At Manchester-based digital marketing agency Embryo, Callum Leonard is Head of PPC.
He initially joined the agency in January 2020 as a paid media manager before being promoted to his current role in October 2020.
Embryo works with a range of brands and was featured as one of Prolific North’s Top 50 Digital agencies earlier this year.
Here, he shares his career journey, tips and advice of how he ventured into the world of PPC.
How did you first get into your industry?
I took an apprenticeship almost seven years ago, back in my home town of Macclesfield. This appealed to me due to my core skill of maths and being interested in marketing.
What do you love about your job?
The ability to transform a business and directly see the monetary return from your own actions. Myself and my team have boosted business turnovers from six figures to eight figures and watched businesses massively grow in industry market share. I loved knowing in my earlier stages of my career that I was changing the lives of micro businesses, allowing them to grow their business more than they ever expected. Now i love seeing the professional development of my team and watching us scale medium to large size business turnovers.
Who – or what – has inspired you in your career?
i think my current ‘gaffer’ Ross has done a lot to inspire myself, but both owners of Embryo have pushed me to the ability i have now.
What are the biggest challenges about your job?
Managing expectations is a vital skill as you become to work with larger businesses, understanding cause and effect, incremental growth over 12 months, testing and ultimately failures.
So many people in marketing avoid the ‘what if’ due to being scared of failure, but I believe you present yourself a great challenge by testing everything you believe in. Not everything will work, but it’s important to understand why and to use this data to mould future decisions.
What skills have been the most crucial to you succeeding in your career so far?
I actually dropped out of college to pursue marketing. I think my teacher at the time, knowing that the further education route wasn’t suited to myself, was a big push to begin working full-time at just 16. Fast forward to today and i have seven years of PPC experience at 23, including a vast amounts of management for tier one clients, which is the most challenging form of our job.
What was your first salary and what could someone getting into the industry expect to earn nowadays?
My first salary was £9,000 a year as an apprentice! Now a graduate/apprenticeship could expect £18-21,000 starting salary.
What education or training would be most useful for someone looking to follow your career path?
Apprenticeship or marketing as a post graduate for certain. The theory of digital marketing has some use, but physical experience will massively accelerate your career. Personally, if you can get a good starting salary, a degree isn’t required at all for digital marketing.
What advice would you have for someone looking to follow your path?
Don’t be told everything. You retain less information when you’re given the answer. Be curious and research everything yourself. Finding your own answers will always accelerate your understanding. I would also recommend that they choose a sector of digital marketing to specialise in vs a jack of all trades.
