Meet the MF team - Katy Steptoe

Name

Katy Steptoe

Official job title

My official job title is Project Manager. That means I work with Fionna Naismith, our resourcing guru. At the moment, I’m still getting up to speed with everything, but we will hopefully be the project management Dream Team.

But what do you actually do?

Essentially, we figure out how everything can get done on time and to brief. Resource planning is a major part of the role. It’s a bit of a juggling act.

Tell us about your background.

I did a Business Management degree at university, and the modules around marketing were the ones I most enjoyed. So I knew that was where I wanted to go with my career. I hadn’t seen myself in the B2B tech space, but I got the opportunity to work for UK Oracle User Group and really loved it. I went from Marketing Executive to Events Campaign Manager in 2 years.

I continued in events marketing when I moved to a data integration company, handling their event attendance across Europe. It involved a lot of travel which was so exciting.

I then moved to a rail applications company and was essentially their entire marketing department. So I went from doing just events to doing everything! It brought me back into the things I enjoy like content writing, however it’s hard to grow when you are the sole marketer at a business, and that’s where Marketing Fusion came in. As specialists, I felt they could help me grow in the way I was seeking.

What have been your career highlights so far?

I’m enjoying developing the Marketing Fusion website right now. I am interested in the data and analysis side of things - it gives you great insight into how to improve.

Another career highlight was running an award ceremony at my first job. It was held at the Café de Paris. I made all the table centrepieces - little photo props like moustaches, glasses and words on sticks. I got berets and little Eiffel Tower bubbles. And I made my own purple, glittery boxes. It looked amazing and I was absolutely chuffed.

What exciting projects do you have coming up?

There's quite a lot of momentum on the website right now. And working on an internal project is a great way for me to learn. I’m experiencing the whole resource management process; working to a schedule and coordinating the copywriters and designers.

What qualities do you bring to the team?

Infectious enthusiasm! I was so excited by the Thursday quiz – I was like “can I host it every week?”. I can laugh at myself and I’m really friendly.

Favourite tools of the trade?

A German colleague at one of my previous companies recommended DeepL instead of Google Translate. It looks at sentence structure rather than word by word like Google. So that’s now my go-to translator and I’m spreading the word.

Also, it’s not a tool as such, but I taught myself a bit of HTML and it’s been incredibly useful. I enjoy working on website projects much more now that I understand the coding behind it.

What makes Marketing Fusion stand out from the crowd?

The deep focus on content creation, especially on the buyer-enablement side, so everything has a clear purpose. Like, how you can use content to move buyers through the different phases of decision-making, rather than putting content out for the sake of it. Marketing Fusion takes it to another level.

Describe Marketing Fusion in five words

The Kings of Content Marketing.

Describe another team member you admire

I’d have to say Fionna. There are so many plates spinning, it’s phenomenal. She has a huge workload but knows exactly where we are with each project. I do not know how she does it!

What advice would you give your 18 year old self knowing what you know now.

PUT THE EFFORT IN NOW! Seriously though, I’d tell myself that I’ve got my 60s and 70s to chill and do nothing, so make the most of all the opportunities that are thrown your way. Learn and grow all you can, because it pays off later down the line.

And finally, if you could compete on the Great British Sewing Bee, what would you make?

I'd make myself a ball gown, inspired by RuPaul’s Drag Race. In the first couple of series, they had to make their own outfits out of piles of bin bags and random things. I just love the creativity behind it, so I’d get loads of tat and bits of fabric I’ve got at home and fashion something fabulous.