Behind the Scenes at Scaramanga: A First-hand Account

About me

I’m Jamie, an alumnus from the University of Kent who’s set to officially graduate next week with a First-Class Honours Degree in Marketing. Ever since sixth form I’ve been interested in business and entrepreneurship. My focus shifted a little after completing my National Extended Diploma in Business as I still enjoyed it but had found an interest in marketing. Marketing is creative, but there’s logic underpinning every campaign decision and I love that interplay.

What I wanted

Coming into my work experience here I was pretty nervous, but I was super excited to get the chance to understand the business to business (B2B) marketing landscape and also have the opportunity to learn about programmes, techniques and elements of marketing I didn’t learn about at university or wouldn’t have access to personally. Something that’s been on my mind constantly this year is the future as soon I’ll be starting my career. I wanted to experience as much as possible to help figure out what direction I want to go in. I also wanted to experience what working in a 9-5 environment was like as it’s something I might need to get used to.

What I got up to

My first day with Scaramanga was very intense, meeting (what felt like) a lot of people, finding out the extent of the services Scaramanga offers and being briefed on the range of clients they work with. Although it was a lot of information to take in, I was ready and excited for the tasks I’d been given for the duration of my stay with them.

For the rest of the week, I was involved in a bit of everything from client meetings to attending a client’s event to get footage for their social media. It was a lot of fun seeing the behind-the-scenes process and just how much work goes into all of the content that’s put out and having the opportunity to do it myself. During my first week I became a novice cinematographer, video editor, social media marketer, graphic designer and SEO specialist (I made some circles go green).

My second week here at Scaramanga I was still learning a lot, learning about things like GDPR compliance, contact reports, email marketing, copywriting, how to transcribe a podcast episode and upload it to the website. I also came to the end of my marketing plan project that I was given for my time here which was to create a marketing plan for Digital Accessibility and present it to Claire and Simon the (not so) scary Directors of Scaramanga. One of my final tasks is writing this article and uploading it to the website!

Although I came here to work, I can’t forget to mention how fun the other parts of my days have been like travelling to events/meetings and getting to know the team, attending the company meeting and seeing how open the work culture is and also the company lunch which was filled with good food and even better company!

Digital Accessibility

One of my biggest tasks whilst I’ve been at Scaramanga is learning about Digital Accessibility which has recently become one of their service offerings. I learned about the upcoming changes in legislation, how competitive the industry is set to become and the image they want to create for the brand. Accessibility has been at the core of what Scaramanga do since they’ve become an agency and that has been such a unique experience realising just how inaccessible the digital space can be. If there’s one thing that will remain a constant in my future career, it will be a consideration for accessibility and advocating for its importance when the need to arises.

What I’ve learned

Overall, I'd say I’ve learned a lot of little things that have complimented my knowledge of marketing and from a practical standpoint I’ve learned how they utilise a variety of media to create and optimise content for social media, websites and other digital marketing strategies. I’ve also gained an insight into design applications such as Figma, video editing software such as CapCut and even more about WordPress for improving a website’s SEO.

I’ve been challenged creatively as producing content that aligns with more professional spaces such as LinkedIn and serious professional brands is not the easiest thing to do. You have to try to differentiate from the competition, follow market trends and produce content that is in line with a brand’s image. I’ve learned that B2B marketing truly does have a lot in common with B2C, however, the challenges lie in maneuvering the space with creativity whilst remaining on brand. Understanding how to research is a skill I picked up at university, but even so it is hard work especially when you’re new to all of the client’s industries.

The team

This has been such an insightful experience and it can be a little scary going into a business that has a huge team or a small one out of fear of not fitting in or having bad colleagues, but that hasn’t been the case here at Scaramanga. Every member of the team has been amazing and they’ve taught me so much. They’ve not shut down my ideas at all and have only given me constructive criticism when necessary or when I’ve asked which I appreciate. I want to say a huge thank you to Claire for giving me this opportunity and a big thank you to everyone here at Scaramanga. So, thank you Claire, Emma, Amy, Simon, Charlotte and Dawn, you’ve made me feel like a valued member of the team!

If you want to get to know more about marketing, especially B2B marketing I’d recommend Scaramanga. You’re sure to learn a lot and the team will answer any questions you have!

Once again thank you for having me, Scaramanga!