She may be the Director of The Aye Agency, a communications and digital marketing services agency based in Aberdeenshire, but Victoria MacDonald admits she doesn’t have a defined role.
“Instead I embody the “Aye” brand and do whatever needs to be done to make my work a success,” she says, “but my duties mostly fall into business development, sales and, more recently, managing the newly expanded Aye team.
“I’m just as much boots-on-the-ground as the various talented staff who work around me. One day I could be in a board meeting, the next I could be kicking back in a beautiful hotel (the perks!) and the next minute I could be appealing a client’s parking fine. Variety is everything.”
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And, if you thought PR and marketing was office-based or always online, think again. The company’s roots may be firmly fixed in the North East coast, but the agency doesn’t have a set base.
“We can often be found on the road,” says Victoria, “travelling from client to client with our agency and our Scottish lifestyle blog, The Aye Life.
“No two days are ever the same. Last week I was interviewing tourists on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile before flitting round the Highlands putting together a video shoot for a client. Yesterday I looked at a new kitchen and believe it or not even that was work-related! Then it was back in the car and down to meet with a heating company before popping out to review and work with a luxury farmhouse client.
“A typical day? No, thank you!”
Victoria believes the biggest challenges today in blogging, PR and modern marketing are staying consistent, managing budgets and being unique.
“We are often competing with big agencies and blogs with big budgets and numbers to match,” she says. “We don’t always have that, but we do put in every effort to pull in results for our clients. There’s no better feeling than watching sales come in for a client and knowing your advertising campaign – be it blog or marketing-related – has worked.”
There are many talents needed to be successful in modern marketing but Victoria stresses she has never believed in the need to have a typical “skill set”.
“I think it’s far more important to have life skills, such as determination, grit and the fire to want to succeed. Organisation is very important in order to meet client deadlines and to ensure the team around you are excelling in their workloads.
“I also think marketing requires a creative flair and the ability to look outside the box. I did bring skills from various job roles, although none of them was in marketing! I’ve worked in logistics (organisation), recruitment (team management) and banking (finance and promoting sales), all of which are skills I’ve adapted for this role.
“Funnily enough, there aren’t any specific qualifications or training you need to create this kind of business. But it definitely takes grit, determination and a spark to make this kind of business work!”
Victoria points out there are two different types of blog or marketing agency: one that’s been created but has no real drive and the other that has the drive to create and, in turn, succeed.
She adds: “You definitely need technical know-how to work in the digital marketing world, but I don’t believe you must spend lots of money and years to train, particularly when modern marketing changes so often.
“We are completely self-taught in everything from web design, social media and content creation to SEO and training. We tried and tested all these skills on our own channels before offering any of our services to businesses.
“We are always learning and for the things we don’t know we surround ourselves with people who do. Teamwork makes the dream work.”
Victoria’s advice for anyone who’d like to make it in this sector is simple: be unique.
“Don’t do the same advertised training programme as 6000 other people because you will all work in the same way. Don’t be afraid to try something different instead.
“Make sure you know what you shouldn’t do – for example, there are legalities in advertising that are important – but once you know what to avoid, you have free reign to try your own ideas.
“I personally come from a very difficult background. I have experienced abuse and homelessness as a child. Experiencing this has given me my own personal battles and has made me particularly hard on myself. Once I found something I could do well, and do for me, it changed my life.
“If I can do it, you can too. Just work hard and feed your passion!”
If meeting Victoria has inspired you to explore new career opportunities, why not let s1jobs guide you through the latest vacancies in Marketing and PR?