Errol Vas is a Canadian marketing consultant, brand-owner, and Digital Marketing Director for Hi-Spec. He cofounded the REWIRE: AI & Tech seminar series, runs a bridge program for students entering the Marketing industry, and is a frequent guest on Spotify top rated marketing podcasts in the USA and Canada.
Let’s dive in. What is your Internship Program all about?
Its something I started to help students transition into the marketing industry through real, hands-on experience and training. I found there’s a huge gap between what marketing students are learning at both the bachelors & masters degree levels and the actual skills/knowledge required to perform in today’s marketing landscape. I wanted to help with that. So I currently take on 10-15 interns at a time, and we typically work together for 3 months or so. But after that, we stay connected through group chats, meetings, phone calls etc. It’s worked out great, because it’s usually the eager beavers who reach out & join... the ones that are genuinely interested in the art of marketing.
Speaking of starting out, what is your best memory of starting your career?
That’s a difficult question to answer because I have a few. Looking back, I remember struggling for the first few months at my first marketing job... I was fresh out of university and lacked certain business/ organizational skills that I now use on the daily, and I didn’t have an encompassing overview of marketing .. but as soon as I got the gist of it, I could feel myself excelling and I began soaking up as much information/experience as I could. So, to answer the question, that stage of growth is my best career memory, rather than a specific achievement.
Ok, but do you have some specific achievements that stand out? What are you best known for?
Right now, I’m best known for being Erika’s brother (my sister). And I don’t see that changing anytime soon. When it comes to Digital Marketing, however, I started gaining attention for my SEO work.. I was able to outrank some pretty big websites on Google, including government & organizational websites, and I was doing so using bootstrap budgets. At the same time, I was also hitting up a lot of marketing groups, discussing the tactics/ strategies I was using for my own business and ones I was consulting for. I eventually got contacted and put on a list of emerging marketers to follow. So that was cool!
What advice would you give someone starting out in your industry?
I did this when I started out, and I still do this today: READ EVERYTHING. If I encounter an interesting marketing article, or something I haven’t seen/heard of before, I open it as a tab on my phone browser. Right now I have around 40 tabs open, but I can guarantee that I’ll read them all by the end of the week. As I read through the articles, I write down how I can apply these new learnings to my marketing. This has helped me out tremendously, and I recommend it for those starting out in the industry.
What is next for you?
I have a staff party on Saturday. I’ll be serving burgers to colleagues.
I mean, what’s your next marketing moves for your career?
I feel the next step up for me would be APP development. Many of the marketing gurus that I look up to have developed their own APPs. It’s something that’s new to me, so I look forward it.
What are you working on now?
I’m the marketing director at a really great fast-paced company, so I stay busy with that. I continue to offer internships to new marketers from universities across the United States and link them with the companies I consult for. I occasionally jump on marketing podcasts for interviews & discussions, and I write for my blog at www.errolvas.com !