Chartered marketer and fellow, Charlie Nettle, reflects back on six years as chair of the Chartered Institute of Marketing North East board.
Looking back on my own career, I very much fell into marketing. I wasn’t actually aware of it at school, nor did I think it would become my career.
I wasn’t particularly academic – having flunked most of my A-Levels, I didn’t have the grades, or the interest to go to university, so went to college where I studied business and finance. I then went on to complete my studies at university with a business degree followed by a masters in marketing and communications, which I particularly enjoyed.
My first ‘proper’ job was a marketing role in the IT industry. This was the start of pursuing a career in marketing. I felt like it came quite naturally to me, unlike academia. My journey with the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) has spanned my entire career. Why did I join? I felt on many an occasion that I was a lonely marketer, so I looked to outside influences to widen my networks and develop my learning.
I worked across the country before settling in the north east of England and securing a marketing role with the North East England Chamber of Commerce, which enabled me to work for a globally recognised brand and a leading North East organisation. It was also an incredible opportunity to be exposed to thousands of organisations across a whole range of industry sectors and meet a vast number of people. Armed with a great deal of knowledge and keen to challenge myself, I spotted a marketing position at my current workplace, AV Dawson, a port facility on the Tees in Middlesbrough, it was, at the time, a hidden gem.
I saw an opportunity to raise the profile of this magnificent company that was sitting silently under the radar. I have since progressed through the organisation to my current position of commercial and marketing director.
How has marketing made me feel? Throughout my whole career I have had to explain marketing, in many cases I have felt like a bit of a cheat trying to justify the profession and what it is we actually do.
It has, at times, felt undervalued, with people often having little appreciation of the vast breadth of skills marketers require. Many employers end up not recruiting the right calibre of marketer for the job and therefore not truly unlocking the potential of their business, simply because they are unclear what marketing really is, what it can deliver and the appropriate level of skills a marketer requires to do the job. That is why I think it is important for marketers to work together to raise awareness of
marketing as a profession and help people see the value it delivers. When I was asked to be a member of the CIM board six years ago this was a real moment of pride for me. I felt a lot needed to be done within the sector and at times I feel I haven’t been able to galvanise this.
A highlight for me was the introduction of the North East ‘marketing greats’ – profiling the marketers behind the key brands in the region and who have really made an impact within their sector. This campaign has raised the profile of marketing and illustrated that there are some great marketing jobs in the region. I also worked hard to introduce internal marketing awards– recognising the great work regional volunteers play in promoting and contributing to the work of CIM.
I take great pride in seeing the development of the North East board and having handed over the reins to Kirsty Ramsey who was recently appointed chair, I am looking forward to seeing the board build on their great work. They have a perfect blend of enthusiasm and experience. Since stepping down as chair I have been working hard to develop a campaign ‘This is Marketing’ in which the CIM board has been hugely supportive. The campaign is a rallying call to marketers to support each other to champion the profession.
This is a project for all marketers to champion, it is an all developing, co-creating opportunity for us all to benefit from, to help us and employers value the role that marketing has to play within an organisation – and now, particularly with the current challenges of Brexit and Covid, it could be argued that strong strategic marketing is needed more than ever! To find out more about This is Marketing please visit www.thisismarketing.co.uk
