Even though many of our graduates will have progressed in their careers since completing a case study, they are still of interest to students who wish to gain an understanding of the world of work.

Responsible for all marketing activities across the business including the positioning, lead generation, messaging, pricing, sales enablement, and sales tools development, as well playing a pivotal role in product development and corporate strategy with business planning and execution responsibilities, as well managing a significant budget and marketing team.

Typical day starts with catching up with the team to see what is on the 'to do' list that day and identifying any urgent issues. As we have offices across the world, it's then onto addressing any overnight requirements that have come in from our international teams. Following that the day could be anything from product development meetings, PR planning and execution, undertaking lead gen activities or submitting ROI reports on previous work to board meetings and strategy discussions around how to build the company further such as launching in new countries or acquisition targets.

That there is no such thing as a stupid idea! You can't be in marketing and not be creative. Yes there are times when you have to be thinking strategically which doesn't sound like a creative endeavour, but that doesn't mean you can't think outside the box. Some of the best products have come from ideas that don't actually seem to make sense at first, but the challenge and the excitement comes from making something real and then getting people to buy into it.

The international aspect of our business can sometimes be a challenge because we have to ensure that local nuances are reflected in our work. Perhaps the biggest challenge for any marketing function is balancing the needs of the sales teams to deliver today with the strategic requirement to constantly evolve to maintain a leading position in your market. This is particularly true in the mobile industry because there is constantly new things to consider both in terms of the technology available and how it can be used.
And finally it's convincing the FD that marketing is much more than just a cost centre, and that as a team we add significant value to the business.

To me, marketing underpins every other aspect and function within a business. As lead marketer, I need to be able to grasp even at a basic level the fundamentals of what every other department is doing and the great thing about my role is I get to take all that knowledge and then create something that captures the attention of our target audience. In a nutshell marketing is the creative hub that gets to take the different parts of a business and turn them into the whole and then shout about them.

In terms of my course skills, pretty much all of them. I have to run a budget, manage a team, contribute to business strategy etc etc.

Whatever is required to ensure that the marketing function is continually improving its skill set. Recently this has included things like app building and HTML5 to ensure that we understand the technology we use in our products and services, even if it isn't us who actually deliver to customers.

Graduation - 2007 I worked in the marketing team at the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce

2007/8 - Marketing Manager for a large office products wholesaler

2008 - Headed the marketing communications team for a software vendor

2009/11 - Ran the marketing team for a research software start-up

In terms of qualifications, I can see myself gaining accreditation away from the marketing side of things (PRINCE etc.) to broaden my 'not on the job' education
Career wise I am very happy with the trajectory to date and for the foreseeable see myself working within my current organisation to help them grow into a significant global player in the mobile solutions industry

First of all, don't believe the hype about average first salaries etc. It is experience that should come first so prioritise that over money - you can earn more later! You aren't expected to know everything when you join a business, so show a desire to learn and be better and another piece of advice I was once given was 'it's good to email but better to talk'. In other words, you won't learn what is happening in and around your business if you hide behind a computer, you have to engage with colleagues, clients, suppliers etc
The final thing that I have learned having worked with and for some brilliant people is don't try and impress people, just be impressive. You will get much further in your career if you always assume that you can deliver more and focus on what more you can do rather than what you have already done.