Festive Focus: Bdaily speaks to Sheffield United's head of marketing

Can you introduce yourself and your business to our readers?

“My name is Emma Kirk, I am head of marketing at Sheffield United Football Club.

“I am extremely proud to be working for such a great football club, currently competing in the EFL Sky Bet Championship.

“As well as the marketing activities surrounding the men’s first team, the club also has the women’s first team competing in the FA Women’s Championship, a wealth of other events being staged at Bramall Lane; such as Rod Stewart’s upcoming concert next June and other sporting events such as The UEFA Women’s Euro’s 2021 - not to mention the great projects being carried out by our Community Foundation.

“It’s safe to say there is plenty to keep us busy!”

What was your company’s biggest achievement of the year?

“We’ve had a number of great achievements this year as myself, my team and fellow colleagues around the club work together on so many great projects.

“Something I’m particularly proud of, was being involved in the pitch to secure the women a place in the FA Women’s Championship. We were awarded this back in May and are currently placed sixth in the league.

“It’s an exciting season so far competing against the likes of Manchester United, Aston Villa and Tottenham. This was a great achievement for the club and rewards a lot of the hard work carried out by the academy through their long-standing history in nurturing women’s footballing talent.”

How would you approach 2018 differently, given the chance?

“Being fairly new to the club having only joined earlier this year, we’ve tried to approach things a little differently already this year.

“All the departments across the club having been working closely together to provide a more joined up approach to promoting the clubs activities. It’s been great getting to know all the staff across the club and working with them on amazing projects.

“We are also working hard to grow our digital fan engagement, by providing more club and team related content for our fans. We’ve seen some great engagement taking place across our social media channels from fans local, nationally and internationally.”

What are your company’s plans for the new year?

“To continue to engage and grow our fan base, also to continue working closely with all the other departments across the football club to highlight some of the amazing projects that are underway and in planning.”

What’s your favourite Christmas song?

“Tough question, but it would have to be Wham’s Last Christmas.”

Sheffield United is a member of Welcome to Yorkshire’s Y30 Club of Yorkshire-based business partners.