What is it like being a public relations intern at the Feiro Marine Life Center? My name is Joseph Brakus and for the past 10 weeks, I have been completing my internship at Feiro.
There are many moving parts to make Feiro a fully functioning marine center. One of those main parts is public relations. Maintaining a consistent presence in the community of Clallam County is essential.
Melissa Williams, the executive director of Feiro, has been my supervisor for this internship. Under her guidance, I have been able to learn how the marine center maintains a strong relationship with its donors and members.
One of the tasks Melissa and I accomplished was launching a trick-or-treat Halloween fundraiser. We were able to create engaging content for social media by highlighting four marine animals and their “treats”.
Social media posts may seem like they are written on the fly, but in fact, they are planned in advance. In order to ensure a company or business has enough content to post, they usually plan out social media posts days or weeks in advance.
This was the same case when planning and brainstorming the Halloween fundraiser. We had to think of the best marine animals that would tie into the Halloween theme. Melissa and I wanted the fundraiser to be engaging and also informative. Hence, we included fun Halloween trivia facts that went along with the animal we were highlighting.
Another task I helped Melissa with was A/B testing for the monthly newsletter. A/B testing is a methodology for comparing two versions of something against each other to determine which one performs better. In order to do A/B testing I needed data from Feiro’s members and donors on what they do or do not like about the newsletter.
I created a survey in order to gain this information. With this new insight, Melissa and I were able to improve the newsletter with A/B testing. We put the upcoming educational classes and events at the top of the newsletter. As well as having links to articles instead of posting the entire thing.
One of the things I really enjoyed about interning at Feiro was how much of a collaborative effort there is between all staff members. Everyone works closely together to create new and exciting programs, educational classes, workshops, and exhibits for the community. I also collaborated with Rachele Brown, Education Manager at Feiro. This year she created a new educational course called Tidepool 101 for Adults. It’s been fun creating promotional flyers in order to market the class to the community.
Joseph Brakus was born and raised in Port Angeles, WA. He attended Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA majoring in public relations and advertising. He is a huge movie buff whose favorite genres are action and horror. In Joseph’s spare time, he likes to write pop and RnB songs.
