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How to hire a marketing internship

Marketing internship hiring summary. Here are some key points about hiring marketing interns in the United States:

  • There are currently 421,335 marketing interns in the US, as well as 122,135 job openings.
  • Marketing interns are in the highest demand in New York, NY, with 51 current job openings.
  • The median cost to hire a marketing internship is $1,633.
  • It takes between 36 and 42 days to fill the average role in the US.
  • Human Resources use 15% of their expenses on recruitment on average.
  • On average, it takes around 12 weeks for a new marketing internship to become settled and show total productivity levels at work.

How to hire a marketing internship, step by step

To hire a marketing internship, you should clearly understand the skills and experience you are looking for in a candidate, and allocate a budget for the position. You will also need to post and promote the job opening to reach potential candidates. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to hire a marketing internship:

Here's a step-by-step marketing internship hiring guide:

  • Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
  • Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
  • Step 3: Make a budget
  • Step 4: Write a marketing internship job description
  • Step 5: Post your job
  • Step 6: Interview candidates
  • Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new marketing internship
  • Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a marketing internship do?

Marketing interns are usually marketing students or fresh graduates who are interested in getting actual work experiences before taking on a full-time job. They usually have an interest or academic background related to marketing. They assist marketing teams in most of their daily activities, sit in their meetings, record minutes of these meetings, take note of action plans, and attend other events related to marketing. They also assist in preparing collateral and other marketing materials, join brainstorming sessions, or any other activity that will help enrich their experience.

Learn more about the specifics of what a marketing internship does
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  1. Identify your hiring needs

    First, determine the employments status of the marketing internship you need to hire. Certain marketing internship roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

    Determine employee vs contractor status
    Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

    A marketing internship's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, marketing interns from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

    This list shows salaries for various types of marketing interns.

    Type of Marketing InternshipDescriptionHourly rate
    Marketing InternshipMarket research analysts study market conditions to examine potential sales of a product or service. They help companies understand what products people want, who will buy them, and at what price.$11-18
    Business Development InternshipA business development intern is responsible for supporting the organization's goals and objectives in providing the best services to clients and ensuring a smooth flow of operations with maximum productivity and efficiency. Business development interns observe the operational processes of the department and perform duties under the supervision of a direct manager or tenured staff... Show more$12-20
    Marketing & Events CoordinatorA marketing and events coordinator is responsible for planning, producing, and supervising the execution of communications and marketing plan activities such as promotions, collateral materials, and media. You are expected to create materials to deliver the company's messages to the media and the public... Show more$14-25
  2. Create an ideal candidate profile

    Common skills:
    • Digital Marketing
    • PowerPoint
    • Facebook
    • Marketing Campaigns
    • Press Releases
    • Twitter
    • Market Research
    • Instagram
    • Email Campaigns
    • Graphic Design
    • Google Analytics
    • Linkedin
    • Event Planning
    • Salesforce
    Check all skills
    Responsibilities:
    • Lead the establishment of QA lab and product support organization.
    • Coordinate daily office tasks: complete deposits, enter and track donations, manage Quickbooks, set appointments.
    • Provide administrative support managing CMS.
    • Manage website updates and support social media initiatives on Facebook and LinkedIn.
    • Manage Facebook advertising campaigns, targeting different industries to help increase lead generation.
    • Organize and manage grass-roots promotion events and marketing programs including placement of merchandising and POS materials.
    More marketing internship duties
  3. Make a budget

    Including a salary range in the marketing internship job description is a good way to get more applicants. A marketing internship salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

    For example, the average salary for a marketing internship in Florida may be lower than in Maine, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level marketing internship. Additionally, a marketing internship with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

    Average marketing internship salary

    $14.55hourly

    $30,260 yearly

    Entry-level marketing internship salary
    $23,000 yearly salary
    Updated December 22, 2025

    Average marketing internship salary by state

    RankStateAvg. salaryHourly rate
    1Washington$35,765$17
    2California$35,520$17
    3New York$33,527$16
    4New Jersey$32,382$16
    5District of Columbia$32,313$16
    6Colorado$31,298$15
    7Massachusetts$31,139$15
    8Nevada$31,044$15
    9Texas$30,266$15
    10Virginia$30,148$14
    11Maryland$28,971$14
    12Minnesota$28,916$14
    13Illinois$28,607$14
    14Oklahoma$27,096$13
    15Missouri$26,916$13
    16Georgia$26,693$13
    17Pennsylvania$26,632$13
    18Louisiana$26,403$13
    19Arizona$25,986$12
    20Tennessee$25,634$12

    Average marketing internship salary by company

    RankCompanyAverage salaryHourly rateJob openings
    1Microsoft$55,939$26.89212
    2HP$50,366$24.218
    3Oracle$48,348$23.24707
    4BD$46,916$22.568
    5University of Nevada, Reno$44,213$21.26
    6Alliant Energy$42,107$20.24
    7Alere$41,972$20.18
    8Steel Dynamics$41,845$20.129
    9Sanmina$41,657$20.031
    10Affiliated Engineers$41,145$19.78
    11Boston Consulting Group$41,086$19.757
    12Iss | Institutional Shareholder Services$40,478$19.46
    13Delta Gamma$40,401$19.42
    14Intel$40,347$19.40
    15Arrow Electronics$40,284$19.3757
    16Sinclair Broadcast Group$40,082$19.27183
    17Chris-Craft$39,552$19.02
    18CONMED$39,537$19.013
    19SWD$39,321$18.90
    20ABB$39,263$18.888
  4. Writing a marketing internship job description

    A marketing internship job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a marketing internship job description:

    Marketing internship job description example

    Visa's Global Brand Strategy and Planning team develops and oversees global brand strategies to advance Visa as the relevant, preferred and trusted brand that is a force for good and growth.

    We are looking for a highly motivated intern to join the team to support the evolution, amplification and leadership of one of Visa's most important assets: the brand, ranked the 7th most valuable brand and valued at an estimated $191B, according to BrandZ.

    You will support the team as we begin a multi-year transformation that is digital first in approach and embraces social as the center of gravity. This role will enable you to gain invaluable experiences across multiple disciplines and network with a variety of leaders within the Visa organization. As part of the experience, this role will be specifically focused on supporting focus areas:

    Content Experience: Developing holistic, cross-functional global social strategy aligned to priority audiences to enable cross-functional and regional alignment across content planning, execution and management at scale.
    Below are examples of the diverse set of projects that an intern could lead:

    Partnering with social agencies to develop social-first activations for key cultural moments, e.g., D23 Expo, and plan social activations at upcoming tent pole moments e.g., Paris 2024.

    Advancing Visa's strategy with the Creator Economy by supporting development of guidelines and frameworks on engagement.

    Working with regional partners to drive consistent activation on emerging platforms like TikTok.

    Supporting regional partners in the development of social-first activations that are culturally relevant and advance the market priorities.

    Leveraging social listening results to review themes and sentiment, refine existing social approach, and develop additive content.

    Analyzing engagement data and identifying social media trends in customer interactions to build communities online.

    Supporting development of Visa's influencer marketing strategy & manage communications internally and with our agencies to implement successful influencer campaigns.

    Partnering with relevant collaborators to build a social creative playbook for Visa brand social channels, ensuring our social voice and tone and look & feel are consistent and aligned.

    Liaising with internal and external partners across Visa's social content streams to ensure consistency, alignment, and efficiency.

    Investigating and suggest new ways to improve engagement on all social media platforms including emerging social media platforms.

    Requirements include:

    Cover letter - please provide at time of application
  5. Post your job

    To find the right marketing internship for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

    • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
    • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with marketing interns they would recommend.
    • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit marketing interns who meet your education requirements.
    • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.
    Post your job online:
    • Post your marketing internship job on Zippia to find and attract quality marketing internship candidates.
    • Use niche websites such as swipe files, exit five, marketinghire, american marketing association.
    • Post a job on free websites.
  6. Interview candidates

    Recruiting marketing interns requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

    Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

    The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

  7. Send a job offer and onboard your new marketing internship

    Once you've found the marketing internship candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

    It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

    To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

  8. Go through the hiring process checklist

    • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
    • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
    • Define job responsibilities and requirements
    • Establish budget and timeline
    • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
    • Write job description
    • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
    • Promote the job internally
    • Process applications through applicant tracking system
    • Review resumes and cover letters
    • Shortlist candidates for screening
    • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
    • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
    • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
    • Conduct background checks on top candidates
    • Check references of top candidates
    • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
    • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
    • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
    • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
    • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
    • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)
    Sign up to download full list

How much does it cost to hire a marketing internship?

Before you start to hire marketing interns, it pays to consider both the one-off costs like recruitment, job promotion, and onboarding, as well as the ongoing costs of an employee's salary and benefits. While most companies that hire marketing interns pay close attention to the initial cost of hiring, ongoing costs are much more significant in the long run.

The median annual salary for marketing interns is $30,260 in the US. However, the cost of marketing internship hiring can vary a lot depending on location. Additionally, hiring a marketing internship for contract work or on a per-project basis typically costs between $11 and $18 an hour.

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