Singapore 
Singapore
Malaysia
Welcome back to another edition of #2STeamStories, a monthly serial that lets you get to know more about the 2Stallions Family and what they do. From internships, UI/UX design, to content marketing, #2STeamStories aims to help everyone get a better picture about life at an agency. We also hope to provide insights into each speciality and encourage aspiring marketers to join this dynamic and exciting industry.
In this edition, we dive into the world of our Head of Content, Olwen van Dijk-Hildebrand. True to the long-form that is her specialty, Olwen shares her journey into the marketing world, coming into it unexpectedly. Join us as she takes us through her career history and her arrival at 2Stallions and learn what it takes to generate content that connects and inspires individuals.
Hi Olwen! Tell us a bit about yourself.
Hi, everyone, I’m Olwen. I’m Dutch-Indonesian born, but I’ve spent the majority of my life living all over the world. My father worked at the UN, and as a result I spent my childhood travelling from country to country with the rest of my family – parents and a younger brother. I spent the first 5 years of my life in Yemen, and have fleeting but fond memories of the place; after that we lived in London for a year, and Africa for eight years following that – first in Ivory Coast and then in Mozambique. I finished high school in Fiji, and finally went on to university in Australia, where I finished my tertiary education and met my husband. After close to a decade in Australia, we made the move to Malaysia where my parents had retired.
Can you share your marketing journey with us? How did you first start marketing? How did you find your way to working at 2Stallions?
I stumbled into marketing more out of necessity than choice. In 2012, my husband and I bought a small cafe in the Dandenong Hills in Melbourne. We ran the cafe for three years and during that time, I managed our Facebook page, and thus my introduction to marketing. I didn’t think about it that way, of course; at the time I was simply trying to drum up business and raise what I would now call brand awareness.
In 2015, we sold the cafe having earned a wealth of experience in the culinary and barista arts and customer service, and moved to Malaysia. It was a big move, and neither my husband nor I knew exactly what we were going to do when we got here, but we wanted a change and so we made a change.
I applied for jobs and eventually found my way into a marketing executive position in Kuala Lumpur at AQ Services International, a mystery shopping company. I was with them for five years, really until the pandemic kicked in. When I left I’d gone from executive, lone wolf marketer to the senior communications manager with a team of six. I was really quite proud of the work we’d accomplished and it was a shame to have to leave it, but circumstances being what they were there wasn’t much choice.
Luckily for me, I’d worked with 2Stallions since 2016 – AQ Services had been a client for several years – and Daniel Heerkens reached out to me in mid-2020 to offer me a job.
Can you share with us a little about what’s expected in your role?
At 2Stallions, my role as Head of Content is essentially expected to create all the content for internal marketing efforts and to help with client projects where needed. I develop and adapt the content strategy for internal marketing and create the content to go with it. Content marketers generate content and content concepts for all marketing channels, including our company blog and our social media channels.
What are some of your favourite things about content marketing?
I have a passion for words. I love what they can do and how much power they have when used in different circumstances. Content marketing is essentially knowing how to use words to inspire emotional reactions – what you see on social media or read in a blog are all driven by that same concept. What I love about content marketing is that it lies at the heart of all marketing – I might be biased, but really without content, digital marketing is an empty vessel.
What is the most challenging part of your job?
Speaking the right language, whether visual or words, is the trickiest part to get right. Content marketing is about speaking to a target audience, so the hardest part is trying to find the way to do that. You have to reach people in a memorable way, and sometimes the most powerful way to do that is through the right word choice.
How do you like to spend your time away from work?
When I’m not working, I spend time with my family – that is, my husband and our two cats. We enjoy watching movies or shows together. On the weekends, especially at the moment with the pandemic lockdown, I write, fiction mostly. To destress I play video games – currently, I’m really into the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game Mobile Legends, but I’m a massive Skyrim fan as well. I also spend a lot of time online, scrolling through social media feeds, constantly looking to learn about current content trends and preferences. If I had to pick a favourite platform, I’d go with LinkedIn, but I enjoy Instagram and TikTok as well.
Wrapping Up
Connect with Olwen on LinkedIn to learn more about her work as a content marketer.
Get to know our #2StallionsFamily with the #2STeamStories tag. Discover the works done by our diverse team of digital marketing professionals who’ll bring your ideas to life with impactful designs. If you’re looking for a content marketing expert, don’t hesitate to contact us.
