Veronica Colasuonno

I was initially brought into the business to re-invent the local area marketing program, work with the team to future proofing our office and brand character and also moving H&R Block into the future of digital. With my experience and skills I was appointed as the Marketing Manager to work closely with the management team and field on developing and implementing local area marketing initiatives and building the brand to fit the vision of becoming more modern, polished and sophisticated. I also worked on national campaigns, partnerships and closely with our marketing director on ad campaigns and new strategies across all areas of marketing. Since starting at H&R Block in 2017, the role has changed slightly to fit in line with the businesses requirements. Starting with a team of 2 in marketing to now a team of 4. Though a small team, this has opened up opportunities for me to work across many different areas of marketing. Including, LAM, PR, SEO and also working with agencies on digital initiatives.

Currently my responsibilities include:

• Development and implementation of local area marketing programs to increase awareness in the local communities while also improving local footprint. This is a national initiative, rolled out to the wider management team to then support the agents in the field (20)
• Re-invent the print and promo collateral to fit the new brand vision and work with suppliers on making it easy and efficient for field marketers and management to order and use this collateral – I also work with an external provider to manage an online ordering system which houses all products with an improved streamline ordering process
• Build Partnerships with brands that fit our brand vision and find ways of amplifying this across social and digital
• Management of our office design and brand guidelines
• Worked with graphic designers and writers to establish theme and tone for content.
• Managing a full marketing budget.
• Execution of marketing emails, social ads, local print, SMSs and mail campaign to support a national LAM program for our new, relocating and closing offices
• Optimized email campaigns to increase open and click-through rates.
• Executed comprehensive marketing plans that consistently achieved targets for increased revenue. I work with an agency on LAM plans each year for struggling offices promoting our offices in local shopping centres and in the community.
• Improved website visibility through development and implementation of SEO strategies.
• Created and managed social media campaigns to increase brand engagement.

After working with the national marketing team in a new role, it became a focus for the business to work directly with their franchisees on more tailored marketing. Therefore, a role was created which focused heavily on providing a tailored service to Aussie Home Loan stores and brokers on a consultant level (Managed Marketing). I assisted them with local social and digital services based on a set program which I developed based on data collected from internal successes and market trends. This program was rolled out nationally after one year.

My responsibilities included:

• Used various market research tools and techniques to gather, analyze and interpret data.
• Regularly updated and edited content for office websites.
• Conducted thorough market research to identify emerging trends and inform strategic decision making.
• Developed, implemented and provide a comprehensive managed marketing service to 40 Aussie franchisees and Brokers nationally. The service was aimed at increasing customer engagement, enquiry, leads and improve businesses social and digital presence
• Created processes and systems that helped administer the program (registration, budget and revenue forecast);
• Conducted regular audits of digital marketing platforms (Social pages, Google My Business & Website)
• Managed website updates and Online Directories
• Provided consultation services / marketing planning meetings with brokers and carry out local campaign, EDMs and digital updates as a result of the session.
• Identified appropriate marketing channels and target customers for campaigns.
• Develop monthly marketing calendar activities, including content and client update communication
• Tracked key performance indicators to measure success of campaigns.
• Assembled reports and presentations to share insights and recommendations with stakeholders.
• Continually providing advice on program improvement.

Joining the national team meant that I was able to work on larger scale marketing incentives and I gre my skills immensely throughout this time.

My responsibilities included:

• Development of creative presentations, trend reports, kitted assets, and product data sheets.
• Created and managed marketing budgets to monitor expenditures, control costs and increase ROI.
• Continually maintained and improved company's reputation and positive image in market.
• Co-ordinated events including resources and material as required
• Managed budget to maximize marketing ROI.
• Coordination of national campaigns
• Managed national digital screen assets
• Designed and shared internal marketing newsletters
• Developed compelling promotional materials that resonated with the target audience, increasing lead generation rates.
• Assisted in maintaining a culture of innovation and creativity within the marketing team, encouraging collaboration to help drive business growth.
• Managed relationships with external vendors and contractors to help deliver successful projects.

After committing much of my time to improving my marketing skills for about 11-12 months, I was promoted to admin and marketing assistant. This meant that many of the marketing tasks I was assisting with became my responsibility and I was once again able to create a role of my own and build processes and procedures to ensure the smooth running of local area marketing events was maintained. I also became solely responsible for national campaign implementation, event coordination and equipment management.

Added responsibilities included:

• Marketing Manager's Travel Bookings, diary management and expenses
• Maintain professional relationships with high-level stakeholders
• Co-ordinate events including resources and material as required: Collate and coordinate reports and responses including presentations, spreadsheets, agendas and minutes, public liability insurance for marketing events, event registrations and rosters management, event communication to stores and brokers, broker and promotional staff event briefs, booking of promotional staff, event technology set up and coordination, marketing equipment management – Bookings, orders and artwork updates
• Print orders – Brochures, flyers etc.
• Management of Marketing Budget
• Assisting with National competitions & campaigns.
• Utilized specialized software to capture and process data.

My role as Admin Assistant involved supporting a team of brokers and their State Sales Manager. I provided a high level of support to a team of 30 mortgage brokers while also providing admin support to all NSW/ACT brokers and staff on a daily basis. As part of my admin duties, I also assisted the State Marketing Manager with local area marketing events and equipment management. I became extremely interested in developing my marketing skills and invested much of my time outside of my normal working hours to learn and build my skills in marketing. My key responsibilities included:

• Compliance requirements
• Reporting
• Lead allocation
• Constructing internal newsletters
• Ordering office supplies/stationary
• Courier bookings
• General admin/office duties
• Marketing event coordination
• Marketing equipment management
• Promotional staff bookings and event briefs
• Invoicing – Management of the NSW Marketing Budget.
• Sorted and distributed office mail and recorded incoming shipments for corporate records.
• Managed travel arrangements for senior executives, including flight bookings, hotel reservations, and transportation services as needed.
• Continually sought methods for improving daily operations, communications with clients, recordkeeping, and data entry for increased efficiency.

Being part of the team at State Super Financial Services introduced an opportunity for me to step into a role that I was able to build on and create as my own. As this role was a new permanent position, I had the opportunity to create processes and procedures which continued throughout the business. My responsibilities consisted of managing reception, mail duties, managing a switch board of 10 phone lines, diary management, meeting room management, creating and updating customer files and general admin duties. Other tasks also included:

• Collaborated with management to improve internal processes and procedures for better workflow optimization.
• Balanced employee availability, customer schedules, and maximum load levels when scheduling appointments.
• Enhanced customer satisfaction by promptly addressing inquiries and providing accurate information.