My Top 10 Tips for Interns: Confessions of a Marketing Intern

admin - February 26, 2020March 18, 2021

From an intern’s perspective, here are 10 of my top tips for interns, both current and future!

1. Be a sponge!

It is super important to learn everything you can and soak up as much information as possible during your time as an intern. Otherwise, what’s the point? Be observant, keep your eyes and ear open and take in as much as you can. Be like Spongebob.

2. Set personal goals and keep yourself busy.

Before and even during your internship, set yourself some achievable goals! That way you can measure your success throughout your internship and add relevant skills to that all-important resume or LinkedIn profile (more on this later). On that note, it’s important to always be learning or practicing your craft. If you find that you have finished your allocated tasks, ask for new ones or better yet, see if you can find any yourself!

3. Ask questions!

Yes, it’s okay to ask questions. No one expects you to know everything and more often than not, your co-workers or supervisor will be happy to help. This is also a great opportunity to talk to people working in your industry or perhaps dream job, not to mention it is a great way to get to know everyone in the office. Employers tend to believe that students that ask questions are genuinely interested and motivated to learn about the industry.

4. Set up a LinkedIn profile.

Although not necessary for every industry, a professional presence on social media shouldn’t be undervalued. This may be the first thing employers see when they search your name or are looking to hire future full-timers. LinkedIn is an awesome place to show off your skills, advertise your achievements and brag about the projects you helped with during your internship. It is also becoming a more common tool for recruiters to find suitable candidates for an organisation!

5. Be professional.

This should go without saying, but it’s important to maintain a positive and professional image in the workplace. Don’t be late, always be polite to others and avoid behaviours that you would generally consider inappropriate. This might include taking extra-long breaks, answering personal calls on company time or regularly distracting others. On the topic of professionalism, your online presence is equally as important! I recommend typing your name into Google and seeing what comes up. That drunk selfie from the weekend (not cute) is probably not appropriate and should stay well-hidden from public view. My advice – keep your professional and private life separate and set your personal social media accounts to private!

6. Use your initiative.

Don’t be that intern that calls on their supervisor every five minutes, staring at a wall until they respond. It takes time to prepare tasks and the reality is that sometimes your supervisor doesn’t have time to answer your questions straight away or is in a meeting. Be diligent and use that time between allocated tasks to your advantage. Maybe you can revise your work or research anything you didn’t quite understand earlier. This will showcase your initiative and save everyone’s time.

7. Take a screen break!

So many jobs today require a computer, particularly marketing related professions. 100% of my own tasks as an intern have required a screen, both phone and computer, to complete work. In fact, many employees at Digital8 use TWO computer screens… that’s a lot of pixels. But of course, staring at a computer screen all day can be very taxing so it’s important to take a break every now and again. It’s important for your eyes, not to mention your wellbeing!

8. Develop professional relationships.

This is another skill you may have heard of. Building professional relationships is key to a successful career and when you are starting out, it is even more critical. An established professional network will expose you to new opportunities and ways to progress your career, including the hidden job market. So don’t forget to communicate with co-workers and stay in the loop. If you have a mentor in the workplace or in the wider industry, be sure to keep in touch with them too.

9. Make the most of your experience.

As an intern, you are offered value in the form of opportunities so it is essential to take as many opportunities you can to learn and develop. If offered to help with a project or listen in at a real client meeting – DO IT! At Digital8, everyone wants you to succeed and I couldn’t be more grateful for the invaluable quality of my experience as a digital marketing intern. It is up to you to take advantage of the opportunities in your own internship workplace. So seize the day!

10. My final advice – be enthusiastic!

Enthusiasm is everything. Show that you are keen and motivated to learn. Ask to be included or show your interest in what others are working on. Are you aiming to be hired after your internship? Then be to sure parade your enthusiasm and show how you can make a positive impact to your co-workers and company. Employers will certainly notice if you are eager and who knows, it may help you land a job!

Written by Elise Le-Galloudec

Australian Small Business Champion Awards Finalists for 2020: Digital8

admin - February 20, 2020February 20, 2020

The 2020 finalists for the Australian Small Business Champion Awards have been revealed. Drum roll please… We have fantastic news: Once again, Digital8 have been announced finalists!

The Australian Small Business Champion Awards is considered one of the most prestigious small business awards program in Australia. It sees hundreds of unique businesses each year vying to be crowned champions across over 50 categories. This includes honours awarded for both businesses and individual leaders. In 2019, Digital8 were announced as finalists for the Information Technology category. However, this year Digital8 have been recognised as finalists within the Marketing Services category. This transition reflects Digital8’s own digital journey as digital transformation experts specialising in a range of marketing services from Web Development, Design and Experience, App Development, Digital Marketing and more. Overall, the Digital8 team are excited to have made it to this stage again.

These awards represent the pinnacle of small business success, acknowledging the excellent work such businesses are doing in communities across Australia, across many industries. It also recognises the contribution of small businesses in not only creating jobs for millions of Australians, but also contributing to the Australian economy and building prosperity for future generations.

Now that the national finalists have been selected, these applications will go onto an independent judging panel for adjudicating. The businesses with the highest individual scores in their respective categories will be determined winners. Awards will be presented at an Oscar-worthy presentation evening on the 21^st of March 2020 at The Star in Sydney.

The Australian Small Business Champion Award is a great gratification for the people behind successful small businesses. The excited Digital8 team would like to congratulate all the finalists and wish them the best of luck! Our fingers (and toes) are crossed!

Digital8 Community Impact Fund: Caring for Our Community

admin - February 18, 2020October 28, 2020

In 2019, Digital8 announced the founding of the “Digital8 Community Impact Fund” – a $200,000 investment into the delivery of web technology to support Australian charities and organisations. The Digital8 team delivered a variety of digital services for a range of highly deserving (and awesome) businesses last year. These services varied from Web Design, App Design and Development and also Digital Marketing solutions. Now in 2020, Digital8 is ready to do it all over again and help more worthy organisations!

Throughout our history, a number of underfunded and under-resourced organisations have shared their novel goals to enact social change to improve the community. These organisations are able to demonstrate how digital projects could improve their success, yet are unable to fund these projects. This is due to the high costs associated with implementation as well as the limited and competitive funding options available. The Community Impact Fund is Digital8’s way of giving back to the world. Some of the clients we have helped so far Beddown, JuicedTV, Nature Play QLD and Grow. Read about how we have helped these organisations here!

“Digital8 seek to empower and enable positive organisations with community-minded goals to help them leverage the internet, social media and digital technology. With the assistance of our funding and digital aid, we can help these organisations succeed.” – Joe McCord, Digital8 General Manager

Businesses may apply for one, but not both, funding options of up to $10,000 or up to $50,000. This covers the time and materials, at our commercial rate, for Digital8 to deliver the digital services.

Digital8 is ready (and excited) to help more deserving businesses make a positive impact in the community. Applications for 2020 are already flowing in. Therefore, encourage any social enterprise or ‘profit or ‘purpose’ organisation seeking help leveraging digital world, to check their eligibility and apply ASAP.

To find out more about the Community Impact Fund and apply, go to https://digital8.com.au/community/.

Applications close on the 30^th of March, 2020.

A Day in the Life of a Digital Marketing Intern

admin - February 6, 2020July 25, 2022

When people hear the words “Digital Marketing Intern”, they usually associate the term ‘intern’ with the classic (and outdated) idea of coffee runs and chasing someone with a pen and notebook. I personally blame The Devil Wears Prada for that but let me just say, this is certainly not the case. In fact, I haven’t been asked to fetch coffee once! Let me tell you a bit about myself and walk you through a typical day as a Digital Marketing Intern at Digital8.

I am currently completing my fourth and final year (YAY!) of a Bachelor of Business and a Bachelor of Creative Industries majoring in Marketing and Media & Communications at the Queensland University of Technology. Hoping to gain some ‘real-world’ experience and insights into the industry before graduating, I applied for Digital8’s Revolving Internship. I attended an interview with my future supervisor and found out I got the position a few days later! My 3-month internship at Digital8 started early January and I currently do two full 9 to 5 days a week. But believe me, two days are never the same!

My morning starts by walking into the office, setting up my laptop and checking the staff chat channel Slack for any tasks that have been set for me. Digital8 regularly uses this channel to communicate as it’s super useful for swapping documents, sharing notes and asking quick questions. After checking this, I am ready to get to work. If I have any questions, my supervisor is always happy to help. I also make sure to catch up with my supervisor throughout the day for new tasks and productivity updates.

Currently, I have been writing blogs and creating content for Digital8 social media platforms. This is part of their new inbound marketing strategy. In January, the team was gearing up to launch a total rebrand of the company. This had clearly been in the works for a while. But lucky for me, I got to be part of the final phase! The timing was literally perfect. I got the opportunity to write ad copies for the new website, schedule social media posts on Hubspot, and proofread and edit landing pages in WordPress. I also got to develop a newsletter to announce the rebrand. Excuse my excitement, but I honestly pinch myself seeing my work used in the real-world. Other tasks I have worked on during my internship so far include client research, SEO, brainstorming digital marketing strategies and using the Digital8 brand guide to create imagery for social media.

It is difficult to say what I will miss most when my internship eventually comes to an end. Highlights (so far) include reading the hilarious messages between co-workers and enjoying yummy treats left over from client strategy meetings. But most of all, I love seeing the different teams come together to complete a project. Being surrounded by a talented team that clearly have a passion for what they do is truly exciting. I’m thoroughly enjoying my time as a digital marketing intern at Digital8 and I look forward to learning as much as I can during my time left. There is so much to learn about digital marketing and I plan to make the most of this experience!

Digital8 offers internships in a several areas including sales, marketing, web development, design and more. If you are interested in an internship or career at Digital8, click this link to find out more.