Nine Twenty Recruitment caught up with Ashley from Tag Digital. Tag Digital was established in 2011 by Laura and Craig Davidson, and is a paid media marketing agency dedicated to the global events sector. The team use search, programmatic, social and video advertising to support their event organiser clients to reach their goals across events, content and other digital products.
Tag Digital uses keywords, audience and behavioural targeting to identify users who are interested in their clients' events and then market the appropriate adverts to them to drive a conversion.
Below is our interview with Ashley Hamilton, Google Team Lead at Tag Digital
1. What did you do before working at Tag Digital?
I graduated from University in 2012, and kick-started my career in digital marketing working for a SME with a graduate position which is where I self-taught myself Google Ads. From there, I went on to work for one of Scotland’s largest travel agencies where I furthered my paid media knowledge dealing with large budgets and targets.
2. What attracted you to working at Tag Digital?
For me it was a mix of the opportunity to really expertise in the field and the company culture Laura and Craig have built here at Tag Digital. At the time, moving from a known and established company to an agency I wasn’t so familiar with was quite a risk to me - one I’m glad I took to this day.
3. How long have you worked at Tag Digital?
4 years in August just passed!
4. What is your role at Tag Digital?
I’ve progressed from PPC Specialist to Senior PPC Specialist to my current role as Google Team Lead. Tag Digital is big on career progression and in a way that offers opportunity for all of the team. Moving to team lead seems like an obvious progression route but that’s not always appealing to everyone and at Tag Digital our team’s progression path allows them to expertise in a particular field within PPC while moving up our competency framework.
5. What does your role in the business entail?
As Google team lead I manage the half of the technical team who manage ppc campaigns on Google Ads, as well as Microsoft, DV360, Baidu, YouTube. I’m accountable for a high level of performance across the team, setting quarterly goals that align with the team's 12 month career plans at Tag Digital. I am also still very involved in running campaigns which allows me to stay on top of the latest betas and innovations to push the boundaries of PPC alongside the team.
6. What's your favourite thing about your job?
The measurability of what we do is so rewarding - we have developed a benchmarking tool which is specific to the event industry and split across the many industry sectors and Geos we work in and is something that really gives us an advantage.
I also love the constant learning, Google really keeps you on your toes with updates which is fun (even though broad match keywords still scare me).
7. What do you enjoy most about working at Tag Digital?
Honestly, the culture is second to none. The company values (get it done, growth mindset, relationships matter and be proud) align with my own values - which is something I’ve learned is so important to me in where I work.
We are accountable for our own work and encouraged to take risks - without blame if they don’t work out. There is a real passion for innovation at Tag Digital and the full team are brilliant and driven to be the best they can be.
I have also had the opportunity to travel to support the team in boosting brand awareness and exposure through exhibiting at an industry event, in front of our target audience. I was lucky enough to travel to Las Vegas for Expo Expo with the team in 2019, which was an amazing experience. We met some incredible people, did some very fun things, whilst working hard to generate new business leads and build relationships, new and existing.
8. What is the best thing you have learned since working at Tag Digital?
Overall, becoming an expert in Google ads. As Google Premier Partners I was lucky to be invited to become a Digital Champions for Smart Bidding at the beginning of 2020 (pre-pandemic) which has become the new norm in paid media as we move further towards automation in 2021 and in 2022.
If you are interested in working at Tag Digital we would love to hear from you. Apply now via the links below, or get in touch with Nine Twenty Technology for a confidential chat.
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