Next in our National Careers Week series, we’re heading to the marketing department to hear from Marketing Manager, Rob Thomas.
Rob has been at Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation for over three years and he is the king of all things digital; an expert on social media, evaluating campaigns and paid advertising. After originally joining as Marketing Executive, he has worked on some award-nominated campaigns. He shared his memories, favourite moments and what he enjoys about working for Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation:
“One of the best things about working at Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation is how close we are as a team, and how we’re all driven to the same goal – to help anyone affected by lung cancer.
Working as a Marketing Manager, it’s brilliant to see how far we’ve come since I started in 2017.
I’m proud to have worked on some amazing campaigns, from my first Lung Cancer Awareness Month Campaign (#HeadHigh) to Follow My Lead which we launched last November. Knowing that something you’ve been part of has made such a big impact is really rewarding. The feedback we get, from people who have been affected by lung cancer and even those who aren’t affected, makes all the hard work that goes on in producing the campaigns worthwhile.
No two days are the same working in the marketing team. There’s always something new going on, from writing about new life-lengthening treatment to launching a new fundraising event. My role is to make sure that anyone affected by lung cancer knows that our charity is there to help them, mainly through digital channels. This could be by using social media, paid advertising, our website or by emailing supporters on our database.
I work closely with our fundraising team in promoting events that not only raise money to fund our various services, but also people enjoy taking part in. A highlight each year is working on our Spooky Welly Walk events, which is just incredible. The Liverpool event is huge and seeing the smiles of the children in fancy-dress is fantastic. It was brilliant to see the same reaction when we launched the Birmingham event too last year.
A lot of my work is also about evaluating the work we do, finding out what works and what doesn’t. Then, we can tweak messages or change how we promote the content so that in future it is more successful. It’s a constant learning process, with new technology and trends to get to grips with!
It’s always a privilege when speaking to supporters and those living with lung cancer. We are lucky to have some amazing supporters, and their passion keeps you motivated. The stories we hear from people who have done some phenomenal fundraising activities are inspiring, and we love being able to share these stories. It can be emotional at times, but that just spurs you on even more.
Working at Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation is more than just a job. You’re part of something special and I look forward to what the future holds, not only for the charity, but for lung cancer in general.”
