We have a new marketing manager…Ben Thompson

We welcome to the team our first full-time marketing manager, Ben Thompson.  Ben originates from Leeds but has made Hull his home via a working stint in New York. We got in there and asked Ben a few questions about sport and commuting before he begins scaling the mountain of emails and the GDPR handbook.

Q: What were you doing before joining Pagabo?

A: My last role was as a marketing executive with Hull telecoms provider KCOM. It covered everything from content and campaigning to sponsorship activation and events on the B2B side of the company. I’ve also worked in marketing for Starr Companies, an insurance firm in New York City. In the last couple years, I’ve covered a few industries and locations!

Q: What do you think the typical Pagabo customer looks like?

A: About 6” tall, brown hair and wears a suit but no tie.

Q: How has marketing changed since you first entered the job market?

A: The biggest development in B2B is probably the rise of Account Based Marketing (ABM), which is a more targeted approach that effectively treats individual accounts as a market in their own right. It can pretty much be one-on-one campaigning working closely with the sales teams.

Q: As the company’s first proper marketing manager, what challenges do Pagabo face?

A: The biggest challenge is working in the office whilst the builders are in refitting it all! But seriously, the guys here are clearly a tight-knit group who really can pull together through any challenges they come up against. I’m excited to get stuck in with the team

Q: Do you agree Facebook and Google make marketing easier or just more expensive?

A: With any marketing method, you’ve got to learn how to do it right, and a lot of companies do get it wrong (which is when it ends up being expensive!). However, digital marketing can be incredibly cost-effective bearing in mind you can be extremely targeted with your campaigning and you can measure every aspect of what you do. You’d be amazed at how much companies like Facebook and Google do know about you!

Q: Have you any goals for the first 100 days of your new job?

A: I want to throw myself headfirst into the job. There’s no point in breaking yourself in gently. Marketing is an area that relies on all other aspects of the business feeding into it for it to work effectively, so I want to talk to everyone in the business to understand what they do, how they do it, what their challenges are and how as a marketer I can support them. Then get on with doing it!

Q: Outside of work, how do you spend your downtime?

A: I’m an active guy in short. I love playing hockey, five-a-side football and enjoy running as well. I’m also a big follower of sport with my first loves being Leeds Rhinos in the rugby and Leeds United in the football, but I’ll watch pretty much anything. I’m also really into my music and you can regularly find me going to gigs up and down the country.

Q: Long or short, what do you do to occupy your time on the commute into work?

A: I walk in so podcasts are my staple and I listen to things like Athletico Mince, The Bugle, Brexitcast, Marketing Week, The Horne Section and That Peter Crouch Podcast.

Q: What apps make your life better?

A: Twitter is my first source for news and content, so I’d say that first. CastBox is pretty good for all the podcasts I listen to on my walk in and Evernote helps me take notes down for those moments that I’m struck with inspiration in the most random of places. Then there’s another whole list of apps that definitely do not make my life better...

Q: Pagabo wants to have a day out for all their UK clients. Money no object, where and what would you prepare for them?

A: Probably something like arranging a football tournament day at Wembley Stadium with England legends mixed into the teams playing. I’d also pay 90,000 people to come an attend so the ground was full and add in all the mod cons such as team buses and full coaching staff (including Marcelo Bielsa, obviously). I’d follow it up with a meal cooked up by a Michelin starred chef! I know I’d attend that for sure.

Thanks for sparing the time and good luck in the job.