Our Industry Profile takes a look at some of the professionals working across the advertising, adtech, marketing and media sector in Australia. It aims to shed light on the varying roles and companies across the buzzing industry.
This week we speak to James Richardson, co-founder of Optimising
Time in current role/time at the company:
I co-founded Optimising 14 years ago now
How would you describe what the company does?
We do SEO and Paid Media for a wide range of clients.
We help brands improve their organic search traffic and visibility on Google Search.
What do you do day-to-day?
Every day is really different. Usually I will be pitching to a big national brand, or I might be on the phone with a partner agency discussing a shared project. Other days, I’ll jump on the tools and help the team out with client work like technical audits or reports.
Define your job in one word:
Varied!
I got into marketing/advertising/media/tech because:
I was drawn to digital marketing, and in particular SEO, as it combines two interests of mine - the internet and marketing. I’ve always liked the seemingly unlimited potential the internet has, it even continues to evolve to this day. I started building websites when I was just in my teens (some terrible sports fan sites) so I always knew I wanted to do something online.
What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role?
At the moment, the biggest challenge in our industry is people. We have a really strong team at Optimising and we want to maintain that strength even when in a growth stage (as we are in now).
Hiring, as well as ensuring we keep supporting our existing team to do the great work they do, is always a challenge.
What’s the biggest industry-wide challenge you’d like to see tackled?
The standard of SEO work.
SEO is a very unregulated industry and there is no real industry body or accreditation. With such a small barrier to entry into the industry, we see many SEO businesses unqualified to be offering the services they do and that is a real problem. It’s easy to be seduced by fancy websites and cheap retainers, but poor quality SEO work and techniques can actually end up putting your business at a disadvantage, or even in the Google sin bin.
Notable campaigns you have worked on:
We built some great products for the AFL and Richmond Football Club in the early days (including The Superboot). We’re proud of the work we’ve done for household names including The Good Guys, Nando’s, and Jim’s Group.
Who has been a great mentor to you and why?
I am not sure I can single out just one. However, there’s a few other agency owners that I speak to regularly. It’s great having a network of people who understand what the industry is like and are having similar experiences and challenges. I think it's important to talk openly about things as in many industries people can be so guarded.
Words of advice for someone wanting a job like yours?
A classic line that business owners often ask each other is “Do you still enjoy it?”. I think this is an important thing to continually ask yourself and question whether it still rings true. Running a business isn’t for everyone. It’s a significant amount of work and responsibility so if you aren’t enjoying it - then it’s time to do something else!
If I wasn't doing this for a living, I'd be:
I fancy myself as a bit of a gardener and in a different life, I could see myself in landscaping.
My mantra is:
Always be a good person to everyone you meet. It’s a small industry and people remember - you never know when you’ll bump into someone again!
My favourite advert is:
Being a big NBA fan I have to pick something from the 90s era. The “Be Like Mike” campaign by Gatorade has to be a favourite of mine. So iconic and at a time jingles were the key to success. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu3FE489LUQ
Music and TV streaming habits. What do you subscribe to?
Probably all of them!
My most used would be Spotify and my NBA League Pass subscription - I never miss a game.
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?
My very first job was hosing down and cleaning a Woolies butcher shop (I would not recommend it!).
In five years' time I'll be:
Still running Optimising, but on a bigger scale. I’ll also be much more refreshed and well rested as my kids will be past their sleepless nights and crack of dawn wake ups!
I still love what I do, and Optimising is just getting started, even after 14 years in the game
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