Geraldine Michel, Chief Marketing Officer, Connected Kerb, talks to Jonathan Andrews about her role as conductor of a “marketing” orchestra
Launching a marketing campaign at one of the biggest climate conferences in the world–the COP meeting in Glasgow–might seem ambitious but for Geraldine Michel it turned out to be her most successful marketing campaign to date.
In November, during the COP26 meetings in Glasgow, Michel led her team of four, on Connected Kerb’s latest announcement of “levelling up” electric vehicle (EV) charging across the UK by providing 190,000 new public on-street chargers by 2030.
“There were a lot of pros and cons about running a campaign around COP26,” she says. “Obviously there is so much ‘noise’ coming from countries and companies but we took a leap of faith.”
That leap paid off which was based on a solid 360-degree campaign focusing on digital channels including LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram to raise brand awareness, the company’s achievements to date, and to reinforce its 2030 objectives.
The campaign hit the mark with key stakeholders attracting interest from potential investors, clients and future potential hires who sent in their CVs, attracted to what the company stands for and its goals.
Connected Kerb’s stated ethos is to provide affordable and reliable EV technology to all communities through long-term contracts of 15 to 25 years.
That ambition was what drew Michel to becoming the company’s chief marketing officer a little over a year ago after meetings with the company’s CEO and chief digital officer.
“They just really sold me the mission of the company,” she explains. “EVs won’t work and we won’t get people to switch to them if the infrastructure only exists for people who can charge at home. We don’t want to create a two-tier society.”
Initially, her marketing team comprised herself and one other colleague but since April she has been able to choose and hire four other team members. This has increased Connected Kerb’s focus on digital content and community engagement and will allow Michel to now scale up activities.
“We’re going to boost every aspect of marketing,” she says. “From improving our account-based marketing campaigns, digital, and doing a lot more testing to try to understand how much we can help the sales team with their target accounts.”
She is equally driven to improve all content and inbound lead generation for overall growth. Events will play a key role and there has been a marked shift since the beginning of the year when all were digital. Since August, the team has attended over 20 in-person events and Covid permitting, such events will play a key role for 2022 as they allow Michel and her team to focus on and engage more with end users, creating loyalty programmes and retention campaigns.
Speaking the day after her team conducted a marketing planning session for 2022, she reveals the current focus is on the annual report, due to be released in the first quarter of 2022.
“We’re definitely going to do a PR campaign around that and make sure our audience is well aware of it, helping them learn from an EV charging perspective and leveraging that,” she says.
The planning session has also reinforced the importance of aligning all functions, whether it be from a content perspective or around digital events, and setting up specific metrics and key performance indicators.
Other campaigns for 2022 will include future product launches and new contracts to be signed with residential and commercial industries.
A mobility expert
Michel has over 15 years’ experience as a marketer, including almost five years in the mobility sector. Previous roles have included Zipcar where she launched the product in France and Brussels and at Chariot in San Francisco.
After leaving Zipcar she had a “couple of gigs” in other sectors but quickly returned to the industry she feels most passionate about.
“Mobility is something I feel as a marketer but also as a woman I can really help with and get through to audiences potentially a little bit differently,” she explains. “As a woman, the mobility industry doesn’t necessarily always take into account our needs or minorities or the disabled.”
She feels closely connected to the EV sector and says it’s not just about cars, but about bikes, walking, and public transport.
“But when those options aren’t available and someone just needs to have a car, let’s see how we can help you to actually switch to an EV,” she says.
What has had a tremendous impact on the sector is how much the changing funding dynamic of local government has helped encourage the uptake of EVs.
“I remember even when working with Zipcar or even Chariot that although local authorities were quite keen to work with new technologies and trying to make them work, funding was a problem as they did not have help from central government,” she explains.
The urgency for implementing new technologies has meant local authorities are more receptive to what companies like Connected Kerb are trying to do as working hand-in-hand is necessary to help solve issues around climate change and also simply getting people around.
Michel says she is seeing more interest from events and also in content as local authorities become more receptive.
“From a marketing perspective, we’ve evolved also by making sure anything that gets put out has to be of interest to them and that it’s not trying to sell them something for the sake of it,” she says. “That sounds pretty basic but it’s really about making sure that whatever content we get out there is going to be specific to the target.”
Tailoring content to different audiences has also dramatically changed over the past 10 years. Someone from the customer service level might not have the same interest as somebody who’s going to work on funding the project, she says.
A long-term marketer
Her path to becoming a marketer began in France after studying Classes Preparatoires Aux Grandes Ecoles–an intensive two-year programme that acts as a gateway to business school.
It was then at business school she fell in love with marketing.
“I loved the fact that marketing was so much more than just being creative,” she reveals. “It’s about understanding people’s behaviour but most importantly using data to really ensure that you target the right message, with the right audience at the right time.”
She likes the fact that marketing keeps testing you as a person and makes you challenging processes and your own thinking.
“I did try advertising when I started working for TBWA [the world’s second largest advertising company] but quickly realised that was not for me,” she says. “In marketing it is continuously evolving. Platforms and technology evolve and I remember what I used to do in marketing [10 years ago] and what I am doing today is very different.”
Her career has taken her from France to Belgium, to the US and now London which has helped her see first-hand what works and what doesn’t work for each market. She adds that spending time to do the market research, meeting companies, local authorities, and regional authorities to understand what works and what doesn’t for them is paramount. This not only helps marketing but also to change the product to their needs.
As a generalist Michel sees herself as an orchestra conductor–ensuring that every performer plays to their strength–and that put together they are all working towards the same goal. One word of advice she gives to other senior marketing leaders is the importance of hiring the right people.
“Don’t be afraid of hiring people who are much smarter or experts in their marketing function,” she advises. “As a generalist I’m thinking much more about how do we reach the objectives and to do that it’s about finding the right people. They will challenge you and disagree with you but you need to be willing to do that. That’s the only way to grow the team and do a better job.”