INTERN’S BLOG: Shadowing the tech and digital marketing teams

Hello everyone, I am Cherrie Lim, a student from Singapore Polytechnic currently on an internship programme at Strategic DigitaLab. I have been interning here for two months. So far, my tasks involve campaign reports, campaign budgets, website testings, drafting surveys and post-survey analysis reports, competitive analysis, and social media content.

In this blog, I will share my experiences working in a digital marketing agency, what I have learned so far and what Strategic DigitaLab has to offer interns in terms of learning.

To better understand how the various teams work, I had the opportunity to shadow the different teams: I attended all their meetings and sat next to them to see their day-to-day operations.

I tagged along with Mayank Kushwaha, Creative Tech Lead and Mark Sorne, Senior Digital Marketing Specialist who gave me insights and tips to succeed in this industry. 

Tips from Mayank Kushwaha, Creative Tech Lead:

1.     Never stop learning

2.     Have patience

3.     Always plan before an execution

Mayank notices that people immediately start solving the problem instead of pausing and analysing it first. Planning, coming up with different possible solutions and picking the optimal solution will be more efficient and effective in terms of solving the problem instead of tackling the problem head-on.

Tips from Mark Sorne, Senior Digital Marketing Specialist:

1.     Learn from the experts and always ask questions

2.     Always align with client’s objectives

As a newcomer, the most challenging hurdle is understanding everything, which will not happen immediately. The process of understanding the system can be sped up by taking initiative to talk to everyone and ask questions, to better understand the company’s system and everyone’s role and purpose in the company. Learning from people who are good at what they do is also essential as it equips you with new skills and knowledge.

Every strategy and every plan must be aligned to your client’s goal. This means to test out all aspects—creatives, media channels and messagings—to find out what truly works best for the client. Optimise the campaign in such a way that it is driven towards achieving the client’s objectives.

“Pro makeup artists, they don’t put too much contour, all the colours in the palette, or the entire tube of lipstick on a client’s face. Every stroke of blush, every dollop of foundation, every glimmer of shadow has its purpose. Likewise for writing. Every word, sentence and punctuation should serve a purpose.”
—Pola del Monte, Content Editor

Even producing content for Strategic DigitaLab has taught me a lot. Pola, our content editor, has guided me through the entire process and gave me great tips on how to convey information effectively. A great analogy by Pola to getting a point across concisely but accurately is: “Pro makeup artists, they don’t put too much contour, all the colors in the palette, or the entire tube of lipstick on a client’s face. Every stroke of blush, every dollop of foundation, every glimmer of shadow has its purpose. Likewise for writing. Every word, sentence and punctuation should serve a purpose.”

Work aside, everyone at Strategic DigitaLab is warm and welcoming. As a newcomer, I felt that it was easy to integrate into the working environment. I remembered on my first day, I was really awkward in this unfamiliar environment but they made an effort to get to know me better with some small talk and even included me during lunchtime. This helped me to ease into a new working environment gently and quickly.

Also, because Strategic DigitaLab is a full-service agency, there are different teams working in the agency to make it possible. This means that there are plenty of learning opportunities. Everyone is willing to guide me through their work processes. Even though they are swamped with projects after projects, they remain patient and persistent in guiding me until I become more familiar with the system. They are also open to giving me more opportunities to learn. Different teams included me in their discussions and projects so that I can get exposure to all these different aspects, I have also been able to contribute my ideas during these discussions. 

Even though I’m only an intern, I feel that my ideas hold weight and are respected, which encourages me to work harder because I feel that I am significant to this agency.

I think it is always important to take the initiative to ask for more tasks so that my time during the internship is put to great use in learning. My internship here is coming to an end, and without regrets, I can say that I’ve gained new knowledge and skills and  look forward to making the most out of my remaining time.