Here is a transcript generated by otter.ai of The Content Mix podcast interview with Amal Ahmed, London-based content marketing and PR specialist:

Shaheen Samavati 0:14
Hi everyone, I’m Shaheen from The Content Mix, and I’m excited to be here with Amal Ahmed, head of communications, content marketing and PR for Itiviti, a Stockholm-based company that provides trading technology to capital markets. Thanks so much for joining us.

Amal Ahmed 0:28
Thank you for having me.

Shaheen Samavati 0:31
First, can you tell us a bit about your background and how you ended up in content marketing?

Amal Ahmed 0:35
Yeah. So, I have been with Itiviti for just over five years. So originally, I joined the company when it was called ORC, as a marketing manager working predominantly with the sales teams within EMEA. Over the years, my roles have kind of encompassed content, so you know, whether it’s product marketing to help support the sales enablement, or just thought leadership. So I’ve had, I’ve dabbled with content throughout my five years at Itiviti, with more of a digital focus this year. We very quickly realized as a department, within the marketing team, that content was something that we needed somebody to kind of take over on a full-time basis, and hence, where I am now.

Shaheen Samavati 1:14
Okay, so it was a role that like didn’t exist and something that evolved, and is something that the company is putting more of an emphasis on now.

Amal Ahmed 1:21
Yeah, I think, you have this change of mindset within B2B companies, you know, you’re seeing more and more, you know with a longer life cycle, sales cycles, like the need to kind of nurture prospects that you have, and be able to kind of talk to them throughout this process of, you know, making decisions and be able to kind of, I guess, preempt some of the hurdles that you come across. So, be able to objection handle or be able to kind of provide information. So, I think as a company, we wanted to make sure that we had a focus to be able to kind of not only provide information, but to also, you know, position ourselves as a thought leader, position ourselves as people who actually understood the challenges that our clients were facing, so it was a bit of a natural evolution for us to be able to kind of invest in content and actually really, you know, look at how it can help drive our leads and our sales process as well.

Shaheen Samavati 2:14
Yeah, and for those who don’t know, can you explain a bit what Itiviti does, and also, even though the company is based in Stockholm, you’re actually in London, right? So it’s a global company, right?

Amal Ahmed 2:25
Yeah. So Itiviti is a trading technology company. We’re based, you know, throughout the world in 17 different locations. I myself sit in the London office. So yeah, it’s a really cool, innovative company with next-generation technology, changing the way that I guess people interact with their trading infrastructure and their technology. You know, we have quite a good solid management team, who are, you know, really pushing boundaries in terms of the appeal that we have as a company. We have quite an innovative new CEO who’s really come in and made a radical change in terms of how we position ourselves in the marketplace. So it’s a very niche market, there’s not a huge number of players. And what really differentiates Itiviti from the competition is the fact that we have like quite new technology, which is always fun and exciting. And you know, being a technology vendor is a space that we kind of see there being a lot of potential for growth, for both ourselves and our clients. So, yeah.

Shaheen Samavati 3:24
Okay, great. And I noticed that like, the kind of content that you’re producing is very, oftentimes technical, and it seems that it requires expertise from members of your team. So I was curious, how do you manage that, like sourcing that content from your team? And yeah, turning that into, because I imagine most people aren’t writers. So how do you turn that into good quality content?

Amal Ahmed 3:48
Yeah, so I mean, that’s a great question. Yeah, so we are very fortunate that we have some of the best people in Itiviti, within Itiviti, who are you, know, very very content-rich people, who are very, who are experts within their subject matters and the domains that they own. So the way that I like to work with the individuals that we have within the company is just not worrying about, you know, them writing about stuff, making sure it flows, it’s just gaining that information from them, making sure that what they’re writing is actually insightful. A lot of the time, what I try and do is look at what’s topical. So what is, you know, what is our client base talking about? What is the market talking about? What angles could there be for us to kind of introduce a subject matter expert to be able to provide an opinion? So I have like, you know, good relationships internally that, you know, if I see something that I think is worth us kind of either commenting on or providing more context, or having a reaction from an Itiviti perspective, those are the people that I would initially kind of reach out to, say, “Hey, what do you think about this, this is something that I’ve seen being a conversation, I’ve seen a few more articles about this.” And normally, you know, we’d have, I’d have a conversation with that person. They would bounce some ideas, we’d bounce some ideas together. And then they would then kind of, you know, work, they would work on the draft, share that with me. I would kind of go through with them look at kind of how we can position the information they’re writing, and then just really just help them structure the article, or the blog, or the content piece into something that we can then post and share with our readers. So yeah, it’s… as you can imagine you work with lots of different people and they all have different styles. So because I’ve been with the company for fairly, a number of years, I know the differences in how people like to work. So some people, I really don’t need to do anything. They’re amazing. Not that everybody isn’t amazing. But they can just write something and it’s just literally me going through and looking at it and tidying up. Some people need a little bit more help. I tried to put a structure in recently to help kind of put a process together, to help kind of anyone and everyone who wants to contribute content internally. So, you know, getting them to think about like, you know, what is the message from a corporate perspective? Like, how is this content going to help our clients? You know, what challenges is it solving, and then trying to tie that back into our corporate message to make it more kind of relevant to the audience.

Shaheen Samavati 6:15
Super interesting. So right now we’re in this unique situation of a global pandemic. How has that impacted your marketing plans or the way you’re doing content?

Amal Ahmed 6:28
Gosh, yeah, I mean, as everybody, it’s impacted quite a lot. So as a marketing department, we are, you know, a small, but very, very agile team, who work very closely together. So we obviously worked on our plans for 2020 towards the end of last year and kind of launched our plans at the beginning of this year. You know, we were impacted as a company quite quickly, because we have offices in APAC. So as you know, the wave hit there first. So we saw some of the things that our colleagues in Asia were dealing with. So a lot of the events were canceled. And as a company, you know, because we have regional marketing heads who look after the needs and help facilitate sales and… you know, we look to leverage events for thought leadership. So we’ll have a lot of panels and then I will work with the regional heads to produce content for those panels to work on content for the Q&A’s if there are Q&A’s within panels, content for like the stands the booth. So we saw that being like suddenly gone, and then slowly a lot of other events started to be canceled. So we really just looked at, you know, the fact that events were not something that we could rely on, or I could rely on for content, and to be able to kind of, you know, pre-event, be able to kind of utilize some of the media relationships to you know, line up interviews, during events do the panels, and then obviously, all the post-event recaps. So we went through a process of redoing all of our plans from scratch for the entire year. I went through and looked at some of the areas that COVID had impacted in terms of our business and our clients. So it’s quite easy very quickly to be able to kind of start planning some content around the challenges that our clients are facing with COVID. So looking at PCP plans, looking at like the regulators’ responses to COVID, and the markets that they were advising, and kind of tailor content around some of the key things and topics that we were seeing. And then, you know, I’ve recently started looking at, you know, let’s try and be, now that people have more time and they’re at home, and they’re able to read and digest information a lot more in the comfort of their homes, let’s try and be a bit more kind of, like position our credibility and our thought leadership. So start investing in some reports. So working with third parties to be able to kind of gather information, intelligence on market challenges, market, not always just challenges but also opportunities for our clients post-COVID, and really start speculating, you know, and like I said, because our company is based globally, the wave hit APAC, now it’s in EMEA, and then it’s obviously also in the US. So our Asian colleagues, or my Asian colleagues, are actually starting to see a change now. So I’m able to kind of tap into that change and understand, you know, what the markets, what’s going on in the markets, understand some of the topics that our clients are actually now facing post-COVID. Now that there is a recovery and deconfinement in Asia. So I think, whilst COVID has been quite challenging, it’s also provided a lot of opportunities to find different ways of communicating and actually, you know, finding those little nuggets of interest in terms of things that you can hang your hook off, in terms of like conversation starters, or topics that would be of interest because everybody’s facing unprecedented times. So yeah, it’s been the gift that keeps on giving.

Shaheen Samavati 9:47
Yeah, sounds like it. And also just backing up. I didn’t ask you the question about what your day-to-day is like, because it sounds like you do more than just content right? You are also in charge of PR and communications. So how does that tie together?

Amal Ahmed 10:01
So as you can imagine we’re split, so the marketing department is fairly small, but also like very robust in terms of how we work. So we work very closely together. So part of my role is to coordinate PR globally for the company. So just being a central point of contact, like, whilst a lot of the time owing to the press releases and communications around client wins are owned in the region, I coordinate quite a lot of the distribution. So helping to coordinate information being sent out via news wires, follow-ups or trying to, you know, contact some of the media contacts that we have and trying to secure some follow-up coverage and interviews. And then ultimately just kind of distilling that information down internally and communicating that to our internal stakeholders, and also externally kind of aggregating that information and repurposing a lot of the content that we have from press releases, also media interviews with our key spokespeople. So just being essential day-to-day contact to kind of liaise with both internal and external stakeholders. It’s also for me to, you know, I’ve got a good network of journalists who work within our industry who I reach out to, to understand what they’re writing about, any forward features that they have coming up, any reports that they’re doing, so that I can actually, you know, be able to add some some insights and some quotes from Itiviti. So I think like, I couldn’t say every day is the same, depending on what we’re working on, what I’m working on, it could be quite a varied day.

Shaheen Samavati 11:32
Do you have any examples of any recent campaigns or creative initiatives you’ve done?

Amal Ahmed 11:37
Yeah, so I mean, like I said, COVID has been like the gift that keeps on giving. So I think for us as a as a team, as a marketing team, you know, we work really closely together. So we have these, like bi-weekly calls, where we kind of brainstorm and think of ways of, you know, being innovative, because innovation is kind of one of our key values as a company. So always thinking outside of the box. So whilst the opportunities, while the challenges for COVID have been vast, you know, as I mentioned, there’s a lot of opportunity. So there was a, for us it was very important to be able to kind of highlight some of the positive things that are going on, despite the challenges that we’re facing, both individually, as a company. You know, it’s not a great time. There’s a lot of very horrible things going on. So there’s this idea that was born, which is Positiviti, a bit of a wordplay on the company name being Itiviti. So the idea behind Positiviti, and this campaign that we launched, probably about six weeks ago now is to spread a little positivity. So Friday is the day where we decided that the world, and everybody in terms of our followers on social platforms, and also internally, we would just raise a little bit of positivity. So Positiviti is essentially you know, sharing a picture, a video, something that just provides a little bit of positivity. So it was, you know, at first, an idea that just kind of came from nowhere and since has really grown, so it’s become a bit of an internal thing now, we’ve got a Slack channel called News at Itiviti. And people share their positivity for the week. So we get pictures from all over the world. So we’re talking Manila, we’re talking Chicago, like people really just getting into the positivity spirit and sharing like a little ray of sunshine. And then we’ve been posting these pictures with like a nice little kind of like old-school, the idea behind it was like an old-school kind of like Polaroid. So the frame around our positivity would be like an old-school Polaroid, and we’d have a little message to kind of spread positivity every Friday. So I think it’s been received really well. It’s probably, like in terms of engagement and likes, it’s definitely one of those posts that you know, instantly, within like an hour or two, we’ve got so many people engaging and interacting with it. But I think the nice thing is, it’s like it’s given people something to do internally. So it’s really kind of banded my colleagues together. Everybody kind of every Friday knows that there’s going to be a Positiviti and people share stuff. So it’s been like a really nice way to bring the internal positivity out and share it with our external clients, nd those people who, you know, would like to share a little positivity with us.

Shaheen Samavati 14:28
Yeah, very cool. And that actually kind of starts to answer a question I had about social media. And as a B2B company, working with large institutions, like how to effectively use social media. It sounds like you’re using it to kind of interact with multiple stakeholders, not only your clients, right?

Amal Ahmed 14:47
Yeah. So I mean, as you can imagine, the B2B world is, again, a little bit behind when it comes to the adoption of social media. As a company, you know, we’ve made a lot of investments on LinkedIn as our platform of choice, in terms of spreading our message and our awareness. So we do use LinkedIn for a lot of our kind of, you know, sharing our content, which is what we call insights, you know, sharing our Positiviti posts, you know, promoting a lot of the stuff that we’re doing internally and externally as a company. We also have a talent acquisition team based in Cluj, Romania, who also do a lot of kind of recruitment for Itiviti using LinkedIn. So it’s heavily, heavily used. We also use Facebook, both internally for our colleagues, but also to attract talent as well. So there’s an Itiviti Facebook page where, you know, we share lots of like, everyday life at Itiviti; we share our values, we show examples of our values. So I think you know, for us, those two platforms are very key, and we’re looking at how we can increase engagement and always looking at ways that we can improve what we’re doing. We also obviously use Twitter. I think, you know, as a B2B company, we are not going to try and, you know, try and change things too much—what’s working for us worked so far. And you know, I think you just have to be sensitive about how you communicate with your client base, and have to understand your client base and where your client base is interacting on a day-to-day basis. So you wouldn’t see us kind of promoting our stuff on TikTok, let’s say, it might be fun, but ultimately that’s not where our client base is.

Shaheen Samavati 16:32
And as you know, our focus at The Content Mix is on the European market. So I was just curious if you have any insights on any unique challenges or opportunities in the European market, or what your experience is doing content marketing in Europe?

Amal Ahmed 16:43
So yeah, I mean, I think the beauty of Europe is it’s very different. So there’s always a lot of cultural differences. So I think it always pays to understand the culture differences. And I find that speaking to my colleagues who sit within like the different offices who really do have that Intelligence, and who can kind of guide you on what will work and what won’t work. So, you know, for example, like in our, you know, we have an office in Paris, we have one in Milan, we also have a Stockholm office. So obviously, we’re sending out information to a lot of these people based in these countries and locations. You know, speaking to my colleagues in Milan, I’m very aware that when we are communicating with our Milan clients it’s very formal, and it’s got to be kind of, you know, it’s formal and you’ve got to address people formally. And you know, there isn’t that kind of, like tongue-in-cheek kind of conversations that you have, it’s very straight to the point. They prefer very personal engagement. So rather than sending out a mass mailing from say, a marketing team at Itiviti, you know, they prefer to have communications from their day-to-day contact. So, you know, just being mindful of those kind of things. And, you know, being aware that you can’t, you know, it’s not a one size fits all with Europe. You know, it’s nice to have a message, a key message, but you know, I think it really does make a difference if you do understand those little cultural differences and how people do, I guess, digest communication. It’s really important in terms of like, you know, how they then engage with the communication that you’re sending them. So that’s been my experience working in Europe.

Shaheen Samavati 18:14
So are you coordinating content efforts across markets in your role? Or is that done at the local level?

Amal Ahmed 18:20
So I mean, I’m coordinating some of it on a global level. A lot of it is done in the regions. So working with the regional heads, and understanding kind of what content they need help with. So a lot of the time, it could just be collecting the information and then helping them to kind of, I guess, format it into, you know, the use that they would want to use it for. But a lot of the day-to-day kind of content needs are taken by the region. And I would just only be helping in terms of coordination and also pulling together the right people to help with the content.

Shaheen Samavati 18:52
I see. But you have like dedicated channels for different markets, it sounds like.

Amal Ahmed 18:57
Yeah, we do. I mean, you know, we’re a very niche market. So you know, we’re not going to go out to the masses, we know who our client base and our target base are. And we know kind of like, you know, the people that we need to be talking to. So it’s not a, like I said, it’s not a mass communication. It’s very tailored, very niche and very much about understanding the communication and the messages that you need to get out to these people.

Shaheen Samavati 19:22
Okay, great. Well, I just wanted to finish up the interview with a few quick questions on your recommendation. First of all, an app or a tool that you can’t work without?

Amal Ahmed 19:33
Good one. Okay, so I absolutely love Grammarly. I can’t live without Grammarly. So it’s just the app that you put on your phone or your laptop, whatever it is, just to check your spelling and your grammar. I think when you’re writing content and you’re working with content every single day, sometimes your eyes do go a bit blurry and things don’t always make sense. So having that on my laptop and every document that I’m writing has helped me immensely, in terms of kind of just making sure that things are right. And I’ve kind of put a lot of my colleagues onto Grammarly as well, and my daughter uses it too as well which is pretty cool. And I think HubSpot as well is a huge thing for me, like you know, in terms of just, you know, being able to go to a place and be able to kind of look back through best practice, like hints and tips and tricks, is really good. They have a lot of good content, especially for inbound marketing, which is a methodology that I’m very much in favor of. So yeah, those two: Grammarly and HubSpot.

Shaheen Samavati 20:35
Okay, great. And who’s a marketing influencer who you follow?

Amal Ahmed 20:41
I have quite a few actually that I follow. Again, I think Brian Halligan, again, the CEO of HubSpot is for me very much a pioneer in terms of kind of how he’s grown his business, how he’s been able to kind of branch out into different areas in terms of HubSpot for marketing for sales and CRM, really bringing in together the inbound journey for B2B as well has been really helpful.

Shaheen Samavati 21:13
Awesome. And would you recommend any valuable European group or event?

Amal Ahmed 21:17
Yeah, so I mean, I’m London based. I tend to go to the B2B Marketing Expo, which is a huge expo over three days in London, normally around March. Unfortunately it was postponed for this year. But I mean, for me, that’s like really, really valuable in terms of, you know, really understanding new technologies, understanding new ways and new practices. As you can imagine, marketing is forever evolving, and it’s good to make sure your finger stays on the pulse. So the B2B Marketing Expo for me is great. I also, you know, subscribe and read a lot of information from the Content Marketing Institute, which is again very helpful as I mentioned. Like, you know, my content role has been official as of this year. So it’s always good to understand best practice, understand, you know, experiences from people who’ve been in content for a lot longer than I have and really learn from them as well. So those two: the B2B Expo, great event, unfortunately not happening this year, and the Content Marketing Institute.

Shaheen Samavati 22:21
Yeah, it seems like it’ll be a while till we get to go back to marketing events, or any kind of events. Well, those are great tips. If you just want to end with any parting advice you might have for those looking to get into content marketing or who want to advance in their careers?

Amal Ahmed 22:38
Yeah, I mean, like I said, I’m still finding my feet in terms of my new role within content marketing at Itiviti. I think, you know, I think it’s good to understand your market, it’s good to understand, like, your databases that you have today. So the people that you’re already marketing to, because I think when you understand, you know, your insights of who you’re actually engaging with, then it makes it that much easier to be able to, I guess, craft content that makes sense, and that is actually, you know, going to resonate well with people. I’m really anal when it comes to processes. So I try and be as organized as I possibly can be. So I do have like a documented content marketing process. And this was like a brainstorm between myself and a colleague of mine, you know, what would be the ideal way of creating content from start to end? So everything from initial idea, right to when you’re publishing, and then, you know, trying to repurpose that content. So I think it really helped to kind of go through every single step, because then you can kind of think where you can leverage other people within your team, other members within your company. And then also, you know, you can pull in ideas from, like how do you then take this to digital, how do you then, what format would work? So I think for me, it’s understanding your audience, understanding what’s resonating with your audience, and then being organized enough to, if you have the time, put together a process, because I think it’s just good to be able to refer back to, and see, you know, that you’re going in the right direction. And obviously, always measure, measure and measure. Do as much as you can in terms of, you know, it’s never going to be perfect. Get it to 90% and then put it out there and see how it works. And then learn from any mistakes or learn from the great stuff that’s working and keep doing the stuff that works.

Shaheen Samavati 24:25
Excellent advice. Yeah, thank you so much for that, Amal. And thank you for joining us on The Content Mix podcast.

Amal Ahmed 24:32
Oh, thank you very much for having me. It’s been great, and yeah, it’s been good talking to you.

Shaheen Samavati 24:37
Thanks again, and thanks everyone for listening in. For more perspectives on the content marketing industry in Europe, check out TheContentMix.com. We’ll be releasing a lot more interviews like this one on this podcast, so keep tuning in. Thanks.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai