Aaron's "Looking for Something to Market."

Welcome to my new series, "Looking for Something to Market."

In this Q&A series, I find and spotlight the talented marketers driving innovation and success in their fields. We'll delve into their experiences, insights, and strategies for excelling with some thought-provoking and light-hearted questions.

Our first marketer in the series is Joanna Hankinson from Plane Perspective . Join us as we recognise and celebrate her contributions and gain valuable knowledge that can inspire and guide your own marketing journey.

Joanna is the Business Owner at Plane Perspective, a leading digital marketing agency in Cheshire that provides proven marketing strategies and tactics to help businesses grow and succeed.

Q: Hi, Joanna. What excites you about marketing in 2025? ?

A: That finally marketing is getting the credit it deserves. Too long, it has been the expensive enemy in the corner, misunderstood and side-eyed and blamed for everything. ?? But now, it’s stepping into the spotlight as the driving force behind growth, creativity and connection. About time.

Q: It's?Monday morning. What part of your marketing day are you looking forward to, and why?

A:?On a Monday morning – we send our clients a plan of the week. We never want them to think “what is marketing doing” so we always kick off the week getting organised and making sure they know what we’re doing, why and when. Communication on a Monday morning is key, both internally with our team/suppliers and externally with the clients.

Keep being yourself because when you love what you do as much as you do, you bring all your energy, passion and drive to work, and that’s brilliant because it delivers.?

Q: It's?Friday afternoon, and the weekend is almost here; what part of your marketing week are you glad to see the back of? ?

A: By Friday, we’ve usually broken the back of the workload so just tying up the last pieces and doing the timesheet to box it off.?Timesheets are tedious but it helps quantify at month end where the effort has been spent and to sense check if it is weighted in the correct areas to achieve the overall figures for the client.

Q: What's the most creative marketing campaign you've ever worked on, and what made it so special?

A: Blimey, now you’re asking ?? it wasn’t exactly a campaign, more of a large-scale, family-themed corporate event for an insurance company in Ireland. We transformed the grounds of a grand hotel into different themed zones: safari, Wild West, a water zone, and fairground rides. I brought in life-sized animal models, commissioned live shows, arranged food, circus acts, and even gifts for the mums—every detail was covered. The event was absolutely fabulous, and we were lucky with the weather too. One young attendee even wrote to the CEO afterwards, saying, “I’m glad my dad does business with you because you throw the best parties.” After all the planning and execution, I needed a week to recover, but the creativity and atmosphere on the day were truly second to none.?

“I’m glad my dad does business with you because you throw the best parties.”

Q: Can you share a marketing fail that became a valuable lesson? ?

A: A website's SSL was missed when a customer was going through a tender process. The website was only down for 30 minutes, but it was at the crucial moment the tender contact looked. This was years ago now, and as best practice, SSLs are always flagged in advance.

Q: If you could swap jobs with any other profession for a day, what would it be and why?

A: An actress in a musical in the West End. It is still on my bucket list to get into amateur dramatics. I adore the theatre, and my first job was as an usher selling Magnums for a pound and Calippos for 70p, and your float could only ever be ￡1 either way – stressful! But on the plus side I got to watch every production, magic.

Q: If you could time travel, which historical event would you like to create a marketing campaign for?

A: Live Aid, baby! Without all the digital tools available today, it would be a tricky one, but what an event to be involved with!

Q: If you could go back in time to meet Joanna for coffee at the start of her marketing journey, what marketing advice would you give yourself?

A: Two Fold: Get strong processes in place makes all the difference to effective outputs. Get the right people on the bus, be consistent and deliver true value.

Keep being yourself because when you love what you do as much as you do, you bring all your energy, passion and drive to work, and that’s brilliant because it delivers.?

Thank you, Joanna, for taking the time to participate in this Q&A series.

Visit Plane Perspective here.

If you're a marketer with a story to share and want to be featured in "Looking for Something to Market," connect with Aaron Hayes on LinkedIn and send me a message. Let's showcase your marketing brilliance and inspire others!