Stephen Edwards

Since the closure of the AWS magazine I have gone on to working with a number of clients as a print buyer, merchandiser as well as photographer and in 2015 I gained my CAA License to fly drones in order to carry out aerial work for a number of my clients.

This has included aerial videography, survey work as well as specialised 3D immersive tour photography. I am also a Trusted Google photographer and have experience and knowledge creating bespoke walk-through tours and interactive maps for businesses. This area I have continued with to present day.

• Built strong relationships with key clients for long-term business growth.
• Developed strategic sales plans to enhance market presence.
• Led successful product launches, increasing brand visibility.

I took over the contract publishing of a magazine for Women Lawyers, LinkAWS.

Working closely with the Association and the Law Society, I was responsible for the layout, editorial content, advertising sales, design, print and the distribution of 20,000 copies of the magazine - this ran successfully through to 2015, at which point the AWS came to an end and the publication became no longer necessary.

During my time working for the Law Society, I developed publications to compliment the magazine, these included a financial and lifestyle publication.

I have an enormous amount of experience working on a face to face basis with industry leaders and top executives in a range of professional businesses including within the Law Society itself where I have remained good friends with key figures to this day.

• Managed editorial production schedules, ensuring timely publication of materials.
• Led team of editors and designers, streamlining workflow and increasing productivity.
• Coordinated with printers to ensure high-quality final products.
• Reviewed budgets for each publication project, maintaining fiscal responsibility whilst ensuring quality output.
• Fostered strong relationships with authors, contributing significantly to author loyalty and retention.
• Elevated brand reputation by focusing on the production of high-quality prints.
• Drove sales growth through creative marketing initiatives tailored towards target audiences.
• Maximised profitability through effective upselling of advertisers to premium pages.
• Liaised with printers and contractors to ensure on-schedule delivery of 20,000 + issues Bi-Monthly.

I worked across 3 titles selling display adverting; an inflight magazine called RedHot, the Ritz Club magazine and Link AWS the magazine for Women Solicitors. Primarily office based with European travel on RedHot in flight magazine I sold display advertising space across the titles.

FT Business created a trial magazine to market.

I worked with a team of people to soft launch "Strapt for Cash" a magazine aimed at University students.

My role was to work with editors and sales executives to explore the idea of launching a magazine into Universities. The FT had given us a time-frame and budget to develop the product and to research the type of advertiser and editorial contributors who might look to support this type of publication.

Unfortunately after the development stage, looking into the projected forecasts, the FT decided it was not a big enough market to sustain itself financially.

• Identified risks, implemented mitigation strategies for secure project outcomes.
• Led cross-functional teams to achieve project goals on time.
• Promoted team collaboration for more innovative solutions in projects.

I very much enjoyed a long and happy career at Morgan Grampian/miller Freeman.

My journey started at their Woolwich office, where I started my career selling classified and then display advertising on a B2B publication SubCon - I have fond memories working on the title and eventually moving from telephone sales to display and getting my first company car.

I was out on the road for the company visiting and securing display advertising space from primarily engineering companies. I serviced an existing database of clients, although as a relative new publication I had to bring in a lot of new business, meeting with directors and senior executives of companies. I attended the annual SubCon show - and have actually remained in contact with at least one of my clients.

Having worked on the the title for a number of years I moved across to a more challenging title - Whats New in Industry and although a similar role, I had a greater level of responsibility, my sales area was now focused on a targeted area of the of the country and over-all budgets and sales expectations were greater.

My combined time working on these magazines was six years, during which time I had built up a great database of clients, many of whom I remained in contact with to this day as a testiment to my commitment and sales capabilities.

In 1997 I was given the fantastic opportunity of joining TTG, a very different magazine to the engineering titles that I was used to working on. This was Miller Freemans flagship travel magazine. The role was again display sales, but with greater adverting budgets, scope to travel worldwide and a range of exciting exhibitions to attend.

Major clients of mine included Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Beach Clubs and many more. I would travel to European exhibitions and events and unlike previous titles I had worked on, there was a bigger budget and a greater need for client entertainment.

I attended World Travel Market and was responsible for maintaining my existing clients as well as develop new.

After working for 9 years at Miller Freeman, 4 years of which on the exciting travel magazine, I took the decision to move away from all the travel, late nights and unsociable hours and made the sad decision to take up a new and exciting career roll at the Financial Times.

• Fostered strong customer relationships through exceptional service.
• Enhanced brand visibility by participating in trade shows and conferences.
• Developed comprehensive knowledge of product offerings to facilitate customer decisions.
• Expanded client base through targeted outreach initiatives.
• Identified potential leads, resulting in improved sales performance.
• Provided after-sales support, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Tailored pitches according to individual consumer preferences to increase conversion rates.
• Built lasting relationships with clients through customer service interactions.