With over 100 brands and eight business units under her watch, Karin Cahill’s approach to marketing goes beyond creativity—it’s all about relationship building and using data to test, measure, adapt, and adjust campaigns and strategies on the go.
Q. You’ve been at Amber Technology for nearly a decade now. Can you share more about your role there and what the company focuses on?
A. I’m the marketing manager for Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) at Amber Technology, and I work across the whole business. We represent over 100 brands and eight different business units, ranging from defence to consumer electronics and everything in between. The scope is huge for our marketing department, and we work closely with each business unit to deliver tailored marketing strategies for each one.
Q. Amber Technology covers a lot of ground. How do you stay on top of all of those different markets and their unique needs?
A. We’re set up a bit differently to other marketing departments. Each brand has its own team that is responsible for the relationships with the manufacturers we represent and the brand strategy. My team works closely with the individual brand managers on their tactics, while I focus on the bigger picture: strategy, manufacturer relations, and project management.
Q. There’s a lot of learning opportunities working with so many moving parts. What’s one of the most important lessons you’ve learned about working with different teams and stakeholders?
A. That we need to show them clearly that we know what we’re doing in marketing so we can build trust. There’s a lot more science to marketing than people realise. I started giving more deep dives into the analytics we use to help the brand managers in their reporting back to vendors and to understand the method in our approach. It’s about building relationships internally, and having the team build relationships with our stakeholders, which includes all of our brand managers, general managers, and senior management.
Q. Relationships are a clear factor for your team, and one of the fundamentals. How do you approach building and maintaining them?
A. Relationships are everything in business. Unless you’re a one-man band who never interacts with people (which doesn’t exist, because every business is people), you build relationships with people at all levels. As a marketing manager, I need to have solid relationships both internally in the company and with external agencies that I manage, like PR teams, SEO agencies, web developers, and trade media. Building relationships doesn’t come naturally for me as I’m an introvert by nature, so I’ve had to work on it.
Q. You’ve mentioned the importance of building trust and relationships, and a lot of that tends to come down to good communication. Can you share a valuable lesson you’ve learned about communication in your career?
A. I learnt an amazing lesson recently from a leadership coach, Dan Norich. The company invested in sessions for the entire management team, and it was a great experience. Dan taught me the power of asking lots of questions and then waiting for, and really listening to, the answers. This approach has helped me across the board, whether I’m working with immediate reports, broader teams, or external agencies and clients. Sometimes, just asking someone to clarify their point before responding can make a world of difference in understanding and building strong relationships.
Q. Working with such a diverse portfolio of brands would expose you to a lot of different experiences and learnings. How has this influenced your approach to marketing strategies and campaigns?
A. I believe in the ‘test, measure, adapt’ approach when doing activities. Don’t wait for perfect; just start and then work on it as you go. It’s okay to do something that might not be 100 per cent perfect, but you think is right. Test it, measure the results, and then adjust it for next time. The good thing now with digital marketing and all the technology available is that we’re able to measure results more accurately and faster than in the past, and tweak as we go.
Q. Do you find that the diversity of thinking in working with such a variety of businesses reflects in how Amber Tech approaches company culture and employee welfare?
A. Amber Technology has a nurturing, kinder culture compared to some places I’ve worked in the past. It’s about employing the right people, knowing we have a broad spectrum of people who are excellent in each of their diverse fields, and then trusting them to do their part of the journey. The company does a lot to look after the welfare of our employees, especially post-COVID. Our leadership team have invested in mental health programs, engaged with a clinical psychologist and a leadership coach, and we’ve just launched a wellness app for the company. Management is really conscious of looking after the welfare of all our employees.
Q. COVID-19 was quite a challenging time for so many people. Outside of this period of time, could you share what was the biggest challenge you faced in your career and how did you overcome it?
A. The biggest challenge was when I took time out from marketing when my children were school age. I took a step back and did a part-time sales role for about seven years, which was flexible for family life. When I wanted to get back into marketing, it was very challenging to find a role. I overcame it by plugging away and was lucky to find a role with someone I used to work with. Now, I think there are more opportunities for flexible work due to technology changes, which is a core part of some of our offerings as well, and which didn’t exist when I was trying to get back into the workforce. These advancements make a big difference to working parents who want to pursue their careers and have work life balance and time with their children.
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