In our latest meet the team feature, we talk to the newest addition to our Account Management team, Charlotte Markwell. Charlotte joins us with a wealth of marketing knowledge – both digital and print – as well as an abundance of account management insights having previously worked both client-side and agency-side roles.
Welcome, Charlotte! What attracted you to Coast Digital and what are your first impressions?
I had been looking around at the agency landscape in Essex and Suffolk, and I could see that Coast Digital were really growing at a fast rate, and that is something I knew I wanted to be a part of. I’ve worked client side, and more recently taken the leap into the world of agency, but the most important thing for me is being part of something bigger, and helping a business to grow, as well as giving myself the opportunity to grow.
For me, working somewhere that has a friendly and welcoming vibe is really important. This doesn’t just benefit the clients, but it is a huge benefit for me as a newbie as well. Luckily, I seem to have landed on my feet and everyone has been so kind and helpful, even though they are all busy with their own workloads.
What got you into digital marketing in the first place?
I was fresh out of university, where I studied Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations, and was desperately looking for a ‘proper’ job in a completely new town and managed to bag myself an admin office job. Once I’d settled in, I made a point of going and introducing myself to the Head of Marketing and told her that as soon as the next vacancy came up for her team, I wanted to be considered, as I knew that was the direction I wanted to go.
When the first role that came up was a digital marketing assistant, I jumped at the chance! This role enabled me to learn the basics in social media management, email marketing and database segmentation. From there, I could just see the endless possibilities that digital provided and knew that it was what I wanted to focus on.
Although I had the chance to work in more generalist roles within the marketing space over my career, I kept coming back to a digital. There is just something about having the ability to clearly see the return on investment and track growth that is so satisfying.
What’s the biggest change you have seen since you started working in digital?
The biggest change is how businesses now see digital as a vital channel within the marketing mix. When I first started out, it was very much a challenge to get the guys at the top to understand just how important using digital is, and the benefits of it.
Now it’s seen as an integral part of any company’s marketing output. Me from ten years ago is punching the air with success knowing that all those difficult conversations getting CEOs to sign off budget finally paid off!
What’s the most exciting thing in digital at the moment?
The potential for VR/AR is definitely exciting to me! It really is such a different way of consuming content, and it will be interesting to see how that impacts what clients produce, how it is received and how it impacts their results.
With the news that Facebook is investing more heavily in Augmented Reality we can expect to see quite substantial changes coming our way, and our challenge will be to see how we can utilise this trend and provide recommendations around incorporating it in the future.
How do you see the role of an account manager and what do you think is the key to being successful at it?
As I’ve worked client side, I have the experience of being on the receiving end of ‘good account management’ so I know how I would expect to be treated. My aim is to make sure that my clients receive the same high level of service I would want to receive. I think that, as I’ve now come into the world of agency, this is what makes me stand out and really understand and learn the best way to communicate with clients.
The norm of being organised, following processes, good communication and quick thinking goes without saying when working as an Account Manager, and that level of going above and beyond with a bit of personality really goes a long way.
If you’d like to find out more about how we service our clients here at Coast Digital, please get in touch.