Meet Aisling Larkin
A very warm welcome to Aisling Larkin, who recently joined our team as a Consulting Lead. Aisling feels accomplished when she can help clients overcome complex issues and ensure that their outcomes are met, and thrives in an environment where no other day looks the same and where she can work on various impactful projects. She is very eager to share her knowledge with clients and help them in the development and maturity of their marketing technology stack and here she shares a bit more about her career and role within team WoolfHodson:
Tell us more about your role
As a Consulting Lead, my role is to work closely with our clients through complex initiatives. My week is very versatile which I love - one day I could be leading the development of an ABM strategy, working with key stakeholders such as sales directors and senior marketers; the next day I may guiding the development of a marketing process and execution framework, working with digital marketing teams and analysts and the day after I could be hosting a workshop on email marketing best practices and strategy.
I get the opportunity to lead initiatives and work closely with our clients, understanding their needs and wants and advising them to help unlock some of the issues they may face. I get very excited at how marketing technology can truly impact many areas of a business and I share my learnings and help to support our clients with the development and maturity of their marketing technology stack, with a focus on people processes and technology.
What attracted you to work at WoolfHodson?
WoolfHodson solves complex marketing problems for its clients, and I wanted to be part of that. I thoroughly enjoy being a consultant and as soon as I understood the objectives and responsibilities of the consulting lead role at WoolfHodson, I was in! WoolfHodson supports a wide variety of clients across multiple industries and getting the opportunity to work with such big brands attracted me to the role.
My colleagues at WoolfHodson are extremely knowledgeable and experienced and getting to work with them across many projects is great! WoolfHodson supports career growth and offers great development opportunities.
What are the motivators that drive you in solving complex marketing problems?
As I have come from a marketing background on the client side, I understand the frustrations we may face when it comes to complex marketing problems, and how they can affect how we achieve our goals and objectives – because I have been there. Ultimately, I strive to help my clients to overcome these issues and to ensure that their outcomes are met. The ability to solve such complex problems is a team effort and helping our clients to reach their goals and to see such positive results is the dream!
In your role, how do you help marketers connect the dots between technology and marketing strategy?
Making the most of your marketing technology stack and ensuring that you are creating a clear marketing strategy to map to this can be challenging at times for marketers. My role is to almost bridge the gap between the technology and how marketers can get the most from it. I encourage clients to take a step back and look at their business objectives/ and the “bigger picture”. What are the outcomes they want to achieve? And how can the marketing tech stack support their goals and objectives? Once the marketing strategy is defined, as an example, I may work with marketers, sales and IT, and our tech team to develop a comprehensive marketing technology roadmap that links directly to the strategy and the overall business outcomes.
What’s your career highlight?
I have had some great career opportunities, where I have worked in Luxury retail, with an FTSE 100 company, and then moved to an agency - all of which have been an integral part of my career journey and growth. Ultimately for me, bringing marketing technology to life excites me! I am a creative person and balancing marketing ideas against how technology might support this really interests me. I have written a comprehensive marketing ‘cookbook’ that focuses on campaign planning and strategy, customer journey mapping, the funnel approach - what channels and content are best to use, and campaign recipes for success. This also included how to test and learn, a framework to support this, KPIs and benchmarking along with a toolkit to support marketing teams to achieve the best results. This is something I am proud of and that was used as a form of training for our clients and a” how-to” guide.
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve worked on?
I have worked on a few challenges, but one of my biggest challenges and one that I am forever grateful for is when I was given a great opportunity as the Eloqua Marketing Automation Lead for a global FTSE 100 company, having no previous Eloqua experience! I learned on the job and have since completed my Eloqua Masters and Luminary. I had a very supportive manager, from whom I learned a lot. My role was multi-functional, I managed the set-up of multi-touch campaigns and assets, I designed journeys, deployed, and reported all through Eloqua. I helped to educate marketers about marketing automation and how the technology could support their strategy. I led the onboarding of Eloqua into other business units, and I was a member of the senior leadership team. This was a challenging role, but it really allowed me to get under the bonnet of what and how a marketing automation tool can drive success for a business, and ultimately this has led to where I am today.
What’s your biggest career lesson?
Choose a job that you enjoy because life is too short. Be a team player and never stop learning!
What do you like to do outside of work?
I adore music and have been singing from a young age. I try to keep it up as much as I can, this year I have been lucky to perform at concerts and wedding ceremonies. I love learning new songs that I add to my repertoire. My influencers are Amy Winehouse and Etta James, a soulful and jazzy selection!
If you are looking for your next career move and would like to explore opportunities in our growing team, please see the available roles on our website.
