I am an commercial, outdoor and lifestyle photographer located between Dundalk & Newry in Northern Ireland.I work with the general public for family and newborn shoots and have also worked with a variety of companies large and small for commercial projectsI am honoured each time someone chooses me to capture their story. I think of my role as a visual story teller. Our sessions are designed to give you images that you will cherish - capturing love, emotion and genuine connection that you will want to remember. Those tender snuggles with your kids, that mischievous sibling connection, the way your face lights up when you are surrounded by your loves. www.joannewattersphotography.com

As the creator and director of Moon & Back Photo Props, I provide stunning props to the photography trade and general public. This ranges from headbands, rompers and wraps for newborn babies and toddlers to flower crowns for maternity shoots, weddings and festivals. I sell into approximately 39 countries worldwide via various platforms – Etsy, Ebay, my own website and via national and international trade shows.

My role involves the promotion of Lagan Valley Island as a venue for conferences and meetings, theatre events and concerts, civil ceremonies and weddings. I do this through the creation and implementation of an effective marketing strategy which includes a mixture of digital marketing, organising events, attending tradeshows, PR, co-ordination of collateral, market research, sales and networking, relationship marketing, direct marketing and advertising. With very distinct customer groups for each event type, a tailored and targeted marketing strategy is created for each and regularly monitored to ensure I achieve the highest return on investment. I work in conjunction with the events booking team in the promotion of the venue through sales, upselling, promotions, completing competitor analysis and managing the customer experience. I was personally responsible for the deisgn and launch of a new website for the Centre, subsequently increasing web traffic by 90%. Against a backdrop of a turbulent economic climate and a downturn in the events industry, I have delivered an increase in our market share of events booked at Lagan Valley Island and an increase in customer loyalty and retention.I led the team to schieve the prestigious Customer Service Excellence (CSE) standard putting the customer at the heart of all operations within Lagan Valley Island Centre Management team.

During my time at Castle Leslie Estate, the Estate experienced phenomenal growth including a €15 million refurbishment of the Hunting Lodge, Equestrian Centre and opening a Victorian Spa, opening a cookery school, building 12 self-catering Village Cottages with an additional 58 houses to sell, refurbishing 12 self-catering Old Stable Mews with a conference facility, creation of an integrated constructed wetlands, refurbishing the Castle and opening a private members Club and launching the Castle Pavilion as an exclusive events venue.My role involved the promotion of all of aspects of the Estate as a tourism product to various markets through a mixture of PR, e-marketing, organising of events and launches, arranging familiarisation trips with journalists, media and tour operators, organising and attending trade-shows, co-ordinating the design and production of all promotional literature both on and off line, networking, relationship marketing, direct marketing, advertising and sales. I was personally responsible for the co-ordination of the design and launch of a new website for Castle Leslie Estate and managed all aspects of their online presences including ezines, online advertising, third party websites. I was invited to speak at a number of events organised by Cavan and Monaghan Rural Development to train rural tourism organisations on the use of online marketing to promote their business. The Estate generated significant media interest so I regularly dealt with the media to provide information, co-ordinate visits to the Estate by individual journalists, group media Fam trips and film crews and be their point of contact throughout and afterwards for follow-up.

Robt. Roberts (NI) Ltd is a fast moving FMCG distribution company with many high profile brands such as all of the KP range, Chewits, Edwards pickles, Libbys etc. Whilst working here my main tasks included managing three brands. This involved creating incentives and promotions, tracking and evaluating the results. I also produced all the sales and marketing reports for the company and regularly completed competitor analysis.

Botanic Inns is a large hospitality company, which manages eleven bars/ restaurants, one hotel, and two off-licenses in Belfast. During my time here, I created and implemented a new customer satisfaction measurement system for the company that was recognized by ‘Hospitality Assured’ and the results of which were made one of the company’s KPI’s. On completion of my placement year in Botanic Inns Ltd, I was put on the Deans list in my University for my outstanding results and given an award for my follow-up dissertation focusing on the employee’s role in customer satisfaction. Other duties included: Press tracking, Writing press releases, Budgeting, Customer Satisfaction Analysis, Website Analysis, Organizing and Evaluation of promotions, Invoicing, Sourcing promotional goods and uniforms, Producing company newsletter, Liaising with customers/suppliers/trade partners, Booking advertising space, Database management