Students Take Advantage of 29 Years of Award-Winning Marketing Expertise
PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J. –February 19, 2016 – An internship at Creative Marketing Alliance (CMA), a full-service, award-winning public relations and marketing firm based in Princeton Junction, is not about making coffee and sorting mail.
Alexandra Perrine, a Rider University marketing major from West Windsor, works with Erin Klebaur, director of marketing services, as she reports her findings after doing website evaluations as part of her internship at Creative Marketing Alliance.
At CMA, interns become a valuable member of the team, working closely with and observing staff mentors to gain hands-on experience to take back to the classroom and into their chosen career paths.
“I have worked on several projects, researching websites and social media accounts in order to make some edits and suggestions, as well as keeping track of things like post frequency and follower rates,” said Alexandra Perrine, a Rider University marketing major, Class of 2018, from West Windsor. “I’ve also worked on comparing these aspects of CMA clients to those of their competition, to recognize some possible advantages to play off of and ways to improve. These types of projects would typically culminate in a meeting to discuss what I found and thought.”
CMA’s CEO and president, Jeffrey Barnhart, created the hands-on intern program when he founded the company in 1987. Since then, Barnhart’s team has selected more than 160 interns to participate in the program, giving back to area universities in Mercer County, especially his alma mater, Rider University.
Kevin Grunder, a public relations major at Rider University who lives in Linden, works with Erin Klebaur, director of marketing services, and Jeff Barnhart, CEO and president, as he gets ready to present his ideas for the CMA blog to the management team as part of his internship at Creative Marketing Alliance.
“That is the whole goal of our intern program—to have students immerse themselves in the business, absorb as much as they can and learn about their chosen profession,” said Barnhart, Class of 1977, whose 29-year-old marketing firm was named “Outstanding Small Business” in 2016 by the MIDJersey Chamber of Commerce. “We focus on developing synergy between the students and employees so both parties benefit. The intern program gives CMA employees in every department a chance to mentor someone who was probably just like them when they started their careers and they needed someone to look up to.”
Intern Kevin Grunder, a public relations major at Rider University who lives in Linden, said the real-world experience brought his classroom learning to life.
“I worked very closely on developing blog content for the next year and I was given the opportunity to pitch my ideas to the leadership team at CMA,” Grunder, Class of 2017, said. “I did a lot of blogging and media writing in my classes and was able to apply these concepts into my work. This internship reinforced what I was learning in the classroom and added so much more value. Interning with Creative Marketing Alliance has helped me understand the close relationship between both public relations and marketing. The two must coexist to work effectively together, mainly because of the value each holds.”
For College of New Jersey marketing major Carly Choffo, interning at CMA helped her understand the many aspects of marketing.
College of New Jersey marketing major Carly Choffo, who lives in Old Bridge, works with Rick Verbanas, marketing and business development director, to further her understanding of marketing as part of her internship at Creative Marketing Alliance.
“I never really saw marketing as a service,” said Choffo, who lives in Old Bridge. “I always saw it as part of a company. However, some companies really struggle with marketing and come to places like CMA for help. I never really considered how much I could be helping people if I actually ended up working at a marketing agency. It has made me like my major a lot more, seeing what marketing services can do for a company.”
Each semester, CMA recruits and selects students to join its prestigious intern program. CMA is currently seeking summer and fall semester interns. For more information about intern positions at award-winning CMA, visit CMAsolutions.com.
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About Creative Marketing Alliance
Creative Marketing Alliance (CMA) is a responsive, full-service marketing firm that delivers award-winning campaigns, recommendations and return-on-investment (ROI). CMA builds brands from a client-side, value-based perspective. It successfully launches and manages integrated marketing programs using Marketecture™, a strategic analysis process that helps clients understand how their company can be best positioned. Based in Princeton Junction, N.J., for more than 29 years, CMA provides innovative solutions in the areas of traditional design, interactive design, content creation, public relations and strategic marketing with an in-house studio for advertising and creative design. For more information, please visit CMAsolutions.com, call 800-852-4269 or email us at info@cmasolutions.com.
