can. Another challenge I encountered when joining Reid was learning the niches of each product – I can say I definitely know more about bikes than I ever have before!

If you could try out another role at Reid for the day, what would it be and why?

I would absolutely love to work in a Reid retail store for a day in Australia! It would be amazing to see some Reid bikes in the wild! Before my internship, I worked in customer service and used to love meeting new people everyday and giving them a good experience in store. In a dream world I would probably be making some TikToks with the products in store too!

What new product/range/project/development is in the pipeline that you’re most excited about?

I am obsessed with the new Ladies Classic eBike in Baby Blue. We just got a sample delivered in the office and it is even better than the photos, it is so sleek you can’t even tell it’s an eBike, it feels so natural to ride too. I am really looking forward to some sunnier days in the UK so I can take it for a lunchtime ride down to the beach… and get some great photos of course!