In the latest installment of the Meet the Team series, we spoke to one of the key members of the Hicomply team, head of digital marketing Sharon Gwati-Mudzudzu.
She discloses how she got her start in digital marketing, how the industry is changing, and delivers her key advice for anyone wanting to get involved in the world of marketing.
How did you get your start in the industry?
I was a junior marketing exec at the first agency I worked at in Zimbabwe and they wanted me (as I appeared to have nothing better to do!) to look into a new product that Google, which was new in Zimbabwe at that time, had launched: Google Adsense. I monetised that and here I am. This was in 2003 😊
I could have been the very first person to have made money off Google in Zimbabwe, as I ran Adsense for the first time on all the main newspapers in 2003 – nobody else was doing it!
How has the industry changed since you started out?
Google has grown in influence in all marketing channels people use. But in SEO, regardless of what changes are made in technology and algorithms, the basics are still important in website ranking. Understanding and implementing the basic HTML SEO ranking rules are still effective ways to improve your website's ranking.
What is your favourite part of your job?
Analysing data!
Where do you see the industry in the next five years?
The industry will be heavily data driven as data visualisation improves.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to join the marketing industry?
You are either the creative or the data person. Pick one and be really good and you will enjoy it more.
What mistakes do you often see businesses make with their marketing?
Going with trends/competitor activities while ignoring insights from their own in-house data. Search insights and user journey data provide the best optimisation data for your own website.
