Alwi Mohamed Suleiman recently met with Carlota Pico on The Content Mix to talk about his career in marketing—spanning more than a decade—and his current role as founder and head of content at Content Market King. Alwi explained his unique approach to marketing, which involves teaching people skills that they can use forever, not just quick fixes and temporary solutions.

Alwi honed in on the importance of helping clients to learn that it’s not about creating perfect content, but rather content that resonates with people. He also delved into the challenges of working with brands, such as convincing clients of the non-monetary value of creating quality content.

You can watch the full conversation in the video above or on YouTube, and listen to the podcast on Apple or Spotify.

Rapid-fire recs

  • Source of inspiration: Muhammad Ali. “He was a walking, talking content creation machine. Every word from his mouth could have been a quote or a tweet. Every interview could have been a motivational video. He was amazing. He faced a lot of challenges and yet he was always himself. I always tell young people: ‘You have to be yourself.’ So, if you’re working somewhere and don’t feel you can be yourself, you need to change that. It might be hard, but it’ll be worth it.”
  • Favorite book: Youtility by Jay Baer. “It completely changed my perspective on marketing with the idea that if you help people, you get customers for life, whereas if you’re only focused on selling, you’ll wind up with customers for just a day. Jay talks about empathy and using your brand to help people before you sell.”
  • A useful resource: SEMrush. “I love SEMrush because it makes things really clear and easy. It also gives you insight into what your competitors are doing, and that’s important.”
  • Favorite app: Squla. “It has nothing to do with marketing, but it’s a lifesaver. It’s an app that shows all of the stuff my kids are learning at school, and enables me to teach them at home. It helps them get ahead, and it helps me know what to expect.”

Does a piece of perfect content exist? No—but that’s actually a good thing, because if a perfect piece of content existed, we would stop learning and growing.

For more tips, read Alwi’s guide to creating remarkable content on a small budget.

Connect with Alwi and Carlota on LinkedIn.

This post was edited by Mary Kresge.

For more insights into helping clients with content marketing and gaining customers for life:

It’s not about selling, it’s about solving – Oliver Mott from Grant Thornton International

Business-to-human marketing – Erika Bianco, international marketing and comms manager

Use customer data to address pain points – Jaime Lee, head of content strategy at AdRoll

To see the full transcript, click on page number 2 below. 

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