Claudia joined the team in 2023 as our resident SEO content writer and has since transitioned into her role as Campaign Manager. While shifting from writing to campaign management might seem unexpected, Claudia’s innate love for organisation and her knack for keeping work moving forward made it a natural change.
With Lauren now on board as Content Manager, we have Claudia to connect the dots across the rest of the team. In this sit-down, we hear more from Claudia on her transition to campaign management, as well as tips she’s learned along the way.
What drew you to digital marketing?
My interest in digital marketing started when I was at university studying English Language and Linguistics. Until more recently, I lived and breathed content writing. University taught me how to write with intention, build an argument, and most importantly, use English grammar. Through my career in content marketing, I have developed the ability to write for different audiences, tones of voice and now, different search engines.
Beneath my love for writing was an inherent skill of organisation. I found myself organising my team without realising, finding ways to improve processes and make delivery that bit easier. Here is where I found my love for campaign management, which is essentially project management but focuses on work that often has no endpoint.
Are there any key lessons you’ve learnt that influence your work today?
I have two lessons taken from my time as a content writer and now as a Campaign Manager. These are:
1. Always do your quality checks
At work, I’ve earned a reputation for being a ruthless copyeditor. But it’s always driven by a good cause: a fierce eye for detail. When it comes to content, all work goes through a three-person review. My team has come to appreciate my care for quality and ability to pick out the most pedantic of issues (don’t get me started on title case headers!), as they know by the end, the work will be in a better place.
Just like Catherine, our Digital Production Coordinator says, details matter. Whether it’s how a blog is formatted or how a report is put together, it’s important to think about the end product. That’s why checking over things is so important – the more on top of it you are, the less likely you’ll make mistakes. And if there’s anything I’ve learnt, people aren’t that forgiving of making the same mistake twice. So, next time you write that blog or even build an ad, consider getting someone else to review your work. It’s all too easy to let tunnel vision creep in and blind you from the most obvious mistakes.
2. Process is everything
‘Winging it’ is not a solution. Some people take pleasure in being so reactive, but that’s not what makes a good marketing strategy. In my time as Campaign Manager, I’ve had the opportunity to update our team’s processes, and in doing that, I have found ways to improve efficiency and set my team up for success.
With a solid process, you become proactive rather than reactive, identifying and preventing issues before they arise. For example, building a Google Ad campaign is never without its teething problems. There are so many moving parts to consider, and with a process, I am able to support our paid media team in moving things forward rather than getting stuck at the first hurdle. It’s all about coming into things with a solution-focused approach.
How do you think AI has influenced performance marketing?
AI has completely changed the pace of performance marketing. Tasks that once took hours, whether that’s analysing search trends, building audience segments or reviewing campaign performance, can now be done in a fraction of the time. It’s made marketing more efficient and far more competitive. When everyone has access to the same tools, strategy becomes even more important.
I think there’s a misconception that AI can replace marketers, but in reality, it works best when paired with human insight. AI can process data quickly and support decision-making, but it can’t understand people in the same way marketers do. It doesn’t know your audience’s frustrations, motivations or what makes your brand genuinely stand out.
From a campaign management perspective, AI has helped streamline processes and improve efficiency across reporting, forecasting and campaign optimisation. But it’s also made quality control more important than ever. With so much AI-generated content and automation out there, brands can easily fall into the trap of sounding the same or relying too heavily on shortcuts.
What do you think brands get wrong when running a marketing campaign?
Not having a clear strategy in place. How can you expect your marketing to do well without one? A marketing strategy acts as your guide for how to market your brand in a way that aligns with your company’s goals. It’s all too easy to jump on the bandwagon and waste budget on marketing tactics just because everyone else does.
Before you run a marketing campaign, you need to consider:
- Your strategic goals (long and short term) – What do you class as success? Some brands may just want brand awareness, others may prioritise lead generation.
- Your audience – Who are you bringing value to?
- Your positioning – What makes you better? (And no, basic USPs like great customer service and fast delivery aren’t enough.
- Your audience wants to know what you bring to the table.)
- Your budget – What budget are you working with? Do you have leeway to spend more if needed? A limited budget will often constrain your performance, especially in a highly competitive market.
- Your market – What are your competitors doing? Are there gaps in their marketing you could leverage? And what about industry trends? How does this impact your audience’s buying decisions?
If you don’t know all this, you’ll need to go back to the drawing board.
What are your tips for running an effective marketing campaign?
To echo what I mentioned above, my top tips for an effective marketing campaign include:
- Following a strategy – Everything you do should have a reason. You need to set a purpose and goals for your campaign, and know who you are targeting.
- Setting how you’ll measure success – You know your goals, but what are you measuring in your campaign? This will look different for everyone. If your campaign includes multiple channels, such as SEO and Google Ads, you’ll want to define your KPIs for each medium and ensure the services complement each other’s efforts.
- Having a plan – While a strategy gives you direction, a plan helps you achieve what you intend to get out of a campaign. In my role, I’m responsible for planning out the tasks and resources needed within a campaign. By knowing what’s needed, you won’t feel caught off guard and have the things in place to complete what’s next.
- Staying on brand – Whether you have an integrated marketing campaign or are focusing on a single channel, your campaign needs to stay consistent with your brand. This includes your messaging, too; it needs to have the same brand message throughout.
- Completing your checks – You always need to do your quality checks, especially if it’s an end-facing product. That includes reviewing your on-page content, targeting set up, ad build and tracking (especially tracking). While it may add a bit of time to the set-up of your campaign, it’ll be worth it in the long run.
Need support with your marketing?
Whether it’s SEO, paid media or an integrated campaign strategy, having the right processes and direction in place makes all the difference. At Trio, we help brands build marketing campaigns with purpose, keeping everything aligned, organised and moving forward.
