Ilona Kuusela joins Columbia Road

Say hello to our new Lean Marketing lead Ilona Kuusela! Ilona is an analytics guru vamped with magic SEO and SEM skills. She’s a Ms.C. Tech graduate of Aalto University Information Networks and has earned her spurs with no other than the all mighty Google.

Ilona started her career in digital commerce at Timgu, one of the earliest search engine marketing companies in Finland. After the acquisition by Kwantic Analytics, she worked with SEO, internet analytics, and display and mobile advertising at the newly formed Quru, a leader in it’s own field. In 2014 she joined Google as an agency solutions consultant working with media agencies. This spring a lunchtime encounter planted a seed and now we can proudly call Ilona one of us!

“I’ve worked with so many companies that I can honestly say that joining Columbia Road felt like a truly refreshing opportunity. I feel like I have a real chance to change how digital marketing is done in Finland. SEO and SEM are key factors in getting high quality traffic on an ecommerce site, and powered up with the right analytics you have a winning combination,” says Ilona enthusiastically.

“Ilona brings with her an unbeatable tool box when it comes to growth hacking digital sales through marketing. At Columbia Road we believe that marketing and sales should be a joint effort. It’s not an add-on, it’s in the core of digital sales. Digital marketers should be working right there with the team developing digital sales. We’re committed to making a change in this field, which is why we’re so happy to have Ilona on board,” Says Lauri Eloranta, Managing Partner.

On her free time Ilona is an actor, dancer, choreographer and producer at Ilves Theater in Helsinki. She also loves climbing and bouldering. Her favorite way to wind down is to spend time in nature, she’s an avid trekker and highly recommends everyone to visit the Finnish national parks.