In a nutshell: During my FARM internship, I entered with some background in marketing, but this was the first time I was able to see how the agency side of marketing works. Keep reading to learn more about my internship at FARM.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed with all the career options available in marketing. This experience really helped me focus on a few specific areas so I could narrow down my interests. At FARM, I got to shadow and work with various teams within the agency, including the organic social team, digital team, client services and project management team, as well as FARM’s sibling company, Clarksburg Cider Co.
I have my own small business, European Summer Boutique, which has provided me the perfect opportunity to apply what I’ve learned in school and at my internship with FARM. While interning at FARM, I talked to each team about my business and they gave me suggestions that helped me to grow my business significantly.
FARM’s organic social team
I thought working in social media would be my favorite part of the internship since I had some experience with it already. But hanging out with the organic social team made me realize it’s about more than just creating content. I learned why marketers post different kinds of content on different platforms and all the analytics behind it.
Learning the “why” behind posting helped me to grow my following on both Instagram and TikTok for my own business and helped me to understand the clients I was working with throughout my internship.
Working with Clarksburg Cider
Some people think having an internship is all about just watching, but through working with Clarksburg, I got another hands-on experience. I got a glimpse of what it’s like to work closely with a client. I participated in meetings to name the ciders, taste-tested them, and brainstormed ideas on how to market the SHOUT! cider for the football season.
I even organized a content photoshoot at Clarksburg and invited some friends to join. For my final project at Clarksburg, I created copy for a week’s worth of stories, sent it to the proofreading team, created the stories, and then scheduled them in Trello.
Digital marketing at FARM
During my time with the digital team, I learned about SEO and website optimization. It was super helpful because I could apply what I learned to my own small business website. Plus, I got to delve into Google Analytics, which was really interesting because I took a course about it last semester. It was cool to see it being used in a work environment.
FARM’s client services and project management team
I also got to join the client services team and project managers. I learned about the agency’s project management software, Workamajig, and saw how client work was organized and timelines were kept on track. I sat in on brainstorming meetings all the way to client presentations, which was a beneficial experience to see a client’s project from start to finish.
What I gained
My internship was for more than just “to put it on my resume.” My internship experience with FARM was valuable because it provided me with an agency’s perspective of marketing. Through this opportunity, I gained knowledge of marketing strategies while making connections with professionals in the agency field—and applied what I learned to my own business.
I was also able to see what a hybrid work environment was like because I had previously only worked on site and fully remote. The hybrid work environment has been my favorite and one I will look for in jobs next year. Overall, my internship at FARM was a great learning experience and gave me many new insights into marketing.
