Where I started

Straight out of University I started an internship with my Dad’s business. After many years working in the automotive industry, taking what he had learnt whilst helping to grow a well-known car manufacturer from a 3 car to a 7 car line-up, he started a growth management business. My Dad was a great believer in left-brain vs right-brain thinking; that there are always different approaches to a situation. What began as a project to see him through to retirement soon grew into a passion for helping business and start up ideas off the ground. During the weeks I worked alongside him, I gained experience with many different businesses. I shadowed him to breakfast meetings in London and did stand support at a week-long event in Stuttgart. There is a funny story about how, as a woman, I wasn't initially allowed at one of the breakfast meetings, but even better was the look of pride on my father's face when I stood up in front of a group of middle-aged men and wouldn't let myself be put 'in-the-corner'. From those few short weeks with him, I had some amazing experiences and my passion for helping people and business also grew.

However, it was 2010, the likelihood of myself or any of my university peers landing the 'dream job' for a great pay packet in London was almost non-existent. Nonetheless, I was recommended for a marketing internship with a financial company via a connection that I had made at one of the London meetings I’d attended with my Dad’s company; so, I headed off for my first-ever interview. I arrived a full two hours early but happily sat outside a coffee shop to read over notes and attempt to get my heart rate down. Post-interview I wasn't sure what to make of it. Although I thought it had gone well I was not entirely sure, as there had been little feedback from my would-be manager. Although, as I later found out, being a woman in a financial data company based in London, a certain amount of coldness was required if you wanted to be in that position, and she was smashing it. Needless to say, I did get the role and moved to London immediately feeling grateful that, within 8 weeks of finishing a degree in Marketing Management, I was in London working towards becoming a Marketing Manager.

So, I made the move and started to get settled into London life and all that it entailed. My intention was never to stay in the finance sector for very long. Only to get some work experience onto my CV to enable me to land that dream job later in life. However, four months later, I got a phone call that I will never forget. On the train home one night Dad rang me to say that he had a tumour, but not to worry, it was the 'good kind' that "everything will be OK, nothing can put your old man down for long." But a year later he was gone, and I was lost.

I stayed with that marketing management role in finance, not for the love of the job, but for the lack of motivation to do anything else; although I was proud that by the age of 22, I was the only marketing person for a global financial data company. Sounds great right? Remember what I said about having to have a certain coldness to be in a financial business at that time? Yep, that's not me! Thankfully my sanity was saved when the company was bought by another far larger business. Finally, I was able to work alongside like-minded women, who I could look up to and learn from. So, for several more years, I worked and learnt from them, before the company I worked for was sold again, subsiquently reorganised, freeing me from the finance industry.

At this point, I knew that I needed to work through some serious depression, and find out what I wanted to do. I knew that I wanted to stay away from finance, but struggled to get interviews with businesses that weren't in the financial sector. I knew that I wanted to work for a smaller company and that this would come with a pay cut. I wanted to walk in and help a business set up and grow to reach their required audience.

After a while, I found that role. In a place where once again I was surrounded by women I could learn from, who gave me the courage and belief that I could do this on my own. So I did, and Nilster was born.

What I do

The last 11 years of experience have grown my passion for using my knowledge to help people setting up and growing a business in a way that will reach and engage their audiences. I have managed marketing campaigns for thousands and tens of people. I know how to look at data and say, great, but what does that mean for the business?

My mission is to help you and your business grow to the point of not needing my help any more.

How I Do it

Got-to-market planning:

From keeping product launches on track to organising events and long term company-wide marketing campaigns to meet growth targets. I find that the easiest way to get everyone and everything on track is to reduce even the most complicated and confusing subjects of planning ideas down to their most important components. This ultimately means that your marketing projects, campaign and business growth plans are more easily managed.

Website management:

A recent convert to WIX, I have found that this is the easiest platform for those new to website building. The editing tools make everything easy, the initial set up may seem daunting, but once done there is nothing to stop you from adding and growing as you need. Although I am also a dab hand with WordPress, and the basics of HTML was learnt as a necessity to keep a website up and running.

Content writing:

Despite being dyslexic somehow getting the words out of my head and on to paper doesn’t seem all that hard (thank you spell check!). I have managed to write over 1000 words in under an hour - granted its on a very easy subject - myself! - but at least the words are out. That being said, I have also been able to write content from white papers to tweets, on subjects that I had little to no knowledge of before researching them.

CRM systems:

Eloqua is an amazing CRM tool needs and fantastic at planning out long and complicated email campaigns. However, Marketo also does a great job. But for those without hundreds of thousands of pounds to spend, Mailchimp is a fab alternative. Although some of the layouts and systems aren’t as graphical or straight forward when planning longer and larger campaigns. For smaller companies or individuals with smaller budgets, it does everything that you need it to do.

Social media marketing:

What to post where and when is key to a successful post. Knowing how to get your information out so that it's not skipped over in the noise of all of the other posts on social platforms, whether it is Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn. Keeping an eye on engagement stats, whether you use a social media marketing platform or not, will help you to engage your audience more effectively.

Email Marketing:

Sending out email after email, but still not looking at the data and results is like trying to clean your house with a toothbrush – time consuming and pointless. Building engaging campaigns takes time, patience and a lot of data. Understanding how to use that information will help you to build a more meaningful relationship with your audience and/or customer base. Personalisation and persistence will get you there, but so does taking a break once in a while.