Laura Hawes

I really enjoy my job - marketing has excited me since the moment I learnt what it was! I began on a very different path – studying Criminology at University. But when my flatmate’s Marketing course sparked a higher level of interest and anticipation than my own course, I swapped after year 1 and haven't looked back. A year after graduating, through sheer determination to build my marketing CV (doing FOC marketing work and forcing my first employer to take more interest in marketing – and allowing me to drive it!), and thanks to some people taking a chance on me, I began my career at Hi-Tec in 2007 as a Marketing Assistant, where I went from strength to strength, becoming Marketing Manager for the Magnum brand. Being responsible for marketing a global brand and product collection within the UK was fantastic. It gave me the opportunity to meet and work with many different people, to lead and be lead, and to utilise and understand many elements of the brand marketing mix. After 11 years, a new opportunity came along, and I decided to go for it. I've been with IronmongeryDirect since 2018 and I'm really enjoying the challenge. I started by managing the customer retention strategy where I was introduced to a new world of marketing - previously I was the brand supporting retailers, now I'm the retailer driving revenue! It was a steep learning curve with new marketing channels, responsibilities, processes and systems; it's fast paced; and it constantly puts my organisation and attention to detail skills to the test, but I’ve really embraced the change. We then had a restructure and I was promoted to Marketing Cluster Manager, which meant - narrowing my customer focus to my specific vertical markets, but expanding my marketing strategies - undertaking customer recruitment alongside retention and reactivation - gaining a better understanding of digital channels such as search and display - improving my product knowledge to ensure I’m offering my customers the right products. In February 2022, after completing my ILM Level 2 qualification, I was promoted to Senior Marketing Cluster Manager, overseeing the other Marketing Cluster Managers within the Marketing Team. My new role involves - defining and managing the strategic cluster plan for Traders (IronmongeryDirect & ElectricalDirect) - being responsible for the full customer journey via multi-channel marketing - overseeing overall cluster KPI and channel performance - budget management - OKR delivery