As I write this blog, Bigwave’s Digital Director Simon Beer is giving a talk at South Devon College on careers in digital 
marketing.
If anyone knows a thing or two about marketing, it’s Simon. His eclectic career has spanned PR, account management and digital development. But that’s marketing in a nutshell – a vast empire crammed with brilliant opportunities to suit every personality type and interest.
Bigwave Marketing is brimming with characters like Simon, who all have very different skills and found their paths into marketing in an assortment of ways.
So we decided to scratch below the surface and find out how some of our dedicated Bigwave employees found their way into marketing, and what advice they had for people at the bottom of the ladder:
Luke Simpson – Head of Client Services
Pathway:
“My journey started with a desire to be a film director when I was younger. This then led to me picking media studies at school and at college. At college, it became very clear that I had more aptitude for marketing and in particular the planning and strategy side of marketing. Based on this I began a degree in marketing and advertising management. After completing my degree I started my career with Bigwave.”
Advice:
“Consider, research and become adept in all marketing methods. People have a tendency to focus on the channels which they interact with, it is important to understand that in most cases “you” are not your target audience.”
Tudor Rusmanica – Head of Search
Pathway
“I was fascinated by the internet and self-taught HTML, CSS and PHP. I did some cool things with computers that I was immensely proud of at the time – I found myself getting recognition at school. It didn’t make sense to build websites that nobody could find so this led to SEO. It gave me a lot of satisfaction seeing results and impact. Fast forward 10 years and turned a “hobby” it into a professional career. I was fortunate enough to find a company who appreciated my work and allowed me to grow and develop.”
Advice
“Pick a subset like SEO or PPC or Social Media, PR and get your hands dirty… From my experience, the tougher you have it early on the more you will develop as a marketing person. You will find it hard to stay on top of everything to begin with, so knowing how everything works helps a lot. Look for a supportive employer – nothing will put you off more than a bad work environment.”
Beth Markey – Content Manager
Pathway
After completing my degree in Journalism I decided to move into marketing as it gave me the ability to try my hand at a variety of tasks to better understand my strengths and areas of enjoyment. I had to undertake an unpaid digital marketing internship to get my foot on the ladder, which was a financial challenge, but it gave me good grounding and led to a paid internship. It allowed me to experience all the elements of marketing. As it turns out, writing was my passion all along. My role as a content marketer at Bigwave is a very happy mix of marketing and journalism, so I get to experience the best of both worlds.”
Advice
“There’s quite a bit of competition to work in marketing, especially in my area. Learning challenging skills relevant to your area of interest will set you apart from the crowd. HTML or shorthand are all examples related to content management. These are things you can self-teach and doing so will show real initiative.”
Sam Ratcliffe – Social Media Manager
Pathway
“Growing up, I played in bands and really enjoyed promoting shows and growing our profile as part of the process. After finishing university, I worked at Ibiza Rocks as a Digital Marketing Assistant and learned how to utilise social media as part of a digital marketing strategy – there I fell in love with seeing audience growth and ticket sales as a result of social media campaigns.”
Advice
“I hate the phrase “Fake it till you make it” but there is some truth in presenting yourself as the person you want to become. Get involved in marketing discussions on social media, start your own blog about marketing and comment on what’s happening in the industry. You’ll raise your profile, learn lots along the way and eventually become the person you’re portraying yourself as! OK, I guess “Fake it till you make it” isn’t so bad…”
Gemma Ross – Pay-Per-Click Manager
Pathway
“With a passion for design and websites, my friends and colleagues had moved into marketing and I realised how interesting a digital marketing career could be. I was lucky enough to secure a junior marketing role at a small agency. After managing marketing for a variety of clients and supporting with SEO, PPC, Content, Social, Websites, Print, Events and PR for 6 months I realised that a career in PPC would be my ideal path and after 18 months I was approached by Bigwave media with an opportunity that I couldn’t turn down.”
Advice
“Research the different types of marketing, take free online courses such as Facebook Blueprint, Google’s Academy for Ads, get a LinkedIn profile, shout about how passionate you are and contact agencies for work experience placements. Marketing can be hard work but for the most part it is a fun and rewarding career choice!”’
Alex Decker – Pay-Per-Click Executive
Pathway
“My journey into marketing was quite unorthodox. I hadn’t considered a future in Marketing until watching Mad Men in my final year of Uni. Something about the creative freedom of writing adverts really appealed and when I realised there were opportunities to do this in Devon, I jumped at the chance.”
Advice
“There are ample opportunities to try new things and specialise in an area that best suits your skills. During my time at Bigwave, I’ve written ads, corresponded with clients and seen to their business concerns, written long-form content and I’ve also been afforded the great opportunity of returning to my alma mater to talk to students who are in very similar positions to that of myself twelve months ago. I can’t wait to see what other opportunities lie around the corner and to explore further avenues of Marketing. If you have even the slightest of interest in entering Marketing, I implore you to give it some serious consideration. You won’t regret entering such an interesting and rewarding industry.”
Ekaterina Vasileva – SEO Executive
Pathway
“For a very long time before uni, I was interested in graphic and web design, typography, printing and luckily I got to dabble in that sort of thing for a few years. I did law as my degree but whilst studying I was also doing a fair bit of freelance work in SEO, graphic design and photography – I knew what was the right career for me then, even if it was subconsciously, haha! Then the perfect opportunity came up and I took it.”
Advice
“Marketing is such a vast field that it’s difficult to know which bits of it you’d enjoy. Get any kind of work experience – agency or brand-side and try to get involved as much as possible.The beauty of it is that in creative fields there’s often opportunity to shape your own path/role and that’s exciting. Also, don’t worry too much about making the wrong decisions, there are always new opportunities awaiting.”