Alexandra Aguirre Tully is the brand marketing lead at Airtasker, Australia’s largest local services marketplace.
As part of her role, Alexandra has spearheaded Airtasker’s key campaigns; the newly launched ‘The Best Person For The Job Isn’t Who You Think’ purpose-led campaign and the highly acclaimed ‘Like A Boss’ and ‘To Do, Ta Da’ campaigns.
Balance the Grind spoke to Alexandra about her career background, looking after Airtasker’s brand, typical day in her life, cooking as a form of meditation, understanding her limits and more.
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1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your background and career?
I loved writing as a kid, and had aspirations to be a journalist. That dream followed me right through to university, where I studied Journalism.
After landing a casual job during uni at The World Movies Channel, I was introduced to the world of marketing and haven’t looked back. Those were the glory days – creating awesome campaigns for incredible foreign films on a channel that didn’t even have ratings to hold us accountable!
From there, I moved over to ACP Magazines in a newly formed team dedicated to driving subscriptions for a women’s lifestyle portfolio.
After a career break backpacking around Europe – the kind of break you can take when you’re 24 – I entered the world of retail marketing for Luxottica.
It was there I found my niche in brand and campaigns after working with what I now realise was an overabundance of incredible female mentors.
After some years there, I was keen to leave the traditional categories – retail and media, and check out what the tech space had to offer by accepting the role I’m still in today at Airtasker.
2) What is your current role and what does it entail on a day to day basis?
I’m in the very privileged position to look after all things brand marketing over at local services marketplace, Airtasker. A brand role within a tech company isn’t the most common, particularly in Australia.
I came on board to raise awareness of the brand, which we’ve done through some fantastic campaigns including Like A Boss, and the more recent purpose-led campaign ’The Best Person for the Job Isn’t Who You Think’.
Driving earned media is also a big part of the job, including initiatives like Awesome Tasks, which has in the past driven so much traffic to the site it’s crashed.
3) What does a typical day in the life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?
A typical day always starts with a team stand-up. The marketing team has evolved over the years, and now I have the pleasure of being surrounded by some incredibly talented growth marketers looking after all things SEO, PPC and Messaging.
Marketing was a whole lot more traditional and above the line focused when I started out, so learning from my peers about all things growth marketing has been really interesting, and hugely rewarding.
After catching up on everyone’s to-do list, I’ll write my own list which usually encompasses touching base with our account team over at Seven West Media to plan our next burst of ATL media and exploring new integration opportunities.
My next chunk of time will be dedicated to fielding emails received overnight. I’ve recently brought on board a team based in the US who assist us in researching and writing tangential content that we use to generate earned media and back links.
Comms with international teams can be difficult, particularly when time zones just don’t quite align, but we’ve got ourselves into a good rhythm.
From there, the afternoon can be anything from:
- fielding interview requests with exec team members
- managing media enquiries
- planning campaigns
- briefing copywriters
- scheduling social media, or
- catching up with the SEO lead to understand category prioritisations and where I need to focus my efforts.
4) Do you have any tips, tricks or shortcuts to help you prioritise your workload?
There is nothing more comforting to me than a good ol’ handwritten to-do list.
I’ll write one every day, even if I have the same to-do list as the day before. I’ve tried so many list-making programs – Trello et al, but nothing makes me feel more organised than a handwritten list.
5) In between your job, life and all your other responsibilities, how do you ensure you find some sort of balance in your life?
Again, lists. Not just for work, but for my personal life.
After years of double booking or forgetting to tell each other about important events, my husband and I have got into a good rhythm of sending each other calendar invites to plan out our weekends and evenings.
Even if I don’t check everything off those lists, knowing that I have everything that’s been circling around in my head written down clears my head and I can concentrate on one task at the time.
6) What are some of the things you do to take time out and recharge?
Cooking dinner at the end of the day is my wind down.
I’ve recently realised it’s my form of meditation – those 30 – 45 mins concentrating on the task at hand completely clears my head of what happened that day at work, things I’ve forgotten to do, things I could have done better.
I can’t promise the food is that great, but it certainly makes me feel a whole lot better!
7) What do you think are some of the best habits you’ve developed over the years to help you strive for success and balance?
Understanding my limits. Early on, I thought I had to be the best at everything. I realise now what my strengths are, and have accepted and let go of the things I’m just not that good at.
8) Are there any books you’ve read that have helped you with work-life balance?
I’m a little skeptical of self-help or business-focused books – they’re just not for me.
I do love to listen to podcast interviews with people doing some great things, which give me the inspiration I need to list in a certain area of my life – be it work or balance.
My favourite is my hero Seth Godin’s ‘Akimbo’ – if I could take anyone’s brain, it would be his.
9) What is the number one thing you do to make sure you get the most out of your day?
One large flat white, thank you.
