My placement year at Footprint Digital
“Believe in people and what they can achieve”
I study business management at the University of Essex, and I am so happy that I chose to complete my placement year at Footprint Digital. I started my placement year in a very different way, on a paddleboard in Mersea with the Footprint team, followed by a game of boules and fish & chips. It was a great way to meet the team and begin to feel like a part of the business. Right from the beginning, I was welcomed into the close-knit team, given responsibility and the chance to experiment with my ideas for marketing the company.
Since starting my placement, I have experienced so much, from attending workshops and branding meetings to team days out and internal training. These few things alone have allowed me to understand and experience a professional environment as well as expand my knowledge in so many different areas that were only touched on during my lectures. I have had training from specialists in SEO (search engine optimization), PPC (pay-per-click), content marketing, Google analytics and many other techniques. Footprint Digital is a place where you learn so much more than just the basics.
Getting the most out of my placement
Doing my placement at Footprint has been a huge time of growth for me. I have been given the opportunity and responsibility to run the social media and marketing for the company, which is a freedom I would’ve never have had otherwise. I have learnt about various tools, techniques and strategies which enable effective, successful promotion of a company, been supported in learning how to use analytics to identify areas of improvement, and the opportunity to try different social media themes to begin to understand our brand voice. In addition, the team has been open to me sitting in on meetings, giving me training in technical marketing techniques (SEO, PPC) and training me in how to change aspects of the website, as well as learning about Google Ads and taking Google exams. All these opportunities have enabled me to understand professional team dynamics, the office environment, business relationships with colleagues and clients, all of which I believe are valuable skills that I will take with me into a graduate job.
Footprint Digital have such a great team of professionals. Each person is so open to supporting and helping me learn as much as possible. They are a great group of individuals who are all excited and passionate about their work and the future of the company, which in turn has made me feel so much more motivated to learn from them and understand what they do; making it a better experience than I ever thought. At Footprint you will get the most out of your placement year. You will get a full, invaluable experience of working in a professional business. The opportunities are endless and the support and education you receive is unlimited, you will get the most out of your placement year; you wont just be the office coffee runner.
I don’t believe that I would’ve got a better experience in another company. I am a quiet student, and the thought of entering a huge company where there are many divisions and employees that don’t know each other was daunting. Taking it upon myself, I applied to smaller companies and was lucky enough to be offered the role at Footprint.
A team that is interested in everyone’s development
With a team who are all friends, supporting each other and providing endless development opportunities, it was a great fit for me to be myself. I wish that I had been told that I didn’t need to focus on only applying to bigger companies for my placement because I didn’t realise the real opportunities that were there with small companies too. It isn’t true that you will get a better, more valuable experience at a bigger company. Working for a smaller company like Footprint is great; you are given more responsibility, feel part of a team who are all interested and support you in your learning.
Footprint Digital are a team that really practice what they preach. It is a safe environment to try new things, to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes without feeling like you’ve done something wrong. Education and training is an important aspect of the company but it is also inherent to the team.
Somewhere you will be supported
If you’re looking for a placement year opportunity where you will be supported in your learning and development, have the freedom to try new things and work in a team that genuinely cares about the work that they are doing and are interested in your work, then apply to Footprint Digital. You will get such a great experience, and I’m not just saying this to stay on everyone’s good side, you will thoroughly enjoy yourself!
Ellie Elam
