Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Sanja Mračević, Copywriter
A person working as marketing manager should “only” coordinate the work of other team members, media leases, event organization, copywriting, market and competition research, and design strategies for the most diverse clients. All this is just part of the things for which this post is in charge of. That’s why we decided to talk with Dženita Brčvak Karović, the director of marketing at Bild Studio from Podgorica (Montenegro) and thus get a little bit better acquainted with the job of a marketing manager.
Dženita has been part of the Bild Studio team for two years now. She started her career in Bild as project manager, and since December 2016 she heads the marketing sector of the company.
What does it mean to be a Marketing Manager at Bild Studio? What are you in charge of?
Dženita Brčvak Karović: The position of marketing manager – much as any other managerial position – mostly leans on organization, planning and resource management, and above all, evaluation of results and control. Although you have to keep track of all the events in the industry as well as within your team and company, unfortunately, you have very little opportunity to deal only with what is the core of your job. Since Bild’s description of marketing services is quite diverse, I’m going to mention just a few of the obligations that I tackle together with my team: customer negotiations, sales meetings, market and competition research for both Bild and clients, designing advertising campaigns on various channels, leasing media, organizing conferences, copywriting, public relations management, and possibly the most demanding, management of projects funded by the EU, which imply a constant commitment to project implementation and detailed reporting. For information on indications, side effects, precautions and tolerances contact my team ?
Technology is helping all of us today. How does it help you in organizing your job?
Dženita Brčvak Karović: A good plan is a half of the job well done. Since joining Bild Studio, I organize my time and tasks through the Jira Atlassian software for agile project management. Jira is an amazing tool that gives you the ability to organize a complete project cycle, define deadlines, allocate human resources and responsibilities, and constantly track the progress of each individual task and/or team member. In addition, Jira allows commenting, attaching files, providing a variety of reports and has an integrated portfolio planner, and a very important time-consumption recording option. It’s truly a perfect project management tool, especially for IT projects, design and marketing, where every minute is precious. Jira comes in a package with Confluence, a tool for archiving and file sitematization. I use this tool everyday, since it makes it easy to organize files and provides a simple overview of a complete project, which is very important, especially if it’s about complex and vast projects that many of us have. However, in spite of all the IT tools, I’m still not immune to writing down the most important obligations of the day, so in the end of the day, I get that sweet satisfaction of crossing them out when (and if) I finish them.
How do you track the everyday changes in marketing, and how do you manage to keep pace? How do you obtain the latest information?
Dženita Brčvak Karović: In the industry we deal with, trends change at the speed of light, and I must admit that the greatest challenge for me is keeping track with everything that is going on in the global scene, because marketing, more than any other industry, is merciless when it comes to late reactions. Since digital marketing is quite young, the only, but the most accessible, source of information is the Internet, so I try to set aside at least half an hour a day to read online blogs about new trends. My list often includes regional magazines such as Netokracija, Media Marketing, but much more often I go for articles on MarketingProfs, Moz, Convice&Convert, etc. Of course, there are unavoidable online courses that are now very accessible so my team and I very often attend courses at Coursera, Google, and Udemy. Most often, however, I learn about new trends from members of my team who are specializing in various fields and are reading daily about events in those areas. Frequent exchanges of knowledge are invaluable, both for time saving, for team upgrading and team spirit strengthening. In this sector, we adore such processes and insist on them.
What does one of your regular days at work look like?
Dženita Brčvak Karović: One average day: from one client to another. I’m kidding. The morning starts with a huuuuge cup of black sugar-free coffee, a dose of laughs with the team – just to begin the day on a nicer note – followed by an endless scrolling through notifications on social networks and reading of e-mails, some revisions, then several meetings, followed by writing offers, and then again some revisions, another (un)planned meeting and the unavoidable finances. Did I mention constant communication with clients? That as well. All in all, every day is pretty dynamic and that’s what drives me. It’s never boring, that much I can guarantee.
Do you have any free time, and if you do, how do you use it?
Dženita Brčvak Karović: I’m often accused that I don’t know how to take a break. After a hard day at work I run (literally) to an even harder training. Cross-fit, tae-bo and a handful of different fitness trainings five times a week are what relaxes me, and I never miss them, except in exceptional cases, so my colleagues often see me dressed in fitness gear running down the stairs of Bild’s house to get to an appointment. After that, I run again to meet with friends for an hour or two. So, in essence, I run wherever I can. In addition, a good book for the perfect end of the day is always welcome, and for someone dealing with marketing, it is of crucial importance in order to cultivate different writing styles and enrich your vocabulary.
And does Bild marketing take a breather during the weekends, or is it on call 24/7?
Dženita Brčvak Karović: All of us are generally in standby mode. There are often situations when we communicate at 22:00, 23:00h. We harmonize activities with each other, we boost, comment and answer queries. This is a question for my team members, but somehow it seems to me that no one has hard time with that.
Does your job have any flaws, any bad sides? Tell us at least three.
- Endless number of notifications on all possible marketing channels. What’s a private profile again? ?
- Lack of courage from local companies to support bold ideas. There’s nothing sadder than “watering down” some idea, or placing it back in the drawer for some better times.
- Constant stress and constant effort to meet the demands of clients who want everything, now! Marketers of all countries, unite! ?
And finally, how do you solve situations when client demands don’t match the proposals and ideas of your team, which you passionately believe in?
Dženita Brčvak Karović: I lock the meeting room and don’t let them out until they agree. ? I’m kidding, of course. I do lock the door, but I do it because they won’t close properly. ? There is no single recipe. All clients are different, and like every individual, they require an individual approach. Basically, I insist that my team does their homework, that is that they do thorough research, prepare arguments, and be ready to defend the ideas they believe in. Of course, this also implies assuming responsibility and risk for everything we plan on behalf of the client. And after that, if the client is still not ready to accept the idea, then we adapt to their requirements. At the end of the day, the client is always right.
