Raquel Ríos Dafonte

Question: How did you get into the programmatic industry?

Answer: It was by pure chance. I am a journalist and work for almost a decade in mass media, the majority of the time on the radio which is my passion. However, my career evolved to marketing and I started to work as the Content Manager for an insurtech. After that exciting experience, I came up to Tappx where I do almost the same as in the startup I was before but learning from scratch in a totally different and new industry for me.

Q: What is the best part of being a Marketing Specialist?

A: Make the team feel proud of belonging to a great brand and clients feel attracted to work with us. Basically, marketing is about making us stand out in the huge, global, and competitive market. The challenge is to build brand awareness, be innovative, creative, and valuable for our clients. We at the team know that we have a powerful tech platform, great advertising solutions, and a valuable human team. Our mission in the marketing department is to show that to the rest of the world and tell it with the best possible storytelling.

Q: Could you list some tips to become a good Marketing Specialist? What are the essential skills needed in your job?

A: For me, the first mandatory thing is learning about the product, the industry, and the brand values. It is basic to talk to everybody in the company about what they do in their day a day routine and what they need from the marketing department to be better explained or sold outside the company. After this first step, a Marketing Specialist should be 100% aligned with the CMO and with the business objectives of the company as a direct consequence. The rest of the job consists of doing a lot of benchmarking, both inside and outside your own sector, and applying creativity in everything you do. Or most specifically here at Tappx: Techsoulogy in everything we do. 😉

Q: Tell us about a recent success story or job goal you’re proud of.

A: I am quite new here at Tappx, but in less than two months we have launched an incredible new web and I can’t be more proud of it. It was a clear example of team work, a lot of research, the knowledge of the greatest experienced people in each area, and a lot of motivation to do our best. We are quite aware that the website is the first thing clients, journalists, and new possible team members see of us, so we put a lot of effort into cause the best first impression!

Q: How do you organize your day? What tools do you use and which of them are your favorite ones?

A: I love organization and doing lists, but I am quite used to having a job that consists of adaptation to a changing environment so starting the day with a list of priorities and ending it with a totally different one is my bread and butter and I am totally OK with it.
Talking about the tools I usually start the day by checking my emails, Slack messages, and Google Meets, and, depending on the tasks, I use WordPress to upload new content to the web, Trello to organize teamwork, and a lot of Google Docs and presentations. My business is content and communication so my Google Drive is plenty of documents all the time. The challenge is finding the right one for each specific moment.

Q: What do you expect from the future of the industry? What needs to be improved from your point of view and specialty?

A: I expect continuous and challenging growth regarding the cookieless world towards which we are going and all the IA improvements and contextual ad solutions we are seeing more and more. What needs to be improved from my point of experience is maybe how we talk and explain the industry to everybody. We never know where the business can be and sometimes it seems that we are a little inbred because of all the jargon and difficult words we use. If we explain all the possibilities and opportunities our industry can bring to everybody, we can reach new and very attractive objectives.

Q: Do you have any idea how many emails you send per day?

A: I received more than I send as I am subscribed to a lot of newsletters to get inspiration from our competitors. Maybe I send from 5 to 10 per day and 10 Slack messages per hour! Hahaha.

Q: What is the app you use the most in your daily life?

A: Instant messenger apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Slack without a doubt! I also use Instagram a lot for job inspiration (and personal disconnection of course!), Gmail, LinkedIn, the metro and bus app, and podcasts apps. I am a total radio, music, and podcast geek.

Q: What is the first thing you do when you get home and disconnect from work?

A: I play on some humor or music podcasts and go straight to the gym. I love that hour I spend with myself far away from my smartphone, the messages, emails, and obligations. I also love reading, especially before going to sleep, and of course hanging out with friends and going to concerts as well.

Q: What would you do if you won the lottery?

A: Quitting my job as an obligation and starting doing projects I enjoy related to my profession as a hobby, of course traveling around the world, and going to thousands of concerts! I would also do social activism like helping in hospitals, with children who have special needs, and with cultural activities.

Q: Tell us something fun about yourself.