Meet Martyna Plata, our Outbound Marketing Leader! She started working at our company almost 3 years ago. Martyna has seen many organizational changes and currently works in marketing. How is it changing and what is she doing now? All of the answers, and more, can be found in My Applover Path’s interview!
Thank you for finding time for this little interview. We know how busy you are! Let’s start with an easy question: how did you get a job at Applover?
Over 2.5 years ago, when I moved from Poznań to Wrocław, I started looking for a new job. Thanks to the experience I gained in Poznań, I was looking for job offers in a similar direction. I found Applover’s offer on OLX as they were looking for a Lead Generation Specialist. I checked their website – I was, of course, most charmed by the Happiness Developer, the office dog, Taco ;). A few days later, Ania, who was back then the HR Manager, contacted me and invited me for an interview. As it turned out later, the founders of Applover knew Filip very well, the head of the company where I worked in Poznań. The world is small!
What did the recruitment process look like then?
Back then, the recruitment process was streamlined. I was invited by e-mail to a recruitment interview conducted by Jan, the current CSO at Applover. It didn’t take very long, Jan just told me a few words about the company and their expectations, and asked me a couple of questions about my experience and skills. He stated that they would contact me once all recruitments were completed. And so it was – Ania called me and said I’m on the board! She invited me to the office and introduced me to Applover and my new job. She also showed me how to operate a coffee machine that kept breaking down all the time 😅 or shared with me the password for the “corporate Netflix”, to which all employees had access at that time. It means less than 30 people, then ;). It was nice, but not as professional as it’s nowadays.
Over the years, the recruitment process at Applover has developed a lot, and it’s now much more advanced. It’s carried out primarily by a dedicated team – the HR department. The candidates receive recruitment tasks first that must be passed before their resume is considered at a later stage. New employees immediately get all the information they need, advanced work tools, and required access. Everything is presented to them in detail from day one. Every newly hired employee is also greeted with a “Starter Pack” right now. I’m a bit jealous! 😉
One thing that hasn’t changed at Applover and what I’ve appreciated personally from the beginning is the people-oriented atmosphere – recognizing people’s capabilities and skills, as well as drawing individual potential from their personality, helping them create their career path. Even though the company is growing and striving for development, this element characterizes Applover and you can see it already from the recruitment stage.
What position did you start from and how did you become an Outbound Marketing Leader?
I began my career as a lead generation specialist. My path was a process, and my competencies, as well as my responsibilities, were extended step by step. At the very beginning, I was responsible only for conducting the outbound marketing campaigns on LinkedIn and via e-mail. We didn’t have a dedicated team. I was cooperating with Jan, who was the only person responsible for sales. Later on, Sylwia joined us, and she supported me and Jan in our campaigns. To be honest, in the beginning, I wasn’t sure where I belonged in the company because there was just a narrow group of non-technical people, and each of us had a separate role, and we didn’t have any particular departments. This is the thing that has strongly developed since then – now it’s more clear and more structured.
My career path also wasn’t clear for me at that time – that, in turn, started changing after introducing the idea of the Personal Growth Framework. After some time, Natalia joined us as our Marketing Manager and took care of building and shaping the real marketing team. As it has been growing over time, I took on more responsibilities, not only for the outbound side of marketing but also for getting involved in the inbound activities. I started creating newsletters, taking care of the Net Promoter Score process, writing blog content, posting on social media, organizing webinar events, and more. I bet that’s not all that’s new for me at Applover!
What is most important to you at your job today?
I know the phrase “working in a young, dynamic team” is a bit cliché in job advertisements. But that’s what Applover is. This human atmosphere, which has stood out here from the beginning, has been preserved and attracts truly unique people from whom you can learn a lot and build valuable relationships. One of the company’s values is team spirit and support, which you can see here – check out for example Applover’s TikTok account to see it for yourself. It can’t be described in words, you just have to feel it! Additionally, it’s important for me to be able to expand my competencies, test myself in new areas, experience various situations, and have an impact on my work and activities in the company.
What was the most difficult project or task for you here, and why?
It’s quite difficult to distinguish one challenging task or project from another here. Every new task is somehow a challenge because you are doing it for the first time and you have to exceed your limits. However, everything gets easier with time, and this company creates a safe and supportive environment for developing yourself and learning.
At Applover, there are always new ideas, projects, and changes. The pace is dynamic here. However, if I had to choose the most challenging part of my job, I would say it’s the whole process of acquiring valuable leads and projects in the IT industry. The potential lead’s path from learning about our company to contacting us is very long, and sometimes it takes even more than half a year! It comes from the fact that IT development is a complex service and the decision-making process is much longer than in a B2C market, for example in a clothing store. However, the satisfaction of contributing to the acquisition of a big, valuable project is proportionate to the length of time it takes to obtain it.
What tools do you use at work? Do you have any that you prefer better?
To run the outbound campaigns, I mostly work with LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, and Woodpecker. I like to work with Crunchbase to search for new potential clients. However, let’s not forget about the old but reliable Google, which effectively looks for the new potential for campaigns and inspiration. To create and send the newsletters, I use Hubspot, which is quite a well-known and intuitive tool. For taking care of the Net Promoter Score process, I work with Survey Sparrow.
As we started arranging the webinars, we decided on the ClickMeeting platform. There are many more tools and plugins that I use every day in my job that makes my job easier and more efficient like Trello to keep my tasks in order, Apollo for searching for contacts for potential clients, Thesaurus, or Grammarly to develop my English skills, and others. After all, the tool I like the most is LinkedIn. After a few years of using it, I know it very well already. It brings together a lot of options in one place and keeps adding to the available options.
Edu sessions – what did they look like for the Marketing team?
In the beginning, edu sessions with the marketing team were just about sharing thoughts on a podcast you’ve heard or a marketing-related article you’ve read. We have developed these sessions, and nowadays, each team member can individually share knowledge and experience in a given field. Moreover, we meet every time someone lacks a concept or idea for further development of their project, we tell and inspire each other. Everyone brings their idea or proposal which we translate into actions later. We are not afraid to share even the worst ideas, because even those that seem bad or inadequate at first, can inspire us to the next, the right ones. I think it’s valuable.
Do you have any advice for people who want to start their career in IT in non-technical positions? Maybe you can share your favorite knowledge sources?
When it comes to my favorite knowledge sources, they’re always podcasts because they’re extremely comfortable to use – you can listen to them almost anywhere and anytime. I often listen to “NowyMarketing” and “Marketing z głową” on Spotify, and I strongly recommend them!
First of all, don’t be afraid of entering the IT industry. I know it can be quite challenging and you can be afraid, for example, of not having enough technical knowledge. But it’s joyful, especially if you’re surrounded by friendly, supportive people who will help you introduce yourself to this industry and eagerly share their knowledge and experience with you.
Become the Marketing Specialist
If you’re looking for a place where you’d like to grow as a Marketing Specialist, keep checking Applover’s Careers Page! We start new recruitments regularly due to the company’s growth. We might need someone like you right now.
