Marketing Case Study / Gradwell
Skills Audit and Personal Development of Marketing Assistant
| Client | Gradwell / www.gradwell.com |
|---|---|
| Objective | Up-skill an in-house marketing assistant to meet the needs of a growing sales team and extended marketing mix. |
| Quick Facts |
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Gradwell is an internet services company, providing internet telephony, hosting, broadband and email services to UK small / micro businesses.
Clear Thought was engaged to undertake a 12-month marketing transformation programme for Gradwell. The programme included some major strategic projects, as well as an activity plan that included a number of marketing techniques not previously used by the company. As such, the in-house Marketing Assistant, Jake, was going to be asked to do much more in terms of external supplier management, and learn about the new marketing tools that he'd not previously used.
To equip him with the skills and confidence to do this, a specific personal development project was included in the overall plan of action. This included both general management and personal effectiveness skills, as well as marketing-specific knowledge.
The process included:
- Clarification of a job specification.
- Mapping skills and ways of measuring performance against the job specification.
- A 360-degree bench-marking process against the identified skills to assess any strengths or gaps.
- An on-the-job training programme to address any weaknesses.
- Ongoing mentoring / 'sounding board' on any new tasks.
- A quarterly appraisal to track and measure progress.
- Identification of appropriate formal qualification and a business case for company support.
A key characteristic of the Clear Thought approach is 360-degree auditing, at benchmark and appraisal stages. This adds another dimension to simple gap analysis, highlighting any over or under-estimation of skills and knowledge, which in itself represents a powerful development opportunity.
The impact was felt immediately on the day-to-day activity. Jake comments, "I am much more organised than I was before. Some really simple hints and tips on filing and personal admin have saved me hours, I now know exactly where things are, what version I'm working on, etc."
Jake now manages a range of marketing suppliers, from public relations, copywriting, graphic design, SEO specialists and more. He comments, "I would say that the key skill I've learnt over the last year is preparing good briefs. Before, I would just drop a supplier a quick email. I now understand that I need to be really clear on what I'm after, and also provide the context and background so that the person I'm working with knows where their work fits in the bigger picture. I know that improvements here have saved time, money and frustration in re-work and ideas that miss the mark. We're much more likely to get it right first time now."
In the time that Clear Thought worked with Jake, the sales team that he supports more than doubled. In addition, the ongoing marketing programme he now delivers for Gradwell is made up of a fully integrated mix of techniques. In his own words... "I'm now much more confident in my own abilities. Thanks to the support from Clear Thought, I've progressed in the business and my work is much more effective and much more polished."
This project was undertaken as part of a 12-month marketing transformation programme for Gradwell. Hear Peter Gradwell, MD, talk about his experiences in this 3-minute video »
