Reflections on a decade in marketing

June 2023 marks a decade since I began my career in marketing. From learning my trade at Nottingham's tourist board, to joining The Dairy and working my way through the business, I've seen a lot of change in the space of ten years.

So, the team felt this was an opportune moment to sit down with me and?ask a few questions about the journey i've been on so far – including what i've learned up until this point, insights into the challenges i've overcome and how the marketing landscape has changed in a relatively short space of time.

Here we go!

Let’s go back to the beginning – tell us how it all started!

It’s May 2013 and I’d been out of university for nearly a year, with little luck when it came to interviews for marketing roles. The country was coming out of a recession, competition was tough, and good opportunities were few and far between. I almost gave up on marketing and began completing the paperwork to become a teacher – how different things could have been.

Then one day my grandad spotted an advert in the Nottingham Post for a marketing assistant role with Experience Nottinghamshire – now Visit Nottinghamshire – and said I think this would be perfect for you. He wasn’t wrong. Marketing my home city was literally the dream – apart from marketing Notts County Football Club – so I immediately applied and within a few days secured an interview. Fast forward to June 2013, and after presenting how I would market Sherwood Forest’s Robin Hood Festival, I was offered the position and the rest, as they say, is history.

How did your time at Experience Nottinghamshire prepare you for the future?

Experience Nottinghamshire taught me how to plan and launch successful marketing campaigns. As an assistant, I was responsible for liaising with member organisations and creating a lot of the content that went into campaigns – from writing blog, social and email content, to designing assets. Yes I was a designer too, which is hard to believe.

My role was the perfect entry-level position where you could get involved in lots of different areas of marketing, learn from those around you and become a generalist – which is great when you’re still figuring out your niche. It certainly provided me with the foundations I needed to build my career and I always say that without that job, I wouldn’t be where I am now.

You’ve been with The Dairy since 2016, give us a potted history of your time with the business to-date please

I already knew Nigel Rowlson FCIM from my time as an intern while studying for my degree at 英国诺丁汉特伦特大学 – so I guess that’s lesson number one for any budding marketeers – secure and make the most of placement opportunities when they arise. You never know where they may lead in the future.

I joined the agency as Account Executive, which was similar to my role at Experience Nottinghamshire because I was supporting the Account Managers and Directors with creating the content and liaising with clients. Again, a great starting point for anyone starting out in an agency.

Two years later, with enough experience under my belt, I was promoted to Account Manager, and two years on from that, promoted to Account Director. The real cherry on the cake was being asked if I wanted to become a Director of the agency. This was my long-term dream but I always assumed I would have to set up on my own in order to achieve it. Nigel and Caroline put a lot of faith in me and I’m very grateful that they’ve trusted me with helping to shape the future of the business.

What’s been the biggest challenge you’ve faced and what have you learned from the experience?

Shortly after being named a Director, we found ourselves in the grip of a global pandemic. That was the catalyst for the greatest challenge I’ve faced.?

I was new into a role where I was no longer thinking about just marketing, I needed to face and overcome business challenges too. How do we adapt to COVID? How do we keep the team happy? How do we continue to deliver the best possible service to our clients? How do we keep winning work? What would this mean for our finances? All of these questions and more were racing around my head.

The thing I learned as a result of the COVID challenge is that you are often more resilient than you give yourself credit for. If you take a step back and think for a second, you can usually overcome any challenge that presents itself. I found myself digging deep and finding new levels of resourcefulness to ensure that my clients were receiving the service they expected, and the creativity they were promised. When I reflect back on it, the pandemic taught me a lot about myself and how I’m able to adapt in difficult situations – so I know I can always draw on those experiences in the future and use them to my advantage.

In your opinion, how has marketing changed in the past ten years?

This is a question I get asked a lot – either that or “what do you think will change in the next ten years?” If I had the answer to the latter, then I would be relaxing on a beach somewhere.

For me, marketing has become even more ‘digital-first’ than it already was. New social platforms have emerged, new ways of reaching people have come to light, advancements in how search engines serve content have changed the landscape, and ongoing developments in web best practice continue to move the goalposts. The list goes on. COVID has of course driven a lot of the recent change we’ve seen. The world has been forced to find new ways of reaching people.

I’ve also seen audiences change. Customers want a more personal experience and they want their brands to be accountable for the important issues we face as a global community – such as climate change and inclusivity. Brands can no longer simply talk a good game, they have to prove their follow through otherwise, customers will go elsewhere.?

The job of marketers has, in my opinion, become a lot harder. We have to think bigger and consider many more moving parts than we ever have done before. Audiences are more in tune with things and the power has never sat with them more than it does now.

What has been your career highlight so far?

I have so many, it’s hard to choose one! Working with Notts County has to be right up there. I always said if I could work for the club,?or with the club on a marketing campaign, then I would consider that a bucket list item ticked off. Managing the project to transform the club’s family stand and see it come to life was beyond anything I had dreamt of.

I also have to say that being asked to become a Director of The Dairy is on a par with that. I know how much responsibility that carries – and the level of trust that’s been placed in me is something I’ll always be grateful for. We have a long-term plan for what The Dairy’s future will look like once Nigel and Caroline retire, and I think I speak for myself and Chris Skeggs when I say that we are very grateful for the opportunity that it will present to both of us.?

For now, I am very happy focusing on the marketing side of things and working with my amazing clients. I’ve met so many fantastic people during my career and I consider a lot of them not just clients or acquaintances, but friends. Marketing is one of the most rewarding careers you can enter into and I can’t wait to see what the next decade has in store.