James Sampson

James Sampson is a seasoned digital marketing professional and a former Marketing Director of a consulting firm. On a typical day, Sampson develops and executes various marketing plans, interprets market data, schedules expenditure and oversees staff training. His core expertise includes Mobile Marketing, Brand Management, Web Content, Social Media Management and Advanced Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Under Sampson’s expertise and guidance many client firms have enhanced their presence on the web and seen their bottom-line improve. Sampson attributes his enduring successes to self-motivation and sharp customer focus. During free time, James Sampson enjoys blogging, participating in team sports and traveling outdoors.

What do you do?

I am a long serving marketing director focused on expanding digital aspects of marketing such as brand management, social media management, web content and competition tracking.

How long have you been in business?

I started working as a junior marketing consultant before taking up the position of marketing manager. I was a marketing manager for roughly 25 years before moving into the role of director, but have recently gone into partial retirement.

Are there any unique challenges in your industry?

Competition can be nerve wracking in the digital marketing sphere. The struggle is enunciated by the challenges that come with managing and organizing less than perfect marketing teams. The other challenges include adopting new marketing trends and closing the sales loop in the shortest time possible. Pertaining to new marketing trends, I always make every effort to keep track of changes through print media, social media and other digital platforms. Depending on resource availability, a collaboration effort with inbound marketing agencies can also go a long way to lessen the burden of gathering data and other resources thus saving time and money.

Can you mention any particular challenges that you’ve personally addressed?

When I became a marketing director, I noticed a weakness in the internal communication setup. The situation led to poor data collection, replicated roles and inefficient communication between various cadres of staff. Although everybody did their work, there wasn’t a centralized system to reconcile the various marketing strategies. To solve the problem, I began by deploying an effective system to collate, organize, interpret and promote information sharing. The end result was a cohesive marketing strategy that brought in traffic and increased leads.

What is your assessment of the industry? Is it growing, declining or unchanging?

First of all, the digital economy touches on every facet of our lives. In businesses, we see more firms increasing their digital marketing budgets and investing in online sales. When you look at the recent hiring trends, you will notice a growing number of B2B to B2C companies are hiring marketers. The industries leading the onslaught include transportation, media, healthcare and retail and consumer goods entities. Marketers have certain unique skills that employers find attractive such as data science background, lateral leadership ability and market tech platform experience. Lastly, there is still a lot in the pipeline as trends like omnichannel marketing strategy, cohesive marketing technology stack and marketing disruptions gain wide appeal.

How does technology impact your company?

The company benefited a lot from the old digital marketing practices that date back many years. Like other companies, we have been tapping into new technologies to gain a competitive edge. One of the most compelling ideas is digital marketing 4.0. The strategy was instrumental in increasing visitors to our website and harnessing lead generation and the qualification process.

Have you ever been to Miami?

Yes, I have visited the city more than twice.

What part of Miami?

I have been to the vibrant Ocean Drive district and the enchanting Miami Seaquarium. The expansive Ocean Drive houses a number of shops, restaurants and art galleries. Whenever I visit the Miami Seaquarium, I never miss a moment to swim and play with the dolphins.

Did you visit any particular locations, including restaurants?

My favorite restaurant in the Ocean Drive thoroughfare is managed by the Cleverlander Hotel Chain. Besides dining, the locale plays host to many lively events such as beach party and live music.

Would you come back?

I am planning to revisit the place sometime in summer. One of my past clients, Dr. Farrior operates a successful plastic surgery in Tampa. Using advanced digital marketing tools and expertise, my team successfully helped Dr. Farrior’s plastic surgery in Tampa manage its online operations and rank higher on Google searches.