The way we work was forever changed during the pandemic with many workplaces moving to the working from home model. But this also afforded a lot more flexible working and freelance work. This was not only a means of helping people work during the lockdown but gave new opportunities to people who found the traditional agency work model inaccessible, such as disabled workers and those who are parents.
Zara Deegan, Founder of EXT MKTG has really leaned into this new era of flexible working and is looking to provide jobs exclusively for new mums. Ellie Hale spoke to her in last month’s edition of The Agency Collective Tales.
The Inception of EXT MKTG
Until 2020, Zara worked in-house in sales and marketing across the globe with a number of high-profile agencies. That changed when covid hit and Zara was also expecting her first child.
“I thought, I’m not going to be able to go in-house and demand a great salary and a great role because people aren’t going to have in-house marketers at this point of flux and uncertainty. And I also was sure that I wanted to work part-time because of my child and now children.
I wanted to make sure that I only worked three or four days a week because before they joined school I wanted to make sure I have lots of time with them to help them, to take them to swimming and football and whatever classes they end up doing and that sort
of thing. So I needed flexibility. The economy was in tatters and I thought, right, what should I do?”
So Zara founded EXT MKTG, providing external marketing for creative businesses.
Flexible Working WorksEXT MKTG runs using a freelance model. Zara wants to use this as an opportunity to provide working mums with the flexibility they need.
“I want some mums that know marketing just to pitch in and help out for few hours a week. Any hours that work. Evenings, mornings, like afternoons, during lunchtime nap: All sorts
of hours. And I think that a lot of mums have sort of put off getting back into the workplace because of lack of confidence and because they have got a new identity and they’re not really sure where they fit and they want flexibility like I wanted.”
Zara Deegan, Founder and Director, EXT MKTG
Zara founded EXT MKTG, an agile B2B marketing agency built to service time-poor business owners of creative agencies. We specialise in small to medium-sized creative agencies, particularly brand and interior design agencies and always make a positive difference.
