Roscommon native Tommie Devine is a sales and marketing assistant for ‘For Goodness Shakes’ as part of the graduate programme with Aurivo.
The UCD animal science graduate originally comes from a beef and sheep farm in Frenchpark and is currently in the middle of a conversion to dairy.
What is your current job title?
Sales and marketing ssistant with For Goodness Shakes.
Where are you based?
Initially in London, however, because of COVID–19, I am currently operating from home in Frenchpark.
Do you have your own office, or do you work amongst others?
In London, I work as part of a team in a shared office. The office is located right in the middle of London, beside the Shard. It’s a large office shared with 10 co-workers, each with an individual workstation. There are 3 teams in the office in London: Finance, Marketing, and Sales.
What does your day currently consist of?
8:30 am
- Plan, create and schedule content across social channels (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn) in line with an up to date content calendar;
- Continue conversations with customers by responding to customer complaints and queries on social channels and via email.
10:00 am
- Maintain relationships with brand ambassadors and management agencies to coordinate contracts, content and gifted product;
- Update content trackers to record ambassador performance including follower count, engagement rates and sales commission;
- Plan and execute Influencer photoshoots to source lifestyle imagery in line with NPD launches.
11:00 am
- Ownership of all website admin – set up discount codes, price reductions, trade discounts, promotional banners etc. in line with an up to date promo plan, in line with the content calendar and as agreed with the relevant Account Manager;
- Design and upload desktop and mobile banners to support promotions;
- Write/coordinate blog content to be published weekly, for the email newsletter and to support SEO strategy;
- Continually look for ways to improve the user experience by managing and installing apps and working alongside the agency to implement website updates.
1 pm
- Send out a weekly content-led newsletter to engage active subscribers & build the mFGS brand;
- Design and send relevant promotional emails in line with promo plan;
- Develop FGS email strategy and grow database value through automation & segmentation, to be developed with the digital agency;
- Ensure all communications and sign up forms are in line with GDPR.
3 pm
- Responsible for online merchandising, providing the sales team with up to date imagery and optimising assets for e-commerce accounts;
- Support Amazon growth by maintaining and optimising the Amazon Store Page, PPC campaigns and A+ product page content;
- Work with the Sales Team to prepare promotional support or FGS comms, including; adverts, web banners, social posts and email newsletter features;
- Co-ordinating any branded merchandise needed for the retailer engagement events.
4:30 pm
- Take ownership of all office sample orders for the team and stay on top of expiry dates (if stock going out of date contact local food bank);
- Support the team by helping to take office calls on behalf of the team.
5 pm finish
Who do you liaise with on a daily basis?
As I am working from home due to COVID-19, I have Zoom calls daily with the Marketing and Sales team. I would also be in contact with our design teams for online images, finance team, our brand ambassador and influencers.
What kind of responsibilities do you have currently?
- Community / Social Media Management;
- Influencer Marketing;
- Shopify Website Management;
- Email Marketing;
- Sales Support;
- Office Administration.
Favourite part of your role?
My favourite part about this role is meeting interesting people. I’m currently working daily with our brand ambassador, Dom Cunningham. Dom is representing Great Britain at the Olympics in Gymnastics.
Most challenging part of your role?
There are some aspects I found challenging at the beginning such as photoshopping images for social media. I wouldn’t be big into technology, so I had to learn everything to do with photoshopping from scratch.
Has this role met your expectations?
This role has exceeded my expectations. Heading over to London, I didn’t know what to expect. I knew I was going to be working on the Sales & Marketing team, but I was nervous as I had no experience with Sales and Marketing and I had never been to London.
When I went over, I had some adjusting to do as getting into the city centre at rush hour on the tube isn’t as handy as a ten-minute drive into Ballaghaderreen.
Once I arrived at the office and met the team, everything flew from there. I felt part of the team and that my opinion was valued.
I have learned far more than I expected such as photoshopping, influencer marketing, website management and sales support. I met interesting people and got to experience London.
What plans/hopes do you have for career progression?
I will finish the Leadership Programme with Aurivo in September 2021 as it is a 2-year programme. Going forward I would like to continue working for Aurivo as I have enjoyed it so far and continue to farm part-time at home.
Why should younger generations follow in your footsteps?
Coming from a farming background I never thought I’d be suited to working in an office all day looking at a computer screen doing the same thing every day.
Since joining the Aurivo Leadership Programme in September 2019, it has been anything but that. If you are interested in the agricultural sector you will get a great experience across the 4 sectors with the Aurivo Leadership programme. (Dairy Ingredients, Consumer Foods, Agribusiness and Marts).
I started off in Aurivo Dairy Ingredients in September. Aurivo Dairy Ingredients based in Ballaghaderreen Co. Roscommon is where the milk is processed into formula.
While I was there, I worked on the Origin Green report which focuses on reducing energy, waste, water and emissions for the plant. I also helped conduct a survey on our dairy suppliers.
It was great to feel trusted to get this work delivered and gain an insight into different areas.
In January 2020, I was sent to Aurivo Consumer Foods which is based in Killygordon Co. Donegal. This is where all the liquid milk and cream is processed. I worked on projects on improving efficiency in the loading Bay and reducing waste on-site.
It was great to feel part of these projects and see the recommended improvements in place.
There have been great opportunities for learning and developing new skills throughout the co-operative.
If you are looking for experience across different sectors in the agricultural sector or not sure what sector you would like to work in, then the Aurivo Leadership programme is a great experience.
