Select Page

As Web 2.0 continues to transform how companies communicate, the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s Center for Community Partnerships (CCP) has received an increasing number of requests from businesses to help them with strategic Internet marketing.

A full-service resource center, CCP introduces students to business culture, including how to dress and other protocol. The latest technology is accessible to the interns through their network of experts. High priority is focused on placing students with a business that fits their needs along with the student’s career interests and talents.

Because marketing and public relations blend together more and more on the Internet, local businesses are turning to CCP’s experts to help them achieve success.

“People now get most of their information online, so businesses need to make their Web sites user-friendly and quickly accessible,” said Samantha Jacyna, CCP’s Internet marketing intern. “The Web sites need to speak to their audience and set their company apart and, through thought leadership, show they are a trusted resource.”

Jacyna works directly with CCP’s faculty expert, Dana Baumgart, to help clients develop Internet marketing strategies. Last fall, Baumgart taught a class in Internet marketing in the College of Business, where discussions have been directly applied to Jacyna’s CCP projects.

One of the things she learned was to use the words and phrases the audience uses to describe an organization in order to optimize a Web site’s rank on an organic search engine results page. She also learned how to research various social media tools and create a Web site that is visually appealing and functional for the client’s audience, use reciprocal linking campaigns and templates, and make recommendations for e-newsletters.

Stellar Blue Web Design in Neenah, Wis., sought out the help of CCP through word-of-mouth and was immediately impressed.

“CCP brought us three very talented students that have provided us with the expertise to help clients advance their business strategic needs through social media and Internet marketing,” said Stellar Blue’s Managing Director Jim Dobinski. “Today, any marketing tools are driven back to the Internet, and we strive to be a full service marketing firm. Our interns through the CCP have helped us evolve.”

Stellar Blue eventually hired recent UW Oshkosh graduate Amanda Betts, who worked with them throughout the fall 2009 semester as a social media/Internet marketing intern.

“Amanda has done a fabulous job and has proven to be an asset to this company by showing her expertise and working knowledge of the topic,” Dobinski said. “We can only hope to find more employees like Amanda as the company expands and evolves, and we will continue to look to CCP to do so.”

Betts’s duties at Stellar Blue include developing a monthly subscriber e-mail campaign, creating presentations and initiating a custom social-media package for Stellar Blue’s clients.

“My experience with the CCP has been nothing but beneficial and a great asset as I turn from a student to a professional,” Betts said. “My time as an intern has challenged me to learn new things about the industry and myself, and I am excited to continue to grow with Stellar Blue.”

CCP connects regional businesses to the University’s resources and expertise for innovative business solutions, while providing students with hands-on, professional experience. Students interested in internships can contact Chad Kopitzke at (920) 424-2041 or kopitzkc@uwosh.edu. Businesses and organizations can contact Doug Jarmusz at (920) 424-2366 or jarmuszd@uwosh.edu.

Related story: