Working as an Intern for Armadillo

As I come to the end of my fourteen-week long marketing internship at Armadillo, it’s time to reflect on my experience. I can safely say that no two days were the same. With guidance from Jacqueline and Sophy (Armadillo’s Marketing Managers) and completing many different tasks, I have gained a lot of new skills and experience. 

I am currently in my second year, studying Business Management at the University of Bristol. Outside of my course, I have taken an interest in marketing, attending talks and learning events held by the University, for students wanting to grow their knowledge of marketing and PR. I wanted to take my experience in this field further and by becoming a marketing intern at Armadillo I have gained a different insight and skill set that can only be achieved from working within an agency.

Arriving at Armadillo

I wasn’t sure what to expect as an intern, especially as I have never worked at an office before. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I first joined Armadillo; the friendly and welcoming atmosphere helped ease my nerves. My first day at Armadillo fell on a Tuesday, so I got to enjoy the weekly Tuesday breakfast and team ‘shares’ meeting, which gave me a good perspective on what Armadillo’s business strategy, goals and achievements were, accelerating my understanding of their business.

 Jacqueline and Sophy supported me with close guidance and mentoring and were always on hand to answer my questions. By witnessing first-hand their day to day tasks I have received amazing insight into the role of a marketing manager within an agency. With their guidance, they have taught me new skills, from how a marketing budget is built to how professional and structured emails to clients and prospects should be composed. 

What I Have Learnt

From the start of my internship I was given a wide range of responsibilities and tasks that assisted and contributed to key marketing deliverables. These included posting and curating content on Armadillo’s website and secondary sites such as CreativeBrief or Bristol Media. I picked up the “Armadillo Asks” project, which gave me the opportunity to sit down with Armadillo’s employees and ask them about their role within the agency and their hobbies outside of work. I enjoyed this project as it gave me insight into how the different departments and each employee contribute to Armadillo’s success. I also took on the task of researching possible new prospects to support their outbound new business strategy.  

My favourite project involved researching and presenting a new Instagram strategy for Armadillo. I carried this out by collecting and analysing data on their competitors’ social media pages and about wider Instagram trends. I thoroughly enjoyed identifying new ideas and strategies that Armadillo could apply to their account and presenting these ideas to Jacqueline and Sophy. This project really helped to improve my presenting skills and I was really happy with the feedback I received.

Key Takeaways

This internship has not only taught me so much about marketing and CRM (Customer Relationship Marketing) but has also helped to develop my skills at presenting, communication and organisation which I will be able to transfer to my degree and my future career. From joining meetings and calls I have learned the inner workings of the agency and how teams interact and successfully operate. The projects and tasks I was assigned allowed me to take on a different level of responsibility which helped to increase my independence. The guidance from Jacqueline and Sophy has allowed me to take in a vast amount of knowledge in a short amount of time and I now have a much clearer idea about what is involved in the process of marketing.

Overall I have thoroughly enjoyed working as an intern for Armadillo – it has been an amazing experience! I am grateful for the mentoring I have received and the skills that I have learnt.