From Marketing Assistant to Director of Marketing

From Marketing Comms Exec to Director of Marketing with Paramount Group of Hotels.

From 2000-2007, I worked at Paramount Group of Hotels. Initially I was employed as Marketing Communications Executive and worked my way up to the position of Director of Marketing.

A fantastic team

I learned the hotel craft at Paramount Hotels as it was my first role in hospitality. Before then, I’d worked at Barclays Mercantile (asset finance banking) and Wella GB (professional salon services and haircare).

Like so many things, when you find something you love, it sticks. The team at Paramount was team and I made many lifelong friends. Some of the best hoteliers, sales managers and revenue managers that started at Paramount are still at the top of the industry today.

21 hotels in 2007

During my time, I was responsible for strategic and tactical marketing for 21 hotels as well as group-wide activity. Day-to-day, I managed the marketing budgets, helped achieve group sales targets and maximised return on investment. We positioned and promoted the brand in the four-star short break, conference, corporate, wedding, leisure and golf markets.

Mastering the art of marketing

My Paramount days were pre e-commerce. I honed the skills of copywriting and promotions through national newspaper ads, loyalty programs and printed brochures.

Hotel photoshoots, direct mail and sales literature etc. were at the core of our marketing. But it was their effectiveness that mattered and how they were the driving force behind in-bound calls to the call centre or leads for our conference sales team to convert.

On being made Director of Marketing, I wrote the group’s first comprehensive marketing plan. On paper, I aligned the marketing objectives to the business plan–something that, remarkably, hadn’t been created before. By now, in my late 20s, I was responsible for £100K marketing budget (big money back then!) and was set big targets for short breaks booking revenue, something I’m still delighted I achieved.

Creativity sells

I helped create the group’s first website and was a regular presenter at the annual conference. One team-building conference video I created was used to secure funding from our venture capitalist owners–perhaps one of my proudest moments.