Tom Hopes

I took 19 months to work and travel abroad in the South Pacific, New Zealand, Australia, South East Asia and India, including a spell working as a digital marketing consultant.

My role at Cogent included the management of key accounts within the digital team, developing digital strategies for clients including Vauxhall, Hozelock and Calor together with the project management of new site builds and the ongoing development of existing sites, including the integration of e-commerce functionality and cost-calculation widgets.

My role at Defaqto focused on the redevelopment of the company's B2C and B2B websites and included the development and introduction of a new consumer-facing online brand identity for Defaqto Star Ratings. In addition to web development, I held responsibility for increasing traffic from search engines through the introduction of a SEO strategy which dramatically increased visits from organic search. I managed the company's PPC activity and developed a framework for the effective utilisation of social media platforms, designed to increase engagement with Defaqto's various customer segments and support their commercial objectives. I managed a team of two, consisting of a Marketing Executive and Marketing Assistant.

My role included responsibility for increasing traffic from organic search, including the establishment of SEO best practice within a large marketing team. I ran all paid search activity for the business and managed display advertising campaigns, dramatically increasing the ROI of Google AdWords and Bing Ads budgets. This supplemented conversion rate optimisation work on Pearson Education’s flagship website for the domestic and international market, and the creation and delivery of a high volume of email marketing campaigns.

Northumberland Tourism’s aim is to promote Northumberland as a world-class visitor destination to local, national and international markets. I was responsible for the company’s digital marketing and PR strategies, including the project management and delivery of a brand new destination website, www.visitnorthumberland.com.

Responsible for raising the profile of the National Blood Service and for the recruitment and retention of blood donors in the North East of England through the development and implementation of an appropriate marketing communications mix. My role included responsibility for event creation and management, regular public speaking opportunities and the promotion of under-performing blood donor sessions in key collection areas.

Green Media is a digital marketing agency and online publishing house that runs an e-marketing consultancy service alongside an environmental news and consumer website. My role included new business development through direct sales activity and the planning and management of digital marketing campaigns.

GForces is Europe's largest specialist automotive digital agency. As a leading provider of internet software and marketing services for the automotive industry, we help to promote and sell vehicles through the use of digital and mobile technologies and media. We work with major car manufacturers, over half of the top 200 automotive retailers in the UK and the Middle East’s largest vehicle distributors. Our industry-leading software is complemented by a range of marketing services, incorporating PPC, SEO and content marketing, video production, social media, email, retargeting and social media.. I joined GForces to establish the marketing team in the newly-opened Midlands office, leading a team six Account Managers and SEO and PPC Executives with responsibility for more than 60 clients.

GForces is one of the leading software and digital services providers to the automotive industry. We build, manage and market online strategies for more than half of the UK's Top 200 motor retailers, leading European and MENA auto companies, and some of the world's biggest vehicle manufacturers. Our goal is to translate as much of the automotive buying journey to the online environment as possible through our NetDirector software suite and in collaboration with the industry's best suppliers. We encapsulate this goal in our mission statement – ‘driving the digital dealership'. From web through to showroom tools and integrated aftersales systems, NetDirector software is providing next-generation Customer Experience Management (CXM) and business insight through desktop, mobile and tablet devices. The GForces Training Academy ensures that as well as creating software, we are able to help our clients develop a culture of success in adapting to the ever-changing automotive retail environment.