Laura Dalziel is the Group Head of Marketing for a global FinTech firm, Wealth Dynamix, based out of New York.
PERSONAL STORY
Laura Dalziel: At Wealth Dynamix I am responsible for our marketing strategies across all our regions (North America, EMEA and APAC) and work with a great team to help execute and deliver these successfully. I’m based in our New York office and I do love this city, however I am Brit at heart! I joined the company when we were only 10 people in London and it is has been such an incredible journey to be a part of the transition from start-up to leading global firm, we were even ranked the 5th fastest growing fintech firm across Europe last year!
I have a passion for travel, meeting people, learning new skills (in particular, new languages) and of course for marketing.
I enjoy a challenge and thrive off being busy and active. I am known to never sit still and often people ask if I ever relax! I am also a bit of a nerd when it comes to planning, so I’m a huge fan of lists and spreadsheets! Critical planning and attention to detail is key to the job with so many things happening all at once. I find great accomplishment in the successful delivery of a marketing campaign that has been carefully planned and executed well. I love meeting new people and working in a team and would consider myself to be a “social butterfly”, which is one of the reasons why I love my job!
Q: What would you like to see your team accomplish in 2019?
2019 will be an extremely exciting year for us at Wealth Dynamix. We have just launched a completely new brand for the company globally which will help us to grow in our new markets and help achieve the company’s long term goal. With the launch, to help spread our new message and brand we have lined up a lot of marketing activities, from events and webinars to PR and content, in all our regions. During this time, it will of course need a lot of coordination between departments and regions and will bring about new challenges and opportunities, which I personally am really excited for. I am really lucky to have such a great team to help make this new brand and company vision a success!
Q: Who is your role model or hero?
I take inspiration from a number of different people in my life. I hold an enormous amount of admiration for my mum, who is an extremely inspirational and selfless person that has always taught me to never hold back on my dreams, to live life to the full without fear and to be above all, independent. Through these life lessons I have worked in 8 different international locations and have thrown myself into every situation, which has made me who I am today.
Q: What is your favorite book?
I don’t have 1 particular favorite, but I do really enjoy reading crime and mystery novels, non- fictional stories and also autobiographies. I consider myself quite a realist, so these are great!
Q: Do you use any specific method or system to run daily operations?
Yes, given that we have to operate on multiple time zones between US, Europe and Asia, this is crucial. We use our internal Microsoft Dynamics CRM and the Click Dimensions marketing platform to track all marketing activity to the industry. Here we can view all our website traffic, email campaigns, website inquiries, sales pipeline etc. We use email, Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams and also Zoom conference calls to communicate daily. On top of this, in our marketing team to keep track of all ongoing projects, we use Trello to manage and communicate on specific tasks- this is super helpful especially when there is so much going on!
Q: Why did you choose your present industry at this time?
Technology was a no brainer for me, it’s exciting, it’s fast past and it’s evolving every day. Then when it comes to “fintech” or financial services specifically, well this is an area I hadn’t explored before and I wanted to try something new as I enjoy a challenge! Plus, it is lagging behind other industries in terms of its technology, so I could foresee a lot of marketing opportunities to this industry. The Wealth Management industry is still very traditional with lots of face to face events and offline marketing channels as well as digital, so this variety is great and allows me to be creative with my marketing strategies across all different channels. I also really enjoy the international aspect of my role, allowing me to use my experiences in other countries and language skills, while also giving me the opportunity to learn about regional differences in the market and the need to adapt marketing strategies.
Q: What is the best/worst moment you can remember in your career?
Winning “Marketing Specialist of the Year” award in my second year at Wealth Dynamix. I was relatively new to the industry, so I was pleasantly surprised (and extremely grateful) that I had been chosen as the winner! It was great to have been recognized for my work and the marketing strategies we implemented to help grow the business into the regions we now currently operate in.
Q: Looking back - if you could advise a younger version of yourself to do something different - what would it be?
To be more present. With so many things filling our working days and social hours, it is easy to not appreciate what you have and what is right in front of you. I focus a lot on the detail of everything and tend to overthink things, when often I need to take a step back and look at the entire picture. I feel extremely fortunate to have worked in many different locations, met so many amazing people along the way, had the opportunity to learn various languages, experience different cultures, work in different industries and even professions, and it’s easy to forget all this and instead to focus on the day to day challenges and pressures! I now try to appreciate each and every experience and live life to its fullest! “Love the life you live and live the life you love!”