Carlota Pico recently got to speak with Annie Ross, global marketing and communications manager at Penspen, an international company that designs, maintains and optimizes energy infrastructure. Annie described how she combined her interest in engineering with a degree in business and economics to forge a unique path in the world of marketing. She also explained some of Penspen’s newest initiatives, how she led a huge effort to increase the company’s LinkedIn presence, and the fundamental aspects of marketing in the engineering industry.

You can watch the full conversation in the video above or on YouTube, listen to the podcast on Apple and Spotify, and read our recap below.

Key takeaways

• Mentorship offers many benefits, such as exposure to new ways of thinking. Having mentors who were engineers helped Annie understand how they think, which allows her to reach audiences in ways that actually affect them.

• THEIA is a digital cloud-based integrity management solution developed by Penspen and QiO Technologies. They created it to address the industry’s main dilemmas, in the hope that it will improve automation and enable faster decisions with less resources.

• The best way to build personas is by taking what you know from experience and then building upon it with internal insights, A/B testing, etc. Remember to stay flexible in your approach and adjust it accordingly.

• One of Annie’s early feats at Penspen was strengthening the company’s presence on LinkedIn, and doubling its followers from 25,000 to 50,000 in less than a year. This also helped her to educate the team on the power of social media for brands. 

• Social CEOs are becoming increasingly prominent. This benefits brands by allowing audiences to closely follow along with brand journeys and transitions. Additionally, brands are perceived as more authentic when their CEOs are open and transparent.

COVID-19 has been difficult, but my hope is that it will highlight why the functions of marketing and comms are so important to a business.

Rapid-fire recs

An inspiring brand or marketing influencer that you follow?

Over the last 12 months, I’ve been really moved by some of the content that Shell and BP have produced. More specifically, I’d recommend Bernard Looney, CEO of BP. He’s been doing some fabulous content, and bringing the audience along in BP’s transformation as they aim for net zero targets.

Your favorite app at the moment?

I’d have to say the CrossCountry app. Outside of work, I love nothing better than competing with my horse. With this app you can see the course of fences you’re going to jump ahead of the event, which might not seem very revolutionary, but it’s made such a difference to how we compete.

A valuable resource, event or group?

I’d recommend the Institute of Internal Communication (IoIC). It’s been great to connect with like-minded individuals, share knowledge and support each other within this network.

Connect with Annie and Carlota on LinkedIn.

This post was edited by Mary Kresge, a freelance content creator based in Madrid.

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For more insights into marketing in the engineering industry, check out:

The art of social media campaigns – Justyna Ludwiniak, global social media manager at Luxoft

Interact with your audience – Mariann Bartucz, online marketing manager at Starschema

Capitalize on cloud-based tech solutions – Payal Raina, global marketing maven

To see the full transcript, click on page number 2 below.