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Monday in the life of Paragon Group’s Stephanie Girard

My day

7.00am: It’s usually around this time that I get out of bed and as soon as I step in the shower, I am in work mode and start planning the week reviewing objectives in my head. As the marketing manager for a multi-site business it is essential that I am aware of what it happening throughout the company, which means that being organised is a must.

8.00am: After dropping my toddler at nursery and making myself a coffee – I can’t function without it – I settle at my desk to check my emails and go over my projects list.

9.00am: I review the results and analytics of our latest email campaign and begin to pull together an evaluation for the exec team. It is important that we test and measure all of our campaigns and particularly those that are created for a specific market. At the moment we are working on a number of initiatives that will communicate our offering to the automotive sector, which is a growing and important market for us.

11.00am: Two major tenders land on my desk. As part of my role, I am also in charge of the bid management process. I plan conference calls to discuss the two projects with the various stakeholders and review timescales and actions. The deadlines are very tight on those and I am going to have to reorganise my other projects to fit around these.

12.30pm: It’s lunchtime and I take this opportunity to check the news online. I have a look at the BBC news pages, at the local media near to each of our sites throughout the UK and also at our trade press. This gives me a good indication of what’s going on. I always take the time to highlight any interesting articles that I feel would be of benefit to the group and share these with my colleagues.

1.30pm: In the afternoon, I make final amendments to the content of our new group website. It has been developed in Drupal and I am getting used to the content management back-up system. I send an email to the shareholders for final authorisation to agree the “live date” before feeding back to the agency we are working with. It’s an exciting time for us as the site is due to go live on Friday.

3.00pm: Mid-afternoon, I receive a call from my French colleagues who are asking if I can help with a multi-million euro tender. The response has to be submitted in English. I agree and we schedule a conference call for tomorrow.

4.00pm: I have a brainstorming session with our sales manager and PR agency to plan our cross-media campaign. We agree on the message and decide on our social media approach. There is a lot to do but we put together a schedule that will allow us all to contribute and to meet with our proposed deadlines. It is a really exciting campaign and will certainly attract some attention.

6.00pm: My head is like mush at the end of the day, but listening (and singing) very loudly to the new Mumford and Sons’ album on my way home cures it. An hour of Zumba after work helps me clear my head and gets me ready for the rest of the week ahead. It looks like it’s going to be another busy one!

Stephanie Girard is marketing manager of print provider Paragon Group

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