Spotlight on…Tyler Lawrence ACIM

Tyler Lawrence, Senior Marketing Manager

At the age of 16 where did you see yourself in 5 years?

I was never 100% sure what I thought a future career may look like for me, and I am sure the vast majority of 16-year-olds don’t. I knew it was business-focused, and from studying GCSE Business Studies my favourite module was marketing. This led me to pursue a path with business and marketing. But I was never sure what that would look like in reality.

And where were you at the age of 21?

I had finished my degree in Business and Marketing, so the honest answer was … in student debt and a maxed-out overdraft. Fortunately, I secured my first role as a Marketing & Communications Officer for Drapers’ Multi-Academy Trust. So importantly I had got my first step on the career ladder in a client-side marketing role, and since then I have never looked back.

What’s the thing you love most about marketing?

A business has challenges they need to overcome and opportunities they want to capitalise on. A good marketer identifies these, and how marketing plays a key role in both.

This is where a strong strategy is key. “Strategy” may be the most over-used word in marketing but perhaps arguably the least understood by marketers. So that is where there is a clear opportunity for strong, well-qualified marketers to understand where the focus needs to be and engage key internal stakeholders. Not with the shiny new buzzword, whatever that may be at the time. But with clear insight into the customer, what the marketing positioning or tactics need to be, and how this can be executed for the benefit of the business.

With a strong strategy, built on solid research and insight, which achieves stakeholder buy-in. This is a wonderful place to get to. When I have been a part of a team that has arrived at this sweet spot with everyone working towards the same objective. The end result has a much greater chance of success.

From my experience client side, marketing can be the glue of a business. It doesn’t matter which ‘P’ we are discussing (yes, the four P’s) marketing has a role to add value to each one - bringing customer insight and market opportunities.

If you could give one piece of career advice to aspiring marketers, what would it be?

A career in any profession is a marathon, not a sprint. This is something I am still very much learning and understanding now. The path you thought your career may take, may well throw you off route, or take you in a different direction.

Learn from these, and with dedication and commitment, you’ll be able to steer the journey to where you want to take it – which may well be that different direction it took you in.

In another life, your career would have been…

I have been influenced by the careers around me. Working in the built-environment sector for the majority of my career, I look at the professionals in roles such as Construction Project Managers or Quantity Surveyors, or in similar roles. And the enjoyment they have when they are part of a team delivering exceptional projects. Whenever we are passing a project or building, they have been involved in, the pride they have when they share with you their involvement. I guess, it is similar to the pride we feel as marketers when we see our latest campaign go live, and we know the work that went before this.

This or that questions?
● Tea or coffee? Coffee
● Twitter or Facebook? LinkedIn
● Netflix or Amazon Prime? Netflix
● Physical book or Kindle? Physical book
● Chocolate or crisps? Chocolate & crisps
● Dog or cat? Dog
● Beach or poolside? Poolside
● Big party or dinner party? Dinner party
● Run or walk? Run
● Pop or rock? Country