Will Davy,
Digital Marketing Apprentice, Bath
Will is the digital marketing apprentice at In & Beyond Bath, a bespoke tour provider. Will graduated with a BA in Popular Music Production and started at the company during lockdown, primarily using his videography skills to create content for the website and social media channels.
Will knew how to make great content, but how well it performed for the business was hard to predict. Will wanted to understand the strategy behind strong content - who it was for, what was the purpose and how to maximise the business results.
We chat to Will about how things are going 9 months in…
Before the Academy, I didn't know what I didn't know. I didn't know how to level that up or what I was doing wrong. And now I do.
What were you looking for in a digital marketing course?
I was self-taught in all the areas of content creation and what was great was the owner Jules saw a lot of purpose in the business having really nice polished content. But we reached the stage where we were like: “OK, how do we implement this? Where's the strategy for this? What's the reasoning and purpose behind it?”
And I wanted to learn, I've always been an eager learner. Because I've always been self-taught, to actually have a bit more support here with an opportunity like the Academy and doing it along with what I was doing anyway was the perfect thing for me.
The Academy offered more context to what I was doing with content creation, video, photography. It’s the next level.
What was it like getting your content out there before you joined the programme?
It felt a lot like shooting in the dark because I could rely on my skill of polished content but then wondering, “Why isn't it working?!”
We have an Instagram account and before I had joined, Jules would very simply have a photo that he took on his phone and randomly uploaded with no research on timing or anything like that. And it would do really well.
And then I would be there, spending a day going on location taking photos and trying to come up with a strategy, a not very well-informed strategy, and it just flopped. And I'd be like, “I've spent all this time doing it! Why isn't it working?”
On the course, we had the Social Media module and put a strategy in place.
People like unpolished content sometimes, so that's why it worked. But the difference was that when you up the level, you also need to up the strategy too. You have to raise the whole thing. That can be a long process, especially if you're a smaller company and your role includes a lot. It seems like a really daunting task, but having the opportunity to do the different areas one-by-one and in increments along the way, by the end you feel it come together and raise the whole level.
Sometimes you don't know what you don't know and that's not a good position to be in. It's far better when you know what you don't know. Then you can then start the process of, ‘Okay, I know as much as I can, and I know where my weaknesses are.’
Before the Academy, I didn't know what I didn't know. I didn't know how to level that up or what I was doing wrong. And now I do.
When did you know you’d made the right decision?
I know what I'm talking about now and it feels very comfortable. I'm coming at it with confidence. And that was kind of probably the biggest moment for me, where I realised, ‘Okay, you know what you're doing’.
And there's been a lot of moments like that really, even slightly more niche like people realising you know your way around Google Analytics. It really does build confidence and then you become better at what you do.
The other thing that's great about the Academy is that you work with other people who are in businesses in different industries and you pick up things from them.
You're dealing with trainers and coaches who are in the industry itself, so you feel confident the information you're getting is good.
How do you find the programme structure?
It's different to education you might have gone through before. You're dealing with trainers and coaches who are in the industry itself, so you feel confident that the information you're getting is good.
It's what you want, it's a trusted provider. You can go on YouTube and you look at Google Analytics videos and find a whole channel about it. But there is kind of that element of, ‘Is this best practice?’ because it happens a lot and there are a lot of mistakes you can make.
So to have that trust, and ask questions and have it tailored to what each of your little groups is for and what your business is to get advice on - I think that's super helpful. And if you're smart, you come with questions and you try to get as much out of it as it’s a massive opportunity.
And the surgery is kind of the same as well. It motivates me to do as much as I can because the feedback I get is so helpful.
There's a lot of information online, but actually speaking to someone, being able to ask them questions about things - is the next level.
How did you find the Marketing Made Simple framework for website design?
Having a wireframe to work from was really helpful. I started not knowing really anything to do with websites. The experience I had had was doing stuff on Squarespace for clients and so being able to then go through the coding option as well as the module gives you the practical element of: ‘This is how you do it. Tailor it to how you need it, but this is essentially what works.’
I really enjoyed it. I never thought I'd be somebody who would enjoy coding, but when I did it on WordPress, just seeing it all come together was really cool!
The other part of that was Google Analytics, which I hadn't really been introduced to before, and I got a lot of insight into the business I hadn't seen before. It was an opportunity to learn more about it and ask questions.
It was nice to go through that process, it was kind of like teambuilding in that way. Websites are a bigger picture and being able to put it all in one place and have it as a nice package was great.
What are you looking towards?
I've got ideas to contribute and they feel backed up. So it's confidence again. I think it's probably the number one thing that can motivate you to do new things like running campaigns.
