Since joining our team, Senior Digital Marketing Manager Mohini has never stopped growing. She tried Digital Marketing and knew it was a career she wanted to pursue.
Can you give us a snapshot of your role?
My role at Auto Trader oversees the paid acquisition of consumers to the site, essentially using paid advertising (in the form of Google/Bing PPC and YouTube advertising) to showcase all of Auto Trader’s brilliant products and services to consumers and bring them to our site or app.
What was your first job?
My first ever job was a summer job when I was 16, helping at the Bradford Bulls Rugby Club with admin, filing, observing and making a lot of teas!
What was your worst job?
Probably the above; rugby club dressing rooms do not smell great!!
Have you always wanted to be a senior digital marketing manager?
Yes and no. I never knew what I wanted to be when I was growing up, so I did a really broad marketing degree at university with the hope of figuring out what to do later. Within this, I did a placement year working at a clothes retailer called LaRedoute, working on their digital marketing. This was quite a broad role, working across CRM, on-site optimisations, affiliates, PPC, SEO, merchandising, etc, and I realised this was something I wanted to pursue further, as everything at the time was heading online, and I loved the data-driven nature of it. Since then, I’ve been quite ambitious in working my way up the career ladder within this field, doing similar roles but gaining a different kind of experience at The Fragrance Shop, PrettyLittleThing and now Auto Trader.
Tell us about your career journey at Auto Trader
I joined in 2019 as a Senior PPC Executive, looking after our New Car and Leasing products. My role was to do the day-to-day management, reporting and optimisation of these Google and Bing PPC accounts specifically. Since then, my role & responsibilities have changed a lot: taking on the affiliate program, which was a brand new channel for Auto Trader, the Paid YouTube activity, which allows us to build awareness and trust in the Auto Trader brand, and generally just being more strategic with the purpose and goal of paid activity. The team expanded over time, and we now look after PPC across Marketplace, Digital Retailing, Electric, Leasing, Valuations, App, Truck, Van and Bike. The transition from Senior PPC Executive to Digital Marketing Manager and now Senior Digital Marketing Manager meant taking on more responsibilities, saying ‘yes’ to new opportunities and stepping out of my comfort zone at times however, through this, I gained more experience in managing various stakeholders, confidence to take on projects and perspectives I hadn’t thought of before; as the role got broader, so did my skillset.
Did you use any tools or programs to help you develop in your career?
I’ve always been very fortunate to have a great team around me, making career development easier. It's really important to have people you can rely on or seek advice from at all career levels, from those who can set good examples for management to those who can provide honest feedback to improve. I was lucky enough to have that and also people who pushed me towards opportunities like the Diverse Talent Accelerator or being involved in wider stakeholder meetings, etc. It’s so easy to get caught up in your day-to-day and not have time to develop your career or skills, but I was encouraged to join the Diverse Talent Accelerator programme and spend some time focussing on myself, which was really beneficial in highlighting my strengths and areas for improvement, giving me a chance to reflect on areas for focus. If you know where you want to get to, there are so many great in-house courses to help you develop the skills you need to get there, but a course like DTA is generally great to help set a path for me. I gained a sponsor by being on the course, which was also a great way to be exposed to new opportunities and build meaningful relationships with people who could help me with projects I was working on or the areas of improvement I identified for myself. Coaching is also great for this!
Life or work events can sometimes affect career progression. Have you ever experienced this? If yes, how did you handle it?
Work will always be there. There will always be a new project or a new product we need to work on, and the to-do lists never seem to get shorter. I’ve found myself chasing my tail to get things completed and often neglected my own development and progression. It took a course like the Diverse Talent Accelerator or signing myself up to be a coach, where I had to dedicate my time and focus to learning for set days a month to realise that the work would still be there, but the skills and connections I were making through these were so valuable! So many transferable skills that would make me better in my day job, too, if I could just step out of the day-to-day for a while and take some time to learn. I realised I was mainly putting the pressure on myself, too, and the supportive team around me could handle the day-to-day just fine, giving me the space to attend courses.
What advice would you give to your past self from 3 to 5 years ago?
Say yes to opportunities, and be open to trying and failing! I’ve had to step out of my comfort zone to lead on projects or be put under pressure in meetings, but the skills and confidence I’ve gained from doing this have opened up doors and opportunities I never even considered! I’m learning how to be a coach due to being in the DTA program after stepping up into a more senior role…..None of which I envisioned when I joined 4 years ago!
