Headspace Stories: Meet Rachael McKenzie, Marketing Lead & Graphic Designer at Global Edge Ltd

This week, I got to know Headspace MCR newbies Global Edge Ltd: a property investment agency with a focus on marketing. I spoke with Marketing Lead & Graphic Designer Rachael McKenzie about her role and settling in at Headspace Manchester.

Can you tell me about the company and its ethos?

Global Edge Ltd was founded about a year and a half ago, and is the brainchild of several key figures within the property industry. Our aim is creating a business where developers can manage everything in one place, rather than spending months sourcing the right agents. The marketing can be very expensive; we do this for them at a small commission. This allows smaller developers within the UK to access agents all over the world. In this sense, Global Edge is very much a hub for developers to gain access to a sales and marketing team they perhaps wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford.

Tell me about your role at Global Edge?

My role is split between marketing and graphic design, which covers a lot. More specifically, it involves marketing Global Edge as a company connecting to potential developers and agents who will sell for us and providing marketing for developers themselves, whether that means email campaigns, templates for social media, or photo editing. The graphic design side involves making brochures for developments as well, which we can then distribute to investors and agents who sell on our behalf.

Any current company goals for the near future?

Expansion in terms of location and also team size is the current company goal as we’re a relatively new company. At the moment, we have predominantly started working with developments in the North West, specifically Manchester and Liverpool. From there, we’re looking to get more developments in Birmingham, then London. We see ourselves as an international company, and in a couple of years, we will be looking to increase our reach overseas.

What skills do you need to succeed in your role?

It helps having a creative background; I originally studied architecture, then switched my passion to graphic design. A lot of the developments we choose to work with aren’t necessarily the ‘big boys’, but smaller scale developments that are flexible in terms of their vision. A lot of developers will come to us with pictures, a small plan and will have named their building, but don’t have a brand behind it yet. I enjoy being able to use my creative input to help build the branding for these developments.

What is a typical day in your role?

That’s a difficult question! It’s different every day. For example, I might spend three days working on a brochure or creating a brand, or I might have another day where there isn’t much to do development wise, so I’ll focus on Global Edge marketing: anything from social media to getting media packs to online advertising, print advertising and booking events. Every day starts with a sales meeting, and that will dictate my focus for the day.

You’ve been here at Headspace for a month now, what are your thoughts?

I really like it. It has a good community feel to it; we all really enjoyed the Chocolate Fondue event and the DIY Mojitos last month. Our previous office had a good community feel too, but we’re a business with a high-income turnover. This feels more calm and professional and it fits us really well.

It’s a really friendly place to work and gives a very good impression for visiting developers, as many projects we work on have a similar design aesthetic. We do a lot of regeneration and refurbishments as well, so the building exterior appeals to that. It’s a really nice place to meet developers, and it makes them feel reassured that we’ve chosen this space to work in. It reflects well on what we’re going to do for them and their developments.

Being a graphic designer, I really like the feel of the building. I feel more settled here and find it easier to be creative than previous workspaces, which I often found quite distracting. It’s the feel of the building- because everyone is really friendly and chatty, I absorb the atmosphere, and that benefits my work.

 

Thanks Rachael! If you’d like to find out more about Global Edge Ltd, check out the website.

If you’re interested in membership or office space at Headspace Group, you can visit our website or contact enquiries@headspacegroup.co.uk to speak to a member of our team.