How businesses in Australia are using social media

I started my career in hospitality working all aspects of a restaurant from back of house cook to front of house server, bar and management. The last 15 years of my career have truly been a journey of discovery. I have worked for some of the major telecommunication brands in Australia as Sales both in store and B2B, Manager, Trainer and Marketing. I have worked in the Job Services industry which in my role I was exposed to many different businesses and curious as to how they operated. I also returned to Telco only to discover I had a passion for wanting to do my own thing. I am a keen learner and Social Media was not only fun but the biggest change to marketing since television.

I started Think Tank Business Services after studying and learning about social media for 2 years in 2015 it was the perfect marriage of all my skills and what I liked from different stages and opportunities I’ve had in my life. I love to learn and Think Tank Business gave me the opportunity to learn about different business and market them in a creative way that truly does showcase how unique and special they are in the market place.

Since the business started we have grown from being more than just me to a team of truly passionate people with amazing minds and skills. Work is easy when you love it. Marketing is awesome when you care.

My first experience of sales and marketing was when I was 18 and I interviewed for a job with an electrical/telecommunications retailer who tossed a blue BIC pen on the desk between us and said “Sell me this pen” my natural instinct was to start talking, and to anyone who has known me for a very long time, I didn’t stop for a number of years.

Telecommunications retail dominated most of my career where a very brave/ambitious (possibly stupid, though I was grateful) young State Manager for an International Telecommunications brand took a gamble on a 19 year old with only three months experience as a casual sales person and promoted me into a management position of a brand new site on the South Coast. I moved quickly from store to store with this company before moving interstate where my first experience with marketing evolved from simply sales. I enjoyed the creation side of marketing, primarily visual, digital marketing was a thing at the time, but even now it’s still fairly new and grossly underutilised so my experience was mostly in concept.

Some years later I found myself in a position where I was working for a photographer and this is where I was reintroduced to Photoshop – I had used it a little in High School and enjoyed it as a hobby but becoming an adult and getting a job, it sort of moved into the background of hobbies best left behind. Working with the photographer, I found very quickly that photoshop and other programs had so many possibilities, and while primarily I used it to “correct” photos, I very soon began designing and creating the marketing for the photographer, again primarily for print.

When I returned to retail and telecommunications some time later I could not let go of my passion for Graphic Design and Marketing and while performing my duties as an Area Manager, I was integrated into the role of Marketing Manager as well. Since then I have worked for multiple retailers in management positions but was never able to let go of the Marketing Bug. Having been described as a natural sales person and a natural retailer; marketing was always the goal. Concept, Design, Print, Merchandising – I enjoy it all thoroughly and am excited to now be working for a company engaged in the latest and most underutilised frontier in marketing; Digital and Social.

My passion is Graphic Design, my background is Business Management. Between these two I am now the Operations Manager, Graphic Designer and Video Editor for Think Tank Business Services, where I can really workout my creative juices!

Karen Denny is a real powerhouse who is both driven to succeed with a clear understanding of how to get there! Karen comes from a diverse background with a plethora of qualifications behind her.

Karen has a real desire to learn and try new things within social media marketing, and is definitely up for any challenge to help your business succeed.