A Day In The Life Of Martin Best

Martin Best, a Chief Marketing Officer at Wirex, shares exclusive insights on his career development in the company.

How long have you been with Wirex?

A looong time, at least in fintech terms. I’ll soon be 3 years in the company!

Why did you join Wirex?

I was approached about the role and I’d never heard of Wirex, can you imagine that? A global fintech of 3.5m customers and I thought ‘these guys need help with marketing’ and I was committed to joining after downloading the app and trying the product.

What is your background?

I am a multi-category marketer – starting off in the sports industry, moving to consumer electronics, then beer (cheers!) before entering fintech in 2016, joining Wirex in late 2019/early 2020.

What is your job now and how long have you been doing this job?

I’m CMO, which is Chief Marketing Officer – the same position I started in when I joined, but the role itself has changed a great deal over the ~3 years.

When you left School or University what did you want to be when you grew up?

I have always loved consumer brands and marketing has always been my passion – I also studied it at Uni.

What industry's does your job apply to?

Hopefully I’ve shown with my own career steps that you can really move categories as long as you’re prepared to understand your consumer and their need states.

What kind of education and/or training did your career require?

I studied Marketing at Uni, but truthfully, some great professionals from other academic backgrounds can work in Marketing too.

How do you become a CMO?

Cliché cliché cliché - but genuinely I think it’s the boring basics of; know your target audience, understand your product-market-consumer fit and work well with colleagues across the business to deliver results.

What skills are required in your daily work?

Patience, ability to multi-task, hours of talking, quick decisions, strategic thinking – you really get a bit of everything in marketing!

Please describe a typical day of work.

Oh wow – I really wish I could, I don’t think I have had a ‘normal’ day in years – marketing is a reflecting of commercial plans, market realities, external influences... no 2 days are the same.

Do you mostly work alone or with others?

Mostly with others, it’s a team sport 😉

How has Wirex helped you get to develop your skills and career?

Yes for sure – because we have a ‘learn by doing’ mentality like many start up to scale ups have. There is no magic box with answers in, we need to find them ourselves.

What do you wish you would have known about your job before starting?

That regulatory considerations would be so volatile – it does make marketing to a global audience a challenge due to the moving guidelines.

What would you like to tell someone who’s interested in applying for a marketing position to know?

Do your homework! I get dismayed when I interview a candidate who has now even bothered to download the app or read about the basic functionalities of what it does. That is surely marketing 101 – it's the job you’re applying for!

What Career progression is there in your role and/or Wirex?

In Wirex Marketing we’ve promoted internally 9 times in the last 18 months, across 20 roles... pretty good sign that we reward and develop our own.

What do you love the most about your job at Wirex?

Global teams, global consumers, global problems to solve!

How would you describe working at Wirex?

Constant change, evolution, adaptation and flexibility – building a strategy but accepting reality and making changes on a daily basis... we work in fintech & crypto!