Maher Salman - MBA

Key Highlights: Kuwait & GCC
• Structured the marketing department into 3 main pillars overseeing Brand management, Marketing management and Category management.
• Cross Functionally devised and implemented a CRM/Dashboard overseeing Data driven dashboards to measure ROI’s and plan KPI’s.
• Identified adequate customer funnels and conversion ratios for all brands and concepts.
• Achieved ROI targets on Awareness and Revenue budgets.
• Launched several successful brands and campaigns onto B2C delivery.

• Grew Social media platforms by 23% in 12 months.
• Successfully opened QSR, Casual, and Fine Dining restaurants in Kuwait, KSA, and Qatar.
• Overseen Menu Engineering plans to identify growth opportunities.
• Successfully budgeted & achieved all marketing spend vs targeted ROI (Awareness & Revenue)
Key Responsibilities: Kuwait & GCC
• Design, Develop and Control Corporate and Brand marketing plans and budgets along with ROIs.
• Conducted Research to ensure a full understanding of customer behavior and market trends.
• Activated and improved Corporate and Brands’ Awareness vs competition among respective customer segments.
• Manage and oversee company stakeholders’ relationships.
• Build and develop a head quartered marketing department overseeing the activity across all GCC partners.
• Develop, manage, and monitor Cross Functional plans that aim for overall company objectives.

Key Highlights:
• Instrumental role in establishing the entire marketing department from scratch, setting-up all operations and building a high-performing unit to deliver business objectives.
Key Responsibilities:
• Focus on devising the regional brand development strategy based on the brand portfolio rationalization concept and implementing necessary measures to improve market shares of specific products.
• Strategize and coordinate regional marketing campaigns with business stakeholders and direct staff members to execute allocated tasks within pre-defined timelines.
• Develop in-depth knowledge and understanding about the local marketplaces and accordingly formulate the go-to-market strategy for distinctive products.
• Lead, manage and execute highly sophisticated trade and brand marketing campaigns to launch, position and promote products / sub-brands within the assigned region.
• Educate marketing executives to continue market research, collate market data and prepare intelligent analytical reports to support marketing decisions.
• Implement and monitor industry best marketing practices with focus on gaining maximum market share and overcoming challenges posed by competitors.
• Maintain regular interaction with creative agency for the purpose of campaign activation, advertisement designing, media buying, digital marketing etc.
• Provide internal / external teams with media briefs, represent the company at various events and exhibitions and develop strong professional networks to cultivate regional business.
• Administer control over regional marketing budgets, estimate annual expenditure on campaigns and ensure appropriate utilization of released funds.

Key Highlights:
• Conceptualized and developed an effective budget control mechanism, which achieved 20%+ in cost savings from within the planned Marcom budget.
• Successfully planned and established the marketing unit, activated retail branding campaigns for P&G, Lee, Wrangler, Hanes and Vileda, and supervised over the distribution supply chain.

Key Responsibilities:
• Defined and executed the end-to-end trade marketing strategy of the company and aligned all activities with the long-term business goals.
• Coordinated with team members for the planning and roll-out of customer loyalty programs in order to build a repeat customer base and improve client satisfaction.
• Ensured effective implementation of performance tracking tools in order to achieve optimum program execution and reach required operational levels.
• Collaborated with sales and marketing teams to evaluate promotional requirements and accordingly planned the trade calendar to ensure maximum impact of offers.
• Handled accountability towards product merchandizing through the integration of creative in-store brand visibility techniques such as display area designing, PoS organization etc.
• Focused on delivering pre-defined revenue objectives through extensive promotion and marketing of distinctive goods from various categories.
• Guided and mentored cross-functional teams to plan, schedule and complete all necessary tasks involved in trade promotions, in-store execution, merchandising etc.
• Formulated expenditure estimates and prepared marketing budgets based on the availability of finances with a view to structure promotional campaigns in an independent manner.
• Monitored marketing performance on a constant basis, analyzed reports and recommended changes to the marketing strategy based on the findings.

Key Clientele:
• Airport Advertising and Media Buying for Shaikh Saad Terminal
• Media Representative for Sky News Arabia

Key Responsibilities:
• Functioned as the in-charge of business development operations for the full-service branding, marketing and designing agency, focused on achieving targeted revenue objectives.
• Provided consultancy to clients with regard to the conceptualization, planning and roll-out of marketing campaigns tailored for their business needs.
• Interacted with existing as well as newly acquired clients to understand various aspects about their business and accordingly provided them with effective media solutions.
• Presented DBS’ various offerings in areas of brand development, digital marketing, social media management, market research etc, and converted potential leads into sales.
• Led and managed the routine operations of sales, marketing and customer service functions by rendering direction to respective teams and ensuring optimum client satisfaction.
• Discussed a large range of creative assets with clients and assisted them in driving display advertising campaigns that are consistent with their company’s objectives.
• Provided assistance to internal teams in evaluating inputs shared by clients and accordingly delivering various services like email marketing, search engine optimization, online branding etc.
• Conducted periodic meetings with internal / external stakeholders, updated them upon the progress of business operations and received feedback for changes within the strategy.

Highlights:
• Instrumental role in propelling Bayt.com to the leadership position and making it one of the most admired and respected Middle Eastern success stories.
• Constantly monitored the sales performance of Bayt.com and presented revenue forecasts to the senior management for a 90-day advance period.
• Successfully increased the market share of Bayt through consistent efforts and structured the sales pipeline in alignment with the company’s vision and mission.

Key Responsibilities:
• Provided direction and leadership to the sales and marketing of Bayt.com’s products and solutions within the career development segment.
• Cultivated healthy relations with Bayt’s clients, interacted with them on a periodic basis and understood their requirements through such correspondence.
• Conducted extensive market research to analyze potential business development areas, identified leads and prospected clients to expand the enterprise client database.
• Worked towards the consistent improvement of Bayt’s market share through acquisition of new enterprise accounts and retention of existing ones.
• Managed the client portfolio in coordination with other team members, delivered optimum quality service to clients and created referral business opportunities.
• Implemented a solution-oriented marketing approach to facilitate exponential increase in monthly revenues, sales volumes and market share.
• Provided consultancy to customers with regard to their HRD needs, generated analytical reports and presented long-term partnership proposals for recruitment of candidates for various job positions.
• Prepared and presented Bayt.com’s products and services to clients, answered their queries and converted potential leads into successful sales.
• Liaised and coordinated with IT, Executive Search and Online Ad Sales divisions of the company in an effort to deliver impactful solutions to clients.

Key Responsibilities:
• Collaborated with the General Manager and other members of the top level management to define the restaurant’s vision, mission and objectives.
• Strategized the restaurant’s operations, led cross-functional teams to prepare marketing campaigns and rolled-out periodic activations of the same.
• Conceptualized, designed and developed media themes related to F&B services for the appropriate branding and promotion of the restaurant.
• Ensured compliance with industry best practices in the areas of sales, marketing, service delivery, customer retention and hospitality.
• Supported and assisted all hospitality units and service team members wherever appropriate and promoted maximum revenue generation.
• Maintained coordination with external agencies / service providers with respect to the design, development and distribution of marketing material.

PREVIOUS ASSIGNMENTS:

• Mar 2005 to May 2006 (1 Year 2 Months): Freelance Co-Sponsor and Organizer, United States
• Jul 2005 to Feb 2006 (8 Months): Night Shift Manager / Front Desk Supervisor, Crestwood Suites Hotel, United States
• Jun 2003 to Jan 2004 (8 Months): Restaurant Manager, Monte Carlo Restaurant, United States