At the intersection of media and marketing, you’ll find me. I am Janice Yucel, the latest addition to the Red Shark Digital team as the new marketing manager.
Like many marketers, my background started in media. I pursued news-editorial journalism in college and earned two degrees in the field at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. I loved to write and I enjoyed certain parts of reporting as well. Aggregating/analyzing data and doing background research was a lot of fun, as well as interacting with people on a regular basis. The subsequent release of the information into a written story was cathartic.
However, I inevitably decided I didn’t have the necessary grit to be a great (and happy) journalist, and that I would be better suited for the PR/marketing route. For the past eight years, I have honed my skills as a marketer and merged them with my journalistic skills in order to create new business opportunities for others.
The skills required in each field are quite intersected, as at the core of any successful marketing campaign is great content. Great content requires quality, original writing that is factual and useful for the reader. Great content is what drives links to build up SEO strength and bolster your rankings. Concise, effective content is what gets a potential customer to click on your ad, make a purchase or fill out a lead form.
In order to create effective content, you must not only possess effective writing skills, but you must also take the time to research the target audience and understand what matters to them. You must draw them in not only with compelling text, but know enough of their interests to present an enticing visual story as well.
Once you put your work out there, it is vital to see how your understanding of the target audience measures up. So you must continuously analyze the data to tweak and improve your messaging, adjust user experience, or modify when and where you’re sending out your ad, email or social media post. You must also monitor the vehicles you’re using to deliver your content, ensuring it is easily found by your intended audience. That means not only staying on top of the technical functionality of a website but also staying up-to-date on content-delivery platforms for ads and social.
I am looking forward to continuing my journey in digital marketing at Red Shark with the bright, creative minds working here today. On most days, you’ll be able to find me working out of the Raleigh, NC office located in the heart of downtown.
When I’m not there, I’ll be playing, reading, painting and exploring with my family including my two-year-old daughter and five-year-old son.