This summer, I was given the opportunity to intern for Klett Consulting Group (KCG), a company based in Virginia Beach, Virginia that provides professional systems engineering and consulting services. Specifically, I worked with KCG's Innovation Team to research solar technologies, write a white paper, create a social media campaign and marketing strategy for the company 4D Vision.
My first task was to spend several days researching the relatively new technology of solar street lights. I compiled and summarized all the important information into a 14-page google doc that included sources for each piece of information. The next challenge was to design a five-day social media campaign based on my research and write captions and hashtags for what would be posted during the final week of my internship. I planned out a post for each day of the week, Monday through Friday, and focused on the benefits and applications of solar street lights. For example, my post for day three was about a company based in India called Magenta.
Magenta developed and launched a solar street light charging station for electric cars called ChargeGrid in March 2021 and recently partnered with another company to install about 10,000 electric charging stations across India.
KCG uses a post scheduling program called Hootsuite that makes posts on KCG’s four social media accounts on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Based on statistical research, the posts are then launched at ideal times to reach the most amount of people.
Another major task was to create a formal report called a white paper about solar street lights. A white paper is a report that informs the reader concisely about a complicated issue and presents the writer’s company’s philosophy on the subject. The purpose is to help a reader understand an issue, fix a problem, or make a decision. First, I composed an outline for my paper and planned out each section’s title and contents. To help with my outline and paper, KCG recommended using a technique called SWOT analysis, which stands for “strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats.”
I learned that I should have a section for recommendations about what the reader should think or do regarding a problem or topic. I decided that the main problem is society's reliance on fossil fuels, which contributes to global warming and wastes money. The solution in my white paper: solar powered street lights and other similar technologies. Further recommendations included solar street light car charging stations (like the ones from Magenta) positioned next to parking spaces in cities and at school campuses and parking lots. Throughout the whole course of my internship, the Innovation Team was extremely helpful and answered all of my questions. The white paper was my “thought process” for my next task, and the main priority for the summer: making a strategic marketing plan for the solar lights.
For the marketing plan, Mr. Klett, the owner of KCG, was very helpful in detailing goals, expectations, and ideas for the assignment.
In a powerpoint presentation, I created a marketing strategy for a solar technology company called 4D Vision, that recently developed a unique type of solar panel that can generate up to 2.5 times what normal panels can generate. They have already started developing models of solar street lights that use their new technology.
The marketing plan included everything there is to know about solar street lights, including prices, potential savings, disadvantages of grid power, SWOT, installation programs that have already been launched worldwide, applications of the lights, who to market to, and how. After several drafts, small changes, and addition of visual components, I presented the final marketing plan to the Innovation Team and Mr. Klett, which went really well.
I am so glad that I had the opportunity to intern at Klett Consulting Group. I learned how important an active and respectable online presence is to an organization and how to most effectively capture the attention of potential clients online. In addition, I learned how to write white papers and create an effective marketing strategy. Huge thank you to Mr. Klett, Maddie DeCoster, Brooke Nelson, and Mr. Schlenker for making it fun and for supporting me throughout the internship!
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