Brisbane Digital Spotlight is a blog series that aims to shine light on the exceptional talent within the city’s digital community. With each post, I uncover a devoted individual within my network who I’ve recognised to be deeply engaged in the digital industry. Whether it be a Digital Marketer, a Developer, a Co-founder, a Project Manager, or even a Recruiter – my goal is to highlight the work these remarkable individuals do; day in, day out.

In this instalment of the Brisbane Digital Spotlight, I caught up with the recently married Ashton Tuckerman (AKA Ashton Rigg). Ashton is the Brand Marketing Manager at YouFoodz, the Brisbane-based food startup streamlining end-to-end meal services for its users.

Ashton is someone that I’ve constantly crossed paths through almost every platform but the real world. I’m stoked to have the opportunity to uncover more about Ashton’s background in the digital space, and share her insights into driving digital growth, influencer marketing, and digital strategies for 2019.

First of all, congrats on the recent wedding! How difficult has it been changing your name across every platform or database?

Thank you! Look, it’s been a process. I have a spreadsheet I’ve been ticking off with each name change – just a few of the biggies left, like the passport.

Tell us a little about your background, how did you land in the digital space?

I studied Journalism and majored in Integrated Marketing Communications, which I chose it because it sounded impressive (only half kidding; I liked the mix of subjects, which included Advertising & PR).

Two weeks before graduation, I started at Flight Centre as a copywriter. I ended up spending close to five years as a ‘Flightie’, writing SEO copy, then print editorial, managing the content team, working in a content partnerships role, and finally moving into a bit of a ‘startup’ project (still at Flight Centre).

Even though the project (and our team) was eventually wound up, it was the best move I could have made. I started dabbling in email marketing, mapping customer journeys, running our paid social and SEM… I basically went from being a specialist to a generalist, which helped me gain an understanding of full-funnel marketing and how all the pieces work together.

I was planning to go all-in as a freelancer when I left Flight Centre, but a friend at Youfoodz (our brilliant Head of CX, Caitie Dodds) told me they were looking for a content manager. I was already a customer and a huge fan of the YF brand, so it was a hard yes from me!

Tell us more about Youfoodz and the exciting work they do.

It’s always exciting times at Youfoodz! In The Agency (our in-house team of Creative, Marketing & Digital), we’ve gone from about 11 staff when I started early last year, to more than 50 team members.

Even though we’re in this huge growth period, we’re still maintaining incredible focus on our customer and their experience with the brand.

We’re working on scaling our ability to meet our customer’s wants and needs, whether it’s adding new brekky options to the menu or bringing on new retailers (what up, Aldi?)

This year, our Marketing goal is to provide measurable value to our customers. That word ‘value’ is coming through a lot of what we’re doing right now.

We see ourselves as more than just ready-made meals; we aim to be the Future of Food.

What does your role at Youfoodz entail?

‘Brand Marketing Manager’ is a bit of a fluid title for me. You could call me an Online Marketing Manager or Content & Social Media Manager and I’ll still answer.

My main responsibilities are lining up our online promotions calendar to hit sales targets (with guidance from our AMAZING data analyst); driving content and social strategy; and writing all the words – everything from big campaign taglines to weekly social ads, alongside our Content Specialist, Anna. Phew!

What can often be some of the challenges of marketing in a startup?

I do a little bit of everything, which I love – though it can be a challenge when your focus is split. A personal challenge for me is knowing what I need to be involved in, and what I should step away from (it’s hard because I get so excited about the work and I want to be a part of everything that’s happening!)

Everyone at YF will tell you our biggest challenge is time. Nothing is ever off the table; we have the opportunity to do absolutely anything, which is amazing but also means deciding what we do first.

We also have an incredibly high standard when it comes to what we put out into the market. Our Creative Team are honestly one of the best in Australia. The talent we have in-house is truly extraordinary.

I know you’re quite passionate about working with influencers. Do you have any tips for brands looking to begin their experience with influencer marketing?

If you’re new to the influencer landscape, the first thing you need to do is really look at who you’re trying to talk to, and choose your influencers wisely based on your ideal target market.

You want to work with influencers who align with your brand values; if they can bring authenticity to the content they create to help promote your brand, you’ve struck gold.

We have the benefit of working with Scrunch, who can offer us incredible insights about an influencer’s audience breakdown and engagement stats, but if you don’t have access to in-depth data, just focus on engagement.

It’s more than ‘likes’ – it’s the conversations people are having about your, the click-throughs, the shares, the repeat activity.

It might be too soon to call, but do you have any predictions for the digital marketing landscape in 2019?

There are a few global trends yet to have a real impact in Australia, like voice search, but 2019 might be the year! They say half of all searches will be made by voice in 2020.

I think traditional TV advertisers will slowly start to move to the likes of catch-up TV, and video content of all forms (short-form lean-in, long-form lean-back) will just keep exploding.

Other things to watch: AR (not just on Snapchat), chatbots, and podcasts.

What are some of your favourite things to do around sunny Brisbane when not at work?

I’m a serial restaurant hopper; I love to try somewhere new every weekend (I used to review for the Good Food Guide so I’ve been lucky enough to try the best spots all around the South East).

My long-time faves are The Smug Fig for brunch and 1889 Enoteca for something special, and my current ‘to-trys’ are Donna Chang and Honto.

My husband is a former sports journo and his passion has rubbed off on me (like my love of food on him!), so we usually catch a few Brisbane Roar games (my team), head down south to watch Sydney FC (his team), and never miss the Brisbane International. Tennis, anyone?

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About me: 

I’m a twenty-three year old Digital Marketing & Conversions Specialist based in Brisbane, Australia. With a passion for all things digital and tech, I aim to connect and learn from as many like-minded digital enthusiasts as possible. If you have a passion for emerging technologies and digital practices, I’d love to connect and hear your story.