Building a marketing department from scratch in an energy tech company
An interview with Magda Fankhauser (née Bienkowska), enspired's Head of Marketing
1. How has your professional development shaped your career path? What were the most influential periods in your life?
My career started in 2014 at Fortum, one of the biggest power and heat producers globally, with an impressive renewable portfolio. As a student enrolled in Renewable Energy Technologies, the job as a market analyst in such a company was ideal for me, especially since I had an opportunity to participate in an interesting project: Poland's first CHP plant powered with alternative fuel, called RDF. As exciting as it was, it quickly turned out that working with numbers only was not my thing. In parallel to my job, I became a member of the Energy Society at Warsaw School of Economics (following the good advice of my manager at Fortum), and soon after joining, I became a Project Manager for the Energy Day student event.
That episode in my life helped me to see that marketing, PR, and events are the things that get me going. To get engaged in “serious” marketing, I took a job at a well-known corporation: Samsung. As much fun as it was, after some time, I realized that something is missing – ENERGY, clearly! Marketing in the power industry – that’s it, I thought, and so I quit my job at the end of 2019 and decided to take a gap year to explore other countries and see if there's a place in the world I want to live in more than in Europe. Then Covid happened and I had to return home from Laos in April 2020 and start the serch for my dream job, whatever that meant.
2. Why did you decide to become a part of enspired?
I started to search for a job in Vienna. It was in the middle of a global pandemic, so there weren't too many jobs waiting around the corner. Eventually, I came across enspired, and it was a bit of a fluke how everything worked out. The person that had recruited me for a different position in a different company knew enspired very well and saw lots of common ground between us (thanks again, Mona!), and she was right. Once I met Jürgen (CEO), and Conny (CCFO), it clicked immediately.
I did have some concerns in the beginning because it was a startup, founded only half a year ago, and who knows what'll happen, right? But the solution that enspired created, the people behind it, my heart was screaming YES to it all, and fortunately, my brain followed. I must say that it was the best decision in my “business” life so far. The personal growth that this company gave me in such a short time, the trust that I'm doing my very best to achieve great things, for me, these things are the most important benefits any job could offer.
3. In your opinion, what's the best marketing strategy?
The best marketing strategy is tailor-made! If you don’t know whether your strategy should focus on, for example, inbound marketing or referral programs, that's okay. Just try them all out, mix all strategies and see what works best for you and with what split. Experiment, set measurable goals, monitor them, and adjust changes frequently. You achieved your goals? Perfect! You struggle to get results? Look for a weak spot and change the strategy. Because that’s one thing I know for sure - no marketing strategy is a great solution forever and for everything! It might be good for this market, that product, this moment in time. We know that the power market is affected by multiple factors, like weather or even the day of the month, and the same applies to your marketing strategy. The key is to keep it flexible, just like your assets!
4. Where do you find inspiration for work, and how do you keep up to date with the latest developments in your field?
Talking to people you work with is what's most important; their heads are always full of great ideas! I also like to follow interesting people from the marketing scene and power industry on my LinkedIn and read the things they share. It keeps me up to date in both areas. I like to keep my feed inspiring. I signed up for some useful newsletters, attend webinars, and listen to podcasts. And, of course, I still consult books from time to time.
What's it like to work at enspired?
