Interview with a marketing intern at a country winery
“It’s a really good way to experiment and kind of figure out what you’re good at and what you need to work on without any real life, real world consequences.”
Avery is a third-year student studying Cognitive Science and Economics, and she is also a Marketing Manager at HackCville. This past summer, she participated in the Launch Digital Marketing track and interned at Early Mountain Vineyards in Madison, VA. Read more about experiences in her interview below:
Can you tell me a little bit more about your company and what they do?
“[I was able to work with the] marketing manager of Early Mountain, [and she] comes from super high-up places in Europe. She managed some wineries in Europe, she marketed wines that were super super fancy, famous, amazing wines. And so when she moved to Virginia she wanted to be able to kind of market Virginia wine in that same way and make it on the same level as European wines. Early Mountain is basically the epitome of Virginia wine. It shows everything that’s great about it and very unique grapes to Virginia.”
In a pretty basic explanation, what has your internship consisted of?
“[I made] a lot of Instagram stories that are branded for Early Mountain using Canva. I also have done some work with the content calendars. I made a summer content calendar as well as the Instagram and Facebook posts that go along with them. I’ve also done some influencer outreach, which basically consists of me researching influencers on Instagram and YouTube and figuring out who would be a good fit to send wines to to make a post about or a video about. Due to COVID, Early Mountain kind of turned into an e-commerce company for a little while. We were very focused on driving online sales, so that kind of made me do a little bit more work on emails. Social media became a lot more important than it was before because they couldn’t have any dine-in revenue.”
What’s something cool that you’ve worked on during your internship?
“I got to work on the shelf-talkers and the sell sheets for two of our wines that were super highly rated on Wine Advocate. I was able to make the little cards that go underneath the wine in the grocery store that kind of tell you things about them. I thought that was really cool, because one day I can go into the store and see my little card that I made.”
In what ways did Launch prepare you for your internship?
“Even if we kind of knew already how to do social media, since I’ve done a lot of social media stuff with HackCville, Launch gave me the confidence that I was on the same level as everyone else and had a good baseline knowledge to work with. We knew that many other interns that would go into a job like this wouldn’t have had Launch. It kind of helps you feel like you know what you’re doing. You can make something on your own and not feel weird about it, you know what I mean?”
What would you say to anyone interested in Launch?
“I would say to anyone interested in Launch that all the time you’ll be spending on it is very much worth it, and it’ll definitely pay off. Make the most of it while you can because you don’t always get this kind of constant feedback and you’re not always in practice mode. It’s a really good way to experiment and kind of figure out what you’re good at and what you need to work on without any real life, real world consequences.”
If you’re interested in participating in Launch this year and finding a unique, engaging summer internship like Avery’s, you can apply here. The second round of applications closes October 7th.
