Marketing

Bridging Technology and Finance: Insights from a Marketing Internship in Public Bidding

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Bridging Technology and Finance: Insights from a Marketing Internship in Public Bidding

Ziqing QIN

In this article, Ziqing QIN (ESSEC Business School, Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), 2022-2026) shares her professional experience at VideoPower Technology as a Marketing Intern in public bidding.

About the company

VideoPower Technology Co., Ltd., founded in 2012 and headquartered in Beijing, China, is a leading provider of technological solutions for government procurement and public bidding. The company’s innovative tools and platforms enable government agencies to procure goods and services transparently and efficiently while empowering businesses to compete fairly in the marketplace.

VideoPower specializes in advanced analytics, compliance management, and bidding process automation. For example, its flagship platform “BidMaster” has been used in over 300 government projects, helping businesses win contracts totaling more than 50 million RMB. One notable success story involved assisting a logistics company in securing a provincial transportation contract worth 10 million RMB by optimizing their bidding strategy using BidMaster’s analytics.

I worked in the Marketing and Business Development team, which was pivotal in identifying market opportunities and crafting strategies to position the company as an industry leader. During my internship, I contributed to the development of campaigns targeting public procurement opportunities and collaborated with Finance and Operations to prepare competitive bids. A key achievement was securing a regional government IT infrastructure project valued at 3 million RMB, a testament to the team’s strategic alignment and execution capabilities.

Logo of VideoPower Technology.
Logo of VideoPower Technology
Source: the company.

My internship

As a marketing intern at VideoPower Technology Co., Ltd., I had the opportunity to work directly on public bidding projects that shaped my understanding of the procurement process. One of the most impactful experiences was contributing to a successful bid for a regional government’s information technology (IT) infrastructure project valued at 3 million RMB. This hands-on involvement taught me how to collaborate with multiple departments, such as finance and operations, to ensure that our proposals were both competitive and aligned with strategic objectives.

My missions

Throughout my internship, I was responsible for a variety of key tasks that directly supported the company’s bidding efforts:

  • Performed in-depth market research on over 50 government procurement projects, identifying opportunities in sectors such as IT and construction.
  • Played a pivotal role in crafting proposals, including a winning bid for an 8 million RMB service contract that secured a 5-year partnership with a municipal government.
  • Evaluated competitors’ pricing and strategies, which led to a reduction in bid preparation time and increased success rates.
  • Worked closely with cross-functional teams to ensure compliance with government regulations, achieving a 95% approval rate for submitted proposals.

Required skills and knowledge

My role required both technical and interpersonal skills. I leveraged analytical tools such as Excel to create detailed cost models, ensuring proposals were competitive and profitable. Proficiency in project management software, such as Trello and Microsoft Project, allowed me to prioritize tasks and meet tight deadlines. Soft skills, including communication and teamwork, were vital for presenting market insights to senior management and fostering collaboration with other departments. Additionally, my understanding of government procurement regulations enabled me to identify compliance risks and avoid potential setbacks.

What I learned

This internship was a crash course in the complexities of public procurement and how to navigate them effectively. By working on large-scale projects, I gained a solid understanding of cost analysis, competitive pricing, and risk mitigation. For example, I analyzed historical bid data to anticipate competitor pricing, which directly influenced our proposal strategies. I also learned how to balance profitability with client requirements, an essential skill for roles in finance and consulting. Beyond the technical aspects, this experience deepened my appreciation for cross-departmental collaboration and the importance of clear communication in achieving shared goals.

Financial concepts related to my internship

During my internship, I applied several financial concepts that were essential to the bidding process. These included cost estimation and budgeting, pricing strategies, and risk assessment.

Cost Estimation and Budgeting

Cost estimation and budgeting were fundamental aspects of my role. I learned how to break down project costs into direct and indirect categories, ensuring that every expense was accounted for. By accurately estimating costs, the company could prepare bids that were both competitive and realistic. This process involved analyzing historical data, consulting with project teams, and forecasting potential risks that might impact the budget.

Pricing Strategies

Developing effective pricing strategies was crucial to winning bids while maintaining profitability. I analyzed competitors’ pricing models and market trends to determine optimal pricing for our proposals. This involved striking a balance between offering an attractive price to government clients and ensuring that the company’s financial goals were met. By leveraging market intelligence, I contributed to crafting proposals that highlighted the company’s value proposition.

Risk Assessment

Risk assessment played a significant role in preparing bids. I worked on identifying potential risks, such as fluctuating material costs, project delays, and regulatory challenges, and developed strategies to mitigate these risks. By addressing these uncertainties in advance, the company was able to submit bids with confidence, minimizing the likelihood of unforeseen challenges during project execution.

Why should I be interested in this post?

This post highlights how an internship in public bidding applies essential financial concepts like cost estimation, pricing strategies, and risk assessment. These skills are highly relevant for ESSEC students pursuing careers in finance, consulting, or corporate strategy.

It also shows how practical experiences complement academic learning, preparing students for roles in investment banking, business development, and beyond.

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   ▶ All posts about Professional experiences

   ▶ Michel VERHASSELT My experience as Digital Business Developer for Capture Europe

   ▶ Federico MARTINETTO My experience as a PwC Associate Auditor in the Digital Data Hub

   ▶ Samia DARMELLAH My experience as an Accounting Assistant at Dafinity

Useful resources

Below are some valuable resources related to public procurement, market analysis, and project management that were relevant to my internship experience:

Government Procurement Platforms

PLACE – Plateforme des Achats de l’État: The official French government procurement platform, providing information on public tenders and bidding processes.

Market Analysis Tools

Statista: A leading platform for market statistics and industry insights.

Google Tag Manager: A free tool for managing and analyzing website tags, helpful for digital marketing analysis.

Business and Investment Resources

Business France: A national agency that supports the international development of French businesses and promotes investments in France.

Project Management Tools

Microsoft Project: A comprehensive tool for planning, executing, and tracking projects.

Trello: A flexible project management tool that helps organize tasks using a Kanban board approach.

About the author

The article was written in December 2024 by Ziqing QIN (ESSEC Business School, Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), 2022-2026).

My internship experience as a marketing intern at Amazon

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My internship experience as a marketing intern at Amazon

Fatimata KANE

In this article, Fatimata KANE (ESSEC Business School, Master in Strategy & Management of International Business, 2022-2023) shares her professional experience as a marketing intern at Amazon.

About the company

Amazon is a multinational technology company that was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos. Originally started as an online bookstore, the company has since expanded to become the world’s largest online retailer, selling a vast array of products and services across various categories, including electronics, fashion, home goods, groceries, and digital content.

Logo of Amazon.
Logo of Amazon
Source: the company.

In addition to its e-commerce platform, Amazon has also expanded into other areas such as cloud computing (Amazon Web Services), digital streaming (Amazon Prime Video), smart home devices (Amazon Echo), and artificial intelligence (Amazon Alexa). The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and operates in over 200 countries worldwide.

Amazon is known for its customer-centric approach and has a reputation for offering fast and convenient delivery options, competitive pricing, and a wide selection of products. The company’s mission statement is to “be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online.”

Amazon France

Amazon France is the French subsidiary of Amazon, which is the world’s largest online retailer. The company’s French website, Amazon.fr, was launched in 2000 and offers customers in France a wide selection of products across various categories, including electronics, books, fashion, home goods, and more.

As of 2021, Amazon France has over 22,000 employees and operates several distribution centers and warehouses throughout the country to ensure fast and reliable delivery to customers. The company also offers various delivery options, including same-day delivery and Amazon Prime, which provides free shipping and access to additional services such as streaming video and music.

I worked as a General Marketing Specialist Intern at Amazon France, in the retail business unit.

My internship

As a general marketing specialist intern at Amazon.fr, my role was to support the retail team in executing various marketing campaigns and initiatives to drive traffic, sales, and customer engagement on the website.

My missions

For example, I could assist in creating and publishing content on Amazon.fr’s social media accounts to promote products and engage with customers. This could include writing copy, designing graphics, and scheduling posts. I also created email campaigns to promote new products, sales, and other marketing initiatives. This could involve designing email templates, writing copy, and analyzing performance metrics.

I could also assist in managing Amazon.fr’s search engine marketing (SEM) campaigns to increase visibility and drive traffic to the website. This could involve keyword research, ad copy creation, and performance monitoring. Besides marketing content creation, I also oversaw auditing the marketing performances, and designed marketing plans for brands.

Required skills and knowledge

Working in this role required creativity, eagerness to learn, good communication skills, and high prioritization capacity.

What I learned

My internship experience with Amazon provided me with exceptional learning opportunities.

First, Amazon has a strong customer-centric approach, and this is reflected in all aspects of its marketing strategy. As an intern, I learned the importance of understanding customer needs and preferences and creating marketing campaigns that resonate with them.

Moreover, Amazon relies heavily on data analysis to inform its marketing decisions, and I had the opportunity to work with various analytics tools to measure the performance of marketing campaigns. This helped me develop a better understanding of the importance of data-driven decision-making.

Furthermore, in a large organization like Amazon, collaboration is essential. As an intern, I had the opportunity to work with different teams and departments to execute marketing campaigns. This taught me the importance of effective communication and teamwork.

Plus, Digital marketing is constantly evolving, and Amazon is at the forefront of innovation in the industry. As an intern, I had access to various training resources and had the opportunity to attend industry events and webinars to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices.

Lastly, Amazon has a reputation for providing a seamless customer experience, and this requires a high level of attention to detail in all aspects of marketing. I thus learned the importance of quality assurance and attention to detail in all aspects of marketing campaigns, from copywriting to design.

Overall, my experience as a general marketing specialist intern at Amazon.fr was invaluable in helping me develop a better understanding of digital marketing and how it can be used to drive business growth and customer satisfaction.

Financial concepts related my internship

Although not focused on finance, my internship in marketing still allowed me to be in touch with several financial concepts such as:

Return on Investment (ROI)

As a marketing intern, I learned the importance of measuring the ROI of marketing campaigns. This involves calculating the revenue generated by a campaign compared to the cost of the campaign. This concept is related to financial analysis, where businesses must analyze the return on investment for any project or initiative.

Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)

COGS is a financial concept that represents the direct costs associated with producing and selling a product or service. As an intern, I learned how Amazon calculates the COGS for each product and how this impacts pricing and profitability.

Gross Margin

Gross margin is a financial concept that represents the difference between revenue and COGS. As an intern, I learned how Amazon manages its gross margin by optimizing pricing strategies, managing inventory levels, and reducing costs.

Why should I be interested in this post?

I greatly appreciated my experience at Amazon and would recommend the company to any curious and eager-to-learn individual who is interested in marketing and retail.

Related posts on the SimTrade blog

   ▶ All posts about professional experiences

   ▶ Bijal GANDHI Cost of goods sold

Useful resources

Amazon France

About the author

The article was written in April 2023 by Fatimata KANE (ESSEC Business School, Master in Strategy & Management of International Business, 2022-2023).

Branding and marketing in the financial services sector

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Branding and marketing in the financial services sector

Samantha MARCUS Branding and Marketing in Financial Services

In this article, Samantha MARCUS (ESSEC Business School, Semester Exchange BBA, 2022) explains the changes and trends in branding and marketing in the financial services sector.

While generally overlooked, the messaging and branding of a financial institution is becoming increasingly more important, and financial institutions are facing pressure to act.

Financial service marketing uses various strategies and branding techniques to drive awareness and create brand loyalty. Unlike traditional tangible products, financial service providers must plant their brand in their consumers’ mind in any way they can because it is generally not a tangible product they are selling. The customer experience is extremely important in the financial services sector, and this is where branding and marketing play in. While the marketing approaches of financial products is oftentimes different than that of retail or consumer packaged goods, the marketing of financial services primarily utilizes two methods: traditional marketing and digital marketing

Traditional marketing

In the past, financial institutions have relied on marketing tactics such as word of mouth advertising, TV ads, radio and print marketing. As the consumer in the financial services sector is changing, these tactics are not as effective in this industry as they once were.

Digital marketing

In 2022, financial service providers are being pushed to step up their digital marketing efforts. Whether it’s through optimizing your firm’s SEO, creating more personalized algorithms or being active on social media platforms, there are various efforts in digital marketing happening in the financial services industry. The financial services sector is leaning more into digital marketing and this strategy is beginning to show more returns in terms of reaching new consumers and driving brand loyalty.

Why are branding and marketing important in financial services?

Retail banks, investment banks, brokerages, credit card companies, and many more financial service institutions can benefit from branding and marketing. Now more than ever, the younger generations are not trusting financial service institutions with about 92% of millennials claiming they do not trust banks at all (Financeography.com, 2016). Branding and marketing in this sector are so important as they can build this trust with consumers. Traditionally, financial service providers did not have to focus as much on branding and marketing because their services were deemed a necessity and consumers would normally approach them. This is all changing now for a variety of reasons that make this outdated mindset ineffective and dangerous. One of the largest reasons that it’s important for financial service providers to utilize marketing is the commoditization of financial products; standardization has made it harder for providers to differentiate their products as there are now more options than ever before. In addition, disruptive financial technology (like blockchains/cryptos) is changing the financial services sector and decentralizing the control, therefore marketing and grasping consumer awareness is more vital than ever. Lastly, as our world becomes increasingly more digitized, consumers are expecting personalized, digitized experiences regardless of the industry.

Trends for financial services marketing

The Rise of Personalization

As the financial service industry becomes increasingly more saturated and decentralized, personalization within marketing strategies offers a way for firms to differentiate themselves and shift the focus to a customer centric approach. Traditionally, banking and financial services have been more focused on their products rather than their consumers, however this is all changing. As within any marketing approach, when financial service providers have a grasp on their audience and demographic, they are better able to appeal to the wants and needs of this consumer and it even begins to become part of their brand. This approach is becoming increasingly more popular, and it helps create more personalized relationships which facilitate customer loyalty which is crucial in the financial services industry.

Digitalization

As there is an emphasis on mobile technology and e-commerce now more than ever, firms are adjusting their marketing strategies to be more digitalized and more customer centric as mentioned above. Many consumers now prefer to manage their finances online, so it only makes sense that digitalization is a priority. Consumers want to manage their money, pay their bills, and buy the things that they need to on their own terms, so it is important that financial brands message this in their marketing strategies as well as process the right technology to cater to this need. Whether it is through marketing techniques such as pay-per-click advertising, email marketing, search engine optimization or activity on social media, financial institutions must push to develop their brand online in order to be noticed amongst competitors.

Intriguing social media content

In the financial service industry, creating impactful content is now being discussed. Video content can be utilized as a great marketing took and form of content as firms can utilize videos to create video courses or webinars to help their target audience understand their products and the more complex financial concepts. It is also a trend to utilize content by showing in your social media posts your firms services and your specialties.

Using personal stories to build a brand

Since the modern consumer has changed especially in the financial sector, product-focused, cold, and impersonal branding does not cut it anymore. Consumers are less trusting of financial service providers so financial brands must find a way to capture their consumer’s attention and create a brand that they trust. While traditionally financial services did not place much emphasis on the human element, there is increasing pressure for financial brands to let this side shine through in their marketing. Is there an interesting story within your company? Is there a personable employee to tell a compelling finance story or explain events in the industry? The question is now: how can a firm use marketing to create trust with their consumers?

Key concepts

Branding

Branding is the personality of a brand. Branding can include everything from your logo to your mission statement; branding is how you define your business. Branding goes beyond just the color of your website or the style of your font, but rather it is how you tell a story and how you draw the attention of your target audience. Branding is how you make a connection with your target customers.

Marketing

While oftentimes people get branding and marketing get confused, there are fundamental differences between the two. Marketing is how a company positions their product based on their brand strategy. Marketing identifies a target market, uses the optimal tactics and segment markets to win over a bigger market share. Branding is all about knowing your company’s story while marketing is more focused on knowing who your target customers are.

Relevance to SimTrade Certificate

The SimTrade certificate allows students to increase their knowledge of financial markets, but it is also important to look at the business behind how financial institutions are able to thrive. Marketing and branding are a large part in this and how firms stay competitive.

Final thoughts

Marketing in financial institutions’ sector is very interesting because it is a quickly evolving area and institutions are experiencing pressure to act in order to sustain their businesses and keep their customers. Financial service marketing is so different from what we know as traditional marketing and advertising as it is not a tangible product, but it is peoples’ financials and essentially their life; this adds a lot of importance on winning over consumers loyalty and trust. As the modern consumer has more options now than ever before, financial firms are placing more importance on marketing and shifting their strategies from a product-obsessed mindset to a customer-focused mindset. Financial firms and their marketing teams must look into getting the right marketing technology to support their consumer centric marketing initiatives. There is so much opportunity to build trustworthy brands and improve customer’s experience through carefully crafted messaging and the right technology. The correct marketing provides a unique opportunity for financial institutions to differentiate themselves in this evolving marketing.

Related posts on the SimTrade blog

▶ Cynthia LIN Financial products marketing in neobanks

▶Ashima MALIK Financial products marketing

Useful resources

Academic books

Heding, T., Knudtzen, C. F., & Bjerre, M. (2009). Brand management: Research, theory and practice. Routledge.

Kapferer, J. N. (2012). The new strategic brand management: Advanced insights and strategic thinking. Kogan Page Publishers.

Business resources

Financeography.com (November 30, 2016) 92% of Millennials Do Not Trust Financial Institutions with Money Matters

O8 Agency for Marketing Financial Services Marketing: Everything You Need to Know

Templafy blog Industry Branding Series: Branding Financial Services

Purpose brand A corporate ESG content strategy puts brands at a competitive advantage.

About the author

The article was written in May 2022 by Samantha MARCUS (ESSEC Business School, Semester Exchange BBA, 2022).

Financial products marketing in neobanks

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Financial products marketing in neobanks

Cynthia LIN

In this article, Cynthia LIN (ESSEC Business School, Global BBA, 2018-2022) explains how neobanks market their financial products.

Introduction

Marketing of financial products in neobanks has become an integral part of their daily tasks because of the increased awareness of the benefits of financial products and services to consumers. Also, the marketing has been defined as the act of persuading a potential customer to purchase a financial product, service, or service in a neobank.

Neobanks

A Neobank is a kind of digital bank without any physical branches. These are completely operated online. Consumers don’t have to be physically present at a specific location. They are usually mobile operated, leveraging technology to minimize operating costs and offer a customer-friendly interface.

Neobanks can be called fintech firms that provide digital and mobile-first financial solutions payments and money transfers, money lending, and more. The neobank tends to work as a tech-savvy decision-making model and handle cash more easily and openly. These banks gather and assess data, understand the trends, try to quantify the behavior of their customers, and then come out with predictions/results. They are cheaper, quicker, and can leverage a single network with the entire financial portfolio.

Neobanks are quick, transparent, and more reliable than megabanks, although neobanks prefer collaborating with them for financial products. Neobanks are also known as challenger banks. They have transformed banking sectors and made them appealing to millions of customers. For example, the U.S. confirmed that chime had over 11 million customers (Corander, 2021). The previous year, they had eight million customers; in response, other banking sectors are working extra hard to improve their products and services to survive the competition. They make money by using business models different from those used in banking institutions.

Financial product marketing

Financial product marketing refers to a range of marketing solutions tailored to the needs of financial services companies. Highly effective financial product marketing uses digital channels to promote new financial products and increase brand awareness.

Here are 5 strategies for financial product marketing:

  1. Go mobile with your financial product marketing initiatives: your mobile experience should provide the same ease-of-use and functionality as your website.
  2. Make social media an important tool: understand your target audience and post the right content on the right channel to maximize engagement.
  3. Create educational content: simple educational content that is clear and easily understood by people who may not have prior knowledge about finances.
  4. Invest in emerging technologies: disruptive technologies like blockchain, chatbots and artificial intelligence (AI) help financial companies reduce operational costs and gain new clients.
  5. Bet on transparency: customers who believe your company is transparent are more likely to recommend your services or leave positive online reviews.

Marketing of financial products by neobanks

The marketing of financial products by neobanks include advertising and marketing strategies to promote financial products and services that neobanks offer to the market. The marketing of financial products and services in neobanks has increased the interest of consumers in financial products and services offered by neobanks. The increased adoption of these marketing techniques has also increased the neobank’s adoption rate of financial products and services (Zoi, 2021). Moreover, adopting marketing strategies has enabled neobanks to use various techniques to market financial products and services to consumers.

Neobank’s marketing strategies includes television advertisement, radio advertisement, newspaper advertisement, direct advertising, online advertising, sales promotion, sales promotion, direct selling, and personal selling. This have been felt through the increased interest, awareness, and patronage toward banks and products offered by neobanks.

Let’s take the example of Revolut:

  • Customer is King: Revolut are aiming to be very transparent and open by sharing a lot of company insights on their blog
  • Solving a real issue: Focus on building a state-of-art platform from the ground up with design, functionality, and speed at its core.
  • Unique buying experience: Provide a very distinctive and innovative product packaging.
  • Hassle-free onboarding process: Revolut focused on eliminating all unnecessary touch points and providing a fast connection with minimal data collection.
  • Turn clients into fans and salesmen: Revolut launched a merch line of branded products including t-shirts, hats, hoodies etc. to turn clients into fans.

Conclusion

In conclusion, neobanks use various marketing techniques, usually more digital-oriented in order to market their financial products and services. They use marketing strategies to develop new products, services, and strategies to improve their brand image and awareness. Furthermore, neobanks should be able to use a marketing strategy to attract new customers and maintain the loyalty of existing customers for them to be able to compete with other banks.

Ressources

Zoi, S. (2021). FinTech and digital transformation in financial services: a new digital financial world (Master’s thesis, Πανεπιστήμιο Πειραιώς).

Corander, B. (2021). Neobanks: Challenges, Risks and Opportunities.

Revolut

Related posts on the SimTrade blog

   ▶ Ashima MALIK Financial products marketing

   ▶ Samantha MARCUS Brands and marketing in the financial services sector

About the author

The article was written in March 2022 by Cynthia LIN (ESSEC Business School, Global BBA, 2018-2022).

My Marketing Developer Experience

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My Marketing Developer Experience

Photo Jérémy PAULEN

In this article, Jérémy PAULEN (ESSEC Business School, Global Bachelor of Business Administration, 2019-2023) shares his experience as a marketing developer at the Tennis Club of Rosheim.

Tennis Club of Rosheim

Tennis Club of Rosheim was founded in 1970 and is owned by David Livernais. The premises are located in the sports center of Rosheim, in Alsace. The Tennis Club had 191 members in 2021 and several partners. The Club therefore organizes many events every year.

The club wishes to create a relationship of trust with its members as well as a friendly atmosphere.

My internship at the Tennis Club of Rosheim

During my studies at ESSEC Business School, I had the opportunity to undertake an internship as a marketing developer at the Tennis Club of Rosheim.

Tennis Club Rosheim

Source: Tennis Club Rosheim

I was involved with the marketing department, which is in charge of promoting the club to potential new members. The promotion of a business takes place in several stages. First of all, through the development of a visual identity. The visual identity or graphic identity is a set of coherent visual elements which make it possible to identify the same entity through the different communication media that it uses. Example: Coca-Cola and the color red are almost synonymous with each other. The company uses its signature color on all of its products and all of its marketing materials.

Given my experience in the visual field and my different skills, I was given the responsibility of developing a new visual identity. The only restriction I had was to use the orange color.

I first had to create a logo. The logo is the pillar of a company’s image. A professional logo allows a company to stand out from its competitors, to convey its values and to tell a story. It therefore needs to be studied. The logo I created is made up of three elements:

  • A tennis ball in the center of the image to evoke the main activity of the club
  • The date the club was founded: 1970. Integrating a date reassures potential customers Because it implies professional knowledge and experience acquired over the years.
  • And last but not the least: the name of the club.

Tennis Club Rosheim logo

Source: Tennis Club Rosheim

I wanted a simple and uncluttered logo to reach as many people as possible.

I also had to create multiple posters to announce the different events. Each of my creations had a similar color code: orange, green and yellow. Orange is the color of cheerfulness, generosity, ambition, and abundance, but more importantly the color of the company. Green symbolizes hope and nature. Yellow is associated with joy, good humor, and radiance.

Promotion also passes through word, including emails or flyers. On several occasions I had to communicate by email with members and partners. Communicating through this media involves many codes. We must respect the codes of politeness and avoid any awkwardness. The emails are written and thus visible at all times.

Every day, the club president organized a general meeting where he talked about global debriefing. The various meetings make it possible to clarify the week’s objectives and to distribute the tasks to the workforce. They also present an opportunity to give feedback and to integrate each employee in the decision-making process. For my part, I took this opportunity to propose a new method of communication: Tiktok.

During my time at the TC Rosheim, I also had the opportunity to organize a large-scale event. Many competitors meet each year for a big competition. It was therefore necessary to find sponsors to finance this event, in our case the main partner was KARANTA. I also had to find volunteers to supervise the event and ensure it was smoothly run.

My key learning outcomes

During my internship at the Tennis Club of Rosheim, I had the opportunity to develop the following (soft) skills:

  • To manage a team
  • To meet deadlines
  • To improve communication skills
  • To understand the needs and to listen to the expectations of (internal) clients
  • The ability to learn and to improve my different skills

Three key terms

I develop below three key terms to understand my work.

Visual identity

The visual identity or graphic identity is a set of coherent visual elements which make it possible to identify the same entity through the different communication media that it uses.

A participatory leader

The participatory leader likes to study all the proposals before making a decision. He or she encourages his or her employees and values their work and achievements. A key element is feedback.

Feedback

Feedback is a step back, a testimony on an event that occurred. It allows time to check if the meaning of a message is understood, determine if help is required and verify if everybody is involved.

Useful resources

Tennis Club Rosheim

Related posts on the SimTrade blog

   ▶ All Professional experiences

About the author

The article was written in November 2021 by Jérémy PAULEN (ESSEC Business School, Global Bachelor of Business Administration, 2019-2023).

Financial products marketing

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Financial products marketing

Ashima Malik

In this article, Ashima MALIK (ESSEC Business School, Master in Strategy & Management of International Business (SMIB), 2020-2021) explores the marketing of financial products.

Financial product marketing refers to a set of marketing solutions that address the needs of financial companies. The marketing of a highly efficient financial product uses digital methods to promote new financial products and increase brand awareness. Fortunately, financial services companies are increasingly recognizing the limitless power of digital channels in marketing their new financial products. The recent Digital Trends in Financial Services and Insurance survey of 700 top industry leaders confirms this.

Why Digital? Because technology and gadgets are on the sidelines, digital mobilization is about building a more compelling customer experience and building trust. There are many platforms available for us to go digital including social media, mobile app, ad campaigns, etc.

Marketing channels

There are many reasons to get involved with social media. When it comes to social media, we have to think about how to do it better than to try to do everything but not do it right. Setting up accounts with top social networking sites and / or engaging with the ones that make the most sense in your industry. For starters, it is a good idea to post on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Social media is an ideal platform for marketing a financial product because it cuts across to everyone. Once the target audience has been identified, we can post the right content to the right audience engagement channels. As a financial services company it is important for the marketing team to understand where customers prefer to participate in social media.

Also, it is almost impossible for financial services companies to reach their target audience without mobile marketing. In a financial services company, a website should be optimized for mobile use, because a large percentage of customers, and potential customers, do business on the go.

Challenges

One of the biggest challenges for financial companies using digital marketing is that the words used in relation to financial services can be confusing and difficult for customers and the prospects for understanding them. And that is a major challenge when it comes to creating digital content that can engage people and make them feel invested in new financial products and services. It is very important for you to create valuable content that can appeal not only to Millennials, but also to your customers’ general interests and aspirations for information such as their lifestyles, wants, and needs.

In the financial services sector, one cannot underestimate the digital revolution if what we want is to use effective financial product advertising. Any financial product marketing plan should start by understanding that simple, clear, and relevant content is a way to engage your customers. Armed with this knowledge and a well-developed digital strategy for financial services, we can bring your customers closer and enable them to invest more in the company.

Useful resources

Econsultancy And Adobe: 2021 Digital trends – Financial Services & Insurance in Focus

Related posts on the SimTrade blog

   ▶ Cynthia LIN Financial products marketing in neobanks

   ▶ Samantha MARCUS Brands and marketing in the financial services sector

About the author

Article written in May 2021 by Ashima MALIK (ESSEC Business School, Master in Strategy & Management of International Business (SMIB), 2020-2021).