Apprentice Blog: First 6 Months’ Top 6 Tips

7th March 2018

Over the last 6 months, I’ve learnt a great deal about the digital marketing world; from social media campaigns to ALT tags. At times, the expanse of new information has been overwhelming. Fortunately, Nu Image has created a supportive environment, where I feel comfortable to ask questions and excited to develop my skills and knowledge in this industry. For anyone thinking of applying for a digital marketing apprenticeship, here are my top tips:

1. Research your course subject

Having an insight into the industry that you want to work in will come in handy when attending interviews; showing that you’ve read ahead and taken time to learn about the business you’re applying to is guaranteed to leave a lasting impression. Once you’re in your placement, continue to read up on the digital marketing industry, ensuring you remain informed about the never-ending updates in the digital world. Signing up to online marketing newsletters and subscriptions such as Search Engine Land and the Moz blog, are the best ways to learn about what your company should be doing to ensure the business conforms to the expectations of major search engines.

2. Explore all ideas

Creating unique content that hasn’t been seen before is extremely difficult in the online industry, therefore, all potential ideas are welcome. Try not to overthink or hold back on ideas, even if they’re not used now, because elements of the idea may be fused together with another, or it may be reserved for another occasion. Fresh eyes and a creative mind are valuable features to any business, helping to bring new ideas and outlooks that may not have been considered before.

3. Communication is key

Whether you’re struggling to complete a job, or you feel that further experience in a certain topic would improve your knowledge, make sure to communicate this with your colleagues or your tutor to receive the help that you need to progress. On top of this, mistakes in the digital world aren’t often taken lightly and can have a large impact on your business, try to avoid this by communicating any issues you may have with your team, who will be more than happy to provide advice and resolve the issue with you.

4. Remember you’re a student

One of the biggest difficulties that myself and other apprentices struggle with is balancing time between on-the-job work and academic studies. Working full-time, revising for exams, creating portfolio pieces and attending lessons can be a lot to juggle, which is why setting strict deadlines can be a good motivator. To maintain a good balance, I tend to focus on my college work at the weekends as my motivation levels start to run low by the time I’ve finished work, in addition to this I find that I produce some of my best work in the mornings.

5. Organise your work from the beginning

As well as purchasing stationery to make notes during meetings and to-do lists, creating files on your computer desktop or in a Shared Folder is extremely important, make sure that they’re easy to access and locate. When working in the digital industry, most of your work is going to be saved digitally, you’ll want to be able to find everything easily to save yourself time, otherwise, you’ll have a lot of files to trail through. Also, a backup of everything you do is crucial, digital marketers often measure the success of their campaigns against previous work and often make notes about what changes were made and what they’d do differently next time. Without backups, it’s difficult to gather this information.

6. Proofread and check everything

As mentioned before, all of your online work will be seen and one mistake could have a negative impact on your company’s brand image. The most simple way to avoid this is to create your content and have it checked by a colleague; as well as checking for mistakes, they’ll have a fresh take on it, meaning they could suggest ideas to improve your work or point out areas that don’t bring much value to what you’ve done.

By continuing to exercise these six steps in and out of the workplace, I feel I have a wider understanding of what it takes to be part of a successful digital marketing agency and I’m hoping to excel in my digital marketing and SEO role at Nu Image. I’m sure over the next 6 months I’ll discover a new set of tips that will help me to transition from an apprentice to a qualified digital marketer.