Catherine Varney
Oakham,Rutland
Summary
Results-driven global marketing specialist of 20+ years, delivering high-performing brand and product marketing strategies within the education, FinTech, finance and fashion industries. Utilising strong leadership and effective engagement skills to build excellent professional relationships, implement successful marketing campaigns and grow online activity through enhanced company reach and reputation.
Overview
25
25
years of professional experience
Work history
Head of Global Marketing
RM Resources, Educational Resource Suppliers
Hucknall, Nottinghamshire
2022.01 - Current
- Responsible for defining and executing the omni-channel global GTM strategy for TTS brand within RM Resources.
- Grown customer base in all major UK segments (Primary, SEND and EY) year-on-year.
- Delivered uplift in all major international territories via collaborative marketing activity with key partners
- Jointly responsible for marketing budget of £3.2 million to drive online and offline sales.
- Work closely with Insights team to understand customer demographics - doubled social media campaign effectiveness through segmentation.
- Built successful relationships with global industry thought-leaders, elevating brand reach and reputation.
- Cut creative costs by 50% year on year by reducing agency spend and bringing creative activity in-house.
Interim Director of International Sales
RM Resources
Hucknall, Nottinghamshire
2023.10 - 2025.01
- Internal promotion to Sales Director to cover maternity leave
- Responsible for both Distributor and direct to schools sales across 115 countries, managing a team of 15 sales managers
- Achieved 10% growth on £19m target, contributing to companywide bonus.
- Devised new promotions and approaches to bridge the gap in territories that were experiencing trading difficulties.
Head of Marketing
Paylink Solutions
Grantham, Lincs
2021.01 - 2022.01
- Responsible for creating and implementing the marketing strategy at Paylink Solutions, a B2B FinTech firm.
- Selected and managed third party digital agency to support with PPC and paid social activity.
- Responsible for all content delivery, internally and externally, including shared content and promotional strategy with all external partners.
- Represented the brand as a speaker at key industry events.
- Responsible for measuring and analysing outcomes against strategic business goals to continually iterate and improve brand strategy.
- Defined and developed brand guidelines, ensuring implementation throughout the business.
- Managing PR division to secure press and broadcast coverage as well as exploring podcast, influencer and blogger opportunities.
Head of Communications & Engagement
PayPlan Financial Services
Grantham
2018.03 - 2021.01
- Managed and developed a team of five, who provided digital content, social media, PR and content marketing services for PayPlan, one of the UK's leading free debt advice providers.
- Managed the content strategy for both the website and the digital customer journey platform to maximise conversion and achieve quarterly sales targets.
- Responsible for all client-facing communications (online and offline) as well as re-engagement strategies that consistently achieved above industry average engagement rates.
- Achieved significant operational efficiencies through the creation and delivery of a new process for briefing communications projects across the business.
Senior Digital Content Writer
Lands' End Direct Merchants
Rutland
2008.03 - 2018.03
- Responsible for managing and writing engaging, on-brand and sales-focused copy for the UK website of this fashion retailer.
- Crafted effective, SEO content to increase engagement and drive sales in all divisions, helping to facilitate the digital transformation of the business.
- Providing creative promotional and marketing material for new customer acquisition and affiliate partners.
- Writing content for the organic social media strategy, including Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, resulting in a significant uplift in followers and revenue across all channels (13.5% increase in Facebook followers 2017-18).
- Appointed as an Insight Representative for the employee forum which involved managing and delivering key business messages and decisions to the teams across the marketing, creative and content divisions.
Regional Account Manager
Starwood Hotels & Resorts
London
2001.09 - 2003.10
- Responsible for lead generation and revenue conversion for the portfolio of eight hotels in the UK and Ireland.
- The role was primarily field-based and involved maximising sales for the properties, achieved through brand presentation and rate negotiation with senior stakeholders.
Education
Advanced SEO
Greenlight Digital Agency
London03.2017
Bachelor of Arts - Media and Communication
University of Central England
Birmingham06.1998
A-Levels - English Literature, Geography, History
Beaverwood School for Girls
Kent06.1995
GCSE -
Beaverwood School for Girls
Kent06.1993
Skills
- Extensive experience of leading communications and marketing strategies
- SEO content writing, editing, proof-reading and PR experience
- Empowering managerial style, enabling personal growth and cultivating team success
- Awarded 'Player of the Year' in first 6 months at PayPlan
- Data-driven approach with a proven track record of increasing traffic and conversion through website and UX customer journey content by 40%
- Experience of working within a regulated environment (FCA)
- Excellent stakeholder management - organised 15 SMEs from across the PayPlan business to manage and write a £14 million bid for government commissioning
- Won first ever marketing award for TTS Talking content marketing campaign at RM Resources
- Strong leadership and decision-making skills, ability to deliver multiple projects in a fast-paced and ever-changing environment
- Effective communicator and collaborative worker, able to engage relevant stakeholders to achieve cross-business endorsement for all projects
- Highly proficient in WordPress CMS, InDesign and Photoshop design packages, Intercom Live Chat platform, Google Analytics and various social media software; working knowledge of HTML
- First class honours degree in Media and Communications
Timeline
Interim Director of International Sales
RM Resources
2023.10 - 2025.01
Head of Global Marketing
RM Resources, Educational Resource Suppliers
2022.01 - Current
Head of Marketing
Paylink Solutions
2021.01 - 2022.01
Head of Communications & Engagement
PayPlan Financial Services
2018.03 - 2021.01
Senior Digital Content Writer
Lands' End Direct Merchants
2008.03 - 2018.03
Regional Account Manager
Starwood Hotels & Resorts
2001.09 - 2003.10
Advanced SEO
Greenlight Digital Agency
Bachelor of Arts - Media and Communication
University of Central England
A-Levels - English Literature, Geography, History
Beaverwood School for Girls
GCSE -
Beaverwood School for Girls