Bishop Bass and Whitney Lewis, two University of the Ozarks business students, are spending their summer helping the Clarksville-Johnson County Chamber of Commerce with community marketing efforts.
Bass, a junior management major from Greenwood, Ark., and Lewis, a senior management/administration major from Clarksville, Ark., are both working with Chamber CEO Travis Stephens this summer to revamp the Chamber’s marketing strategies.
"Whitney and I both have individual projects to complete as well as a variety of projects that was are working together on," Bass explained. "I have to try to get the Chamber’s Facebook page to 1,000 likes by incorporating Twitter and Instagram into the Facebook page to encourage people to get involved with the Chamber. I was also asked to compile a database of the buildings around the downtown area, so that it will be easier to locate a future site for a business. In addition, I’ve been asked to create an interactive way to count the number of people who would be coming to the Peach Festival and to find out where they are coming from."
Lewis’ projects involve creating surveys to get a better idea of the habits of the surrounding community.
"I am creating a survey to find out which businesses recycle and a retail survey that tries to find out what U of O students leave Clarksville to shop," Lewis said. "Together, Bishop and I are developing Yelp & Urban Spoon Ads, creating a community calendar, and building a sand volleyball court. We are also both researching other towns similar to Clarksville in the state of Arkansas to find out how many restaurants, pet shops, and other businesses they have compared to Clarksville."
Bass and Lewis are both excited about the opportunity to further their marketing skills and get to know more about their community.
"As a native of this community, I want to play a key role in helping the community. Learning more about our county as well as its challenges and opportunities will educate me more about our county as well as ways to spread the word about the beauty of our surroundings," Lewis explained.
Bass agreed and stressed the importance of real-world experience, particularly for business students.
"Experience is priceless in almost every single degree, especially business management because it requires so much interaction with other people. You must be able to incorporate your classroom learning in an efficient and effective way. I would advise other students to take full advantage of every opportunity to work in the field in an internship position, because it will benefit them in the long run," he said.
Business majors Whitney Lewis and Bishop Bass are serving internships with the Clarksville-Johnson County Chamber of Commerce in order to help the organization in its marketing.
Topics: Business Administration