Moments with marketers: Sal Farrow
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Marketingmag.com.au chats to Sal Farrow – founder of New Media Marketing and freelance consultant. If you would like to see a certain
marketer profiled, please email your suggestion to Sean Greaney on [email protected].
What do you do?
I set up my own marketing consultancy this year, New Media Marketing, after 10 years as a corporate warrior for the likes of NRMA, Optus, AMP, technology and online agencies and various pay TV channels. I still occasionally moonlight as a marketing consultant in the CBD for various corporates also.
I recently moved to the beautiful Southern Highlands of NSW and now gain much inspiration working from a home office looking out across our own park-like backyard completed by trees exploding with blossoms.
What was your first job?
Working at the local bakery in highschool and subsequently recruiting my two closest friends to come and work there…I figured if I had to work, I would make it as fun as possible!
My first professional job was for World Movies, a pay TV channel, in a small tightknit team where everyone pitched in and was exposed to all facets of the business. Being a niche TV channel with a small but loyal customer base, I fell in love with the power of customer loyalty. From there I knew that marketing was that elusive ‘thing’ I wanted to do with my career.
What did you study?
Graphic design then moved into a fine arts degree – painting, drawing, photography and digital media. It was fun, but I worked out pretty quickly by my marks, that I was far better at being conceptually creative, than I was at manually creating fine art.
Describe a typical day?
6-8am – Wake and rumble with the kids, get kid’s breakfast and dressed, make poached eggs and double shot espresso to kick start the day.
8.30am – Head upstairs to home office and discuss joint ventures or meetings scheduled that day with husband who runs a graphic design business from home office also. Check emails, read industry news and indulge the crazy inner Virgo by writing a prioritised list of the days work activities ahead.
8.30-12.30pm – Client meetings, often at a picturesque vineyard or one of a myriad of groovy little cafés around Bowral. Check through campaign data, clean up client lists and put together stats from various campaigns. Ghost write client Twitter and Facebook feeds, update their websites and draft a press release or two.
Lunchtime – Get some fresh air outside with the kids for a while before they head off for a nap.
Afternoons – Design HTML email templates (yep, studying graphic design at uni did come in handy), write a set of variable campaign messages for upcoming campaigns and finish off all the top priority items on the list.
5.30pm – Head downstairs for some crazy games and run around the garden with the kids, collect kindling ready to set the open fire. Discover to our horror that we have run out of wine — make a quick dash into town and grab some, then remember to buy milk on the way home.
7pm – Dinner, bath and bed for the kids, then crack open a bottle of red for a few glasses by the open fire.
Hang out with hubby solving the world’s problems, discussing business ideas, laughing at how funny the kids have been, sneak in a bit of TV or head back to the office for a few hours work to get ahead for the next day.
Big cup of tea and congratulate myself if it is before 12pm that I hop into bed…
What is on the agenda for the next year?
Continue to build my client base, grow the businesses of my current clients, help friends and family get businesses up and running and possibly squeeze in a long overdue trip to the USA to see friends.
What brand do you love the most? Dislike the most? Why?
I believe simplicity is the key to a good brand, so Apple would have to be the class leader in that field at the moment. They have a simple colour palette, simple advertisements, a simple operating system, simple plug and play products – all of which mask very complex technology. I love the concept that once something is simple for a user find ways to make it simpler again.
As a parent, I would sadly have to say that [the brand I dislike most] is The Wiggles (sorry guys). Must they bombard every aisle of the supermarket with their products!
What do you believe has been the most significant moment in the history of marketing?
I would have to say the development of email as a DM delivery mechanism. Plus it has certainly saved a lot of trees from the fate of being formed into an intricately crafted DM Pack with sliding panels and spot varnish!
Where can people find you?
