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Welcome to another interview in our Marketing Expert Series! 2021 is taking off at a different pace, and we’re striving to make the most of every opportunity that’s presented to us during these trying times. This week we delve into the world of digital advertising, guided by Wayne Liew, the Head of Advertising at Mindvalley in Malaysia.
Digital advertising is one of the key marketing initiatives that can drive company growth and sales. As such, it’s one of the best skills to have in your marketing toolbox. Digital advertising specialists like Wayne focus on optimizing paid content to raise brand awareness and get the word out to the right audience. For a company like Mindvalley, a teaching and mentoring institution specializing in helping people grow, reaching out into the world makes all the difference.
Join us as we learn more about what makes digital advertising tick for this company, and how Wayne came to be where he is today.
Welcome to the latest issue of the Marketing Expert Series, Wayne! Happy to have you with us! Let’s start with an easy question. Tell us a bit about yourself! How did you get to where you are today?
Hi everyone! Thank you for having me! I am Wayne, and I lead the advertising function in Mindvalley.
In college, where I was pursuing an accounting degree, I was already building websites, growing them, before selling them off at a profit. When I left college, I ended up working in an audit firm for a couple of years, and I didn’t like the mundane nature of the work.
My marketing career started when Lazada established its presence in Malaysia around 2012. Even though I didn’t have formal education in marketing, I managed to impress the marketing manager back then with the SEO results that I’ve accomplished and the volume of organic traffic that I’ve acquired for my online projects.
I think my curiosity and the passion I have for growth are the two things that got me to where I am today.
Was there something that drew you to this line of work or was it always going to happen?
Looking back, I think I always wanted a career revolving around creativity and entrepreneurship.
When I was building and growing my websites during college, I was always fascinated by new growth strategies to experiment with. There was one time I burnt the midnight oil one day before my exams. It wasn’t because I needed to study, it was because I wanted to implement a new design that will make visitors spend more time on my website.
On your blog – wayneliew.com – you describe yourself as ‘a digital marketer who is deeply passionate about personal development, career growth, and productivity.’ You’ve written about self improvement and development. Is there a philosophy or thought that motivates or inspires you?
We all have a limited time to live. Make the most of every minute. Be intentional about crafting the life you want to live.
Currently, you’re the Head of Advertising at Mindvalley. Can you tell us a bit about what Mindvalley does and your work there?
Mindvalley helps our users transform every dimension of their life through state-of-the-art online courses and the most uplifting community platform. At work, I lead a team of media buyers and advertising specialists to maximize the returns of our marketing spend. We strategize, launch, and optimize our campaigns to make sure our promotional messages are reaching potential customers in a profitable way.
What does it take, in the 2020s to be a solid advertising specialist for a company like Mindvalley?
On top of having deep knowledge about advertising platforms, a solid advertising specialist at Mindvalley must be able to collaborate with other marketers, turn data into actionable insights, and communicate them to key decision makers of a product or the company.
Has COVID-19 impacted your work and the strategies you’ve had to employ? Do you see any lasting trends that will impact your work?
COVID-19 accelerated the ongoing shift of many activities from offline to online, including education. More people than ever are exploring options on the Internet to upskill themselves or to become better at something.
The surge in demand also means that more people are seeing our campaigns. When this happens, we are constantly looking for ways to come up with more personalized ad campaigns at scale. How can we come up with more ad creatives that relate to different audience groups at scale?
With more businesses coming online and with existing players becoming more savvy with digital marketing, the marketplace is becoming more competitive than ever. Marketers will need to be more open to experimenting with new ideas. The duration of any effective marketing strategy is just going to become shorter. What’s working today may no longer be effective tomorrow.
What about ‘after’, when this pandemic is over – any plans on the horizon for you personally?
Aside from wanting to travel again, I also want to create more content for my site and on social media as a way to build a community for people who share the same interests as myself.
Any advice you’d give to young and aspiring marketers or entrepreneurs?
Take action. You can read about something, listen to every single podcast, or buy all the online courses out there, but if you are not implementing the ideas in your projects or campaigns, you will not make progress, grow or learn.
Thanks for sharing your experiences with us, Wayne! How can people connect with you if they’d like to know more about you?
Thanks again, everyone! You can learn more about me on WayneLiew.com, which is where I am publishing most of my work. They can also send an email to wayne@wayneliew.com, or reach out to me on LinkedIn or Twitter.
The Marketing Expert Series features marketing and communications experts from across every industry. Every month, 2Stallions will showcase the stories and expertise of marketing experts from around the world, join us as we explore how marketers navigate the challenges of the regions and industries they work in. If you’d like to be featured in a next issue of the Marketing Expert Series. Please reach out to us via email.
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