We’ve really enjoyed having Sarah in this week to complete her work placement – we look forward to hearing where her studies take her and undoubtedly she has a bright future ahead of her!

“My name is Sarah and I am currently in Year 12 at Benton Park Sixth Form studying Business Studies, Psychology and English. I really enjoy my business lessons in school, and I would like to continue studying business into further education. I am hoping to do a Business Management course at Newcastle University after I’ve taken my a-levels and then start a career in business, however I am not 100% sure in exactly what just yet!

WHAT I WANTED TO GET OUT OF WORK EXPERIENCE

I wanted to get a general idea of what working in marketing would be like and what the job involved. I knew I was interested in working in a business environment which focuses on marketing and felt that Blueberry was the right fit. I also wanted to gain some new skills that may help me in my A-Levels or just in general for life outside of education. What have I done?

My week at Blueberry has involved many different tasks in multiple areas of marketing, I have been involved in the account management of the business; checking the codes used in the accounts and making sure they are correct and also being able to validate data on excel ready for a client report. I learnt all about what content marketing and marketing automation involves. I have also spent a day on a campaign on behalf of a local council, engaging with businesses to make them aware of the local business support available, ensuring the database was up to date and gathered relevant insight into the different companies for future marketing activity.

I have also created a Case Study about the campaign; to start with I took the brief from the Campaign Account Manager to understand the information that I needed to write about, went through the structure with the Content Manager and then had my first attempt at writing a case study! After the first draft had been written, the Content Manager went through it with me and we made small changes so it fit the style of writing on the website and after the final edits we ended up with a finished piece ready for the graphic design stage. I then learnt how to set up the case study in Adobe with infographics that showed the results of the campaign. In the image below you can see the word document and the final product I have created using all the skills I have learnt. I have found that I really enjoyed the graphic design area and will look to pursue this in the future and continue to develop my skills even further.

WHAT HAVE I LEARNT FROM THIS WEEK?

From my week at Blueberry I have learnt a lot of new skills this ranges from confidently using excel, developing my communication skills and handling different situations that arise during campaigns. I’ve enjoyed building my understanding into the different sectors Blueberry work across and the various campaigns going on. I have found that I enjoy the content side of marketing a lot more which will help me decide which pathway to take when considering future careers.

Whilst I got involved with a wide range of business activities from finance, campaign delivery and developing marketing collateral. My favourite part of the week was graphic design which I had never done before! I thoroughly enjoyed my week at Blueberry, my work placement has made me excited to continue my studies in this area and has confirmed my desire to start a career in this area – I’m excited for what my future holds!”