Global perspectives series: Anne Hogarth, Association of Corporate Treasurers
Anne Hogarth is a Director of Marketing and Communications with extensive experience working with magazine and newspaper publishers and most recently with membership organisations. She is also a chartered marketer and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
Currently, Anne has been leading the marketing of the Association of Corporate Treasurers since 2018 and driving their authenticity as the voice of the treasury profession.
Here, Wendy Gray chats to her about her views on today’s marketing landscape.
Tell us about your career journey to date?
| Like many marketers, I came across marketing by accident – straight out of university I interviewed for a sales position at Haymarket Publishing. They told me that I would be terrible in sales, but they had an opening in their marketing team that might be better for me. I’m delighted to say that they were right and I found a career path that has been incredibly fulfilling. I worked in the publishing sector for quite a few years, on titles as diverse as Campaign and Woman’s Weekly, The Times Literary Supplement and Shares magazine. It was a natural progression to newspapers and I worked for The Daily Telegraph before moving to the Wall Street Journal and gaining the chance to communicate with a global audience. That was a real eye-opener and I’ve been working with an international audience ever since. For the last four years, my home has been the Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT) – a professional membership organisation for the treasury community around the world. The ACT has an amazing qualifications and training programme, as well as offering events and conferences, a magazine, and policy and technical resources. It makes my role a very varied one and that’s always fun. |
What do you predict will be the key trends impacting marketing in the next 12 months?
| Data is a big one of course – the technology to make sense of our audiences, and how we can best understand and meet their needs, is evolving rapidly. Beyond that, I think how we communicate with our audiences is an area that we need to keep a close eye on. The move to remote working has seen an explosion in the number of emails that we all receive, making this a more challenging communication channel. |
What are the major priorities for your team or division over the coming year and how do you plan to address them?
We are a small, but perfectly formed, marketing team at the ACT. There are five of us and we work remotely from our home offices, so good communication within the team and with the wider organisation is a priority.
We make sure we’re in close contact through regular catch ups via Teams and meeting in person when we can. As a small team, we extend our capacity through partner agencies, building solid relationships so that the agencies are an extension of our own team. Our priority is to ensure we have the best-in-class marketing resources to communicate the ACT’s benefits to the membership community around the world.
What do you consider the biggest challenges for a CMO/ Marketing Director?
I think it comes down to bringing your colleagues with you on the marketing journey, whatever the scope of the project. We need to ensure that our communication with other areas of the business enables them to have a clear understanding of the marketing strategy. This is particularly a challenge in areas such as digital marketing where there’s an increasing amount of technical terminology, and sometimes just jargon, to wade through – my job is to demystify it and tell the marketing story clearly and simply.
What is the most effective way you have proved the value of marketing?
Digital marketing is the most transparent area – there’s no hiding from the return on investment! Having clear goals and reporting metrics in place, and keeping these largely consistent over time, helps to give the full picture of a digital marketing campaign. Beyond that, we use a range of key performance indicators for all of our work and we share these with the internal stakeholders so that we can agree on what’s working and what’s not, taking steps to address any areas that aren’t quite working (yet).
What role do you think technology and data will play in the future of marketing?
While it’s certainly important to keep on top of the latest developments in technology. Data and analysis are vital to any marketing team, so we mustn’t lose sight of the fact that it exists to help us communicate better with our audiences. It’s that communication that’s the most important factor – understanding the audience, getting the message right and achieving cut through so that they see it and engage with it.
What advice would you have for other professionals looking to progress their career in marketing?
Be curious. Talk to everyone in your business. Get to know your customers. Marketing is, or should be, at the heart of the organisation. Listening is key – no marketer, however senior, knows all there is to know, so listen to your colleagues and keep an eye on what others are doing too.
I would encourage new marketers to look at how they can hone their skills – the Chartered Institute of Marketing is a great place to start. They work hard to support the profession with training, webinars and extensive resources.
What do you think the future holds for the position of marketing?
Over my career, I’ve seen marketing take an increasingly pivotal role in businesses. The customer (or member in the case of the ACT) really is the key to success or failure. Marketers are critical to understanding customers and building a lasting relationship with them. We’re seeing more marketers making the transition to Managing Director or Chief Executive roles and that’s because marketing lies at the heart of the business, so they have a good understanding of every commercial area.
If you’re interested in hearing more about the market, would like to discuss your career or are looking to recruit please get in touch with one of our specialist consultants. We look forward to hearing from you.
