Introduction and Background

Q: How did you start in the world of digital marketing?

Richard Rivas: Since finishing my studies in Journalism with a specialization in Marketing back in Venezuela, I’ve been immersed in this field. About three years post-graduation, I moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, for personal reasons and was captivated by the digital landscape. My journey started as a digital marketing analyst at a small agency focused on SEO and SEM, and I quickly realized that this was where I wanted to build my career.

Q: How long have you been working in Paid Media?

Richard Rivas: I’ve been in Paid Media for over 10 years now, and the journey has been both challenging and rewarding.

Q: What is your favorite holiday, Christmas or Halloween?

Richard Rivas: Definitely Christmas. I’m very family-oriented, so I cherish spending time with my loved ones. Plus, I’m always the first to get my dogs dressed in Christmas pajamas!

Role at Creatum Studios

Q: What are your main responsibilities as Director of Paid Media?

Richard Rivas: First, I define and develop advertising strategies based on each client’s objectives. Then, I manage, train, and lead the relevant teams or individuals working under my wing. I stay up-to-date with trends in the vast, constantly evolving digital landscape. Most importantly, I ensure excellent service, experience, and advertising management.

Q: How do you define a successful Paid Media campaign?

Richard Rivas: Wow, that really depends on the goals we set with each client and how we measure these KPIs month after month to determine if the campaigns are successful. Typically, you start seeing positive results between the second and third months of continuous management. For e-commerce, we always set goals like maximizing sales, achieving the highest conversion value, and ensuring positive ROAS and ROI for the business.

Q: How do you choose Happy Hour spots?

Richard Rivas: It depends on what makes me feel comfortable at that moment. It depends on what I want at that time and how I feel. Most of the time, though, I am a sports bar kind of guy. JP and I love HH during a Celtics or Lakers game. He is a die-hard Celtics fan, and I support the better team. 

Strategies and Execution

Q: What tools and platforms are essential for your daily work?

Richard Rivas: I’m always immersed directly in ad platforms like GOOGLE ADS or META ADS, analyzing how campaigns are performing, optimizing, and letting the ads “speak” to me. I believe that campaigns communicate their progress if you know how to dig and analyze. I also use analytics a lot to understand what’s happening on our websites, and I use lots of Excel to keep everything organized—metrics, issues, and more—as well as CRMs and project management tools like ClickUp to keep work and priorities well-organized.

Q: How important is data analysis in your work?

Richard Rivas: Data analysis is absolutely crucial in the role of Paid Media Director, as it allows for informed decision-making and optimizing campaigns for maximum performance. It’s necessary to understand each channel and the results they’re bringing to make decisions aimed at achieving each account’s goals.

Q: What’s one of the biggest challenges you’ve faced in a campaign, and how did you overcome it?

Richard Rivas: One of the biggest challenges in my career was developing my first complete conversion funnel strategy for a major sneaker e-commerce site in Argentina. The monthly targets were quite demanding.

At first, I was frustrated because I didn’t see immediate results, but over time, I learned that success doesn’t come from just flipping a switch to generate thousands of sales with a significant return. You have to work with the campaigns gradually, give them time to learn and set short-term goals or KPIs to meet progressively.

Success Stories and Learning

Q: What common mistakes do you see in the Paid Media industry that you try to avoid?

Richard Rivas: One of the most common mistakes is failing to define measurable objectives clearly. This is serious because you’ll be running campaigns mindlessly without a clear ad strategy, and you won’t be able to provide clients with a good view of what’s happening with their accounts.

Vision and Advice

Q: What qualities should a good Paid Media Director have?

Richard Rivas: I believe they should have a combination of technical, strategic, and personal skills to lead teams, optimize campaigns, and achieve business goals. In addition to having a strategic vision to ensure area profitability and establish best practices, they should also be solution-oriented and able to find creative solutions to challenges.

Q: What advice would you give someone just starting in Paid Media?

Richard Rivas:

1. Start with the basics and learn the platforms: Get familiar with main platforms like Google Ads and Meta Ads. Be curious and stay updated on trends.

2. Develop an analytical mindset: Paid Media is data-driven. Learn to analyze and understand key metrics like CTR, CPC, CPA, and ROAS. Become someone who always seeks the “why” behind results to improve and optimize continuously.

3. Be patient and resilient: At first, it can be challenging to learn all the technical aspects and understand why some campaigns work and others don’t. Don’t get discouraged by failures; they’ll help you improve. Resilience is critical to growth in this industry.

4. Be unreasonable. Go the extra mile. Do things your clients will not expect. Surprise them!

As you grow your accounts, pay attention to what works and, most importantly, to what doesn’t. It is not all about numbers. The human component in an industry so digital is key to achieving success. Ultimately, it leads to a great sense of fulfillment because you are helping other businesses grow, and that is what it’s all about.

Published by: Martin De Juan