Fiona Waterfield is BrightBridge's Marketing Manager

BrightBridge team talk: BrightBridge Marketing Manager job focus

Meet Fiona Waterfield

Continuing our job focus series, today we’re showcasing the role of our in-house Marketing Manager, Fiona. We sat down with her a few weeks ago but we’re publishing her insights this week because it’s her final couple of days in the office for some time… we’re going to miss her and we hope you’ll join us in wishing her well on her upcoming maternity leave!

Fiona explains how not all marketing roles are equal and how, at BrightBridge, she’s found her niche and enjoys managing a wide range of channels and activities. If you’re looking to kickstart a career in marketing or are a customer wondering who helps to look after you behind the scenes, we hope you enjoy Fiona’s blog…  

 

What does your role entail at BrightBridge?

It’s all encompassing really, across the full communications mix, and because me, myself and I make up the in-house marketing team I have many responsibilities. My job is a mixture of strategy and campaign management, with a focus on choosing the right activities and messages to increase our brand awareness, generate leads and communicate with customers. So day-to-day this covers our website and on-site blog, Twitter and LinkedIn, emails, Google ads, webinars and customer roundtables – check out our upcoming free webinar about accounts payable automation – presentation documents and PR activity. It sounds full on when I list everything but of course, I’m not really on my own. I work very closely with our Sales and Marketing Director, Ian, colleagues from around the business and a local agency Hannes Digital, who supports me with content creation and media outreach.

 

Have you always worked in business software?

Not at all, and when I applied to work here towards the end of 2018, I didn’t really know what an ERP solution was! I wanted a new challenge where I could have my fingers in lots of communicative pies so the role was appealing and because marketing and PR professionals can transfer their knowledge sector-to-sector I wasn’t daunted. When I was younger, I thought that marketers had to hone a particular skill and specialise in an industry, but my opinion has changed over the years as I’ve gained more experience. Obviously, there was initially a steeper learning curve for me to get to grips with Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Oracle NetSuite, but communication channels are broadly the same and similar tactics can be employed whether you’re promoting software or socks. Ultimately, people buy from people and while it’s great to shout about BrightBridge’s skills and successes, we’re motivated by building long-term relationships and having a strong rapport with our customers and operational partners.

 

What path did you take to work in marketing?

Going way back to the start of my career, marketing wasn’t on my list, but I had a real passion for film, TV and media and knew I wanted to do something creative. I contemplated journalism but it seemed quite intense and event management because I was the control freak organising all the parties and holidays! In the end I chose to study Film and Media Studies at university, and it was a PR module that opened my eyes to this line of work. I didn’t want to get bogged down with the real world too soon though and after graduation I headed off to Australia with a work visa. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a graduate scheme placement in marketing or PR but I worked as an administrator. They liked my work ethic, and I liked the job, so I stayed there for 12-months and it paid for all my travels.

When I returned to the UK, finding a job was again a priority and it was back to admin again during the recession. However, with Facebook being one of the new kids on the marketing block I showed a real interest – social media and updating the webpages soon became part of my job. This was a great steppingstone into my next role as a marketing executive at a management consultancy and after three and a half years, I set myself another challenge and became part of a larger team at a tech company. 12-months later I was unfortunately made redundant, but I secured an exciting B2C role supporting 12 hotels within a group, and it was all very modern and digital, I loved it. Once again, I faced redundancy when the hotels began to be sold one by one and I took a job at Santander, thinking a corporate giant would offer me job security. It did, but it was such a gear shift with a massive team, big agencies and enormous amounts of red tape and compliance. A simple change on a webpage might take five rounds of approval and frankly it was frustrating and exhausting – when a restructure came round, I was sure that this flavour of corporate marketing wasn’t for me.

 

Is that when you started at BrightBridge?

Yes, I was lucky to hear about the role through someone who I previously worked with at the tech company. BrightBridge didn’t have anyone focused on driving their marketing and needed someone who they could trust to get on with what needed to be done and build up the brand. I was looking for somewhere where I could be empowered to be my control freak self (!) and make changes that made a difference… it was a perfect fit! It’s a great place to work and we are lucky to have a very skilled team with a can-do attitude. We’re always looking for individuals that will fit into this dynamic and we currently have some specific job vacancies. But just to be clear, my job isn’t up for grabs – I love it too much and I’m coming back after baby number two!

 

If you missed our other team talks, head to our blog home page and you’ll find content from a range of staff. Or if you’d like to learn more about our services and speak to us about your business goals, call us on 0330 133 500 or complete our contact form.