This interview is slightly different than the others. Ellen Attwood's distinguishing feature here is she freelances for her own marketing agency, Attwood Digital Marketing, instead of being embedded in a larger organisation. We tuned some different questions to account for this, and she delivers a wonderfully thoughtful interview on her view of the modern comms field.
Why did you choose to pursue a role in communications? For example, has it always been your passion or was it pure happenstance?
I first started to enjoy learning about business at school and realised marketing was the most interesting element of it to me. Following that, I went on to do a degree in Advertising and Communications, got a placement in a communications department in a global business, that company then sponsored my final year at university, and I went to work for them after graduating.
Working for myself is something I had always wanted to do, so after 7 months in a communications role, I took the leap and set up my own digital marketing business. So a communications career has always been on the cards for me.
What personal skills or attributes do you think are most important for a communications role? Why these skills/attributes in particular?
You need to be adaptable. It’s important not to get stuck in one way of doing things/communicating because the climate the brands you’re working for are changing all the time. A communications campaign may have been a run-away success previously, but if the data is telling you it’s not hitting the mark this time, then trust the data and pivot the campaign based on insights.
A strong communicator is also a good listener. The most effective communications are produced when content is created by what the marketer sees, reads and hears from their audiences, as well as insights from data.
What sort of challenges do you face in your role? Is there a particular challenge that you experienced in the past that stood out?
Previously I have experienced some unwillingness to take risks from brands, particularly with reactive communications, and a sense of not wanting to break away from what they’ve done in the past. Digital marketing, and social media in particular, has accelerated and revolutionised the way we communicate in business and our personal lives.
I think some sectors are yet to completely catch up.
How is the role of a digital marketing freelancer perceived in the organisations you work with?
Companies hire freelancers when they want to get a fresh perspective on communications and marketing and gain knowledge from outside of their industry that could be applied to their businesses. I find that one of my primary roles, alongside the work itself, is to provide that perspective, based on my experience working in multiple different industries.
As a digital marketing freelancer for multiple organisations, how easy is it for you to jump into writing content for each of the different companies?
With proper planning it’s easy. A clear brief, an understanding of the objectives of the content, and how success will be measured are essential and help to speed up the creation process. I have found that the more organisations I work with, the easier it becomes.
What advice would you give to those at the start of their career in communications?
Get experience in as many different areas of communications as you can. Even if your role is in a specific area like social media, this doesn’t stop you from asking to support someone else in their communications role. This additional experience will help you figure out where you want your career to go and will help you to understand how best to support other people in your team. In my experience, taking this approach early on helps with career progression, giving you that competitive edge, and makes you more appealing to employers.
Always create content based on data analysis insights and not just what you ‘think’ the audience wants to consume. This is how you’ll learn and be able to create effective campaigns.
What do you think the secret of success is when working in communications?
I think the secret to success is planning. It’s important to set up systems to collect data from the communications you’re planning, depending on the aims of the campaign.
If you make and follow a plan, rather than diving in headfirst, you can make tweaks to your communications based on the results. No matter how much you assume a campaign will work, the data will never lie to you.
I would also say it’s important to be authentic and relate to your target audiences in your storytelling - their fears, hopes and dreams – and remember that you’re trying to connect the brand with real human beings.
At React & Share we live for helping communications teams through understanding website content sentiment and improving it off the back of feedback. How do you approach content improvement?
Sometimes it’s a case of experimenting with content tone, style, and length, and then using campaign results (both the sentiment and data) to tell you whether you’ve gone with the right approach. As I’ve said before, the data can’t lie to you. As with any marketing, if you’re experimenting it’s best to only change one aspect at a time so that you can analyse which edit made the most positive difference.
In general, I make sure to simplify messaging and use keywords from Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) research to ensure that the content is seen by the right audience in the first place.
Client feedback is also important as they have the best understanding and insight into what works for their business.
