A bit about me
I was asked the other day; “How did you know that you wanted to get into marketing?”
Cast your mind back to when you were 17 years old. The age when you’re supposed to know what you want to do until you are eligible for a free bus pass and a discount on your dentures.
At 17, I hopped in my very old navy blue VW Polo (it had a dazzling orange go faster stripe all the way down each side, and a choke, remember those?!), and I skipped off to art school to become a graphic designer with a bunch of other cool kids in the 90s. I enrolled in an art foundation course as the pathway to the wonderful career I had in my sights. Spoiler alert: it didn’t last long.
After drawing oodles of naked folk, fruit, plants, shoes, and even prawns, I had one crack at using a computer for design purposes and I decided that was enough thank you. The nudes and lugging round the great big A1 folder which I could use as a sleeping bag, wasn’t for me.
I went back to school to see Mr Simpson my business studies teacher. He agreed with me that I would be very good at marketing. I secured a game-changing spot at the University of Brighton and that was that for the graphic design plan.
One degree in Business Studies with Marketing, a tonne of CPD, some brilliant career opportunities and a few years of self-employment later, it seems I have been in the world of marketing longer than Mailchimp, Hubspot and of course TikTok and Snapchat. Even Instagram was just a twinkle in Mark Zuckerberg’s eye in those days.
So here we are now; 2023 and I’m all grown up. I am a marketing freelancer, marketing consultant, virtual marketing manager or marketing VA. Call it what you like or what you need to, my world revolves around marketing and helping other people to find success in their business with proper good marketing.
Thank you wherever you are Mr Simpson, you were right.
Let’s Connect
I could tell you how professional, innovative and organised I am, but you’ve heard all that before on every CV you’ve ever read! I’m not selling false promises or telling you I’ll help you get 10,000 leads a week (you need a performance marketer for that). What I will do is listen, help you plan and execute really good marketing campaigns – creating clear content, concise copy and stay focused on the goals and message to achieve long-term marketing success, which will still be standing when the Twitter ship sinks. Connect with me on LinkedIn.
Create content with purpose
Everything happens for a reason
You might be thinking about building a new website or landing pages for a campaign, or maybe social media for off page SEO or setting up email automations, you can’t do any of these well without brilliant content. I offer flexible marketing support to meet the long term and campaign based marketing needs of you and your business.
I get projects delivered on time
Abbey Stewart, Content and Stories Manager, The Toybox Charity
“Motivated, forward thinking and organised, Gemma worked well with stakeholders from across the business to get marketing projects moving and delivered on deadline, to budget.
Capable and independent, Gemma possesses excellent problem solving skills, and a level of determination to see a project through from concept to completion.
Gemma introduced new procedures, new ways of thinking within the business and new suppliers and solutions. Overseeing print projects, proofreading, writing copy, digital projects, customer engagement, project management and event coordination were just some of the other valuable skills which Gemma brought to the table.”
I share my marketing expertise
Dylan Coupe, Marketing Assistant, Initial Incentives
“Gemma is an absolute joy to work with! Gemma takes on our projects and tasks, providing solutions and content that match the need of our Initial to stay up to date in the digital world. With the help of Gemma over the past year we have grown in all areas of our business. I would highly recommend to anyone looking to expand in the world of marketing.”
