Tag: Mellissah Smith

Only recently, I came back to manage the Marketing Eye business, something I haven't done in more than 6 or 7 years.

It's a daunting task because all of a sudden you have responsibility and there are new ways in which you need to navigate how you lead the team, and take them where you want to go, but also, where they want to go.

As an ex-journalist, interviewing people of all backgrounds and walks of life is second nature to me. I've interviewed police officers, politicians and met the Prime Minister, but have never been asked to have a sit-down interview with my former news organisation's owner (who would be Rupert Murdoch himself - eep!).

Today, I'm on day two in the marketing industry and have been given the chance to pick the brain of Marketing Eye founder, Mellissah Smith – it’s a slightly daunting ask, especially when you consider that she was little older than I was when she first branched out and went solo in her first agency.

“I’ve been in marketing for 20-odd years and was 25 when I started my first agency – what inspired me to start was an account opportunity falling in my lap,” Mellissah said.

(BRW, the Marketing Issue, Oct 20-26, 2011)

It needn’t take a huge budget to market a business. All it takes is time and little forethought. Report: Georgina Dent

Many years ago a manager commented off the cut that Marketing Eye Chief executive Mellissah Smith “worked in sales”. Smith was irritated by the description until she decided he’d made a valid point. “I was quite annoyed about him saying marketing was the same as sales but they actually do go hand in hand,” she says. “Marketing creates the forum for sales to occur.”