top of page
Writer's pictureRyan Laidlaw

So... Apparently I Am A Marketing Consultant...

Updated: Mar 19, 2022

Recent Finance and Accounting Graduate Turned Consultant



When I completed my degree from the University of Victoria, had you told me I was going to start a digital marketing consultancy I most likely would have laughed... Directly at you...

Entering my post-secondary schooling, I elected I was going to discover both accounting and finance. I studied both over my initial years in university and took an aggressive stance on finding challenging summer employment opportunities to find where my passions truly lay. I was fortunate to find a couple of unbelievable experiences in working for a small boutique investment firm and KPMG, two extremes of the two separate business facets. Following the completion of my degree, I abandoned all hopes of following the route of working towards a CPA and decided finance was my career area of choice.

Very shortly after I finished my University degree I started working for a private equity firm based in Calgary. I was hired on for a communications role that quickly developed into promotion to Head of Investor Relations for the organization.

Within my first week, I was tasked with acquainting myself with the Tech industry and learning a number of terms I had never heard of such as 'growth-hacking', and other buzzwords I would come to despise. I had no idea what I was doing, and I loved it.


As I began to read what the digital marketing space involved and all of the tactics that could be utilized, I began to become consumed. I regularly would present interesting cases and thought papers to our management team for our own marketing efforts. One thing led to another, and a shortly after half of a year of employment and the launch of our venture capital division, our CEO pulled me into her office and dropped the following on me...

"I hope that you are comfortable with it, but you and our new hire in Marketing as Head of PR are going to be co-heading the entire marketing strategy of our new tech-startup.”

‘Ummm… Yes?’ were really the only words that came to mind.


Our small two person in house marketing team began to evolve. As our efforts ramped up, campaigns activated, and creative ideas put to use, external parties began requesting referrals to our organization's agency on record... Little did they know the brains behind the majority of those campaigns were two individuals working their tails off for a number of different internal brands. Our team expanded and so did our responsibility. Eventually, we grew to the point of looking for external contracts and building our own marketing boutique & brand.

Although I was only employed with this company just short of two years, the amount of experience gathered could contest many of those with three to four times the duration in this industry. Now I arrive here, starting my own marketing consultancy. With little to no overhead, and all experience that could contest agency professionals, my business background leads me to believe I hold exactly the skills and traits needed to fit into practically any situation.

Give me a shout!

Let's explore how we can change the status quo.

7 views0 comments

Comments


bottom of page