My name is Luke Tatchell and I am a student who is based in Birmingham studying Digital Marketing at University College Birmingham. Previously at Colchester Institute studying Graphic Design, I’ve always had an interest in graphic design and digital marketing.

I was tasked with one of my assignments to find placement within the digital marketing industry as a digital marketing intern.

As someone who seeks growth and development I wanted to gain digital marketing work experience, this assignment was extremely exciting to me. I would like to say I strive for knowledge and forever expansion in knowledge. As an academic most of the students in my course lack a sense of hands-on experiences. Koala Digital gave me a chance to change this by giving me the opportunity to become a digital marketing intern.

I came across Carla and her amazing team at Koala Digital through a friend. From the moment I joined the team, I knew that this opportunity and environment would flourish into a big opportunity to develop my skills in the industry. After a successful first week here back in April, I asked to come back throughout the summer period to develop my skills further as well as learn more.

My background leans more towards the creative side, as I have a history with Graphic Design from previous academia. Carla allowed me to develop these skills via live clients and using my skills and styles within the company’s portfolio – such as posting for social media accounts, creating imagery for the website, learning SEO and gaining well-needed clientele skills.

During my time with Koala Digital, I became a digital marketing intern in which I got exposed to SEO in a more hands-on environment rather than learning the theoretical side of SEO in a classroom. This was valuable because having digital marketing work experience allows me to gain more exposure and job opportunities from this.

SEO is the way that companies with websites communicate with Google their services and the best results for the searches. Google uses keywords to identify the best result to show, depending on what is searched. I was presented with different ways SEO affects businesses and their websites, such as the usage of backlinks, on-site and off-site SEO and the usage of keyword research.

I was shown the different programs that are utilised throughout the development of websites through tools. The key tools I used through this development consist of; Semrush and WordPress. By being given hands-on experience, I was able to learn and process the tools that can help a website climb the Google ladder.

For further development, Carla allowed me to join her SEO workshop as the digital marketing intern, which gave me a way to physically learn with live clients who were also learning SEO from a newbie experience. This gave me access to talk and get needed contacts, as well as learn from their industries which had different needs and requirements.

As a creative, I already have experience with different creative tools such as Photoshop, Illustrator and Canva. However, during my time at Koala Digital, I have been in close contact with the creative team who possessed skills beyond graphic design. The team also consisted of creative writers also known as copywriters.

What did I do as a digital marketing intern?

I worked closely with this team on numerous projects which gave me a chance to develop my writing skills. In addition to that, I was able to work on my writing projects which has given me the chance to challenge working on my strong points as well as my weaker skills.

The projects which helped me gain a large amount of digital marketing work experience led me to work on strange but amazing clients solo, but also in a collaborative manner such as working with 123 Easy Books, Koala’s pages and more!

I was given access to create templates alongside one of the copywriters, who is the lead in the development of the social media posts for 123 Easy Books. We brainstormed different ideas on what to post and what templates we could create, which would be used consistently as part of a content plan.

This gave me access to learn what goes on in a social media account as a business rather than a personal account or portfolio. I have taken these ideas and lessons to other clients as well and used them in a business that I am helping with. I’ve also been able to launch my own social media account into a professional environment with practical live clientele work to show off my skills and what I am capable of doing and progressing to.

During my time at Koala Digital, I worked with a graphic designer who gave me improvements within my work as well as working with me in a collaborative type environment.

I also learnt the specifications within each social media platform such as the sizes and file sizes. I was shown how to compress images correctly and how the company communicates with clients and gains clients. I was shown how they produce work for these clients such as their specification sheet which consisted of; the client’s colour scheme, typefaces and brand demeanor.

My overall experience as a digital marketing intern

My time as the digital marketing intern for Koala Digital has been amazing, on a professional level but also on a personal level. I’ve gained further knowledge which I wouldn’t have been able to take out from university. In addition, I have been able to understand digital marketing on a practical level with knowledge of the different areas that this consists of.

I have made great relationships with my colleagues and have been guided through every part of the industry. I have also been given the steps to take myself in a further direction to what I want to do in the future. The people who have been there through this journey have been amazing, as people but also professionals, projecting their knowledge and allowing me to work with them and shadow them.