And just like that Emma has been with us for a whole year! We thought we'd give her the chance to let you all know what she's been up to over the past year as she settled into the team and began taking on new clients for Digital Marketing support.
Well, where on earth does time go?! It feels like 2 minutes since I joined the Purple team and I was sitting down to write my introductory blog post! Last month I celebrated my Purple birthday so I thought it was time to have a look back on what I’ve been up to in the last 12 months.
This time last year my head was spinning with information as I settled into my new role and travelled all across North Yorkshire and County Durham meeting my new clients. 12 months on I have built some lovely relationships with both new and existing clients to achieve some impressive results from reaching over 17,000 people on a Facebook competition to helping a local B&B boost their direct bookings by over 60%!
I might have spent the 4 years prior to joining Purple at University studying hard but I have learnt so much in the past year. The whole team has helped me learn so many skills from how to edit websites to writing effectively for Search Engine Optimisation.
What I’ve Been Up To
I must say I’ve become a total social media nerd, getting far too excited about updates to the platforms and new releases like the Instagram scheduling tool (it is a big deal I promise) and all the changes Facebook has made in a bid to become more authentic. I am always looking for ways to help our clients content stand out whether it’s creating graphics to make sure their posts are on-brand or attending events on their behalf so we’re always a step ahead.
Each month I work with clients to create content for them. That includes everything from writing social media posts to creating email marketing campaigns and publishing blog posts on their website. I also spend a chunk of my day managing our client’s social media accounts-some of them appreciate the help in staying active on their profiles while they’re busy running the business day to day! Most recently I have been involved in our design and print services, writing creative briefs for all sorts of projects including exhibition stands, brochures, and retail swing tags. I’ve had so many opportunities to broaden my knowledge.
Another huge part of my role this year has involved joining Sarah and Scarlett to present a series of 2-day Digital Marketing Workshops as part of the Digital Advantage programme. We’ve been all over North Yorkshire meeting lots of local businesses to pass on our knowledge on all things social media, email marketing and search engine optimisation. I’ve loved being a part of the project, it’s been so rewarding to see lots of the businesses do so well having tried out some of the marketing tactics we’ve spoken about during our workshop days.
In terms of personal development, the team have answered every silly question imaginable. I now answer the phone, respond to emails and meet with clients full of confidence that I will be able to give them helpful, accurate information. I have also completed lots of online courses through the Google Digital Garage to help me to stay up to date with changes in the Digital Marketing world, as well as spending hours reading article after article to make sure I keep on top of changes to the social media networks we manage for our clients.
What’s Next?
Looking ahead into the New Year I hope to complete a Graphic Design short course. This is an area that I have always enjoyed but I would like to polish up on my Photoshop and Illustrator skills to help push the graphics I create for client newsletters and social media pages to the next level.
Currently, I’m obsessed with Canva, you can create some amazing graphics on there completely for free and it’s a tool I always recommend to friends whether they want to create an eye-catching Instagram story or even a party invite.
Last week we welcomed Jess to the team to help us grow our Digital Marketing offering even further. My aim when I joined Purple was to always grow our client base so it’s great to know that I now have her support when taking on new clients. Who knows, by this time next year we might even be up to 3 members of our little digital department!