ABOUT

Tell us who you are!

I am a Marketing Manager at Adobe, I work in a pan-EMEA role, developing revenue driving strategies. Outside of work, I run my own digital mentorship platform Superlative-digital.com and self-care FB community (facebook.com/onajupitermoon).

So what do you actually do?

I essentially create strategies and plans. At the beginning of every quarter, the business sets targets. These usually centre around revenue and that figure is distilled into roughly how many people we need to connect with and convert into customers to meet that number. Using this data, I then plan programmes that will deliver these results. These programmes consist of a mix of marketing tactics such as email, content, web, events, paid media, social etc.

Practically, this looks like hosting a variety of meetings to bring various stakeholders together to discuss the best approach to these programmes and iron out any issues. I also attend various meetings to find out what is happening in other parts of the business and update people in the Global marketing organisation, Sales and Product teams on the programmes I am planning.

When I am not in meetings, I spend the rest of my time viewing data dashboards in Microsoft BI to track goal attainment, so looking at how my programmes and the products I take care of are performing and if we are getting closer to those business targets.

I spend a lot of time speaking with and briefing the technical teams and creative agencies that bring my programmes to life, including Email Marketing and Creative teams, Paid Media agencies, Events agencies, Design agencies, Localisation Specialists and Research agencies. I also dedicate time to creating Powerpoint decks that detail my plans and strategies and I present these in meetings and via email with various stakeholders. My decks always consist of programme details, target figures and the status of the project.

I manage my to-do list in a tool called Airtable which allows me to develop a detailed project management view of all my work. The role requires a lot of organistion, problem solving, creativity, structure, being able to adhere to deadlines and delivering despite set-backs.

What has your career path been?

I had always loved English and Media studies in school and did really well in these subjects. I knew I was passionate about technology, communication and creativity but wasn’t sure what this career path would look at the time. I’ve also always been very interested in the Fashion industry and so a very kind teacher (shout out Mr Hall) recommended I look at London College of Fashion’s Media courses.

I ended up studying Fashion PR & Marketing but halfway through the course began having huge doubts about the Fashion industry and started doing more general B2B and B2C marketing work. I was essentially working full time whilst studying, which was hard, but that experience has served me massively.

Upon graduating, the only real opportunities I was able to secure in Fashion, were ones I created for myself with an online magazine I was running at the time. Whilst fashion week events were always fun, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to earn what I wanted working in the Fashion industry. So, I started exploring other interests and landed on tech as I was always so comfortable with technology and passionate about advances in the sector. Working in London also presented a lot of tech industry opportunities and my desire for flexibility, dynamic workplaces and a product I could feel passionate about helped fuel the fire.

After deciding that Fashion wasn’t for me, I moved around a lot in various Marketing roles as it was easy for me to stagnate quickly. I realise now that this was because I was under employed for my skillset. I didn’t realise at the time that I just needed to aim higher for a more ambitious and demanding role.

I quickly moved into more niche tech companies focusing on IT Infrastructure in one and then Communication Tech in another. Eventually, I was offered a position at Adobe. I felt more confident applying for this role after studying data analysis and Tableau and learning Marketo. I invested a lot in my professional education and found that this paid off when I later was asked to own the marketing strategy for the Enterprise side of the Marketo business when Adobe acquired it. I loved that full circle moment, it felt very rewarding for me.

Along the journey, I’ve learned graphic and web design, basic copy editing and social media management skills. I have used these skills for my personal projects like Superlative or Jupiter Moon and other times I’ve applied these to my job- in one case building a website for the small business I worked for.

Having a diverse skillset and being a generalist has helped me in my early career as it’s made me valuable to the businesses, I’ve worked in. Moving forward, I am narrowing my focus to specialise in strategy, as this is a strength of mine and I enjoy combining the big picture with detail.

What is the best part of your job?

The best part of my job for me is the delivery. Being able to share a finished programme with all of its moving parts and then being able to track its impact and see how much it has influenced the pipeline contributing to revenue targets. This always makes me feel successful and proud.

I also love collaborating with the various teams on programmes. I am really lucky because the teams I am privileged enough to work with are super talented. I learn a lot from them, they are real specialists and experts.

I also love the dynamism of the tech industry and working in a large tech organisation means there is always a lot going on- many different products and areas to move into.

I’ve been fortunate enough to work across four different products in my current role and each product introduces you to a different world with new audiences and challenges. I also love the flexibility of my role, tech as a sector in general allows for a more flexible work life than other sectors I’ve worked in.

What inspired you to do your job?

I am motivated by products that I admire and love using. I literally started using Adobe products in year 7 and have been obsessed ever since so working for a brand who’s products are leading in our sector and are world class is motivating for me.

Also, I am very ambitious and like to achieve great results, competing against myself to do better each time! So, picking up new challenges and solving new problems is always exciting and interesting for me.

As a Black Woman, I am also highly conscious of the importance of representation in the corporate world and in Tech and so I try to bring my worldview and perspective to the decision making table, as diverse thinking creates stronger teams.

One piece of advice for someone starting in your role?

Dedicate yourself to three things, understanding yourself, learning and relationship building.

Firstly, dedicate energy to understanding yourself, your weaknesses, strengths, pace, motivations and needs. When you understand this, you can deliver your best work. I’ve learned that when I know these things about myself, I can communicate more effectively with my peers and leaders, establishing professional boundaries that help me to preserve my mental health, energy and focus on delivering excellent results. Your time, focus and energy are vital resources and they are limited, it is easy to spread yourself too thin. So, learn your limits early, communicate them well and establish the correct boundaries.

Secondly, dedicate yourself to learning, you can never know too much. Invest in courses, tutorials and books. Find out about how your business might support your personal professional development with funding and commit to learning new things as you progress, this is critical for growth and makes you a very desirable hire as you progress in your career. It also does wonders for your confidence and with tackling imposter syndrome.

Thirdly, dedicate yourself to making friends, I can’t stress this enough. The hardest points in my career have always been made better because of the meaningful relationships I’ve developed.

A good work friend can help to boost your morale, encourage you and usually you can learn a lot from them. Build relationships by being a giver in your job, give time, share resources, knowledge and offer support. I’ve met some of my favourite people in the world at work. This is coming from someone who typically, at best is very introverted and at worst totally anti-social.

Final words?

If you’re considering a career in marketing I would say, find your niche. Niche as in the product/service area you are passionate about, everything people consume requires marketing so you can pursue a marketing career in practically any field, just make sure you love it because you will start to see the products and brand in your dreams!

Also find your niche as in your specialism. Marketers can literally be data analysts, designers and artists, web pros and developers, event planners, team leaders, public speakers, strategists, automation specialists, translators, writers and so on. Exposing yourself to a variety of roles in marketing is excellent when you are young or starting out and I would strongly recommend you adopt an approach of self-discovery, constantly uncovering the areas you love and succeed in the most.

Don’t waste energy trying to improve weaknesses, for example if you’re not a great writer work with great writers. Instead, refine your focus more as you grow, become intentional about discovering your strengths and double down in those areas to become a specialist.

I started my career doing everything from writing web copy, building email programmes, designing social banners and hosting webinars and it was impossible for me to become excellent at all of those things. Now, I focus on Strategy and programme management and let people who are experts in those fields do what they do best!

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DAY IN THE LIFE

The first thing I do is check my schedule to see what meetings I have. This helps me plan my day better. Then, I read and reply to my emails. I work with people from the Global team and so often have emails come in overnight from colleagues in APAC or the USA. I always try to clear my inbox so I can feel like I’ve got a handle on everything.

I have meetings every day, where I might present on my programmes sharing a deck or just speak about progress verbally in a more informal catch up. In meetings with agencies, I am often briefing in projects and clarifying needs, agreeing on budget and spend or just checking the progress on deliverables. In some meetings I don’t have to present anything at all and can just listen to some of the great things the team are working on, there are always so many incredible programmes happening, and I love hearing about them and seeing the visuals as Adobe is a very creative company and that’s one of my favourite things about working there!

When I am not in meetings or replying to emails, I am updating my project documents including decks, spreadsheets and my Airtable. This allows me to remain clear on the many moving parts and be certain I am always progressing every area of a project. I always have a look at the dashboards to check progress on targets, so I am always in the know.

My day will end around 5pm, sometimes later if I have a call with a team in the US. To wrap up, I make sure I’ve responded to everyone on Teams, I close off any completed items in my Airtable, update my project deck and I turn off my work phone. I try not to look at my emails again until the next day as this can become a destructive pattern. I do make some exceptions when working on a big programme as sometimes checking makes me feel less anxious.

When in the office, I always make time for a proper breakfast and lunch as Old street has some great local food spots and this helps me structure my day.