Holly Gilmartin is Croud’s Business and Operations Director, based in our Sydney office. We spent five minutes, delving into her typical day, her favourite thing about digital marketing, and the upcoming developments in digital which she is most excited about.
How long have you been working as a Business & Operations Director?
I’ve been working with Croud for two years now, I started off in business development and was there for 14 months before moving into the business and operations position in October 2018. 
For the last 10+ years of my career, I have worked across a number of sales and client-facing roles internationally, including digital recruitment, insurance, consultancy and even in debt collection throughout my university years. Croud is my first experience working in digital performance and even though it’s only been two years, the knowledge I have gained feels like I’ve been working in digital for a lifetime.
I oversee Croud Australia’s client strategy across the majority of our clients working very closely with our internal Account Managers and Client Strategist to make sure our clients are getting the highest level of service.
What does a typical day look like to you?
5:30am start. Walk my puppy – Lox, exercise, coffee, Croud.
Every day at Croud is completely different, it’s one of the many reasons why I love my job. The core focus of my day-to-day responsibilities is to make sure the team are happy and driven, our partners are happy and growing and the work we are delivering together is heading in the right direction for our respective goals.
My days include working closely with our internal teams to make sure we have a strategy, planning and process in place for everything we do. I attend a number of new client meetings to bring on new partners and grow Croud Australia’s business and service proposition. I work closely with our marketing team in the UK and Australia to build Croud’s brand awareness in Australia by attending events, hosting our own events, and running different marketing campaigns which showcase the amazing work that we have delivered. One of my favourite things to do at Croud is sit in training with the teams; we hold monthly ‘Lunch and Learns’, channel training internally and for clients, so generally every day is a school day for me as the team are constantly teaching me new things!
How closely do you work with Croud’s other offices?
I’m sure some people in the other offices across Croud would say I never leave them alone, however, with the time difference, it’s always been a huge challenge for Australia to communicate with our UK and US offices. Personally, I work really closely with our UK team. I speak regularly with our board and different team members depending on support and deliverables that we have in Australia. The great thing about working for a global company is that we get to leverage off all the new releases from the UK and the US, that haven’t come out in Australia yet.
Our channel managers have regular catch-ups with their counterparts in both markets to make sure they are always up to date with Croud’s processes and any pieces of work that we could use with our partners in Australia. We have some amazing dedicated employees in the UK who always wake up before the sun does and will have early meetings with us. The US team shares a few more working hours in the day and have an awesome team which is always great when I need some immediate support or information.
Favourite thing about digital marketing?
The people. Two years ago my knowledge on digital marketing was slim to none, in those two years I have surrounded myself with some of the most intelligent people in the industry who have taught me so much through stories, training, conference and mentoring.
Everybody is different. Everyone has a different approach, with different views, creating different ideas, weird is wonderful and being different is a compliment. People who are so data-driven can work alongside somebody who is so aesthetically creative and together deliver something marvellous without having to be a specialist in that particular industry.
If you are not constantly learning and you are in a digital environment you are around the wrong people.
What do you think are the most exciting developments in digital in the Australian market?
Trust in investing. Digital marketing in Australia is still many years behind some of Croud’s other offices. The biggest shift comes when educating from the top down in organisations and building trust, some companies are still getting used to the shift from traditional marketing.
Digital marketing has now become a necessity for companies to make sure their brand is growing and they are not being pushed aside by their competitors. For an agency, it’s exciting to speak to marketers who understand digital or are wanting our in-house training to educate the internal team on all the amazing things that the right digital marketing strategy can achieve.
Some of the biggest companies in Australia have digital teams who are still transitioning their skills to become ‘digital savvy’ and the more we can educate one another and work together, the more exciting digital is. When we build trust with our partners they allow us to play around with more ideas and get more creative, take risks and try something new, they invest further and we can celebrate amazing results together.
If you would like to find out more about Holly, upcoming events in our Australian office or Croud in general, get in touch.
