What was it that made you want to work in the publishing industry?

I didn’t plan to go into publishing when I left university, but it was actually a love of Formula 1 that drew me into industry because my first role was in ad sales on a Formula 1 magazine. Getting to work on a motorsport title was a dream job but I then fell in love with publishing and never left.

Could you chart your career from the start to where you are now?

I started my career working in ad sales on various motorsports titles at Haymarket where I was for 10 years. After two years there, I started working on their newsstand marketing team, buying newstrade space in retailers. After that I did a short spell working in the licensing department at Haymarket before becoming a publishing manager then brand manager on Classic and Sports Car which was a title I worked on in my ad days, before then becoming publishing manager of Gramophone and Classical FM magazine. In 2013 I transferred over to the Mark Allen Group as part of the sale of Gramophone. Over here I started working in their marketing team, before becoming head of marketing and digital strategy.

How big is the Mark Allen Group marketing team?

There are several teams in the company. I run a team of six and we are responsible for marketing subscriptions, awards, brand specific conferences and recruitment portfolios. We also give a lot of support to social media and help editorial teams get their content marketing and SEO right. But there are different marketing sides to business including a dedicated team in the Exhibitions business. With the acquisitions that have happened over the years, there is marketing expertise in some of the brand teams as well.

How many acquisitions have there been since you started?

We have comfortably more than doubled since 2013. There have been a number of notable ones like Findlay Media, Optician and Community Care. Since I arrived, there have been at least two or three acquisitions every year, which is really exciting because you get to meet talented people and learn about new business models. My team now run marketing campaigns for at least 40 brands.

How has the digital and marketing strategy evolved since you began at the Mark Allen Group?

It is far more diverse now. Not just because of the different marketing techniques we use, but because of the brand extensions and products we are marketing. The requirements and the goals of marketing a conference are very different to marketing subscriptions. We are now looking at the entire life cycle of our marketing from the point of discovery through search and social media as well as traditional channels such as newsstand and events. Marketing also includes exhibitions and digital subscriptions as well as encouraging our users to use our job support services. There are so many different parts to the business but underpinning everything is a commitment to content, because that remains the best advert for our brands.

What are the key differences between a marketing and digital strategy used for B2B publications and a marketing and digital strategy used for consumer publications?

I think it’s about the value exchange. When you are pitching something in a consumer market, you are talking about things which are very emotional. You are trying to get people to subscribe because they love reading the subject. In a B2B title, you are talking at a much more practical level about what we can do to make their professional lives easier or fulfil qualifications or criteria. The fundamentals are still there in that you are trying to articulate why a reader should read a magazine, but what you get out of it is far more about quantitative and value exchange.

Do you have an overarching strategy for all your publications or does each publication have a unique strategy?

Because we have grown so quickly in recent years, it means we have a very diverse portfolio and all of them have different business models for different audiences and different products. At the same time, we can take the best bits that apply from a new brand and share them around the business. There is definitely cross-pollination going on but every brand is treated as an individual.

What does a typical day involve at the Mark Allen Group?

There is no such thing as a standard day but to boil it down, I would look at analytics in the morning to see how sales performed on the previous day for subscriptions and identify any surprises. I then get into the various projects I am working on from subs campaigns, social activity and website development.

What would people be surprised to know about your job?

The number of central services we have that other publishers outsource. We don’t outsource marketing; we have a fantastic customer service and subs fulfilment team and we have an internal development and data teams. That presents us with so many advantages with cost management as well as influencing the priorities of work and allowing everyone to influence the strategy.

What would be in your Room 101?

Do you have a coin on you because it’s a toss between Donald Trump and Brexit.

Whose phone number do you wish you had?

Senator Elizabeth Warren. I want to understand how she handles all the abuse she gets from Trump and the Republicans yet still manages to stay above it all.

What magazine would be your long train journey read?

BBC History or The Week (obviously if I’m not reading one of ours).