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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

As the use of the Internet grows every day, so does the popularity of content marketing as well as content marketing myths. It should be a priority for you because every website, social media campaign, and even Adwords campaign, thrives on content. As a digital marketing agency, we’ve noted how clients have reaped long-term benefits from creating and publishing quality content. They enjoy an expanding reach, grow their new customer base, and have established brand authority through content written years ago.

Content is the heart of any digital marketing campaign. Without it, the beautiful aesthetic of a website or an expertly edited video is ultimately useless in converting a visitor. However, there are some myths that have proliferated over time as well. Some content marketers still espouse and back these statements, which we’d like to dispel. Want to know what they are?

5 Content Marketing Myths and Expectations

Myth 1: Quantity of Content Trumps Quality

This wasn’t a content marketing myth just a few years back. Back in 2011, when you published more content, you would expect a much larger reach via organic search. As a result, marketers sacrificed quality for quantity to rank for more keywords on Google.

The Google Panda update in 2011 started penalizing “thin content” sites and every new update to the algorithm since has further clamped down on poor quality content. Today’s marketers have realized that pushing out a high volume of content doesn’t help them achieve their goals.

Why is quality content attractive? It is information people are searching for and provides well-researched depth on the topic. If you spend the time and effort to research the facts and put it together coherently in a quality article, people will love you for it, and your reach will widen for sure. Remember, a single blog post that reaches thousands of people is more valuable than a thousand blog posts that reach a handful of people.

Myth 2: Great Writers Come Cheap

Have you ever heard or thought – “Anyone can do the job, it’s just writing!”

A major reason behind a company’s failed content marketing attempt is setting unrealistic expectations of high quality content in a short space of time for the lowest cost. Like any project, the Project Management Triangle holds true for content marketing as well.

You may think it is easy to write quality content that goes viral, and are therefore unwilling to pay for the right content writers. If you hire a cheap writer, chances are your results probably won’t be spectacular. Even if you find a needle in the haystack, eventually, they would be demotivated – so invest in a good, quality content writer.

It is not easy to produce quality content. Writers have to invest time and effort to develop a genuine understanding of your brand and your audience in order to create amazing content that resonates. In the long term, it will be worth it. Looking to work with an agency for your content creation? Reach out to us.

Myth 3: It Costs Too Much!

This content marketing myth can be busted quite easily. First, let’s come to terms with the fact that every major marketing platform today will cost you money to reach an audience at scale.

Therefore, on the surface, content marketing can seem expensive. You can spend a lot just developing producing quality content. Then, you have to invest in SEO and/or online advertising to drive traffic to the content.

However, it is very interesting then, that according to CMI, B2B marketers choose to spend 39 percent of their marketing budget on content marketing. Why do they see the value in content marketing? It is because studies show that 68% of consumers spend time reading from a brand they’re interested in, and B2B researchers do 12 searches on average prior to engaging on a specific brand’s site. Companies who actively market their content enjoy 67% more digital leads. All of these statistics point to content marketing being a great lead generation tool.

It is imperative that you focus on the ROI rather than the cost. Over a prolonged period, your content marketing costs will seem minute compared to your gains.

Myth 4: It’s Not For OUR Audience

Whether you’re selling watches for a niche audience or a mass consumer product like cheese, content is for everyone. It’s simply a matter of what FORM the content takes. While advertisements work for some brands, 70 percent of consumers prefer to get to know a brand through an article instead of ads.

People crave personalized content these days. This is why companies who make their audience feel like a part of their community, through conversation and useful information, see promising yields. Based on your customer persona, your audience may enjoy viewing photography, illustrations, infographics, videos or even slideshows instead of reading long-form blog posts. So mix and match these other formats with your written format to appeal to your audience. However, understand that it’s the content that draws them in.

Myth 5: We Don’t Have What it Takes

Content marketing is still quite young in the digital marketing world. As a result, marketers and companies still have a lot of learning to do before they start seeing results.

In a survey of 1,000 marketers, it was found that the biggest challenge with content marketing was creating the content. Despite this, 80-90% of both B2B and B2C marketers still choose to strive towards creating quality content because they understand its ability to create stronger brand authority and retention among customers.

It can get overwhelming trying to learn content marketing from various sources – hence we suggest finding a course or even reading a book. We’ve recently released our own Content Marketing on Steroids ebook on Amazon that you may choose to learn.

Alternatively, if you have the budget, you can work with a digital agency to run content marketing for you.

Content Marketing For The Long-Term

There are plenty of reasons to allocate a portion of your marketing budget towards content marketing. However, you should always consider your business objectives. If you’re looking for immediate payoffs, then content marketing might not be for you. Investing in PPC advertising and email marketing would be better.

It’s always good to have a mix of short-term and long-term goals. Content marketing may take a longer time to yield results but is certainly a good one. With the content marketing myths debunked, we hope you’ll go ahead with your content marketing strategy!

If you’re looking to learn everything you can about content marketing, I’ve got the perfect book for you! Check out my first eBook “Content Marketing on Steroids” to learn from tried and tested methods. Create a content marketing strategy that works and gets you the ROI you’ve been looking for! Get your copy on Amazon now!

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