An interview with Carrie Rose

🚀 Role at Rise at Seven:

CEO & Founder of Rise at Seven, and my job is to be out in the market and see which way the wind is blowing and bring that home to my team and clients. I lead the vision of the agency across the UK & US.

🧭 Where did it all start for you?

I have 12 years in the SEO and content marketing space, starting in Digital PR and copywriting for SEO, then leading cross-channel content strategies and multi-platform campaigns. It all started for me working at Stickyeyes agency in Leeds and then becoming a campaign strategist at Branded3. I spent 5 years working on one of the hardest accounts, Ladbrokes, which is where I combined my passion for the best technical & creative work in a highly competitive niche. I truly believe that if you can market gambling, you can market anything.

I took my learnings and applied them to insurance, leading Confused.com to success, then Travel, Finance, Fashion, Beauty and many more.

I spotted a massive gap in the industry where big advertising and influencer campaigns were generating search demand, and the brand failed to capture it (because they didn't rank).I felt that demand and discovery needed to work more closely together—that’s exactly why Rise at Seven was born.

I hired 50% of the best technically minded marketers and 50% of the best creative marketers, put them in an agency together, and we created magic. I have scaled the agency across seas and worked with some of the biggest brands in the world to create category leaders online.

📚 Experience so far:

(List the brands, projects or past lives you've worked on. Don’t be shy, this is your highlight reel.)

I have experience working in nearly every niche and industry from B2B, to retail, finance, health, fashion and more.

I personally have the best knowledge and skillset in retail, travel and gambling and I’m passionate about fashion and beauty. When I'm not out in the market or running the business, I love to work closely with our strategists - that’s what I’m great at.

Big and small brands I have helped scale through organic search and media planning: GoCompare, Ladbrokes, PrettyLittleThing, Wayfair, Parkdean Resorts, Travel Republic, Game, Boohoo, and Revolution Beauty.

⚡ What I’m best at:

(Brag zone. What do people constantly come to you for? What's your marketing superpower?)

I’m a f**king good marketer. That's what I am. I think over the years, I've become a good generalist marketer, understanding the full funnel and the role we all play in driving customer acquisition. I'm an expert at the messy middle part of the user journey and how we can move consumers through it faster and cheaper.

But the two things that make me stand out are my ability to position brands in a blue ocean, to have a competitive edge and a creative strategy that leaves competitors chasing my clients' tails. I’m an ideas girl.

🧠 What I’m known for:

(That thing everyone mentions about you when your name comes up. Could be work-related or not — up to you.)

I think if you ask anyone in the industry, I defined what creative SEO means to the world. Through our work with Game launching the Christmas Tinner, to a multi-channel sandtone campaign with Parkdean Resorts, I push the boundaries and define what creativity means in a technical discipline like search.

🔥 Strong opinion I have about my craft:

(E.g. “If you’re still chasing rankings instead of relevance, you’ve already lost.”
Make it spicy. Make it punchy. Make it YOU.)

“Whilst the SEO industry is chasing Google, we are consumers. Consumers are moving faster than Google, and all Google is doing with all its updates and advancements is figuring out humans as much as possible. Not enough SEO work gets in the minds of people, and that’s where it is going wrong”

🎢 Fun fact:

(Unexpected, random, or just weirdly impressive. This is your wildcard.)

I got my start in the industry by doing what I do best - spotting opportunity where no one else is looking. I was 19, on a train, and clocked a guy in a suit who looked like he knew things. So I sat opposite him and started a conversation.

It turned out he worked at Google and had just launched Google 360 in Maps and the SERPs. A few bold questions later, I walked away with a summer internship - and that’s where the journey began.