Laura is a professional writer, editor, and digital marketer, and joins us from one of the UK’s leading independent job boards where she worked as Content Executive.
With over five years’ experience in the industry and a degree in English Literature and Creative Writing with a Year Abroad, she has published hundreds of articles for various markets, industries and publications across the globe, including The Guardian and Salesforce.
With additional experience in managing content strategy, link-building projects and everything in between, she joins Seeker as Digital Campaign Manager, directing our high-volume outreach and SEO campaigns.
We sat down with Laura to get to know her professionally and personally.
Who are you?
Hi all! I’m Laura, a digital marketing professional with a love of writing, running, reading and food. I’ve recently relocated to Bristol from a little town in Hampshire, and I can’t wait to get to know this bustling, creative city.
How do you like Bristol so far?
I’m slowly getting to know it and love everything I’ve seen so far – although I’ve explored most of it galavanting on 10-mile runs! I have no doubt I’ll take a deep dive into the culture at the heart of the city through the spring and summer months as I settle. Relocation isn’t really a new one for me. As part of my degree, I had the opportunity to study abroad in Long Beach, California, and that’s where my writing career began.
How did you become a professional writer?
I’m fortunate to have experienced a relatively straightforward trajectory into the industry. As a lover of literature and all things lingual, pursuing the study and pedagogy of creative writing was an obvious choice.
I started out as a student journalist and academic writer in The States and then became a news editor at a student publication on my return to the UK. (If you’re a student and want to get into journalism, I highly suggest checking out SPA.) During university, I also had the opportunity to teach a few creative writing seminars which was awesome.
After graduation, I joined a job board as Digital Copywriter, and things took off from there. In addition to looking after multiple blogs, including content production, the writers network and SEO strategy, I got stuck in with social media, digital PR and outreach. As my digital marketing knowledge-base and ability grew, I transitioned into Content Executive.
What brings you to Seeker?
I moved to Bristol as my partner is based here, so in addition to finding a place to live that suited us, I had to find a company that suited my personality and skill set to the tee.
As a specialist marketing and outreach agency, Seeker was an obvious fit for my ability. But as soon as I read the line ‘we do what we do because we love it’ on the website, I knew it was a personality match too. I live and breathe content marketing, and it’s so refreshing working with a bunch of people that are on the same wavelength.
What’s your SEO knowledge like?
My SEO knowledge is decent. I’m not a beginner, but I’m not expert-level yet. I haven’t had any official training with certificates to confirm my ability, but I’ve worked with some fantastic people that have brought me up to speed with the most technical aspects from a content perspective. I feel what I have achieved as a result speaks volumes over a qualification. I can’t wait to learn more at Seeker!
Any advice for those pursuing a digital marketing career?
Never underestimate the amount of easily accessible resources there are to nurture your digital marketing knowledge. If you’re after a taster, I recommend Google Digital Garage which has a broad range of free tutorials to boost your digital skill set.
I graduated university with a humanities degree and never touched digital marketing professionally until that point. I jumped on every learning opportunity I could, whether that be talking to professionals in the industry over LinkedIn or through blogs, newsletters and forums. A little perseverance goes a long way.
How about for those who want to write professionally?
I’m a firm believer that anyone can do anything if they want it enough. Start by getting your ability up to scratch by reading content that’s similar to what you want to write about – the reading material could be aligned by topic or form – and writing regularly.
Also, get yourself a writing group or editor to critique your writing. Critique is much more useful than praise, and while it can be brutal at times, it will make you a better writer (trust me, I’ve been there).
Consider contacting websites for ad-hoc guest blogging opportunities to help you build your portfolio. Don’t fall into the trap of stretching yourself so far that your writing suffers, writing for free more than is necessary or writing about topics that are outside the niche you’re pursuing. For example, if you want to write about lifestyle topics, it’s more beneficial to pen articles within that niche to showcase your expertise.
Once you have a few clippings in your portfolio, it’s time to approach prospective employers for writing opportunities. Entry-level writing roles include Junior Copywriter, PR Assistant and Junior Content Writer. In the same vein, familiarise yourself with freelance rates so you know what to shoot for when your career starts to take off.
Got a question for Laura? Leave them in the comments below, and she’ll get back to you.
