What does an Online Marketing Supervisor at blue tomato do? An interview with Maria Pötschke

Hi, I’m Maria ☺ I’ve been part of the blue tomato team since 2014!

My position is called Online Marketing Supervisor, more concretely I do the Online Communications at blue tomato. Our team is mostly responsible for the creation and seeding of entertaining content.

This includes several fields of activity, for example the Athlete Management.  By now, we have 150 international team riders, with the majority being organised by our Shop Team (the shops in Austria, Switzerland and Germany).  The online communications department manages the main team though – that’s around 40 athletes.  What we do? Contract management, organisation of photo shootings, content creation & curation, candidate management, team collections and so on!  My colleague Nico is handling these things, my task is keeping a close eye on it – not that he’d need it though, he does an awesome job 🙂

Furthermore, we take care of the blue tomato Social Media Channels, like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Youtube. Whereas I am strategically managing the channels and Social Ads, my team creates the content – of course always in cooperation with our other departments.

Another important part of the online communications is classical Content Marketing, so a lot of cooperations with various (sports) magazines, etc., and Influencer Marketing.
Of course, the majority of our influencers consists of the #bluetomatoteam, so athletes that we sponsor. Additionally, we work closely with exciting personalities of the sports sector.

And then there’s also tons of short and long time projects, that I am contributing to or my team is a big part of.

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“[I] moved to Fuerteventura for almost 2 years, working for a surf school.  After that I went back to university, always travelling & surfing for a couple of months inbetween.  This made it quite obvious for me that I wanted to work for a board- or action sports company. I already knew blue tomato as I ordered there a couple of times before – one of the few shops delivering to the canary islands 😉 ”

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How did you end up with your current job? Could you give us some insights in your career path?

When I had finished high school, I studied sport management while working for the german basketball league. I was able to gather great insights into sports marketing and sponsoring.  Then I moved to Fuerteventura for almost 2 years, working for a surf school.  That’s when I discovered my affection for board sports, especially surfing. After that I went back to university and made my Master in Public Relations, because I figured out that this is what I wanted to do.  In between I always went travelling & surfing for a couple of months and worked for a sports job board – my link to the sports industry.  This made it quite obvious for me that I wanted to work for a board- or action sports company. I already knew blue tomato as I ordered there a couple of times before – one of the few shops delivering to the canary islands 😉

What led you to apply for your job in Online Marketing at blue tomato?

That’s actually a funny story: I really wasn’t in the mood to write my master thesis and applied for a job in affiliate marketing at blue tomato instead. Hands down, without any qualification and experience, this had come to nothing (but at least, you can try ;)).  Instead they offered me an internship, later I changed to a full time position in Performance Marketing. So I quickly typed my master thesis and moved to Schladming, Austria in 2015.
Short time after that I switched to the Online Communications Team!

What do you value most about your sport job?

What I appreciate the most in Online Marketing, especially in my field, is the constant change: Almost every day there’s some update, a new feature or any innovation which could be important for our work.
Since my team is the interface for a lot of different topics, we work closely with other departments – purchasing, marketing and retail marketing, customer service, the single shops, media design, IT.  Additionally, we have a lot of contact to our sponsored athletes and influencers.
Put together these points create a very interesting variety of tasks and challenges which make my job at blue tomato really exciting and diversified!

After years of experience in your job – which qualities, characteristics and interests are essential for a sports online marketing job?

Definitely an understanding of marketing and the sport scene, as well as a strong feel for trends.  Furthermore, being good with numbers – a big part of Online Marketing is analysis – and being able to interpret them the right way.
Else, motivation and joy in the sports industry – for me, that’s the most important part.

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“What I value enourmosly is the relaxed working atmosphere at blue tomato. For example, the first thing we do when we enter the office is putting on slippers.  Besides we have a flexible work model, so it’s possible to go snowboarding in your lunch break or take off more time to go on a longer surftrip.”

 

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Which remarkable traits does your job bring?

What I value enourmosly is the relaxed working atmosphere at blue tomato. For example, the first thing we do when we enter the office is putting on slippers. What’s also standing out is that most of my colleagues are actually real friends since we share the same interests and spend a lot of time off work.
The attractive shopping conditions  and cooperations with surfcamps, snowcamps and gyms are a plus as well. Besides we have a flexible work model, so it’s possible to go snowboarding in the morning or take off more time to go on a longer surftrip

What would you advise anyone who is interested in a career at blue tomato? Which skills and qualities do they need?

Of course this differs in every department, but for all of them affinity for the sports industry and passion are essential. We are all working here because we love the sector – and that’s what makes us a great team.

Working in the sports business is a lot of people’s big dream, the career entry without any experience prettty hard. How are the chances at blue tomato: Do you offer internships, traineeships or apprenticeships?

Yes! Blue tomato offers a variety of entry possibilities and a big part of our team started as a trainee or intern.

Are there any prejudices against the sports business or your job that you’d like to eliminate?

Haha yeah – the one that we’re only on vacation and chill all day. It would be pretty cool, but doesn’t stand up to reality. We all do hard work – and deserve a long vacation every now and then 😉

Talking about your free time: Which sports do you practice passionately?

Surfing ☺ And since the blue tomato office is in Schladming, in the center of  the Tauern, also snowboarding, climbing and I started mountain biking recently.

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Maria’s insights show what a job at blue tomato looks like – a chance for board loving, young (at heart) people who look for a family-like team. If you’re interested, you can find recent job offers by blue tomato here:

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