When I left University with a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing (complete with pompous Honours) I pretty much fell over a job. Initially I’d wanted to go into the Music or Computer Games Industry, because frankly who doesn’t want to sit around listening to music of playing video games?
I soon realised this industry was horribly over-crowded, so it would be a little fruitless to try and enter. So I started doing the usual CV writing and emailing it off to companies. How soul destroying is that?
Monster’s & Mailvivo
Luckily, Monster.com made this process a whole lot easier. I came across a small company, Mailvivo, with an interesting job position and an industry I hadn’t even thought of before -Email Marketing, who the hell tries to Market through Email?! Oh how much I had to learn.
I got the job. My first day was filled full of information, I had already been emailed about 20 (thousand) pages of research, white papers and other mind boggling literature to read but now I had to learn a system inside out that I had never used before, as well as handling clients with technical issues and giving them consultancy advice. Oh, and I had to do it within one week because one of the other consultants was going on holiday, so I had to cover his portfolio.
Wow, I actually love my job & this industry
Well I did it, hitting the ground running and then sprinting, I feel I’ve hopefully excelled in my efforts. I soon learnt that my opinion counted at Mailvivo, thanks to Mark Gooding (my boss dude) I can put an opinion, a suggestion, out there and have it considered, discussed and pushed forward.
But that’s not the only reason I love my job.
I’m lucky enough to work in, what I consider, one of the best industries. It’s full of so many amazing people, companies, communities and events that it’s impossible to get bored. Not only that, but everyone’s opinion counts.
It didn’t take me long to realise this. Being new to the industry I needed to actively seek out information and advice. Luckily, there were a few people to help me along the way (although they probably didn’t realise it).
So here comes the thanks
- DJ Waldow (@djwaldow) – this dude has no idea how much he helped. The man is a living buzz-bomb of information and excitement about the industry he’s in but also just generally for anything social. I watched his videos, digged the blog posts and generally pestered him with stupid questions. In the end, I was able to muster at least some of DJ’s energy as my own, and push Mailvivo into more of the Social side of things, as well as putting myself into that Social Sphere too.
- Tamara Gielen (@tamaragielen) – Possibly Belgium’s World’s Most Famous Woman in Email Marketing. Tamara set up something called ‘The Email Marketer’s Club (EMC)‘, essentially a place to talk about anything Email Marketing, as well as connect with thousands of other people doing the same thing. Tamara is also pretty well known in the Industry, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Tamara, reading her blog posts and listening in on a couple of Webinars. Tamara, ik dank u hartelijk voor uw wijsheid.
- John Caldwell (@jacaldwell) – A hidden gem. John was probably the first person to tell me I had it all wrong. I don’t remember exactly, but I think I disagreed with John somewhere along the line about the Open Statistic. He quickly slapped me down – and damn was he right. John taught me a lot about the data side of Email, and I still continue to learn great things from the man.
- Mark Brownlow (@MarkatEMR) – This man is a legend, and I’m pretty sure the 3,000 readers of his blog and a hell of a lot of Email Marketing folk agree with me here. Mark doesn’t work for an ESP (Email Service Provider), doesn’t officially consult – but he does make some of the most compelling, thought provoking and inspiring blog posts in the Industry. I’ve learnt more from this guy’s blog than any book I’ve read about Email Marketing.
There’s so many others I would love to thank for such a great experience in the industry so far (some of which I still need to meet in the flesh) such as Chad White, Stephanie Miller, Kath Pay, Denise Cox, Justin Premick, Anna Yeaman, Andrew Kordek, Duncan Birch and Chris Wheeler but if I write something about all of them I’m going to bore someone (if I haven’t already!)
What do I actually do at Mailvivo?
I knew you were dying to know. So here it is, in a big long lost – this probably isn’t what a Community Manager & Email Marketing Consultant usually does…
- Technical support to ~40 Clients (this is just my portfolio of clients), this involves knowing exactly how the system works including all technical procedures. I can effectively tell users how to do most things without being logged into their account. As well as technical support, I must also have an active understanding of all of their account, activities and needs.
- I must also identify and carry out Consultancy work within clients accounts, this can range from performing simple admin tasks to giving them full strategy implementation advice.
- I am responsible for introducing new clients to the systems as well as gentle guidance on their Email Marketing efforts.
- I am responsible for all documentation, I have written over 100 support articles and am now expanding that portfolio to 300 as we release the new part of the system.
- I have an active role in bug testing and scenario testing. Thanks to my advanced knowledge of the system as well as the understanding the processes of Online Software (I am familiar with PHP, mySQL and multiple client-side scripting) I am able to assist the development team with identification and solutions to issues very efficiently.
- I advise on User Interface and User Experiences around most system development work – this is something I have learned through my own research, reading and implementation through freelance design work.
- As part of my community management role, I must touch base with the other consultants’ clients as well and have some understanding of their accounts.
- I was solely responsible for the blogs design, launch and now have Editor responsibility. I must come up with content as well as Edit others’ submissions while monitoring the use metrics.
- I am responsible for representing Mailvivo in the online sphere which includes all blog comments, twitter, EMC and all future “group” interactions.
- I soak up all possible information from about 30 Blog Resources and internally educate as well as push this education out to the entire client base.
- I currently take on custom template designs from my own clients; I am pretty well versed with Email HTML and being able to identify and fix rendering issues
So there you go. I love my job. I love the industry. I love the people in it.
