Lauren joined the team as Content Manager at the beginning of 2026, but she’s certainly no stranger to Trio. In her past role, she worked at one of our clients, Lily Comms, allowing her to get to know the Trio team well. Moving agency-side in 2023 saw her find her digital marketing specialism, content writing. With years of experience producing blog content, website copy and ad copy, Lauren is now a permanent member of the team. She works to deliver well-crafted content for our clients and develop effective content strategies.
What drew you to digital marketing?
It all started with a passion for writing. I’ve been an avid reader since I was a child, and this sparked a desire to become an author. However, my Nana told me (quite rightly so) that I couldn’t just walk out of school and become a writer; I needed a career first. So that set me on the path of journalism.
I finished my journalism degree at Leeds Beckett University in 2020. With a lot of spare time on my hands (just like the rest of the world), I turned to Google Digital Garage to complete some online marketing courses. This made me realise that maybe marketing was the career for me after all. After starting my first marketing role, I realised that I was indeed on the right path!
Are there any key lessons you’ve learnt that influence your work today?
I’ve been working my way through Joseph Sugarman’s Adweek Copywriting Handbook, and while slightly outdated, the book’s foundations for effective copywriting still hold true in today’s digital marketing landscape.
One key lesson from Sugarman emphasises the importance of editing. He believes that good copy truly takes shape during the editing process. When starting a piece of content, he says to write “relentlessly”. He suggests not to worry about what you’re writing, how it sounds or whether it’s spelt correctly, just get your thoughts down on paper.
“It is what I do with the copy after my first draft that really makes a difference.”
After taking a break, Sugarman recommends revisiting the copy to make your edits, removing unnecessary words and improving readability.
This is now my approach to content writing. I essentially brain-dump onto a page to form a structure and ensure I’ve covered all the points and research I want to include. If you were to read my first draft of any piece of content, you might seriously question my writing skills. After an initial draft, I go back to the beginning and edit it section by section to refine it into a polished final piece.
How do you think AI has influenced content marketing?
AI has changed how we consume, think about and write content. With zero-click searches rising and 40-55% of consumers using AI-powered searches to make purchasing decisions, we’re no longer competing for visibility solely in SERPs. The goal now is to also be referenced, summarised or cited in AI engines.
This has meant rethinking how content is written, structured and optimised. Previously, content focused primarily on traditional SEO and E-E-A-T. Now, we’re optimising for SEO, E-E-A-T and Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO). This means creating content that not only ranks well but is also clear, structured, and authoritative enough for AI engines to interpret and cite in responses.
Do you have any tips for doing an effective content strategy?
In my experience, creating an effective content strategy requires:
Analysing existing content
This is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your content strategy. Use tools such as GA4 and Google Search Console to analyse blogs, service pages and case studies to identify which content is receiving low traffic, impressions or clicks.
Once you have a list of content that isn’t performing well, decide what can be repurposed. For example, can blog content be rewritten on a service page to improve its SEO value? Which blogs can be updated to be more relevant and better optimised?
These insights will help you form a strong foundation for your content strategy and provide a clear starting point.
Using SEO tools
Tools such as Semrush and Ahrefs will be your best friends when creating a content strategy. If your strategy is mostly focused on blogs, you’ll need to use keyword tools to identify topics and keywords with high search demand. This will provide you with hundreds of topic ideas and help you shape search-led blog titles.
Next, we need to consider AEO as part of our content strategy. Thankfully, many SEO tools have adapted to reflect this shift. Semrush, in particular, offers features that analyse a brand’s AI visibility, allowing you to compare your brand against competitors to understand where your content gaps are, measure your share of voice across topics and identify areas where you need to build stronger authority.
These tools are also very useful for providing questions and prompts that people actually ask in AI engines, making it much easier to build a content strategy for AEO.
Conducting competitor research
Seeing what your competitors are doing is important to identify areas where you can outperform them. SEO tools like Semrush let you see which keywords your competitors rank for, giving you a clear view of which topics are already driving traffic in your industry. From there, add topics to your plan where competitors are performing well and where there is an opportunity to provide better, more comprehensive content.
It’s also important to look at competitors’ websites and read content that is currently ranking well. Take note of the content structure, identify what’s missing and consider what you could improve if you were to write a piece on a similar topic.
You’ll have heaps of insights and information at your fingertips after completing these three things, making it much easier to define a clear strategy and create a structured content plan.
Is your website in need of engaging copy that drives traffic?
We can develop an effective content strategy that drives results and craft engaging, optimised copy for blogs and web pages. Let’s start creating content that works for your business and converts visitors into customers.
