Alumni stories

Matthew Perkins

Marketing Manager, Smartrak

A false start

Marketing isn’t where I intended to land when I first started university; but damn am I glad I found such an amazing industry!

My time at Monash University started with a Bachelor of Business with the intent to major in Accounting. A big influence for this had been the enhancement studies I’d completed at Monash’s Clayton campus as part of my high school curriculum, whereby I took the first two accounting tertiary level subjects and completed them in high school. I thoroughly enjoyed the tertiary level teachings and vibrant campus feel at the Monash Caulfield campus which was local to me and became the perfect match for the beginning of my on-campus education.

Shortly into my studies, I quickly learned that Accounting wasn’t my true passion, and so I began exploring a wider range of subjects. It just so happened that Marketing snared me!

Marketing, Monash and the MMSS

There were two subjects within the Marketing curriculum that really resonate with me to this day. eMarketing (run by Peter Wagstaff) and Green Marketing. eMarketing is actually the launch point of my career, as my tutor for the unit Josh Strawczynski offered me an internship at the Marketing agency where he led the strategy department after observing my passion for the combination of technology and marketing.

Whilst at Monash I was closely involved in a range of societies and clubs, with MMSS being a focal one. It was amazing being able to socialise with all the other marketing students and I made a lot of lifelong friends throughout it. I have numerous memories of booze cruises, BBQs on the lawn and industry drinks that really aided me in identifying what I wanted to do, and what drove my passion for Marketing.

Internships to jobs

My internship with Josh at the Marketing agency ‘Clear Light Digital’ was the launching point for my career. Working across a wide range of industries with a variety of unique customers, I quickly expanded my knowledge, skillsets and experience. I later worked for ‘Clear Light Digital’ full-time as a strategist before jumping across to a number of other agencies in my first four years within the Marketing industry.

I was learning different systems, processes and gaining extensive experience in client management whilst developing a solid understanding of the importance in developing strong stakeholder relationships. I also received the opportunity to setup and run marketing internship programs and foster these through other Monash students much like I had been involved in – yet another amazing experience and another big learning curve!

Being at the forefront of the digital marketing industry in Australia was a real honour, and provided me with a strong basis for my future career. I loved the experience of being agency side, and Josh remains a close friend to this day.

Pursuing my passion

With some solid experience under my belt, I really wanted to pursue a client-side role and one that mixed with one of my personal passions; 4x4ing and camping. I ended up cold messaging a number of the big players and discovered that Ironman 4×4 didn’t have a marketing team! Having outlined my experience and my passion for the industry, they invited me to come out and meet them to discuss my skillsets. The discussion must have gone well because shortly after I became their sole marketer and started making waves!

Coming into an organisation and building its marketing processes from the ground up was an incredible experience and proved invaluable for my professional development. It showed me how much I still had to learn whilst allowing me to take my solid digital marketing skills to drive huge changes within the industry. Within a short timeframe I’d developed a new website, started customer Communications, taken over their socials and created extraordinary growth in their digital audiences (their Facebook page grew from <5,000 followers to over 850,000 followers within the first 1.5 years) and drove a more ‘customer-centric’ brand through wider engagement across online forums and groups (and extending that to in-person engagement over time).

I was very fortunate to be offered the role of Marketing Manager for Ironman 4×4 a couple of years in, and this enabled me to lead engagement at a more international scale, engaging with their international distributors, and outlining standard systems and processes for how they could maximise their engagement.

My hardest career decision

Despite my experience at this point, I still recognised there was plenty I didn’t know. I realised I needed to work with some more experienced Marketers to learn how they manage more advanced solutions and get the mentoring to continue growing – which is how I landed at Smartrak, a software company specialising in B2B.

“When starting at Smartrak, I took a cut to my job title!”

However, in-turn I received the support I needed to grow through being tasked with the responsibility of leading their Marketing Communications team. Over the last few years, I’ve continued to grind and learn, not only from those directly within our organisation but also within our international sister organisations (as part of the massive technology conglomerate Constellation Software). More recently I’ve taken the lead of the Marketing department within Smartrak, and have been advising other marketing teams within our sister organisations on the work we’ve done and the opportunities they can undertake to increase growth. It’s been a really rewarding experience and combined with the opportunity to grow a handpicked team has allowed me to grow into a significantly more strategic role on a day-to-day basis, an opportunity that continues to challenge me – and one I’m absolutely loving!

For all those looking at this story, take away the following

1. Pursue your passion – if you’re excited about an industry, you’re going to be more knowledgeable. Leverage that – especially when you’re starting off.
2. Value your mentors – your career is just a continued education, don’t think you’ll finish your degree armed with the ability to take over the world, there is endless depths of knowledge to obtain and explore.
3. Don’t be afraid to jump – Moving on from Ironman 4×4 was one of the hardest decisions I’ve made. I agonised over it, not only because I loved the organisation and the industry, but also losing my job title. I’m glad I didn’t let that stop me because ultimately, it allowed me to continue to grow into the marketer I am today!