Miki Clarke
Our Industry Profile takes a look at some of the professionals working across the advertising, ad tech, 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 Wavemaker national head of SEO & CRO Miki Clarke.
Duration in current role/time at the company:
Current role 14 months, and six years with Wavemaker (previously MEC).
In one sentence, how would you describe what the company does?
Buy media, build content and leverage tech for the purpose of building brands and driving business goals.
In one sentence, what do you do day-to-day?
Get client websites to the top of Google and optimise user journeys to generate business goals.
Define your job in one word:
Evolving.
I got into advertising/ad tech/marketing etc because:
I wanted a change after working in domain names for seven years and accidentally stumbled upon SEO.
What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role?
Clients’ inability to implement our recommendations, either due to technical limitations or brand constraints.
What’s the biggest industry-wide challenge you’d like to see tackled?
Attribution.
Previous industry related companies you have worked at:
Greenlight, a search agency in London, for three years and Debenhams, a UK department store, as in-house SEO Manager for two years.
Who is/has been a great mentor to you and why?
Still remains my Grandma; from a child through to my mid-20s, before she unfortunately died of cancer. She was inspirational.
Words of advice for someone wanting a job like yours?
Be curious, enjoy problem solving and have a healthy dose of common sense. More tangibly: read blogs, especially Google’s Webmaster Central and Analytics, and do as many free Google Academy modules and exams as you can.
If I wasn’t doing this for a living, I’d be:
I’d like to think I’d be a ski instructor, as that was always my dream, but I think I prefer the warmer weather in Sydney!
My mantra / philosophy is:
Lead by example.
My favourite advert is:
I tend to avoid ads if I can, but the Tourism Australia Super Bowl ad was laugh-out-loud funny enough for me to share with a few friends.
Music and TV streaming habits. What do you subscribe to?
I subscribe to Netflix and Spotify and get the most amazing value out of them as I use them almost daily.
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?
I got married when I was 19. Without doubt the worst decision I ever made, as it only lasted a year but definitely character building.
In five years’ time I’ll be:
Working with an awesome team of passionate and ambitious people, producing exciting work and growing brands. Hopefully in a position to afford to buy a house in Sydney, too!
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