Ann Middleton is commercial manager at Didcot Railway Centre

THIS year at Didcot Railway Centre we have been very pleased to welcome Ella Croft, who worked for us as part of the University of Reading’s successful intern scheme.

Here is Ella’s report on her work.

"This summer I have had the pleasure of completing an internship at Didcot Railway Centre.

Over the eight weeks I worked on a marketing strategy, set up a Google Adwords account, and reviewed ticket pricing and costs.

My aim for the marketing strategy was to attract new customers through social media and to have a more organised approach to doing this.

I found out the demographics of our audience by analysing data from visitor surveys – visitor verdict, mosaic mapping, Facebook, Twitter and my own survey, conducted one Saturday.

I created the social media strategy by incorporating these ideas into a posting/ tweeting calender as well as information on different ways to share and boost events to groups of our target audience.

I then moved on to working on setting up an active Google Adwords account, which allows us to use $10,000 worth of free advertising a month to support the Great Western Society’s charitable aims.

This included creating campaigns for each of our events, advertisements and effective key words.

I then created an AdWord guide for anyone who wishes to help manage the account.

After this, I reviewed the cost of running the centre.

This was much more complex than any example I have had during education, so being able to sort through the many elements of a real life problem was a really good experience.

I also conducted a survey on ticket pricing and found that a lot of visitors wouldn’t mind paying more so I suggested some possible new ticket prices for consideration.

I was also invited to drive and guard a steam engine (4144), given a workshop tour, visited the Horniman Museum in London and spent a day as a fireman.

These experiences, in addition to the work I have completed and the people I have met, have really made this internship very enjoyable. It has all given me an invaluable insight into the many elements that contribute to the everyday running of a museum. Being able to work independently during these eight weeks, as well as being able to ask for advice whenever I needed it allowed me to grow and learn new skills which I will no doubt use throughout my career."