About nine months ago I decided I didn’t know how I felt about the nonprofit sector and that I wanted to try something else. I stumbled upon the idea of marketing and advertising and have been researching it ever since. It’s been hard to catch up to the knowledge that everyone else seems to have, but with some smart Googling, it’s not impossible.

I first started basic Google searches to figure out the basics of the industry. What departments there were, what backgrounds people had, where the hotspots of businesses were, etc.

What was a helpful next step, was finding major websites like AdWeek or Advertising Age and following their posts. When they interviewed CEOs or creative directors I like, I looked up their company. When they posted their ad of the week, I watched it and made mental notes about it. I did every creepy form of professional stalking through these websites. Finding more and more articles about agencies I liked. This helped me grow my background, and the further back you go into these websites archive, the better grip you can get on trends and history of the industry.

After I did all this research, I moved to LinkedIn. I started following major companies, their CEOs, and anyone else who seemed to post frequently about the topics I was interested in. I also revived my Twitter account and scrubbed it clean of all my irrelevant tweets from high school to make it more professional. I followed people just like I did on LinkedIn. More and more frequently, companies are posting about internships from Twitter and Facebook, so I thought it would be a helpful way to find new opportunities and agencies.

Finally, after all this research, I started applying and contacting companies I felt strongly about. Though it was tiring and extensive, all this information has been helpful. I’m able to compare agencies and their strategies and see which best fits my wants and needs.

Have you decided to explore a new field with little information? Let us know what tips and tricks worked best for you in the comments!