Spotlight on Isoline: an interview with Director of Operations Andy Eldridge

We’re back with a new Isoline spotlight, this time on our Director of Operations, Andy Eldridge. Since joining the agency in 2020, Andy has been pivotal in transforming Isoline from a content creation house into a full-service content marketing powerhouse. He shares insights on the remarkable journey of the agency, from tripling the team to introducing a dedicated design function and implementing robust client delivery systems. This has allowed Isoline to consistently deliver award-winning campaigns while adapting to a hybrid working environment. 

When did you join Isoline and how has it changed since then?

Back in 2020. Time flies! The agency has changed a lot since then, growing from a content creation house to a full-service content marketing outfit.

We’ve tripled the team, introduced a dedicated design function, and implemented a series of client delivery systems that help us deliver award-winning work again and again. While hybrid will always be in our DNA, and we’re remote for part of the week, the agency has also moved into our own office space.

Our clients have grown with us, too. I’m pleased to say several names that were on the roster when I joined are still with us. And we’ve added a range of new clients over the years, from startups and scaleups through to multi-billion-dollar companies.

What is your biggest responsibility as Director of Operations?

My job is to make sure the right people, processes, and systems are in place to deliver on Isoline’s strategy and meet the agency’s growth targets. From day-to-day agency operations to involvement in IT, HR, QA, talent, new biz, and beyond, I wear multiple hats – and that’s one of the things I like most about my role. I’m also the lead on several accounts which is great fun and keeps me balanced. I get to help deliver great marketing campaigns while also looking at the big picture.

Which has been your favourite campaign to work on? Why?

My favourite campaign was for a smart office technology provider. In the early months of the pandemic, when every company was questioning what the return to the office would look like, we set out to provide an actual answer to that question.

Polling both senior business leaders and employees – and backed by exclusive insights from the companies our client worked with – we were able to grab the attention of the c-suite at a low cost per lead by providing something both valuable and timely.

The winning formula was the right content, packaged up and delivered in the right way, and distributed at exactly the right time to make the target audience engage and respond. Not only did the campaign generate a nearly 4,000% increase in qualified leads compared to the client’s baseline, but it also directly resulted in enterprise-level customer wins for them in the months after the campaign went live.

What’s been your proudest moment so far at Isoline? 

I’m especially proud of the culture we’ve created at Isoline. It’s undoubtedly a key factor behind our high staff retention rate.

Building strong client relationships is key. What do you consider the key ingredients for building and maintaining this?

An agency-client relationship isn’t built by a single person. For me, it’s about consistency. Everyone in the agency needs to view and treat the clients we work with in the same way. A big part of that is transparency and being honest about our successes and failures. Despite being external, we’re still working towards the same goal. Things become much easier – and the relationship becomes far stronger – if you don’t see it as ‘us’ and ‘them’ but instead as one cohesive team.

What word or expression would you like to ban from all copy?

Utilise. Either that, or enable.

Why should a company pick Isoline as their agency?

Working with a content marketing agency is about more than just content creation. We design and implement end-to-end campaigns that deliver measurable results – and we have a raft of case studies to back up our claims.

We know QA is very close to your heart – what is one thing you wish people knew/did/paid more attention to when it comes to QA?

I wish people made regular use of Word’s read aloud feature. Something magical happens when you hear your work being read back to you. It becomes much easier to spot typos, syntax errors, and other issues. Don’t believe me? Give it a try. I bet you’ll find at least one error you’d missed even after a fourth or fifth read through.

If you want to learn more about Isoline, please email us at hello@isolinecomms.com