My internship at Inflecto Media
Completing an industrial placement entered me into the world of digital marketing and taught me a number of valuable lessons.
All the way back in September 2019, I was fortunate enough to begin my 10-month long internship at a Digital Marketing Agency based in Fitzrovia, London. At this point, my knowledge of marketing was almost non-existent, however, I was grateful to have been given the opportunity to learn about a new field of work. Coming from a small town in West Sussex, working in London is something I’ve always wanted to experience, so another big win was being able to get a taste of the London life, even if that meant enduring the two-hour long commute door-to-door.
Inflecto Media is a relatively small start-up agency, so there was a large sense of community whilst working within the office. My specific job title was ‘Publisher Support Executive’ and I worked within the publisher team alongside 3 other people. My role was to formulate new relationships with a series of publishers from different publications, so that they could be used to run both current and future online campaigns, as well as increase my own professional contact list. On top of this, I was expected to complete any general admin or tasks, given to me by anyone who needed an extra helping hand.
My first two/ three weeks were spent trying to familiarise myself with the alien world around me and the foreign terminology that circulated this new environment. Performance marketing terms like, CPC, CPL, CPA; company platform names such as, Cake and Everflow; as well as office phrases like “Let’s touch base,” or “Catch-up;” were all now starting to become ingrained into my internal office dictionary.
Day-to-day tasks usually included some form of team meeting, completion of the company budget update, prospecting new publishers, responding to emails and pitching calls. Throughout my time at Inflecto, I managed to get in touch with big publisher names such as, Forbes, Cosmopolitan and Time Out Magazine.
Like most office-based companies, in March 2020 we began working from home. Although I missed being in the office and being able to speak to my colleagues face-to-face, one of the main benefits of working from home was that I saw an improvement in my concentration and productivity levels. Having been working on a specific campaign with Disney+ for some months, during March/ April I managed to launch with four new publishers which generated a small sum of profit for the business. I also found that without the commute, I was a lot brighter during office hours.
I’ll admit that it did take me a while to settle into a professional working environment and grow out of the student mindset I’d become so accustomed to at University. However, once I found my feet, the experience was more than valuable. Overall, it helped me grow my confidence and adapt to the do’s and don’ts of office etiquette. I left feeling accomplished, having gained a good level of knowledge about performance-led marketing and user acquisition strategies, as well as knowledge regarding different types of publishers. I enjoyed the perks that came along with working as part of a close team of people — such as, pub lunches on a Friday and the work Christmas party to Copenhagen, (the parts I remember, that is).
I’d encourage an industrial placement to anyone who may be considering it. My main piece of advice would be, to go into it with an open-mind. Everyone is different and it’s ok to give yourself some time to completely settle in, so don’t be too hard on yourself — it’s normal to feel out of your comfort zone within a completely new environment! And lastly, try not to fall asleep on your train home. Speaking from experience, you could end up anywhere.
