Lauren A.
About me
| Lauren A. | |
| Sociology | |
| MSc Social Media and Business Management | |
| Taught Postgraduate | |
| Halifax | |
| 2013 | |
| Canada |
My employment
| Digital Marketing Manager | |
| QAD | |
| United Kingdom | |
| Advertising, marketing and PR |
More about Lauren
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A day in the life of a Digital Marketing Manager in the United Kingdom
Make sure you take every experience you have and find the transferable skill that it teaches you.
Briefly describe the organisation you work for
QAD is a global enterprise resource planning tech company that sells cloud solutions to the manufacturing sector.
What do you do?
As a digital marketing manager I create and execute strategies for targeting EMEA prospects across social channels.
Reflecting upon your past employment and education, what led you to your current career choice?
I always had an interest in marketing and my whole educational career, undergraduate in mass communications and a masters in social media and business management, led me to my first job at a B2B marketing agency in Toronto Canada. Having that first leg up had me learning automation, client management, and strategy, which eventually landed my second job at an award winning agency in London UK. This job had me managing several clients, strategy, projects, and execution. It was fast-paced and a workaholic's dream, but the pay for hours wasn't great so I decided to shift to client-side marketing (which pays better).
Is your current job sector different from what you thought you would enter when you graduated?
Through networking I landed my first job in the B2B marketing sphere, which wasn't at all on my radar. I had this glorious B2C job in my head where I'd be marketing clothes, cars, or booze. Ending up in the tech marketing sector was certainly unexpected. But, B2B is great. The pace certainly won't kill you. To sell the products you need a comprehensive strategy that goes beyond a newsletter or discount code. And, you're more likely to be selling a product that can make or break the company purchasing and using your tool. All in all, I think while less glorious, the work is satisfying, especially since you've data to back up your expertise.
Describe your most memorable day at work
I ran a campaign for a client that had a success rate of 115%. We exceeded our targets and ended up helping the client in converting 4 large scale wins (worth ~£50 million each).
Are there any challenges associated with your job?
Two main challenges in marketing. 1. Everyone thinks they can do your job (but they can't).
2. There are stakeholders (usually pesky sales people) who think they know marketing better than you and the data you'll use to back up your strategy. These stakeholders will ignore your advice and push their agenda. So standing up for your strategy becomes crucial as you'll end up running substandard campaigns that waste money and can put your neck on the line.
What’s your work environment and culture like?
At the agency it was full on. Lots of overtime but lots of work being turned out.
At the client-side job, it's a slower pace but the work is still satisfying. You're really able to focus in on making your campaigns work hard for you since you're not juggling multiple clients.
What extracurricular activities did you undertake at university and what transferable skills did you develop through these?
I was in a choir and I was the sociology rep in my masters programme. Outside of school I worked part time in retail and did a few summer internships at a now defunct online journalistic web company raising awareness for environmental concerns in Canada. A mouthful I know. Making friends, championing your cohort and cold calling experts to interviews certainly gave me the confidence to be able to speak to clients or people in higher positions to myself without worrying about social constructs.
What would you like to do next with your career?
Manage the marketing department of a business. Have complete control of the strategy and creative.
What top tips do you have for York students preparing for today’s job market and life after graduation?
Make sure you take every experience you have and find the transferable skill that it teaches you. If you don't have a lot of work experience, you've still learned how to work in team situations, learned leadership if you've ever managed the team projects, how to communicate, how to perform research, and, hopefully, how to write. What you've also been taught at school is how to meet deadlines and perform self-led work. Working a 9-5 job will place you in capacities where you have to think outside the box, be self-led, and certainly have a higher output than 3 papers a term. Remember, school isn't just the piece of paper you get at the end of it, it's the raw skills that you'll need to be successful. So when asked what experiences you bring to the table, pull from everywhere.
What topics from students are you happy to answer questions on?
Networking, B2B marketing, automation
Next steps...
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