DAY IN THE LIFE OF…

Inspirations Paint head of marketing loves the breadth and depth of his role helping franchisees achieve profitability

Joel Goodsir, Inspirations Paint.

Q: How do you start your day? JG:

My day starts with an old school tradition: reading an actual newspaper over breakfast with the family … even though I’ve already read that news on Twitter the night before. However, I like the ritual.

Q: What are the responsibilities of your role? JG:

Leading the marketing function in a medium-sized business ($300 million annual turnover), I have a wide remit, starting with strategy. I oversee the segmentation, targeting and positioning decisions that determine our mix and branding. The core responsibilities are: advertising and promotions (local, regional, national), digital (e-commerce, web platforms, social media) and database (loyalty program, customer communications, marketing automation). Public relations and reputational risk management fall into the role, plus a strong focus on store development and customer experience (CX).

Q: What are the biggest challenges? JG:

Inspirations Paint is made up of 90 franchisees who own and run over 130 stores nationwide. Aligning our diverse group of franchisees, from different geographic and socio-economic regions, is the ultimate challenge.

Added to that, Inspirations Paint services dual markets: trade (professional commercial painters) and retail (DIY mum-and-dad customers). Being the market leader in the trade sector makes it challenging to also focus on building our (smaller) market share in the retail sector.

Q: How do you use social media in your role? JG:

I see it as an advertising medium. Albeit one with the benefits of geo, behavioural and contextual targeting and micro campaign-building abilities. I don’t invest heavily into social as an engagement platform, other than answering customer enquiries and building positive reviews. So many resources can be wasted on engaging with such a small proportion of our target audience. I see social media’s importance as largely overstated.

Q: What do you enjoy most about this role? JG:

I enjoy the challenge of making marketing digestible and actionable for franchisees, who are largely operationally focused and not marketing trained. I need to translate marketing strategy into everyday language. I find the common ground is the customer; the customer’s voice is what store owners and staff teams experience every day. I enjoy sharing customer feedback and insights to drive retail store programs.

Q: How do you measure success in your role? JG:

Profit is of course the ultimate measure. However, a key marketing measure is our conversion rate through each stage of the sales funnel. Brand health measures inform us about consumer sentiment towards the brand. Finally, customer satisfaction scores measure how our shopping experience stacks up against competitors.

Q: Briefly describe a typical day in the office – is there any pattern? JG:

My typical day is spent at our national office, in Newcastle; leading the marketing team, liaising with franchisees and internal departments (IT, HR, ops, finance) and engaging with our agency partners (creative, digital, media, market research and store design agencies) as required.

I travel frequently around the country to meet supplier partners (like Dulux, Cabot’s, 3M, Selleys, etc.) and visit stores to speak directly with franchisees and team members about marketing and retailing issues.

Q: How often do you interact with franchisees? JG:

Not a day goes by where I don’t speak with franchisees. Whether it’s speaking with a Franchise Advisory Council member or with store owners about competitor, market or marketing issues. These interactions occur across all mediums: Skype, phone, email, text, intranet and face-to-face.

In the past couple of months, I’ve spent a large amount of time instore, working on a new store design prototype. I’ve gained a deeper understanding of the operational pressures franchisees and staff face and great insights into what drives “confidence” and “delight” in customer interactions.

Q: What do you do to stay motivated on a daily basis? JG:

As a long-term employee (15 years), I thrive on seeing the effect of continual improvement programs over time. New projects also ignite my motivation, especially when they align with the Inspirations Paint guiding philosophy of “personal attention to your painting project” and drive store profitability.

I’ve been involved for many years with the Australian Marketing Institute, as a state councillor and as judge of the AMI Annual Excellence Awards and I chair the external advisory board to the University of Newcastle’s marketing school.

Q: What’s the best thing about working at Inspirations Paint? JG:

I love my job. Having the backing of leadership and a wonderful team of marketers makes for a great environment. The largely collegial atmosphere amongst our franchisee group means we can work towards the common goal of helping people enhance and transform their spaces with paint.

I get to live in beautiful Newcastle (with a 12-minute commute) but travel across all states and cities to visit franchisees.

It all boils down to the people, from our agency partners to our supplier partners, our 500+ team members and our national office crew. Inspirations Paint is very much a business built on tight relationships and trust.