Jake's experience
I’m in my third and final year studying English Literature with Writing at UWE. I was interested in learning about other ways writing could be used in the workplace. I was looking to gain some experience with an agency so I could develop new skills in writing for a variety of audiences and platforms.
Throughout the internship, I got the chance to interview several people throughout the company, learning about their roles and general experience working within Blue Frontier. This was valuable as it allowed me to get an understanding of the company as a whole and how the teams interact and work with each other.
The interviews below gave me an insight into how various people got into digital marketing, with a broad range of different experiences and backgrounds before joining Blue Frontier.
Life before joining Blue Frontier
I originally was just looking for a job after dropping out of Uni. I got a temporary job in IT that eventually became permanent and then moved around before joining Blue Frontier. Now I’m the first point of contact for anyone who isn’t a client and work on establishing what their requirements are.
After Uni I had no idea what I wanted to do. I ended up doing an internship in digital marketing, got promoted through that and then moved to an agency. I was interested particularly in SEO and how to get content to the top of search engines
While working full time for the NHS I wanted to do my own thing so I spent a couple of years working every weekend and evening learning online marketing. After building some information websites and only getting a couple of visitors a month, it made me question how I could market or gain traffic. I made a new site about SEO and started getting phone calls asking if I could do it for them. I quit my job to work on it full time and built it up before eventually merging with Blue Frontier
Teamwork
A consistent message throughout the interviews was the emphasis on teamwork when solving problems. Amanda and Michael both spoke about some of the challenges they have faced throughout their time in Blue Frontier.
While working in tech the biggest challenge is staying on top of IT trends as it’s a rapidly changing industry. When dealing with such a wide variety of clients across all industries you have to keep your eye on lots of technologies. Keeping up relies on everyone in the team communicating and working together so you can all keep on top of the latest tech.
As a web developer, the biggest challenge is making the website go live. However, when deployment goes live, we have a team of experts ready to help. No one is left on their own and we are in this as a team to help the client.
Getting started in Digital Marketing
Some were also able to offer some advice on how to get into the digital marketing space.
The best advice is to become an all-rounder in digital marketing. You don’t need to be an expert in every type but at least have an understanding of it. A good understanding of how it all links up is really important.
Be creative and don’t hold back. Don’t worry if you come up with an idea that cannot be done, just don’t hold back and try anything.
Understand your value, don’t sell yourself short. There are loads of opportunities out there, try different things and don’t get stuck into one thing.
Throughout the internship, I have been able to learn several new skills surrounding SEO and writing content for a diverse mix of clients. This involved using Google Ads to research keywords I could utilise within my writing to help market and improve the visibility of my content. When working with the social media team, I also used Google Trends alongside competitor research to understand what a brand could focus on within its social media content.
After finishing my degree, I am currently undecided on my future career. However, the experience I have gained in my time at Blue Frontier has given me a new interest in digital marketing and I will take the skills I have learnt into any future profession.
Tara's experience
I am currently in the final year of my English Literature with Writing degree. I chose to intern with Blue Frontier as I previously volunteered with an NGO advocating for women’s rights which gave me a taste for Digital Marketing. When the opportunity arose with Blue Frontier as a Digital Intern, I jumped at the chance.
Favourite projects
During the internship, I had the opportunity to interview people in key positions in the business. I asked them about current projects and some of their favourites over the years:
I am currently working on a toxicology device for healthcare. We also work on remote health. In Africa, the hospitals could be up to 400 miles apart. The people there have to walk for two or three days to get there. To resolve this, clinics are set up with machines on site. These are brought in by nurses from the hospitals. This is advantageous for many, including pregnant women. The results are then stored on the machine.
We worked with one client who are a child services provider. They manage care homes and fostering services. This was an extremely meaningful project. We have also worked with an NGO with a smaller budget. It was great to be able to help them. We offered more of a consultancy service. This too was a very rewarding project. Both these projects were very collaborative. I love it when clients are good at communicating and engaging with the ideas we put forward.
We’re doing a lot more work with the NHS, which I’m super excited about. We offer a level of flexibility and value that they’ve never known. The NHS is publicly funded so we are simultaneously giving the UK taxpayer more for their money.
Working at Blue Frontier
What I’ve learnt from speaking with Hayley, James and Juraj is just how many rewarding projects Blue Frontier are working on. Blue Frontier is providing services that can benefit some of the most vulnerable people and communities. The interviewees gave me insight into what it takes to get into key positions within the company.
For Hayley, experiencing different roles is essential to find what you excel at:
I started in accounts, so nothing to do with marketing! I then went travelling and when I returned, I got into marketing. It was more the print side than digital. Sammy and James found me online and invited me to interview. One of my first roles at Blue Frontier was SEO specialist. I have been here for 3 ½ years and I have recently progressed to SEO Manager.
Hayley gave me plenty of advice for getting into a Digital Marketing position with the main takeaway to become an expert at reading data.
Perks of working at Blue Frontier
We ended the interviews by discussing some of the best things about working at Blue Frontier, which really reflect the business’s core values:
Blue Frontier is a growing and ambitious business. It’s a personable company which is old-fashioned in a way. I love the variety of people who work here!
When sites are down the team pulls together to get them up and running again in a short space of time, which is very rewarding.
The thing that’s most gratifying is the positive effect that the company has on people’s lives. Positively influencing people’s lives weighs heavily on you. There are now ninety employees, so that’s ninety families with bills, obligations and requirements. These are all contingent on the business being successful. It’s a lot of pressure but it is gratifying that this business has been able to help provide people with the life they want, a positive quality of life. Another high is seeing people grow as some have come straight from university and have quickly progressed through the business.
I loved hearing about the approachability and collaborative efforts of the teams at Blue Frontier. Everyone I spoke with was open and friendly and I have really enjoyed the variety of the internship.
Making the most of my time at Blue Frontier
Sammy, James and Charlotte from the Digital Marketing Team set us tasks ranging from SEO to content creation, such as blogs and social media posts. We’ve brainstormed for campaigns and advertisements which really got me thinking creatively. I have improved my knowledge of SEO, using Google Analytics and Search Metrics, which I had limited knowledge of before I started. I have researched ways to optimise websites and boost clients’ Google rankings through SEO. I have also learnt about the benefits of Google Business Profile and more.
The skills I’ve learned this past couple of weeks will benefit me in my studies and in future roles. The internship has heightened my interest in digital marketing further, particularly the content creation side. It is an area I would like to work in, in the future.
With their hands-on experience at Blue Frontier, Jake and Tara have had a great kick-start to their career paths. We hope we have provided them both with all the skills they need to progress in their future careers and given them a chance to sample the fast paced and exciting world of digital marketing.
Fancy a role at Blue Frontier? Check out our careers page.
