Emma Crolla, Marketing Lead

What did you do before joining Benchmark?

I studied Marketing Management at university and worked in a range of marketing roles before taking the plunge and moving to the aquaculture industry in 2015. Initially I joined Benchmark Animal Health as a Marketing Manager, before moving to Marketing Lead in 2021.

So, how does your normal day start?

My day starts early, at around 6am, when my two children are up and already full of energy. The next two hours are mainly me trying to get them out the door by 8.30am!

You would think it would be relatively straightforward to eat breakfast and get dressed, but as I’m sure other parents will agree, finding the correct pair of sparkly shoes that your 2-year-old will wear, or telling a 5-year-old that chocolate buttons is not a suitable breakfast is the first challenge of the day.

All of this takes patience, control and time management, which luckily are skills that are directly transferrable to my role at Benchmark!

No two days are the same for me at Benchmark.

From one week to the next, the tasks and projects I am involved in can differ hugely – which I really enjoy! Marketing really does touch every part of the business, and over the last few years I have had the pleasure of working with a range of people and functions.

Market research is the essential foundation of my role, as it is vital we have an in-depth understanding of the aquaculture sector:

What are the trends? How is the industry developing? Who are our competitors? We need to have a solid understanding of this so we can ensure the products and services we offer, or want to offer in the future, are suitable. This ensures our business decisions are well-informed, and ultimately based on facts and data.

Customer profiling is also important. By understanding our customer’s needs, wants and challenges we can identify where we can add the most value, and help them to achieve their objectives. Geir Olav Melingen, our Commercial Director, outlined our mantra at Benchmark in his recent Q&A, “We don’t succeed unless our customers succeed.”

Marketing is all about being collaborative and creative, while sticking to an action plan.

Part of my remit is in ensuring brand consistency across everything we do including press releases, customer presentations, the website and our engagement with stakeholders…the list could go on!

I also work with external agencies, for communications support and graphic design to maintain brand consistency throughout everything we do.

The part of my role I enjoy the most is working with people, I love to hear others’ stories and experiences, pulling our strengths and skills together to achieve a common goal.

A shift to the Salmon Marketing Hub to better support our customers

Over the last year, the Animal Health marketing team has formed one contingent of the Salmon Marketing Hub. Working with our colleagues from Genetics through the One Benchmark Approach we are able to leverage our joint resources to focus on marketing our salmon products effectively. With our combined expertise we have facilitated Benchmark’s involvement at major events and conferences, undertaken market intelligence, devised communication plans and run various social media campaigns.

What is the biggest challenge for you at Benchmark?

Working in a technically focused organisation and industry, the main challenge is to take the technical specifications of a product and translate these into useable communication tools for our current and future customers.

However, as we work in a heavily regulated market this comes with an extra degree of difficulty. For example, we have to adhere to stringent advertising rules on how and who we can market a veterinary medicine to, ensuring we remain in compliance with the Summaries of Product Characteristics (SPC). All of this adds an additional layer of complexity to the role and is something we must keep in the forefront of our minds each day.

Looking forward to the rest of the year, my priority will be in strengthening and promoting awareness of our new sea lice medicine, Ectosan® Vet. Together with our water purification system, CleanTreat®, this new treatment is bringing a much needed solution to the industry and delivering real value to our customers as they strive for efficient and effective sea lice management.

Eight years on and I am still excited and eager to see what the future holds as Benchmark continues and play our part in #SolvingSeaLice.