Six months ago I started a Digital Marketing Assistant Apprenticeship, here at Ascendancy. To say that the time has flown by, would be an understatement! Although it is now hard to imagine life before Ascendancy, and even harder to imagine life without it! With only a vague idea about digital marketing and what it entails, never mind my inexperience in this kind of working environment, I started learning from the moment I set foot into this green-doored house-turned-office. The team welcomed Alice and I with reassuring kindness and unwavering encouragement, from the very first week of introductory training sessions up to the present day. We decided to commemorate our first half of a year working here, by reflecting upon six things we have each learnt in these past six months.
I have been working an SEO-focused role these past months, a role which I have really enjoyed since I have been able to exercise my love of writing. Whilst I have learnt and will continue to learn an endless amount of things, from random knowledge learnt from my colleagues such as the different styles of skirting board available, to training and sessions allowing me to know how to successfully complete keyword research for clients.
6 things I have learned over these past 6 months:
- The first thing I learnt was the need for patience. Especially when working in SEO, you have to be prepared to wait longer to see the results and patterns emerge off the back of your work, compared to PPC for example which you can see the results of in a much shorter period of time. It can take 3-6 months to see the results of SEO strategies and changes you implement, and so patience is required for both you and the client.
- Secondly, I’ve learned that optimising title tags and meta descriptions is important for SEO, and unbeknownst to me, I saw them every time I searched for something online. A title tag is the part of a search result that the user clicks on, like a clickable headline. This is more important for ranking than a meta description which generally provides a short summary of the page to interest the user and reveal what the page is about. Optimising these with relevant keywords can improve organic performance.
- I’ve also learned about keyword research and mapping from an SEO perspective. This research offers an insight into client behaviour and helps us to plan our SEO strategy going forward, ready for the next stage of optimisation. Once you have researched the keywords, you need to map them against the page URL, that is most relevant, you then need to optimise the content accordingly.
- I have learnt a lot about the behind the scenes of digital marketing, such as backlinks- a link from some other website to that web resource. I learnt how Google considers how many authoritative websites link to a page, and how this is seen as evidence to rank the page highly as it is authentic and relevant. However if the links are toxic then they could decrease the authority of the website.
- As I have now written a whole host of blogs for clients, I have learnt so much on a wide range of topics of which I had no prior knowledge of- from fuel additives to yeast fermentation to flood reports to bespoke kitchen extensions! I confidently believe I would now make a valuable asset to a quiz team, with my newly expanded general knowledge.
- Since taking the lead in our social media, I have learnt the importance of time management and what performs best on social media. The importance of consistently posting is key when boosting your content on your platforms, and a more personal style of posts can connect you to your audience more successfully. I also learnt that an optimal hashtag to use on Instagram will have between 10k and 1 million posts!
Starting here when I did, meant that I joined with Alice, my fellow Apprentice. Whilst we have been working different roles, since she is more PPC-orientated, we started this journey together and collaborate on ideas for social media often. I asked Alice to share what six things she has learnt, and this is what she had to say:
‘Since joining Ascendancy six months ago, I have been working in a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) position. Like Madeline, I find it hard to believe how quickly time has passed. Over the last six months, I’ve gained a lot of professional and personal knowledge that has altered the way I work and think.
Here are the 6 things I have learned in 6 months:
- Firstly, I have learned the principles of Pay-Per-Click (PPC) within Google Ads. This encompassed a variety of approaches, including learning how to conduct keyword research, creating ads, learning about and utilising different bidding strategies, and campaign optimisation techniques. All of which were completely new to me when I started, but after being gradually introduced to each step, I have become more and more familiar and confident in my work.
- Secondly, I have gained knowledge on how to evaluate and analyse key performance indicators (KPIs) including quality score, cost per click (CPC), conversion rate, and return on ad spend (ROAS). By using data-driven insights, I have been able to make informed decisions and maximise the effect of campaign spending. This was a difficult yet extremely rewarding part of my training, as I have been able to see my influence in campaign performance over time.
- Furthermore, I have developed my understanding of Ascendancy’s dynamics and ethos as an agency. This included understanding the company’s beliefs and core values, which is essentially what drives its success, and allows the team to navigate internal processes and relationships more effectively and efficiently.
- I have also learned how to understand and effectively organise PPC budgets. This is achieved by optimising bidding techniques, strategically allocating funds across campaigns, and using specific tools to achieve maximum return on investment (ROI), all whilst staying in the client’s allocated budget. This was tricky to get my head around at first, and I am still developing my knowledge, but it has definitely become clearer to me over time.
- In addition, I believe I have enhanced my ability to work well with others in teams and departments to achieve certain goals. Our Digital Marketing team have to work together closely on client work to achieve tasks, which also occasionally require help and support from other members of the team if any issues come up, so effective collaboration is incredibly important.
- Finally, over the past six months, I’ve noticed considerate personal growth and development. I believe this has been possible by constantly learning and developing new skills and my adjustment to a completely different work schedule, which has, in my opinion, improved both my personal and team performance. ‘
Through reading this blog, I hope that you are feeling twelve times cleverer with all collective twelve lessons learnt so far and now shared. Hopefully this has provided an insight into our lives as digital marketing apprentices at Ascendancy, and may have even persuaded you to pursue an apprenticeship or career in digital marketing yourself. The benefits of completing an apprenticeship stand true and I am looking forward to the next 6 months, and progressing to a full time position once completing the apprenticeship. Read some of our other blogs, to find out more about our colleagues through our Meet The Team page or to discover what has been going on through our recent blogs. I don’t doubt that the next 6 months will fly by just as quickly, so keep your eyes peeled for our 1 year work anniversary, to be celebrated in October.
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