In this post, we will be looking at a day in the life of a B2B marketing executive at Fifty Five and Five. It’s time to meet Laura Lopez.
Hi Laura, let’s start with a little bit about yourself.
“Hi, I’m from Spain and I have been living in the UK for almost six years. I originally studied journalism, but when I came over to the UK I started working in marketing. Most of my professional experience has been centred around technology in one way or the other. I first worked on the Marketing Team at a Microsoft Partner before moving to Fifty Five and Five – we specialise in working with Microsoft Partners as well as other technology companies. Over the years, I’ve learnt a lot about technology, but I’ve always remained interested in how it can empower businesses.”
Tell us about your role and what you do at Fifty Five and Five.
“I’m one of the Marketing Executives in our marketing team—we focus on managing business relationships with B2B technology companies aiming to optimise their digital marketing. So, for me, I’m spending a lot of my time managing clients’ social media accounts and running PPC campaigns.”
What does this involve exactly?
“For managing social media, it means a lot of searching for new content to post, growing our clients’ numbers of followers and engaging with their audiences.
“When it comes to pay-per-click (PPC), we set up and manage campaigns on Google AdWords, Facebook or YouTube. For every client the goal of the campaign is slightly different – we sit down with them to understand what they expect to achieve from the campaign. We decide on the goals and set the KPIs that we want to track. If the client is more interested in social engagement, we track post engagement and reactions; if they’re interested in downloads, we track conversion stats using tools like Google Analytics.”
What does a typical day in the life of a B2B marketing executive look like?
“It’s a good mix of old and new! There are certain things that we do every day, like managing social media. But one day might also involve lots of SEO, such as making sure client blogs or web pages are optimised, while the next might involve setting up a PPC campaign. Sometimes both. If there’s a new client, we spend a lot of time researching the company, getting to know what they’re about.
“There’s always a lot of things that we need to fit into one day. We need great time management skills to be able to manage our priorities and make sure we meet our deadlines.”
What tools do you use to help get work done?
We use lots. There are many great tools available to make life easier for marketers, such as:
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is essential for social media. It’s mainly known for scheduling posts, but it does lots of great things. It tracks what your followers are talking about, which can be useful when you need to find content that your audience will respond to. It also highlights posts (you can search for topics of interest to you) that have received the most tweets or likes so it is very good for finding great material to retweet.
Moz
We use Moz for SEO. Not only does it help you find the best keywords to use, but it helps you identify any issues with your website that you need to solve (regarding SEO) and shows you how well our pages are ranking. It’s essential.
Spyfu
This tool is invaluable for competitor analysis and keyword research. It shows you keywords other companies are using to give you an idea of what they are targeting.
Buzzsumo
Buzzsumo is amazing as well. It helps you find content and increase your following on Twitter.
What do you enjoy most about being a marketing executive?
“I love the time we spend researching. You have to stay on top of all the latest trends, so reading about the world of technology and marketing is key. There’s always something new to learn. That goes for skills, too. It’s quite a demanding role, so you need to keep developing your skillset. Above all, you need to be organised, creative and to be able to put yourself in the client’s shoes.”
- Organised
When it comes to campaigns, you need to know when a campaign is going to start, because timing is everything. If a client wants to start on a particular date, then it needs to be ready to go on that date. With longer relationships, you can usually compromise if deadlines need to change. But delays can lead to the entire campaign falling apart.
- Creative
All marketing professionals need to be creative – for instance, the wording of a tweet or new strategies to apply to SEO. You need to be always open to coming up with new ideas. And you need to be able drive projects forward with creative problem solving too.
- Slipping into your clients’ shoes
Being able to put yourself in your client’s shoes is more applicable for agencies like us that work with lots of different clients, because no two companies are the same.
What is the most interesting thing you have learnt?
“The thing that has made the biggest difference to my skillset since joining Fifty Five and Five is building up my knowledge of SEO. Before I had a fair amount of experience – I would optimise posts, for instance. But now my knowledge is far more in-depth. Now, thanks to the knowledge of my colleagues and due to training experiences afforded here, I’m as well-versed on the topic as ever!”
How important is it to keep improving and to keep on training?
“It’s really important to keep learning. Everyday there are new things to learn. For example, Google is altering its algorithm all the time. You need to keep on top of the wave of change or you’ll miss out and it will affect your client’s SEO. But that’s also what makes the role so fulfilling—there are always new tools to increase audience engagement on social media and new strategies to excel in PPC. It’s important not to just look at the news but to also keep yourself updated with tutorials. For example, we use Lynda, which is great for learning new skills. In fact, I used it yesterday to take an advanced training course in Google AdWords.”
Laura is just one of many specialist marketing professionals who work at Fifty Five and Five. To learn more about what we do or how to market your IT, explore our services page or check out our case studies today.