Interview with Veronika – between creative solution finding and organizational talent

Hello Veronika, why don’t you tell us a bit about your career? Where did you start out and how did you find your way to Soloplan?

In May 2020, during my masters course in “International Corporate Communication and Media Management” in Neu-Ulm, Soloplan caught my attention, and I ended up starting out here as a working student. I initially worked part-time–20 hours a week–at Soloplan; however, during an internship and my master thesis, I worked full-time. Back then, I had applied for different working-student positions and ended up choosing Soloplan, as, with the project organisation and marketing of the Soloplan City Resort, I was given an independent project of my own, which is why I was able to work independently and take on great responsibility from the start. After completing my studies, I was taken on full-time as a marketing manager.

Would you recommend that other students complete their practical semester or their thesis with us? If yes, why so?

In general, I would recommend to any other student that they complete both their practical semester and their thesis with this company. I, personally, learned very much during my time as a student at Soloplan, and experienced not only professional but also personal growth. Compared to working students in other companies, I was already allowed to work very independently and structure my project on my own. Additionally, I was so lucky as to be taken over by Soloplan directly after I graduated, which, for me, constitutes the ideal start to a career. 

“Marketing” is such a far-reaching concept. How would you explain the Soloplan marketing department’s work to someone else?

That’s true, “marketing” really comprises many things. Here at Soloplan, the marketing department covers many different task areas. In general, you can say that we are responsible for everything that is communicated by Soloplan–to the outside, but also within the company. This includes print media, event organisation, writing press releases, maintaining our social media pages and website, search engine optimisation, advertisement design and material, activities regarding sponsoring, … The list goes on and on. We also need to distinguish between product marketing, which addresses customers, and HR marketing, which addresses potential applicants.

In short: My job is to communicate Soloplan’s values and company image–outside of and within the company.

Although the marketing tasks are so diverse, could you describe a typical working day for us?

Describing a typical working day is actually not that easy, since, in contrast to other jobs, there are relatively few recurring tasks. Through a constant flow of new projects and creative ideas, the tasks and associated requirements for a marketing manager are constantly in flux as well. That goes from developing creative advertisements to creating entire marketing concepts.

Does the marketing department work together with many other departments? Do you also get insights into other departments?

Since the marketing department is responsible for the entire corporate communication to the outside and within the organisation, we work together intensively with almost all departments in the company.

For instance, the development department regularly gives us an overview of all the new product features and about what we can offer our customers and potential customers in the future. With this information, we can develop new ideas for advertisements and thus put our software on the market in the best possible way.

We also work together closely with the sales department. Especially when dealing with the organisation and execution of sales fairs, our colleagues from the sales department, as absolute experts in the sector, are the first people we approach.

Another very interesting aspect is the close cooperation with our international locations. Together with our employees in Poland, the UK and South Africa, we work on developing the best country-specific marketing strategies in order to convince the international market of Soloplan and our logistics software CarLo.

How do you think your workplace and your area of responsibility will change in the future?

I think my marketing tasks will become more and more digital as time goes on. The proportion of modern marketing via digital media and online channels is already very high today. Furthermore, I believe that the area of international marketing to open up global markets will also become more relevant in the future. For me as a marketing manager, this means that we need to analyse the market conditions in different countries and tailor our international marketing strategies to fit those conditions precisely.

Which qualities are good to have as a marketing manager?

To be a successful marketing manager, I think you need to, on the one hand, be creative and address problems in a solution-oriented manner, but also bring a great talent for organisation to the table and implement projects in a structured and focussed way. On top of that, you should be very open and communicative and be able to adapt to new tasks and challenges very flexibly and quickly.

You also want to become part of Soloplan?
Then take a look at our open positions – we look forward to receiving your application!