My love-hate relationship with marketing
I’m an accountant, so I am not supposed to love marketing, am I?
When I started in industry, marketing budget were cut, how can you justify the ROI on that spend. So much time was spent understanding the return on money spent, some easier than others to explain.
However, when cash needed to be saved it was the easiest spot. It didn’t impact the bottom line, that you can really measure easy compared with other costs.
I’m an accountant, so I am not supposed to love marketing, am I?
When I started in industry, marketing budget were cut, how can you justify the ROI on that spend. So much time was spent understanding the return on money spent, some easier than others to explain.
However, when cash needed to be saved it was the easiest spot. It didn’t impact the bottom line, that you can really measure easy compared with other costs.
Then I started my own business, and everything change. Marketing costs started getting put into different buckets;
• Brand – brand awareness. Wanting people to know the Whiteark brand, without awareness people will not think Whiteark when they have a problem. So, with a new business this required a bit of planning, spending and time to get right.
• Events – client events, potential client events & dinner to entertain people was important to build deeper relationships with the right network.
• Content – With the brand in play, having relevant content across social media so potential clients would spot us, understand our value proposition and when a problem came up they would think call Whiteark. Regular content and varied content that was unique was important.
• Podcast – like everyone in the 2020 year with COVID we started a Podcast, it was based on interviewing a leader to understand what made them tick and their leadership journey. It was a great podcast, we did 52 in 52 weeks and then we stopped but we loved the interviews and we got some regular listeners.
• Listings – consulting listings, female network listings and other listings to ensure that we would come up if people were looking
• Website – constant updates to website to ensure new and interesting information
• Brochures – regular brochures that are hard copy and soft copy about our service
• Email campaigns – through Linkedin and/or through Mailchimp through regular newsletters.
• And other things that I now consider marketing…..
It’s hard to measure the success of the marketing stuff listed about but then you speak with a potential client, bump into someone that wants to partner on something or someone reaches out on Linkedin off the back of your postings or seeing some new content.
But whatever the case brand and marketing is important. It’s sometimes hard to measure, but there is ROI. You just need to find the right balance between spend and ROI.
Companies these days, larger companies can measure ROI on marketing campaigns more successfully than they have been able to in the past, which helps them invest in retention, but the cost of acquisition is always a challenge, for most businesses.
When you own a consulting business, the marketing play is a long play, not a short play and therefore you need to be comfortable with what you invest and the return you will make in the short term, and the long term.
So, I am a frustrated marketer and like to see the difference that certain campaigns have on statistics at month end and understand how to make them improve month-on-month. Measuring the key engagement stats every month also helps to understand what people that are engaging with the business enjoy.
If you are looking for a marketing expert, you’ve come to the wrong place LOL, however if you are looking for a frustrated marketer that has learnt to love marketing and all things associated with it, as I founder my business, you’ve come to the right place.
We have some cool content and always something new prepared to read, new templates, new industry reports or we always have something to say, so tune in and you’ll see our content strategy in real time.
I hope you like this article, I had fun writing it. 🌞
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The people that shaped me & what they taught me
The people that shaped me & what they taught me
When you look back, there are people that have made a big difference in your life. Maybe you see it more when you look back, rather than when you are in the thick of it. People come in and out of our lives and sometimes we don’t go back to say thank you to the people that have shaped us.
The people that shaped me & what they taught me
When you look back, there are people that have made a big difference in your life. Maybe you see it more when you look back, rather than when you are in the thick of it. People come in and out of our lives and sometimes we don’t go back to say thank you to the people that have shaped us.
On a day of reflection, I wanted to think through the people that shaped me and what main key learnings were. Rather than name people, I thought I would paint a picture of the kind of people in my life that shaped me & what I learnt along this journey of life.
I am 43 and have a lot of living to do but don’t want to forget the people that shaped me and what I have learnt. As you read this, think about the people that shaped you and what you have learnt.
Take the time to reflect…..
Highschool Teachers
You are in year 10 and you need to pick your subjects for Year 11 and 12 and what uni degree you want to do. Who the hell knows? My Accounting teacher was passionate, entertaining and very encouraging and I really enjoyed accounting and picked up the basics quickly.
It was something I had never considered as a career, but my Accounting high school teacher shaped me. She gave me extra attention and help and gave me the confidence for being able to do really well in the subject. On our year 11 and 12 exam she met us with special pencils for the exam - it was a really nice touch.
First Corporate gig
I did an internship out of high school at a CA firm to do audit. A big transition of travelling to city, clients and earning 14k per year to do audit for small business and councils. I learnt so much. I enjoyed the experience, and it really encouraged me to go to university to do the degree so I could come back to one of the big 4 firms. It gave me a goal to focus on.
This gig gave me an open door when I went for graduate jobs which meant I got to pick Arthur Andersen (the year they were taken over by EY). My graduate experience at EY was exceptional & has set up my career. Paths lead to other paths.
Partner sponsor
An experienced partner at EY took me under his wing. He coached, encouraged, challenged me and gave me opportunities to work on stuff outside of audit that I loved. It gave me opportunity to travel, present, lead high profile projects globally and work on some great accounts / projects. He always challenged me and supported me. It’s been 12 years since I left EY and we still keep in contact.
He is a great bouncing board. His best piece of advice is life is a marathon not a sprint, so slow down….I have listened and maybe now as a bit older see the importance of this advice. Having someone to help you navigate a large Corporate as a sponsor is important, so you don’t get lost.
Great leaders & leadership development
EY leadership is a big area of focus; which means you get annual 360 feedback, leadership development training and an opportunity for feedback on how you lead your teams. You get to work with a range of manager / leaders on different assignments and learn how you work best, who you like to work with and their style. You learn from the good managers and bad ones as well and you shape the kind of leader you want to be.
In a Big 4 environment the people that survive are A class. It’s a competitive environment so to make it you need to be pretty amazing, so you get to learn from a lot of leaders at different levels.
Training opportunities meant that you got to consider what kind of leader you want to be and really map out an action plan each year on how you are going to improve.
Female role models
As a female, this is important, having female role models. Partners at EY, CFO, or senior Finance people in client sites. These role models help you work out what is possible & these evolve over your journey.
As I moved into Corporate, I focused on finding female role models that I could bounce off to continue to build my confidence. I also wanted to be a role model for other women who are on their career journey.
Team members
I have built some super amazing teams through-out my career, what we have delivered, the fun we had and the relationships we have built will always stay with me as I continue on my journey. Keeping in contact with people that you built relationship with, beyond work.
I have met some amazing people and I genuinely care about people and helping and supporting them in their career or their life. I am not good as keeping in contact but when people reach out I’m always very happy to help.
Mentors
Having a couple of mentors (informal) that you can call when you are stuck, need advice or just need a kick up the arse. Life’s journey isn’t always what we expect, but it’s imperative that we take the time to build mentor relationships that work across the journey.
Terrible leaders
After working for a terrible leader (that’s a very long story), you learn what a bad manager/leader is. How to ensure you never work for someone like them again and how you never want to be like them. You learn not what to do. It also has helped me realise that working for someone I respect and I can learn from is so important.
Over time, you build your own confidence and path. It isn’t always what you expect or where you thought you were going to go, but along the journey there are many people that shape who we are. We need to consider / acknowledge these people and their contribution & consider how you give back to others.
Writing this has encouraged me to reflect on how lucky I am to have so many people that shaped me, have contributed to my success and happiness. I want to ensure I say thank-you to them and consider how I can continue to give back.
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What does 2022 hold?
When the clocks strike midnight on the 31st December 2021, I’m going to be ready to yell Happy New Year bring on 2022. While 2021 has been a good year, there is a lot of look forward to for 2022.
When the clocks strike midnight on the 31st December 2021, I’m going to be ready to yell Happy New Year bring on 2022. While 2021 has been a good year, there is a lot of look forward to for 2022.
My key 3 focus areas for 2022 are:
Reflections for 2021
WOW 2021 started with some much excitement that we have got through 2020 and it was a new beginning, but it wasn’t quite what we all expected. I’m not complaining, and I have nothing to complain about, but it has definitely given me more perspective. There have been times in 2021 with the pandemic, lock downs, earthquake, floods, wind, no power that I thought the world was going to end, but here we all are still.
WOW 2021 started with some much excitement that we have got through 2020 and it was a new beginning, but it wasn’t quite what we all expected. I’m not complaining, and I have nothing to complain about, but it has definitely given me more perspective.
There have been times in 2021 with the pandemic, lock downs, earthquake, floods, wind, no power that I thought the world was going to end, but here we all are still.
I have 4 main reflections from 2021:
If your business is having issues with cash, it's important to take proactive steps to address the problem before it becomes a crisis.