Simple Beginnings
My stint at Access was a result of my delving the web for experience in Digital Marketing. My degree is in journalism, and, despite that being a fascinating art in its own right, I’d prefer my future to not lie there, but to be in copywriting.
I was, on the surface, probably not the strongest candidate for this short but invaluable experience I was fortunate enough to gain with Access. I had history with copy, but next-to-nothing when it came to Digital Marketing.
Within hours of my tenure, where I’m more or less perpetually glued to my seat in front of an oversized mac, I understand each element of the office’s functions and how and why they’re carried out.
And I’m assigned this – what will probably end up being a unique diary detailing my progress and conceptions of what this job/career is, and what it can be.
From the outset, I’m well prepared for this piece to be unorthodox or circuitous. However, I do hope it contains a considerable amount of helpful information and support for young people in a similar position to me.
So bear with me.
The Effectiveness of Digital Marketing
Access allows me to be creative with my output – an idealistic policy for anyone with an arts degree. They’re patient enough with me to allow errors or misunderstandings so I can come back with something more appropriate.
It’s like any agency being paid to brand and design - a workforce dedicated to chasing the uncatchable perfection. And do you know what? It’s an exciting place to be.
A Digital Marketing agency, from top-to-bottom, deals with an online business’ or services’ websites and social media if they’re unable to fulfil their own duties. The work never stops for the Access team, and there’s always content or copy required.
To someone who isn’t in business or has no experience in Digital Marketing, you could be sceptical of the entire agency concept.
But think about it like this.
A business in today’s world which doesn’t utilise a website or social media to attract attention is not going to be a success. It’s almost as certain as that.
If you’re not good with computers, design, writing content or copy, your website and social media is going to look egregious.
After just a few discussions with Access, you could have yourself a full website. The branding, the navigation, the social media… the lot.
That’s not discounting the possibility of a self-made website looking lean and mean, but, if you’re not the type, your efforts are probably better utilised focusing on other aspects of your business, leaving the digital to the agency.
Copywriting as an art
Copywriting is the act of summarising or explaining and delivering messages to inform or convince readers to change. There are probably more accurate and eloquent descriptions out there, but I think that should be adequate for now.
There are numerous common denominators of criteria a writer must hit with journalism and copywriting. Sharp, snappy titles; writing for various audiences concisely and persuasively; understanding and working with press releases and many other aspects.
After having two days working with short titles and trying to etch out perfect campaign titles with devout meticulousness, I was summoned into producing pieces of copy for social media and constructing tweets to force that person on their break flicking through their news feed to freeze and take notice.
How you go about this copy for social media can be relatively easy. You’re briefed with information and you must transform or convert that to whatever audience you’re targeting needs.
Whether you’re a designer, writer or marketeer, always know your audience and how to appeal to them.
You must write simply so it’s suitable for all audiences and covers all criteria specified by the customer. Beyond the obvious doing-what-the-person-pays-you-to-do, you have to make sure you’re understood in order to convince and persuade. I know, it sounds obvious.
And in due time, I had my copy and tweets popping up on social media sites, which instils a gracious and satisfactory feeling.
My journalism and English skills definitely provided me with solidity and confidence when it came to semantics and sentence structuring. I believe these skills, combined with my desire to pursue a career in Digital Marketing, have greatly helped my cause.
We’re winding down
My experience indicates that there is more to your education than just going through the educational system – you can get practical, hands on experience to become a dependable, employable marketeer. There’s also that part about establishing contacts, by the way.
The skills I have aren’t exactly applied to this position, but derived from my education, so I can use them to learn more about copywriting and marketing.
It’s ignorant to think of your graduation or final exam grade as the absolute and unequivocal end of your education – there are always more avenues to be explored.
After being given this opportunity, my mission was not necessarily to make a thunderous impact, but to help put me in a position where I can succeed in all aspects of Digital Marketing.
I don’t plan on stopping here; I plan on building on my momentum. Yes, there are subjects that impassion me more than others but there are infinite medias and functions out there - and there’s no need to restrict the diversity of your repertoire or prowess.
You’ll never be the finished article, as you can always improve and learn new skills – no matter how old or intelligent - and there’s few industries with more evidence for that than this one.
