I have recently passed my Level 3 Digital Marketing apprenticeship at Wild PR, with Baltic Apprenticeships, and I am delighted to be staying with the team in my new role as a PR & Social Media Executive.
Apprenticeships are invaluable for paving the way in your early marketing career. I have learnt practical skills, knowledge and lessons by being exposed to a dynamic PR agency where each day is different.
Below, I have covered some common questions about apprenticeships to share my journey and hopefully help aspiring marketers learn more about what to expect.
Why did you choose a digital marketing apprenticeship?
Following graduation, I undertook a sales role within an E-commerce business and quickly took on various social media and content writing tasks to support the external marketing team. I also had work experience with blog writing and journalism, which helped me to understand that I wanted to pursue a career in digital marketing and learn more about website optimisation.
I initially considered a marketing degree. However, I came across Baltic Apprenticeships, which was advertising for an exciting apprenticeship opportunity with Wild PR. I was intrigued by the focus on Digital PR, so I jumped at the opportunity to apply! After speaking with our MD, Katrina Cliffe, who started her career as an apprentice too, I felt confident about my decision.
What did your role entail as a digital marketing apprentice?
As Junior PR Executive, I had the opportunity to work across a wide range of campaigns. I undertook less technical tasks at first, such as desk research and media list creation, to get to grips with the work behind PR. However, I was quickly given the opportunity to generate longer written work, such as press releases, case studies and blogs.
During my apprenticeship, I was responsible for outreaching campaigns to journalists, gathering insight for client reports and creating social media content. To support the development of my technical skills, I attended training sessions, such as a Google Analytics 4 webinar and a YouGov survey creation workshop.
Working in a small, tight-knit team at Wild PR allowed me to work closely with senior team members, enriching my experience with their feedback and constructive criticism from years of experience in marketing and PR.
What skills did you learn during your apprenticeship?
I have developed numerous core digital pr and marketing skills during my apprenticeship, including:
– Press release writing and outreach
– PR data collection and analysis
– Press office monitoring and proactive outreach
– Email campaign creation and analysis
– Understanding Google Analytics data
– Social media content and graphic creation
– Blog content uploading and optimising
– Brainstorming and ideation skills, including using AI
– SEO-focused keyword research
– Client communication skills
The most important thing I learned is how the various elements of a multi-channel campaign work together to raise brand awareness and increase qualified website leads. For example, optimising blog content or landing page ahead of press release outreach assists the reader with moving to the next stage of the customer journey by learning more about the products or services discussed.
What was your favourite campaign during your apprenticeship?
It is so hard to pick just one of the exciting campaigns I have been involved in so far; however, I loved being able to run my own multi-channel digital marketing campaign for Wild PR.
My campaign centred around key tips for how estate agents should use social media in 2023. I created a press release to promote the expertise, aswell as SEO-optimised blog content for Wild PR’s website, which I promoted across Wild PR’s social channels. This gained linking coverage in a key target publication, Estate Agent Today, along with seven other pieces of coverage across industry and business publications.
What challenges did you come across in your apprenticeship?
As I jumped in head first to tasks I had never done before, one challenge I faced during my apprenticeship was ensuring I followed Wild PR’s existing process correctly. But this made my apprenticeship experience so rewarding, gaining practical work experience which I can take into my future career.
Another challenge I found was managing my time between client work, internal marketing for Wild PR and my apprenticeship assignments. I overcame this by being transparent about the time it would take me to complete each task and took advantage of our fantastic time management system, Productive to plan out each week.
How will your training help you move forward in your career?
I have been lucky to be retained within the fantastic team at Wild PR and have progressed to PR & Social Media Executive! I am excited to use the knowledge and skills I have learnt to help me excel in future campaigns, particularly in analysis, research and communication.
During my apprenticeship, I have learnt how to take responsibility and accountability when working with clients, the different stages within a campaign and what tasks should take place, and I have grown my skills communication and presenting skills.
What advice would you give to a future digital marketing apprentice?
The marketing sector is highly competitive, so I highly recommend you undertake some independent training, such as Google’s Fundamentals of Digital Marketing course, which will help you to show your initiative to learn new skills.
It is also a great idea to monitor your favourite brand’s marketing campaigns for inspiration into techniques you could use in your future career (make sure to write about this in your cover letter!). Check out Wild PR’s case studies for real-world examples of PR campaigns too!
As excellent written communication is essential for any digital marketing role, I urge you to practice writing tasks via work experience or creating your own blog. You can bring these examples to the interview to showcase your creative talents.
If you’re looking for an apprenticeship, check out our vacancies page and get in touch.
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