Elena Petrichevska, product marketing manager, Vizrt
Talk us through an average day in your role
An average day for a product marketing manager at Vizrt includes quite a lot of writing. A productive day is when I am in the writing zone and create great collateral for my products, from messaging to website copy and product presentations, market research, press releases, etc. However, for this type of day to happen, I’ve got to ensure there aren’t any meetings in my calendar.
When I have days with meetings though, they are just as productive. I catch up with my colleagues around the world and discuss what they are working on and we collaborate on projects and campaigns together. We have such a supportive and brilliant marketing team at Vizrt, and I love being a part of it. One of my favourite aspects of my job is brainstorming and sharing ideas with my teammates, as well as getting involved on projects outside of the product marketing domain to build other skills; not only is it good for my creativity, but also my sanity, it breaks up the day-to-day role!
How did you get started in the media industry?
By chance, luck, destiny, whatever you want to call it. It all started when I met a great women called Maja Trajkovska, who was working at Vizrt for many years at the time and had been in the broadcast industry pretty much since the start of her career, she used to be a journalist and worked for the BBC.
We were on the same flight from London to Skopje, Macedonia, where we are both from. The plane got diverted to Sofia and we met while we were waiting for the bus to take us from Sofia to Skopje, but ended up sharing a taxi together so we could get home quicker. She gave me her business card, we stayed in touch and when I finished my postgraduate degree (the reason I was in the UK), she asked if I wanted to do an internship at Vizrt UK and I said yes, feeling very excited and happy. Now, I’ve been here over 7 and a half years, worked in various roles across the marketing department, learned the industry inside and out – I can’t wait to see what the next 7 and a half years bring.
What training did you have before entering the industry?
I didn’t have any media or broadcast training. I was doing my master’s degree in Management and had done few internships back home in Macedonia across a few different industries. Until I met Maja, I had no idea that this niche world of broadcast graphics existed.
Since joining Vizrt, I’ve had the opportunity to learn about the industry from our Viz University courses, our internal development programmes like Developing Leaders which took me through all facets of the business and working directly with our customers to produce incredible and ground-breaking case studies. Recently, all Vizrt employees got access to LinkedIn Learning to further our personal and professional development which has been great to grow my product marketing, writing, time management and a host of other skills.
Why do you enjoy working in the industry?
It is special. It’s very different than the overall tech and software world. It’s like the hidden treasure on the big island of innovating technology that only the pirates know. It’s fun being a pirate! The innovation is at the level with the big tech names of the world like Apple, and Google and Amazon. We are seen so much every day, by billions around the globe, but almost none of the audiences that watch us on TV know about it, our innovation is almost taken for granted. So, I think it’s quite special to work in a company that continues to innovate every day to give amazing tools to its customers, so they can better explain what is happening in the world and keep their audiences engaged, informed, and offer enriching experiences.
What piece of advice would you offer someone looking to explore a role similar to yours?
There are many more job opportunities than you think. Go and explore beyond the “standard” industries, there are hidden treasures everywhere that just might be the perfect fit for you.
