[Video] A day in the life - Content Expert - Lauren Nuttall

In this video, Spencer sits down with our content expert, Lauren Nuttall. Lauren talks about her day-to-day role as the go-to content specialist at Axon Garside. 

If you'd like to know more about the roles within an inbound marketing agency, you can find it in our blog - Your Guide to Choosing an Inbound Marketing Agency.

Please find the transcript below:

Lauren:

Hi, I'm Lauren, I'm the senior copywriter here at Axon Garside.

Spencer:

What does your day look like as a senior copywriter?

Lauren:

It varies quite a bit to be honest. For what I do day-to-day, it can be anything from speaking to clients directly, to developing briefs for blogs, ebooks, landing pages, etc. - that's just one part.

I also obviously do a lot of copywriting. That can be creating copy for web pages, landing pages, whatever is needed - the list is endless. More recently, I tend to get involved with website page creation, which involves figuring out where the content needs to go on the page and determining the overall hierarchy of the page. I also look at what needs to be on the page and decide how to merge what the client wants to see on the page with what the user wants to see - as well as how they want to see that take form.

So, for example, it may be a factor that the content isn't right, or the user wants to see a specific feature that would function better as a video than as copy. I come up with the way that would work - the way the content should be seen. Then I will be either executing it myself or helping someone else execute it.

Spencer:

Can you tell me more about one of the projects you're working on?

Lauren:

Recently, we've done some work with a financial services company. So as you might expect, the content and what they as a business do can be quite difficult to get your head around if you don't have a preexisting knowledge of the industry.

So one part of my job is to go in and seek to understand as much about the business and industry as I possibly can. For example this client project required quite a bit of research around various aspects of the financial world. It's very educational as a writer - the role involves researching many different things.

In a project website project, for example, we have to think about understanding the client and their perspective, what they do, and what they do for their customers. But we also need to do our own research and understand the user who's going to be visiting the website - the client's ideal user. So where we start our research with social media, or just general articles and whitepapers around the industry - essentially what their target users might be interested in. Essentially, we're thinking about how those two aspects can work together.

That's something that's really interesting about working at Axon Garside - the research aspects that are involved in a website project, that aren't necessarily the same in a traditional project. Perhaps in other agencies everything's done in a more linear fashion - one after the other. However, what's interesting about working here is that you go away and do the research, and everybody else does their research and studies to fully understand the client before we begin working. It's not just assigning responsibilities such as "you design the website, and then you write the copy, and then you put the website live". We bring those things together as one, so that everything's working in harmony.

For example, day-to-day I'll work with the project's designer, inbound marketer, and strategist, to really figure out how our pages are going to come together - whether that's from a design point of view, a content point of view, or  just the general structure of the website, such as putting it together, asking "Will this work?", etc. That helps to iron out any issues early on, for example it helps us avoid a situation like someone designing a site, only to find that the copy doesn't fit and vice versa.

With our team, everything is done together, meaning you end up with a much more coherent website.

Spencer:

So traditionally, when you're doing research, you use Google, but is there any more technology that you use?

Lauren:

Definitely. I obviously use HubSpot a lot, though I might not use HubSpot day-to-day as much as some of our other team members, but I still use it a lot in terms of figuring out how modules will look on a page and to seeing what a page is going to look like.

Of course, Google Docs is my best friend for content purposes. Along with that, I'll use tools like Grammarly  to make sure that my writing is clear and concise and that everything is spelled correctly, which is a great help.

When I work with our designer, James, and I use Figma, which we'll use to collaborate on creating a wireframe and making that come to life.

Spencer:

What do you think content and content strategy looks like in 2021?

Lauren:

I definitely think copywriting as a whole as evolved. I think there's multiple disciplines which come from that as the web and writing gets more advanced. I think people have to think of new ways to convey information - we're not in the same landscape as 34 years ago with predominantly print copy. Now, we see targeted online copy such as Google Ads etc. - who knows what will come next? 

However, I do think we're having to pay more attention to the smaller things. So copywriting for the web is not just about writing a blog or a webpage - you've got to think about the CTA copy, the navigation, the forms, and how even the smallest words make the biggest impact to the overall result.

Spencer:

Your role sounds quite collaborative. Do you think there's an advantage to working with an agency rather than having an in-house copywriter or working with freelancers?

Lauren:

Absolutely. I think because we're an agency, there's so many different people that work so hard, and so many different insights that you can get from them that you wouldn't get outside of an agency. You can't really go out and research it all yourself unless you spend hours upon hours, it's not feasible.

I work constantly with designers, inbound marketers, strategists, and consultants, and everybody constantly brings new insights to things that I alone couldn't. With an agency, we can bring our own insights to a project and use other people's insights in collaboration. I think that's a great advantage over just having an in-house role where you're expected to be responsible for everything at once, which isn't really possible.

Spencer:

What's the highlight of your day?

Lauren:

To be honest, it is probably the collaboration. I'm a writer, so I have to do a lot of copy related activity on my own, but I do like the chance to get together with other people - to discuss things and get new ideas, things that I probably haven't thought of or perhaps I'm not knowledgeable enough about.

So my favourite part of this job is speaking to people day-to-day, learning from them, and figuring out problems together.

Spencer:

What's the most challenging part of your job?

Lauren:

Sometimes it can be the case that I've got a quite heavy workload that day, which can be quite intense. So if I've got to write for multiple clients in one day, changing your brain from one topic to the next can be a bit challenging. But on the flip side, that also keeps things fresh. It's much more interesting than just writing about the same things over and over again.

Spencer:

Do you have any top tips for aspiring copywriters or marketing teams in general?

Lauren:

For copywriters - I was fairly young when I started in this job - I came in from university. The idea that I had of what a copywrighter was in my head, is not what what I do now at all. I initially thought it's mainly about knowing how to write and knowing how to sell ideas through writing. But in practice, it involves having a wider understanding of marketing, the web, and just digital in general. That really helps you progress in this role because you understand the language of the web. So ultimately, you need to look beyond just writing and think about how everything works together as a whole.

Spencer:

Thanks a lot for your time, Lauren, it was good to know a bit more about how content fits into websites and wider inbound projects. Thanks to Lauren for joining us and telling us a bit about what happens in her day-to-day role