Marketing Intern

Marketing Intern

About Capital City Sweets

Capital City Sweets is a Lansing-based dessert shop specializing in small-batch, super-premium ice cream and ready-to-eat cookie dough. We create handcrafted, high-quality treats while working to become a destination for dessert, experiences, and community connection in the Lansing area.

Position Overview

Capital City Sweets is looking for a creative, motivated Marketing Intern to help grow our brand, increase customer engagement, and drive traffic and sales through digital marketing, social media, advertising, and community outreach.

Social media and content creation will be a major part of this position, but the intern will also gain hands-on experience with paid advertising, email and text marketing, promotional campaigns, marketing analytics, and local partnerships.

The Marketing Intern will work closely with the Capital City Sweets leadership team to develop and execute marketing initiatives across multiple channels. This position is ideal for a college student, recent graduate, or young professional looking to build a strong portfolio and gain practical experience in marketing, advertising, branding, and content creation.

Key Responsibilities

Social Media & Content Creation

• Create engaging photo, video, and written content for Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and other relevant platforms.
• Help develop and maintain weekly and monthly social media content calendars.
• Capture in-store content featuring products, customers, employees, events, promotions, and behind-the-scenes experiences.
• Create short-form video content, Reels, TikToks, Stories, graphics, and other social media assets.
• Stay current with social media trends and identify opportunities Capital City Sweets can creatively incorporate into its brand.
• Engage with followers by responding to comments, messages, mentions, and tags.
• Help grow Capital City Sweets' online community and brand presence.

Digital Marketing & Paid Advertising

• Assist leadership with creating, launching, and monitoring paid advertising campaigns across platforms such as Meta, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and other relevant channels.
• Help develop campaign creative, copy, audiences, and promotional offers.
• Monitor advertising performance including reach, impressions, clicks, engagement, conversions, and return on advertising spend.
• Assist with testing different advertisements, audiences, promotions, and creative concepts to improve campaign performance.
• Make recommendations based on campaign results and customer behavior.

Toast Marketing & Customer Retention

• Work with leadership to maximize Capital City Sweets' Toast Marketing capabilities.
• Assist with creating email and SMS marketing campaigns promoting products, events, limited-time offers, loyalty initiatives, and seasonal promotions.
• Help develop customer segments and targeted campaigns using Capital City Sweets' customer database.
• Assist with planning campaigns designed to increase repeat visits, loyalty participation, and customer lifetime value.
• Track the performance of email and text campaigns and identify opportunities to improve open rates, engagement, and conversions.

Promotions, Events & Community Marketing

• Assist with developing marketing strategies for new products, seasonal flavors, special events, promotions, and community initiatives.
• Help create promotional materials for in-store and digital use.
• Support marketing for Capital City Sweets events, partnerships, catering opportunities, and community collaborations.
• Help identify potential partnership opportunities with local businesses, organizations, schools, student groups, and community events.
• Assist with grassroots marketing initiatives designed to increase awareness throughout Lansing and the surrounding area.

Marketing Analytics & Strategy

• Track key marketing metrics including social media growth, engagement, advertising performance, campaign results, email/text performance, and promotional redemptions.
• Prepare simple monthly marketing performance reports for leadership.
• Help identify which campaigns and marketing channels are generating the strongest customer response.
• Participate in brainstorming sessions for new products, promotions, events, advertising concepts, and customer experiences.

In-Store Support

• Spend time in the store to better understand Capital City Sweets products, customers, and operations.
• Assist front-of-house staff during particularly busy periods when needed, including scooping ice cream and cookie dough and preparing sundaes and other desserts.
• Use interaction with customers and store operations to identify potential content and marketing opportunities.

Qualifications

• Currently pursuing or recently completed a degree in Marketing, Advertising, Communications, Media, Business, or a related field.
• Strong writing, communication, and storytelling skills.
• Familiarity with major social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
• Interest in digital marketing, advertising, branding, and customer engagement.
• Experience with Canva, CapCut, Adobe products, or other design/video editing tools preferred.
• Familiarity with Meta Ads Manager, TikTok Ads, email marketing, or SMS marketing is a plus but not required.
• Creative mindset with a strong eye for photography, video, and visual presentation.
• Comfortable appearing behind or potentially in front of the camera when appropriate.
• Ability to work independently, manage multiple projects, and meet deadlines.
• Willingness to learn, experiment, and bring new marketing ideas to the team.
• Ability to occasionally work evenings or weekends for content capture, events, or special promotions.

Schedule

• Approximately 15 hours per week.
• Flexible scheduling based around school or other commitments.
• Some evenings and weekends may be needed for events, campaigns, or content creation.

What You'll Gain

This internship is designed to provide hands-on experience rather than simply administrative work. The Marketing Intern will have the opportunity to gain experience in:

• Social media management
• Content creation and video production
• Paid digital advertising
• Email and SMS marketing
• Customer retention marketing
• Marketing analytics
• Brand development
• Promotional campaign strategy
• Event marketing
• Community partnerships
• Small-business marketing strategy

The intern will also have the opportunity to create measurable marketing campaigns and portfolio-ready work they can use when pursuing future marketing opportunities.

Perks

• Flexible scheduling
• Fun, supportive, and creative work environment
• Free ice cream and cookie dough perks
• Opportunity to directly influence Capital City Sweets' marketing strategy
• Hands-on experience managing real marketing campaigns and advertising budgets
• Portfolio-building opportunities across social media, advertising, email marketing, video, and branding
• Experience working directly with the owners and leadership of a growing local business