personal Branding
We made it to episode 7 and this time we had the energetic and really talented marketing extraordinaire and personal branding expert Marwa Abdulslam. Marwa had her undergraduate education in architecture from University of Khartoum, but had a passion for marketing since her freshman year.
From meticulously fixing font sizes in powerpoint presentations to organizing youth and NGO events in her college years Marwa was setting herself up for a bright career in marketing joining the DAL Graduate Development Program after graduation.
In her words: “What I learned in architecture carries over to marketing. The attention for details, striving for perfection, and commitment to consistency are all positive traits that I learned in university and they served me exceptionally well in my professional career”
The life of a marketer is surely a tough one, as Marwa reflects. Due to the seasonality of the profession, events are constantly popping up during ongoing projects. This leaves little to no time for a marketer to market for him or herself. As the saying goes, the architect’s house is always crooked.
Personal branding through content marketing
However, digital marketing agencies, like Sudan Digital, are at an advantage because one of the most effective self-marketing strategies is content marketing. Sharing knowledge and valuable information with your audience is one of the greatest approaches to building and nurturing a loyal community.
Another added benefit of content marketing is the ability to strategize and control the volume of the content you are putting out there. By knowing the gaps in knowledge and understanding the wants and needs of your audience you can effectively design and tailor your content to meet those needs. And in Sudan there is so much space for valuable input from content creators and content marketers.
But churning out content without careful planning and forethought is not the way to go about it. The content mill strategy might work well at first but of no solace in the long run. Marketing is science delivered through art and to know how to market is to know thy science.
The best way to know marketing is to practice marketing and the best way to practice marketing is to start with self marketing. Marwa started off her exceptional personal branding with a humble phone, tissue box and a simple video editing app.
Hesitation can hold you back, as Marwa puts it, but you need to commit yourself and hold yourself accountable. Most of us feel reluctant if we want to put ourselves out there and brand ourselves, but once we make that first move the wheels will turn and we will pick up momentum. Not only this but as we progress with our efforts, we get better and what used to get done in hours, will take minutes next time. It’s all about turning that learning curve upwards.
We live in great times as digital transformation is taking over. Social media are enablers for people to share and create content that speaks to their wants and needs. From the people, by the people and for the people. Personal branding is not for mega influencers anymore, it’s for everyone, and do you know what is amazing about that? It’s free, it’s doable and even trackable.
On that note, we concluded a very insightful and very engaging chat with Marwa Abdulsalam. We hope to have her again in Jabana with Sudan Digital.
You can follow Marwa Abdulsalam blog on:
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