Q&A with Lauren Halligan

Date: 28 March 2024

Meet our Senior Marketing Communications Executive, Lauren, and find out more about her and what she does here at Wonder.

How did you get into doing your job?

This is going to sound very cliche, but I’ve been an avid reader since I was a child which sparked an interest and passion in writing. When I was younger I used to say I wanted to be an author growing up until a family member kindly pointed out that sadly, this wasn’t a career I could just walk out of school into. They then suggested that journalism would be a better career option for me as my day-to-day job would still involve writing.

In 2017 I began studying Journalism at Leeds Beckett University and graduated in 2020. Obviously, 2020 didn’t present a lot of job opportunities what with the world shutting down and all so I took the time to develop my own knowledge and skills and do some online courses. 

I was completing Google’s Fundamentals of Digital Marketing course when something hit me that maybe journalism wasn’t quite the career for me and marketing seemed much more appealing. I could still follow my passion for writing and use all of the skills I’d learnt on my journalism degree, just in a much more creative way.

What did you do before working for The Wonder Agency?

I had been working part-time at Costa Coffee during my studies and continued to work there whilst lockdowns 2.0 and 3.0 happened, applying for entry-level marketing positions. Trying to land a job in the middle of a global pandemic however? It wasn’t so easy.

In April 2021 when the world was slowly going back to normal, my luck changed when I applied for a Marketing Executive position at a Leeds based telecoms company. They were impressed with my journalism portfolio and some of the social media based work experience I was able to complete before the pandemic, and offered me the role. 

I worked there for 2 years and progressed to a Senior Marketing Executive position. I worked closely alongside a marketing agency to carry out a wide range of activities like developing campaigns with the sales teams, creating marketing collateral and writing and designing email campaigns. 

What do you do for The Wonder Agency?

As a Senior Marketing Communications Executive at Wonder I get to focus on what I love best, writing content! My day-to-day is filled with creating exciting and engaging content for our clients, whether this be blogs, social media posts or updating copy on their websites.

This also includes getting nitty gritty with SEO and optimising our clients content to boost their search engine rankings or dipping my toes into their paid media and writing new, catchy ads for their socials or Google Ads. 

Ultimately, if a task requires a bit of copy, I’m the person everyone in the office comes to!

What are the most challenging and rewarding parts of your role?

I’ve never worked in an agency before so it’s taken some time to adjust to how things work and switching between working on multiple clients, which has also meant getting used to writing in multiple tones of voice! 

I love seeing the work I’ve produced live on websites and socials however and knowing that I’ve played a small part in a client's success. It’s also incredibly rewarding to be able to have turned my passion into a career and enjoy what I do everyday!

What advice would you give someone starting out?

It would definitely be to try and get some industry experience on your side. More and more companies these days are tossing CVs to one side if they see you have no previous experience in the industry and unfortunately, writing your own blog doesn’t cut it sometimes. 

If you’re currently in sixth form or university and are looking to step into the marketing industry, definitely reach out to some local marketing agencies and ask if they can offer you a week of work experience - this will do wonders for your CV! 

Also take some time to carry out some free online courses to boost your skills and knowledge and these will also look great on your CV. There are plenty of free courses out there on a range of topics like copywriting, social media management and email marketing that will give you a boost when starting out!

Are you in the process of working on a digital project and require a helping hand crafting some clever, catchy copy for your ads or some engaging, effective and enticing content for your SEO that will take your website to new heights? Then you’re in luck as Lauren, and the rest of our wonderful team, are here and happy to help! Simply drop us a message, we’re always keen to chat about new projects and how our services can help!