Dane Smith-Burchnell

Mr. Dane Smith-Burchnell Shenzhen, Bao’An, China (Current address) British – 28 Mobile: - Email:- PERSONAL STATEMENT PERSONAL STATEMENT I feel that I am highly suited to the position of Marketing manager. I am deeply passionate about all things in marketing, especially technology and product development. I have numerous skills and experience in Business development, sales and marketing to be suitable for this position. I have worked in China for over 6 years, giving me a unique insight into how Chinese businesses operate as well as being internationally minded, working within a multi-cultural team is a simple task. I am able to speak Mandarin to a high level of fluency, with business discussions being no issue for me. My experience in digital marketing, content marketing, – especially data analysis using websites such as Buzzsumo and SEMrush, direct marketing, large scale event planning and execution (beer festival, expo), SEO optimisation, A/B landing page testing, Adwords, Facebook Ads, KOL collaboration, customer focused, B2B marketing and segmentation – all of which allows me to use my varied skills to deal with tasks effectively. I am a fast thinker, kind and open with staff, a good listener with adept skills in getting the most from my team. I believe in working hard, hitting targets and creating a positive work environment to encourage cohesion between teams and in turn, happier workers. I am well versed in public speaking, PR, connecting with customers via social media and in person. As an entrepreneur myself in the past, and a previous user of Indiegogo services, I fully understand the challenges and requirements that potential Indiegogo users face, be it in China or around the world. CommunicationDigital MarketingContent Marketing C-Level Management ExperienceBusiness DevelopmentNegotiations Wechat MarketingHSK 6 MandarinEvent Planning EntrepreneurialChinese Business NetworksPhotoshop Team PlayerGreat Communicator Wechat Marketing Business Development Manager/Co-Founder - Beyond English (July 1st 2016 – January 10th 2017) My role at Beyond English was somewhat varied, as it was a start-up company. I mainly worked on business development, connecting with clients, potential investors, collaboration and opportunities for finding corporate clients. I also helped to plan, devise and execute marketing strategies that reinforced our teaching methodology and ethos for our online and office-based training curriculum. I worked with the marketing department to create events around Shenzhen, contacting office spaces, co-working spaces, corporations and groups such as Toastmasters, in order to find new clients. We focussed on experiential marketing, whereby the potential clients got to meet, discuss and experience exactly what we as a company were offering. Marketing Manager & Co-founder – EcoBike (January 30th – June 1st 2017) Our goal was to create a new environmentally friendly, carbon neutral bike sharing system in the uk. My team was based in Ireland and the UK whilst I was in China, developing business links and partners for the bikes, hardware and software. We built a new brand from scratch, gaining followers and a minimal investment of £50,000. We also built two corporate partnerships with charities based in the UK and US, the former being, Trees for Cities and the latter being The Life You Can Save. Our goal was to establish bike centres around uni campuses and business offices / districts but sadly we had to stop the business as insufficient funding was found via crowdfunding. We worked a lot on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram – using ‘Hootsuite’ to synchronise all of the content marketing to provide timely posts to our followers, using landing pages to do A/B testing as well as some early-era chatbots. During this time, I was also travelling extensively in China, visiting bike factories to help the sourcing department to look for potential bike and lock factories to build our fleet destined for U.K universities. I worked in a multi-cultural team, directing our content writers with their daily goals whilst keeping in touch with the team back in the U.K. Strategic Division – Marketing & Business Development: Crafty Marketing (June 12th 2017 – 25th June 2018) My time at Crafty Marketing was a fantastic experience, with many fulfilling moments – I had the ability to learn many different roles, namely in business development, marketing to foreigners and Chinese, digital media/social media, and further my knowledge in event organising and experiential marketing. We worked with a number of media companies, schools, offices and other entities in Shenzhen to either create bespoke events for their needs or in partnership with them. We built a database of individuals, building a Wechat platform from scratch, offering individuals – mostly expats – a better life in Shenzhen, namely F&B related. Working with the events manager and our team, I honed my organisational skills, becoming a much greater communicator and being able to manage time effectively. I became accustomed to using a CRM system for our clients and products, oversaw various forms of marketing – from idea, planning and execution, aiming specific marketing strategies at Chinese and expat targets. I was an essential part of the team, crafting original articles, media and events in partnership with a variety of large brands in China (Duvel, China Merchants, Ayam Brand) to name a few. My skills at building marketing campaigns, linking KOLS and other business influencers to our articles and events created a buzz around the business. Crafty soon became one of the most-well known events and F&B marketing companies in the city.  Marketing & E-Commerce Manager - (Aug - Jan 2019) This role was mainly focused on two areas: 1) a brand manager role for breweries in Belgium, whereby marketing campaigns, POS, sourcing products and large scale solutions for breweries to further expand in the Chinese market (On/off trade). I managed a small team of staff creating marketing materials, creating wechat articles, planning and execution of events (beer festivals and expos). On the e-commerce end, I worked with the team to create a new online Wechat Mini-program for mainly o2o - linking B2B and B2C to the app for easy purchases of less than a container quantity, down to 1 case. The mini program was the launch pad to create a chain of Belgian branded beer stores around Shenzhen and Guangdong.  This role has heavily been focussed on business development, in terms of building partnerships with new distributors (online and offline) to further expand the business. Furthermore, I worked with brands from Belgium, and provided in depth analyses of their customers, by segmenting them, implementing SEO strategies, to build a stronger brand presence within China with data from SEMrush, Alexa and a few other tools. Brand Project Manager – AUKEY (Jan 2019 to April 2019) I’m responsible for a team of content writers, digital media specialists on new product launches and the branding of these products. I oversee content, the brand image, understanding the target customer by analysing data, trends and how to best serve the customers. I work between departments, coordinating with PR, Sales, Marketing and Product Development. In my short time with Aukey, I have seen engagement rates over social media increase by 25%, grown the overall presence by 9% and built partnerships in preparation for launching a series of products in the US, UK and Europe. EDUCATION University of Plymouth: BSc Psychology -) - 2:1 Degree University of Exeter: MSc Psychological Research Methods -) – Merit Degree Completed numerous MOOC courses for business development, Marketing to Asian and Western markets, Digital Marketing, Content Marketing. HOBBIES AND INTERESTS In my spare time, I try to do as many things as possible – such as running, playing team-sports such as football, badminton and basketball. I particularly enjoy travelling, with a keen interest in other cultures, food and languages. I keep up to date with environmental news, especially technological advances in the field.