Marketing Rotation

During the marketing rotation, we worked closely with Leigh Ann Gruenewald and Meredith Osborn. Marketing at Parkside includes branding, communication with clients, shareholder relations, event planning, and more. As an intern, we assisted Leigh Ann with many projects. This rotation gave us a glimpse into the marketing and relationship building side of a bank. As finance majors, we do not see much of this in our courses, but it is an extremely valuable tool to have. We are grateful to have interned with a company that does such a great job in this area.

Insight Articles & Research

Effective communication is very important for marketing and maintaining positive relationships. One way that Parkside does this is by distributing “Bank & Trust Insights” newsletters throughout the year to clients. These articles provide clients a variety of information that may be useful or interesting. For example, in March of 2020, the newsletter consisted of COVID-19 related topics, programs, and policies, along with how Parkside was navigating the sudden changes. With the help of Leigh Ann and Matt Wagner, the interns conducted thorough research and wrote articles themselves on topics such as person-to-person payments, security and online banking, and the upcoming Presidential Election.

We also conducted valuable research for marketing activities such as how to improve the recruitment process, what other banks in the area are doing to recruit talent, and social media opportunities. Furthermore, Parkside sends gifts to clients for various reasons. For example, when clients move into a new home, Parkside sends a housewarming gift. This is just one of the many ways Parkside goes above and beyond for their clients. We worked with Leigh Ann to come up with some fresh, new ideas as housewarming gifts.

Capstone Project

Part of the marketing rotation is dedicated towards spending time on the capstone project which the interns present on the last day of the internship. This year, the topics include how to better serve female clients and current trends in the financial industry that are impacting banks and wealth management firms. These projects consisted of conducting research and interviewing women we know in order to get a better understanding of how female clients may differ and their values. With this research, we created a presentation with recommendations for not only how to better serve current female clients, but also how to appeal to prospective female clients. These projects are presented to mentors, management, and any other employees who would like to attend. The presentation is also a way to develop and improve our presenting and speaking skills, both which are important to have in the business world.