If you’ve thought about pursuing a career in marketing, you’re definitely not alone – it remains one of the most popular career choices amongst recent graduates. But do you know what a graduate marketing job really entails?
Having only graduated in 2016, Charlotte has quickly moved up the ranks at giffgaff gameplan, the newest venture of the well-known mobile telephone network operator, giffgaff. In this interview, she reveals all about her day-to-day responsibilities, her career progression so far and some of the challenges she’s had to combat in her graduate marketing job.
I currently curate and develop the brand of giffgaff’s upcoming digital financial technology venture – creating, improving and maintaining content to achieve the business goals and raise brand awareness alongside building the brand and identity of giffgaff gameplan.
Photoshop skills are very helpful when mocking up ideas, concepts, and designs – I learnt this from my course at university. We were advised to observe and analyse cultural movements / trends / the market and unpick why they chose that colour, that font, and those words. Good copy and visual storytelling ability are also both so important.
We’re currently building an app and new pages for the website, so day-to-day I spend my time working out the content we need for these journeys, and looking at how the designs come together.
The teams I regularly work with are with UX designers, creatives, our email agency and the content team. I also think about upcoming projects and push forward appropriate actions, reviewing where we are now and where we want to be.
After graduating from Nottingham Trent University with a degree in Fashion Communication and Promotion, I started doing internships and placements in the fashion sector, working as a PR / Marketing Assistant. I discovered the fashion world wasn’t for me, but I loved the idea of working in communications so I decided to stick with working within marketing. I looked for other graduate marketing jobs and ended up working as a marketing exec for giffgaff, working for their upcoming financial tech brand. It’s very different from fashion, but has taught me how to manage my ASOS spending. Serious adulting.
I recommend spending some time researching interesting talks, conferences and events – they’ll help you get a broader view of what other companies are doing, and a chance to network and speak to people in different roles and sectors – to see if a graduate marketing job is right for you.
I’ve always been a creative thinker and storyteller. However, I’ve learnt that my aim is not to be a creative designer but more of a holistic marketer that oversees design and finds a solution to how a brand tells its story and values.
Starting your career and finding your feet is quite overwhelming, but one thing I’ve learnt to overcome is to remember that age is just a number, and being young doesn’t make you any less important than anyone else in a meeting room. Your opinions and views are just as important and speaking out helps you build your credibility and confidence.
Being able to have the freedom to run with my ideas and see them come to life at work. It’s lovely to see your work in the final execution stage.
There are loads of talented people at giffgaff, speaking to women in management / leadership has been so helpful and motivating. It’s great to see more women in tech and finance and owning big roles – it keeps me driven to aim high and work hard.
Sit at the table and share your thoughts. Surround yourself with people that motivate, support and drive you to do better. Oh, and before you have to do a scary presentation to a group of people, find a quiet spot to do some power poses to help you feel confident. Arrange coffee catch-ups and get to know people, too! Learning from others - whether they're in similar marketing jobs or in other roles - is so important.
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