Transforming personal projects into a great marketing career

Alison Tyrrell’s career in marketing emerged from a personal side project: a blog about tattoo art. For this reason, she stresses the importance of following your interests and taking the initiative to build marketing experience. From reading books about behavioural economics and staying up to date with industry insights and data, to starting personal projects, Alison urges aspiring marketers to pursue their passions.

Eventually Alison’s experience led to her current role as global head of content, brand marketing and media at Spark Foundry, a global media agency brand within Publicis Media. She now works on every component of marketing campaigns, from analysis of initial data to ultimate activation.

In today’s episode, Shaheen Samavati talks to Alison about localization for audiences around the world, the difference between working brand-side and agency-side, and tips for recruiting in the marketing space.

You can watch the full conversation in the video above or on YouTube, and listen to the podcast on Apple or Spotify.

Rapid-fire recs

Sources of inspiration:
- Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne. “This book impacted the way I think about marketing campaigns. It inspired me to change my perspective and differentiate my work from that of competitors.”
- How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp. “It’s a great read about human behavior and how it’s tied to marketing.”
- “I also listen to podcasts about entrepreneurship, such as Masters of Scale and How I Built This, to learn how successful people made their visions a reality.”

Favorite app: Audible. “I use it for both personal and professional learning opportunities. It’s a great way to disconnect when you have pockets of free time throughout the day.”

“There’s so much to learn from successful entrepreneurs, because they’re truly the masters of finding opportunities in challenge. As a marketer, that’s what you do every day; you’re trying to understand who the audience is and how to overcome the challenges that you have to reach them in a valuable way.”

Connect with Alison and Shaheen on LinkedIn.

This post was edited by Jamie Albert.