Guest BLog - Phil Ditchfield

Our guest blogger, Phil Ditchfield, knew his passions - but how to find the right Uni course to suit?

In my early high school days at Great Sankey High School in Warrington, I remember finding my passion for product design and business studies early on. It was a no brainer for me to do both for my A levels, yet after college I faced down the same decisions every student does over which course would suit me the best.
 
Knowing I wanted to pursue product design seemed like the easiest step — nothing else gripped me quite like it!  But it was important to me that I stayed local to my strong family ties and so I looked at several universities around the North West.
 
Coming across The University of Bolton Undergraduate & Postgraduate Courses | University of Bolton would prove foundational. I went for an induction day and I immediately knew: this would be my first choice. The difference here was that, unlike other unis, Bolton introduced a variety of seminars, lectures and workshops which already got the gears in my head turning. They tapped into my passion for product design on the first hit and I realised that was exactly what I was looking for.
 
The product design course itself included CAM/CAD, the history of design technology, practical design and, proving there was something for everyone here, marketing — this mix had me sold on the course. I was firm in my desire to see the whole picture.
There’s such a range of courses available at Bolton and this totally inspired me. Other universities I looked at were intensely focused on specific areas of industrial design, drawing or the technical side.
 
As part of my course, we were tasked with designing a new product for B&Q and even went on to present our designs to the management team. This was a phenomenal experience. I believe it helped me greatly in future real-life situations and allows me to better maintain client relationships in my current role as a Digital Marketing Director.
 
Throughout my time at Bolton, I worked part-time in a sales environment before entering full-time employment after graduating. I was good at sales! I regularly hit my targets. And now I’d developed a fully-fledged interest in the marketing industry which ultimately helped me land my role, and subsequent career, with Red Cow Media.
 
Red Cow Media is a digital marketing agency based in Manchester, offering an array of marketing services. At 26 I started as a Junior SEO executive, working to optimise national and international websites to secure higher rankings on Google.
 
A digital marketing role involves the constant reviewing and management of digital ads, including Facebook ads and paid Google campaigns, alongside SEO strategies and tasks to ensure that different marketing campaigns complement each other. Working within an agency setting means that no two days are the same as you get to work with a large scope of clients from different industries, which is both exciting and endlessly educational.

In the six years since I started at Red Cow Media, I’ve worked tremendously hard to become the Digital Marketing Director of the company. Rather than being focused on one singular area, such as SEO, I took great professional pleasure in strategy planning, digital advertising creation and management and content writing which enabled me to move into a full-stack digital marketing position.
 
In my position, I also interview a lot of potential candidates for Red Cow Media. We pride ourselves on hiring people who seem genuinely interested in marketing, rather than solely focusing on experience or education — confidence and good conversation will always help in an interview!
 
It’s important to me that I give credit to The University of Bolton, particularly my lecturers, for the path which my career has taken. Two lecturers especially were by my side throughout my journey at university and helped to shape and change my outlook on higher education.
 
What I respected about my course lecturers is that each had true industry experience within the field that they were teaching and were always able to answer questions with real-life examples. I differ from a lot of my friends in that, when they talk about the best parts of university life, mine is the educational aspect whereas for them it is the student lifestyle!
 
For students who are currently looking at potential universities, my advice would be to pick the place where you feel most comfortable and where the curriculum interests you most.
 
Remember: the party life comes with most universities naturally. It’s also vital to make sure the education aspect is something that you think you’ll actually enjoy!

Author

Phil Ditchfield is now the Digital Marketing Director at Red Cow Media.