Knotch connected with Rebecca Coats, Associate Director of Content Marketing at Savills, for our "Own Your Voice" series to hear her story, and to learn what drives Rebecca in her career.
Scottish born and bred, I was always drawn to the big city. Having completed my degree at The University of Edinburgh, I started looking for jobs in London immediately. After one year as a conference producer, I realised the start-up environment wasn’t for me.
Luckily the Mountbatten Program gave me a year’s internship at Thomson Reuters Financial & Risk (now Refinitiv) alongside a postgraduate qualification. That was where I regained my confidence, and took every opportunity that was thrown my way.
Working within the Customer Advisory and Advocacy team, I learned the importance of the consumer’s voice. Instead of letting fear stop me, I absorbed everything I could, and I was offered a role in the same team back in their London offices in Canary Wharf. I had the best time at Thomson Reuters and it really formed the foundation of my marketing career.
I don’t believe people’s stories change, only that they evolve. Over the course of my career, I’ve learned that I’m not truly happy in a role unless it’s challenging me. I transitioned from Thomson Reuters (now Refinitiv) to a role at KPMG UK as a marketing manager within their consumer, retail and leisure sectors (all of which I’m passionate about). Here I learned the bulk of what I would call my ‘hardcore marketing’ experience. It was there that I fell in love with content marketing, and transitioned into my current role as Associate Director of content marketing at Savills.
There’s no one person, rather I like to learn from my experiences, including the people I meet, and the places I visit. My late grandfather always supported my education, and I remember him bursting with pride at my graduation ceremony. He even helped me travel to my interviews. My parents have also instilled in me a strong work ethic, encouraged me to work hard, and kept me modest, which allows me to continue growing.
Producing great quality content is essential, but you also have to push that content out via the right channels to reach audiences. Content creation can be glamorous, but content activation can separate the top performers from the rest. Invest in content activation just as much, or even more than, content creation. If your audience doesn’t have access to or views your great content, it’s worthless.
From a small Scottish town to the big lights of New York City and London, my variety of marketing experience across large corporations has led me to specialize in content marketing today.
