Giulia Papi, Marketing Manager at innDex. London, UK.
When I started hunting for my first internship, Marketing in Construction wasn’t on my radar - Now I don’t see myself being anywhere else! As an Economics & Statistics student I was convinced that Finance was the way to go, but once the opportunity to work at innDex came about I took it without thinking twice. Throughout my studies I’ve always found ways to satisfy my creative outlet, so I thought, why not make it into my job?
As a young woman venturing into a male-dominated industry I must admit it wasn’t easy at first, especially going into a new sector with no prior background as a 'minority' (let’s face it, although women recognition has grown in construction over the last few years, our industry still has a long way to go). However, I was lucky enough to be backed by a team of great people, who educated me and helped me as I continued to work with them. Your colleagues/team members will make up a comfortable 70+% of the reasons you love your job, so I consider myself blessed. Not only because of the great energy and synergy we have within the team, but also if I fell in love with the industry, I owe it to them.
What role does Marketing play in the Construction Industry?
I feel it’s important to highlight the role that Marketing plays in Construction. Especially with everything that’s happened over the past couple of years, we had the opportunity to tell stories about the impact that Covid-19 had on catalysing the rate of the adoption of digital tools, allowing sites to remain open and guaranteeing the safety of our workforce and maintaining the industry positive about the future. And in a field that generally lacks marketing, this also poses a challenge of how can a business manage to stand out against their competition - That’s our chance to make good use of data, highlighting the value created by digital transformation, and how Construction Tech is driving positive change across the entire supply chain. Marketing is the chance to uplift the industry and show off the great work that everyone does from the inside, celebrate our champions, integrate, and connect the existing community, and attract new talent from the outside, proving that construction is a lot more than just concrete, cranes hi-vis and builder bums.
In my experience as a Marketing Manager at a start-up, I gained a far deeper and broader understanding of basically everything! Simply because, in the early days of the life of a new business you will be wearing multiple hats (pun intended) and playing many roles simultaneously. While many see that as a challenge, I saw it as an opportunity to develop new skills and at the same time, get a better understanding of the industry requirements, which was essential given my background. Although more tasks also mean more responsibility, upping the stakes can only result in bigger, more rewarding achievements. For example, I never thought that I would be a keynote speaker at the age of 22, waving the innDex flag and educating other industry professionals at the same time, something that is supposedly way out of the scope of my job, but it’s been possible nonetheless and I couldn’t be happier!
It still feels surreal to be writing this piece in the first place. Representing the brilliant women in our industry and hopefully inspiring other young talented girls to follow the path of a career in Construction. Ultimately my main piece of advice is: don’t be afraid to start “small”. There are a great deal of up and coming fresh, young Construction Tech start-ups out there and their potential for growth is huge. Finally, make sure you take a step back before you keep leaning forward. Don’t narrow your horizons or skip on an opportunity just because it’s in a field you feel like you don’t belong in. You might end up surprising yourself.
Instagram: @therealgiuliapapi
LinkedIn: Giulia Papi
Website: innDex https://inndex.co.uk
innDex was born out of the frustrations of two friends, both civil engineers. Having experienced a number of fragmented processes, they put their heads together and started mapping out a better vision for the challenges modern construction delivery brings.
As a construction technology business, our aim is to make use of 96% of data which is currently seen as a byproduct and wasted in the construction industry, offering affordable innovation to an industry with minimal margin.
We become innovation partners with each and every one of our clients whilst offering unlimited access to each and every one of our tools. innDex is a fast-growing construction technology company offering a growing suite of integrated software and hardware solutions through open API’s. Simply put, innDex is “Powerful ConTech made easy!
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